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Minimal Audio Releases Current – Subscription-Based Synthesis Powerhouse

By 27 Comments4 Mins Read
Minimal Audio's Current is back with rent-to-own and perpetual license options

Minimal Audio releases Current, a subscription-based flagship virtual synthesizer (starting at $15 monthly).

It seems the Minimal Audio team has been very busy over the last couple of years and shows no sign of slowing down.

Minimal Audio has given us plugins like Rift, Morph EQ (one of my favorites), Fuse Compressor, and the subscription-based sample platform Stream.

Some of their products, such as Rift Filter Lite, were free for a limited time on launch.

Current is the latest release and looks set to take the flagship role in an already impressive lineup. It isn’t just a soft synth; if you imagine every element of Minimal Audio combined with a powerful synth engine wrapped in a sleek, workflow-enhancing interface, that’s what Current is.

I shouldn’t be surprised because I’ve been a fan of Minimal Audio products for a while, but Current packs so much into one product seamlessly; it’s pretty impressive.

It’s an expansive instrument, a fully-fledged effects suite, and a cloud-connected content platform in one.

Current is a subscription-based product that costs $15 monthly or $120 annually.

Everything starts with the Engine view that offers Wavetables, Granular Sampling, an additive Sub-Oscillator, and a time-stretching Sampler.

The Wavetables tab includes two wavetable oscillators featuring spectral manipulation, wave shaping, format shifting, filtering, and more.

The Granular tab does what you’d expect; it can transform a sample into something entirely different. It’s perfect for creating gritty, atmospheric, dense textures, the kind that often sets the mood in films or games.

This tab also introduces intuitive features like Rhythmic Grain Layering and Multi-Position Playback, making creating something unique even easier.

The Engine view also features the Filters and FM/AM tabs. You’ll find a wide range of filter types in the Filter tab, including morphing. The FM/AM section allows you to apply frequency/amplitude modulation per oscillator and the sub-oscillator, sampler, and granular module.

The extensive Effects section provides access to all Minimal Audio effects, including the ones mentioned above that you can arrange across nine available slots.

Once you load an effect, you get complete control of that plugin’s parameters with sub-presets. You can arrange the effects chain however you like by dragging and dropping slots in any order; it’s so easy to use.

The Stream section is where you tap into Minimal Audio’s ever-growing collection of cloud-based presets, sounds, and wavetables. It’s easy to search, preview, and load presets, and you can save favorites for faster recall in the future.

Each preset has four Macros that allow you to quickly personalize the sound without going too deep.

I haven’t used many virtual instruments of this kind; the setup isn’t a million miles away from Output’s Arcade in terms of the cloud-based content, at least.

All of this comes before I’ve even mentioned the Modulation Control Bar with simple drag-and-drop assign functionality. Available modulators include morphing LFOs, curve sequencers, envelopes, and more.

If you’re still struggling to get an idea off the ground, Current has a built-in arpeggiator and chord generator to give you a head start with melody, rhythm, and harmony. The chord generator has lots of useful preset progressions, or you can build new progressions to fit the key of your track.

I’ve had a fairly short time with Current and haven’t even begun to test its limits, but I really like the workflow.

I have two common complaints when a plugin or virtual instrument aims to do so many things. The first is that it becomes a Jack of all trades but master of none by limiting your control in some areas.

The second is that it does everything amazingly well, but it’s so convoluted that I lose interest almost immediately. Current has neither of those problems; it’s an epic release. Well done, Minimal Audio.

Don’t forget to grab UAD’s LA-2A Tube Compressor plugin for FREE; it rarely happens, so I’ll probably remind you a lot!

Check out the deal: Current (Subscription – $15 per month/$120 annually)

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James is a musician and writer from Scotland. An avid synth fan, sound designer, and coffee drinker. Sometimes found wandering around Europe with an MPC in hand.

27 Comments

  2. Hell'ektrix

     on

    Yeah subscription…too bad…
    I pass too…
    I think they will add a “full buy” option really soon if they don’t want to loose customers…

    Reply

  4. Daniel C.

     on

    Starting at 15USD/month. That’s like stating this is the greatest synthesizer of all time. In a world filled with free awesome synths (including modular ones) and affordable colossal ones, you have got to be kidding me.

