Native Instruments SuperStarSaw — a virtual synthesizer for layered sawtooth sounds

Native Instruments and A. G. Cook have introduced a VST instrument for rich polyphonic sawtooth sounds.

Photo: official website native-instruments

The plugin's key feature is layering many slightly detuned sawtooth waves. This creates a wide, dense sound rich in harmonics. A. G. Cook's work with artists including Charli xcx, Beyonce, Caroline Polachek and Oklou has made this one of modern pop's defining sounds. Previously, creating it required carefully layering many plugin instances, a process Cook developed over years of production work.

Photo: official website native-instruments

The new instrument has two oscillators, with each Swarm bank layering up to 16 sawtooth waves. An X/Y-Morpher provides smooth transitions between sound states. Mono and polyphonic modes suit leads, basses, chords and layered sounds, with Voice Offset and Glide. Adaptive modulation assignments create dynamic sound movement, alongside real-time automation and Chord, Scale and Quantisation functions. Built-in effects include Chorus, Delay and Reverb, plus a filter section with low-pass, band-pass and high-pass modes.

Photo: official website native-instruments

Native Instruments SuperStarSaw is available for $100.