TH2

Name: TH2
Author: Acustica Audio

by Acustica Audio · Synth · Free analog-style synth

Not rated yet

TH2 is a free, compact synth based on Acustica's Thing-8 instrument, with mono/poly switching, six filter modes and four envelope modes.

It includes 100+ presets and is free.

Best for: Keys & Synths, Sound Design. Genres: all genres.

Keywords: free, analog, hardware emulation, 80s, polyphonic, preset-driven, basses, leads, monophonic, analog-sounding, circuit-modelled, gritty, hybrid, inspired by, simple, sound design, subtractive, vintage, warm.

What it does

TH2 is a free, compact version of Acustica's THING synths, which are modeled on the Roland Jupiter-8 polysynth of the early 1980s. It runs on MUST, Acustica's hybrid synthesis technology that combines analog circuit modeling with the company's convolution-based approach.

Voices and POLY2: one or two voices; the POLY2 button switches between monophonic and two-voice polyphonic play, with glide and unison spread controls.
Oscillator: one VCO with four waveforms (including sine, triangle and square), plus a sub-oscillator with square or sine.
Filter: six VCF modes with key tracking, plus a Roland-style high-pass filter.
Envelopes: four envelope modes (ENV-8, ENV-Ser, ENV-Lin and ENV-Pro) that can modulate the filter and oscillator.
LFO: waveform selector, speed and depth, routable to the VCF, VCA and VCO.
Character: AGE adds pitch drift and grit, SUB shapes the low end, and Superstereo widens the sound.
Quality and presets: Normal, Mega and Eco quality settings, and over 100 presets with a preset browser.

It is free. The product page does not give a version number.

Source: Acustica Audio product page

When to use it

TH2 is a free way to get a taste of a Jupiter-8 style sound, but it is a small instrument: one oscillator, one envelope and two voices at most. Compared with Vital, the best-known free synth on the site, it has far less scope but a warmer, more analog character out of the box. Compared with its paid sibling Thing, it drops the second oscillator, cross-modulation, eight-voice polyphony and the effects section. Next to Diva it is much more limited, though it costs nothing. Treat it as a mono or duo synth for basses and leads rather than a pad machine.

Best for: free analog-style basses, leads and simple two-voice lines.
Genres: any, especially Synthwave, Pop and Electronic & EDM.
Look elsewhere if: you want chords and pads (Thing or Diva), or a full-featured free synth (Vital).

What producers say

News sites liked the sound, but some readers reported stability problems.

Bedroom Producers Blog found the presets "do sound great", with character and analogue warmth.
Gearnews said it "sounds great" and ran fine at Mega quality on a 2018 i7 Mac Mini, while calling it essentially a cut-down version of Thing.
Criticisms: Gearnews readers were mixed; one said it "kept crashing Logic", others were unimpressed by a free cut-down version.

Where to buy

Acustica Audio: Free

Tutorials and reviews

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TH2