AudioThing SX1000: Spot-On Plugin Emulation of a Classic ’70s Synth Boosted With Polyphony, Mods & Effects
3,7 / 5,0 | 
Italian synth fans, take note! The AudioThing SX1000 is a software version of the Jen SX1000, one of the first affordable analog synthesizers.
AudioThing SX1000
It’s confession time. I haven’t played much with Italian synthesizers. Being from California and now living in Japan, they just haven’t crossed my path. However, for many Europeans and English in the 1970s and ‘80s, Italian synths were a way to get at synthesizer sounds without having to pay through the nose for a Moog or Oberheim. Many people still love them, especially the Jen SX1000 Synthetone.
Released in 1978, the SX1000 was a single oscillator monosynth with – unusually – a DCO instead of VCO. You can read more about it in my history of Italian synths, but if you want to hear one or better yet play one, your best bet now is the new AudioThing SX1000, a spot-on software emulation that also expands the synthesis possibilities of the original.
AudioThing SX1000: Mono to Poly
AudioThing has emulated its own personal SX1000, one that the company has had in its possession to decades. The software version includes the original oscillator with sawtooth, square, and pulse waveforms, the lovely 24dB/Octave resonant lowpass filter, LFO, and two envelopes.
New for the software version is a polyphonic mode, a sub-oscillator mod allowing you to drop down to -3 octaves, and a disable switch for the digital white/pink noise emulator (which actually audibly loops a sample). AudioThing has also beefed up the LFO, adding new waveforms and a sync mode.
AudioThing SX1000: Arps and Effects
The original synth was a simple affair with no arpeggiator. However, this new version has one based on the Roland Juno-60 with four modes including random as well as a chord mode.
AudioThing is primarily known as an effects company. One of my favorites is the RE-201 emulation, Outer Space. You get that plus a spring reverb, wave folder, and BBD-style flanger to affect the AudioThing SX1000 sound. Effect order can be freely rearranged.
Overall, the emulation sounds spot-on, as evidenced in this comparison video.
AudioThing SX1000: Price & Availability
I’m a big fan of AudioThing. The company’s plugins are not only quality but they’re also unique. This SX1000 emulation is just the kind of thing AudioThing is great at. It is also (as are all of their plugins) extremely affordable.
AudioThing SX1000 is available now for Mac, Windows, and Linux in VST2, VST3, AU, AAX, and CLAP formats from the manufacturer as well as Plugin Boutique*. Introduction price is valid until 29 February 2025. There are also iPad/iOS versions.
More Information
- AudioThing SX1000 product page
- All about AudioThing
- All about synthesizers
- All about software
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