Phoenix

Name: Phoenix
Price: 239 USD
Author: Spitfire Audio

by Spitfire Audio · Synth · Hybrid sample-based synth

Not rated yet

Phoenix is a hybrid synth made by Spitfire Audio with composer BT, built on 40GB of orchestral, percussion, guitar and exotic instrument recordings.

It adds six synthesis engines, 37 effects and 552 presets, and costs $239 at an introductory discount (regular $299).

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

Keywords: hybrid, sample-based, cinematic, sound design, FM, preset-driven, sequencer, textures, arpeggiator, free, MPE support, wavetable, brass, dark, evolving, pads, polyphonic, randomize, spectral, strings, granular, woodwinds.

What it does

Phoenix is a hybrid synth from Spitfire Audio and composer BT that runs sampled orchestral and acoustic recordings through six synthesis engines. Spitfire calls it "a synth for truly intricate, cinematic sound design."

Source recordings: granular strings, brass in quarter-tone clusters, dark woodwinds, guitars, dulcimer, cimbalom, autoharp, hand bells and music box, plus hits and atonal textures.
Six engines: spectral wavetables, a sampler, 6-operator FM with 34 algorithms, 2-operator FM transients, a subharmonic generator and a complex noise oscillator.
PHASE warping: over 80 warp modes in two serial slots, with depth that can be modulated per channel to widen the stereo image.
Arpeggiator: four stages of 128 hand-drawn steps, play probability, eight scale modes and a seeded random generator, so random variations can be reproduced.
Meta sequencers: eight drawable envelope-style sequencers with four stages each, looping or palindrome sections and bipolar speed.
Modulation and effects: cross-modulation based on BT's StutterEdit technology, and 37 effects across 12 slots in three chains.
Presets and MPE: 552 presets and full 16-voice MPE support.

Source: Spitfire Audio product page

When to use it

Phoenix sits between a sample library and a synth: its strength is BT's orchestral and acoustic source material run through FM, wavetable and warping engines, aimed at film, trailer and game cues rather than classic synth patches. Compared with Omnisphere 3 it is narrower in scope but more focused on cinematic movement, with deep step arpeggiation and meta sequencers built in. Unlike Serum 2 or Vital, it is a heavy plugin, and Vital is free. Pigments 7 covers more general synth duties, while Phoenix gives more organic, recorded raw material.

Best for: cinematic textures, evolving pads, pulses and hybrid orchestral-electronic sound design for picture.
Genres: ambient, cinematic and electronic music.
Look elsewhere if: you want a light general-purpose synth for leads and basses; Serum 2 or Vital suit that better.

What producers say

Early forum reaction, mostly from people who had not yet bought it, centred on the online requirement and price more than the sound.

Price and value: several posters questioned the price, one saying "Vital is free" and another finding "nothing surprising or new" in it.
Positive note: the one poster who bought it said "the demos sounded good to me."

VI-Control forum thread

Where to buy

Spitfire Audio: $239

Tutorials and reviews

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