Pro Soloist

Name: Pro Soloist
Price: 49 USD
Author: Cherry Audio

by Cherry Audio · Synth · ARP Pro Soloist preset synth emulation

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Pro Soloist is based on ARP's 1972 Pro Soloist, a preset mono synth, made fully programmable and expanded to two layers of 16 voices.

It includes the 30 original paddle presets plus 450 more, a five-filter resonator bank, aftertouch control, 12 effects, a modulation matrix and an arpeggiator, for $49.

Best for: Keys & Synths, Sound Design. Genres: Electronic & EDM, Pop, Rock & Indie, Ambient & Cinematic.

Keywords: arpeggiator, polyphonic, hardware emulation, monophonic, 70s, preset-driven, brass, woodwinds, FM, leads, modulation matrix, MPE support, sound design, strings, tempo-synced.

What it does

Pro Soloist is Cherry Audio's recreation of ARP's 1972 Pro Soloist, a monophonic synth that only played fixed presets. The developer says it goes "far beyond emulating" the original, turning it into a fully programmable, bi-timbral polysynth.

Oscillator: one VCO with sawtooth and pulse waves and a Super Wave option, modulated by ADSR, AR or LFO for pulse width and by LFO for FM.
Two layers: 16 voices per layer, in split or stacked mode with volume and pan per layer; mono modes offer retrigger or legato with low, last or high note priority.
Resonator bank: five parallel 2-pole band-pass filters with their own frequency and resonance; any of the original frequency curves can go on any resonator, and each can be modulated.
Filters and envelopes: a 24 dB/oct low-pass filter with an invert option, a resonant high-pass from 20 Hz to 1.3 kHz, and ADSR and AR envelopes.
Touch sensor: aftertouch control of volume, brilliance and portamento with adjustable sensitivity, channel and polyphonic aftertouch, MPE use, and a Last Note option that mimics poly aftertouch on mono-aftertouch keyboards.
Modulation and arp: a six-slot matrix with 22 sources and 58 destinations (effects included), and a tempo-synced arpeggiator with Up, Down, Up/Down and Random modes.
Effects and presets: 12 effects including distortion, 2–8 stage phaser, flanger/chorus, three delay types and five reverbs, global or per layer; 450 presets plus the 30 original preset paddles.

A free 30-day demo is available (it plays white noise periodically).

Source: Cherry Audio product page

When to use it

Pro Soloist is the pick for expressive, vintage solo voices played with aftertouch, from reedy leads to oboe-like and brass tones. Compared with Diva or Arturia CS-80 V, it is a simpler single-oscillator design with no oscillator sync or FM, so it covers fewer sound types but gets to its character quickly. Its five-band resonator bank gives it a vocal, formant-like colour that general subtractive synths such as Sylenth1 don't offer out of the box. It is also one of the few plugins that model this ARP at all. Sound On Sound found it near identical to the hardware after small adjustments.

Best for: expressive solo leads, plus orchestral-style strings, brass and woodwind patches played with aftertouch.
Genres: prog rock, pop, electronic and film music.
Look elsewhere if: you need chimes, piano-like or FM tones (it has one oscillator and no FM), or a general bass and lead workhorse (Diva or Sylenth1).
Tip: turn on Global FX mode to glue two layered sounds together, and use Last Note aftertouch for poly-aftertouch style swells (Sound On Sound).

What producers say

Reviewers rate it among Cherry Audio's best, accurate to the original and far more flexible.

Sound On Sound (Gordon Reid, 2024) compared it with his own Pro Soloist and found them "functionally identical" after small tweaks; he praised the polyphony, aftertouch modes and orchestral sounds.
MusicRadar (Roland Schmidt, 2024) called it "an incredible gem; not to be missed", praising the resonator bank, effects, 450 presets and a Focus mode for small screens.
Criticisms: Sound On Sound noted the single oscillator limits some sounds, there is no sync or FM, and on-screen performance control feels "clunky" next to hardware.

Where to buy

Tutorials and reviews

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