TGX-85

What it does

A sampled recreation of the Yamaha SY85, the 1992 digital workstation, running standalone and as an AUv3. It is a rompler rather than a synth, holding the original internal and performance voices across four banks, selected either from a search bar or the hardware way by voice number and key. Around the samples sit modern additions the keyboard never had: mono and legato glide modes, four effect inserts, a reverb section and a master EQ, compressor and limiter.

In the demo

Jade runs six instances of the standalone next to six of Pure Synth carrying the same library, then walks both interfaces and says which suits her own workflow. She searches by prefix for pads, guitars and basses, opens a performance patch split across the keyboard, and stacks a TGX voice with sounds from other Pure Synth banks.

Worth knowing

The standalone is iPad only, while the Pure Synth version also runs on iPhone. The download is 16 gigabytes and expands to 30 once installed, so the SSD option matters.