Native Instruments SuperStarSaw (download)

General

To understand the ‘super saw’ phenomenon, we need to go back in time a little, to the mid-90s. And yet it feels like it was only last week – we’re getting on a bit… :( In fact, it’s essentially a combination of several sawtooth waves that are detuned relative to one another, creating a sort of unison effect. And a classic was born in the EDM scene, though that manufacturer does, incidentally, have several other EDM classics to its name. That ‘super saw’ is also the essence of Native Instruments’ SuperStarSaw – and a little bit more besides! A whole lot more, in fact; it doesn’t do this software justice to view it merely as a ‘simple’ unison effect, as we’ve been seeing that sort of functionality for decades. SuperStarSaw goes a fair bit further, with arpeggiators, specific ways to position all the sounds within the stereo field, chords and even a 2D morpher (that ‘flower’ in the centre of the interface) to move from one sound to another (four sounds, one in each corner). With 16 unison layers, the sound can certainly get nice and thick. Right, so what can we do with it? SuperStarSaw excels at the basic sounds: basses, leads, pads and the like. The greatest added value, however, lies in atmospheric soundscapes – precisely because there are 16 layers – and when combined with arpeggio (along with delay, chorus and reverb), the sound quickly becomes diffuse. And everything you need is conveniently bundled together in a single product!