Baby Audio Introduces BA-1 Soft Synth Based on a Poylphonic Yamaha CS01

video upload by BABY Audio

"BA-1 is a modern re-imagination of a cultish 1982 analog synth that looked like a toy but sounded like a beast. It brings you pure and authentic lo-fi textures that are fast to program and dripping with color."

"BA-1 is based on a portable 1980s synth with a toylike appearance and a gritty sound. Despite its small size, it left a big mark on music history, while still flying somewhat under the hype radar. The original has been used as a secret weapon for bubbly synth textures by some of Sweden’s most successful pop producers of the past two decades. It was also a staple of 1990s digital dancehall and beloved by the indietronica scene for its raw lo-fi quality. The ‘CS01’ - as the original is called - has never been properly captured in software form. So for our first ever synth, we started there.

In keeping with our motto 'it’s an evolution, not an emulation', we modeled the hardware with the greatest possible accuracy, before carefully upgrading it with new and useful features. A second analog-modeled oscillator, FM, polyphony, and more, help to vastly expand the sonic palette of the original. All while keeping its signature sound unspoiled.

Additionally, BA-1 lets you drain the battery, bend the circuits, and use the built-in speaker – for an authentic lo-fi aesthetic that you could normally only get with hardware.

If you know our company, you’ll know that effects are our specialty. So we’ve treated BA-1 with an FX section worthy of its own plugin. The effects chain is inspired by budget 1980s rack hardware and captures the lo-fi charm of the home studio scene of the era. The overdrive is modeled after a guitar pedal, while the delay, reverb and chorus effects are based on cheap, but amazing, digital rack units.

In BA-1, the effects are not an afterthought but an ingrained part of the sonic signature. So tweak, use, and abuse them.

BA-1 is simple, but surprisingly tweakable. We’ve put great effort into tuning all parameters to be in the perfect sweet spot. This results in a rewarding programming workflow where tweaking BA-1 is a lot of fun and you’ll create new patches on repeat.

And if a simple interface is not fast enough, you can always use the smart ‘Re-Gen’ feature. Hit Re-Gen and BA-1 will automatically create new and musically tuned patches with every click."