    Reply

    • Daniel

       on

      The minimum you pay for this synth is 2x the *maximum* of what you’ll ever pay for Vital (and still that is if you’re willing to drop the anual payment upfront, otherwise it’s 3x, whereas the maximum that you would pay for Vital is on a monthly basis). Makes zero sense from the perspective of the users. This would only make sense if the synth was a very unconventional one capable of unique timbres but I’m not sure those tend to attrack many buyers (they sure attrack me, though).

      Reply

      • Daniel

         on

        By unique timbres I meant whole new types of synthesis/unique oscillators, like Generate and Waverazor. Cuz other than that, yes, Wavetable can accomplish a lot, obviously.

        Reply

  7. Pisces

     on

    Subscription only model, er no thank you.
    I would have thought the Waves debacle would have been enough of a lesson, nobody likes or wants subscription only models.

    Reply

  10. SynthEnjoyer8000

     on

    I genuinely cannot think of what kind of audience this product is attempting to target here. How is this outrageously priced ball-and-chain-subscription synth going to compete with the likes of Vital, Pigments, Surge XT, Rack, etc.? I struggle to see what this brings to the table. There isn’t even much value in the included wavetables themselves, as it looks like you don’t even get to own those. What a joke…

    Reply

  11. Gibbo

     on

    Nope, deleted email about it, when I saw subscription, and at that price!! I like minimal audio stuff a lot , but this seems an odd step given the current market. Personally I would drop £100 total on this and consider paying for extra packs now and again. (I already own outright: phaseplant, pigments, falcon, diva) maybe I’m not the target market then?

    Reply

  15. Febbie Ivaaden (Febbs!)

     on

    This seems interesting but sadly its subscription only. I assume they’re just trying out other price models, but that already is going to be a no for most of us. I’d love to try if there’s a demo but this is just too much of a price for annual sub too.

    To give you some alternatives so you won’t waste your time reading this,
    Free ones like VITAL, SURGE XT and WAVETABLE are far more better if you want some decent to excellent quality wavetable synths. FL Studio users can use FRUITY GRANULIZER (Fruity Edition +) or HARMOR (All plugins edition) are good alternatives too. Special mention to Literally PHASEPLANT and SERUM for the best ones out there in the market. (Also PhasePlant goes on sale for like, 100 bucks. So better wait for Black Friday peeps!) I’m also sure BPB covered these plugins so you can go ahead and search ’em up there on the search icon top right.

    Well that’s my opinion on this new Synth Minimal Audio put out. Kind of a shame its a subscription plan than a direct buy and own one.

    Reply

  17. Dee

     on

    Great company and no doubt they worked hard on it for a few years….I suspect the subscription model is to make a nicer financial return, but I’m passing. The pricing just seems way off too.

    Reply

  18. Gregory Cain

     on

    Subscription? Absolutely not. I honestly hope this fails spectacularly. I would hate for any other synth producer to get the thought that this is a good idea.

    Reply

  24. ASJ

     on

    I am sure Minimal Audio did this on purpose. Nobody cares if you release a synth, but everybody talks about it if you do some “”stupid move”” like this. Just like Waves some time ago, this was a planned move to create some outrage, to generate some buzz before dropping the real pricing that was decided beforehand. Bitwig did this (paid add-on outrage), Waves did this, Minimal Audio did this.

    Reply

  25. Gery Zenz

     on

    Minimal Audio:
    “I want to apologise again for how poorly thought out this was,” he adds. “We have no problem with perpetual licences, we like them too. We were just so focused on the product and building this huge thing that we just lost, kind of, really a business vision that made sense in terms of pricing, and the products on the website and the value to the user. It was kind of a moonshot moment where we just thought we’d add so much value that everybody would love it.

    “So we will fix it, and I hope that you guys will give us another chance.”

    Notice: We are adding unlimited rent-to-own & perpetual options.

    Reply
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