Universal Audio Anthem review and sound demo: analog modeling Synthesizer

Universal Audio Anthem captures the sound of analog synths and puts it in an easy-to-use Synthesizer plugin for macOS and Windows: review.

When hunting for synthesizer plugins, Universal Audio (UAD, for short) isn’t the first name that springs to mind. This is likely due to their limited portfolio of soft synths, which includes the Opal Morphing Synth, Moog Minimoog, and PolyMAX. The latter is available as a free download until the end of June. 

But today, the selection expands with a new sound generator. Universal Audio unveiled the Anthem Synthesizer plugin for macOS and Windows. Here’s my review.

Universal Audio Anthem Review

Anthem is a new analog modeling Synthesizer plugin based on classic analog synth features. Universal describes Anthem as an “analog Synthesizer”, which is, of course, just marketing hype. After registering in the UA Connect software, the plugin is ready to use.

You can choose between VST3, AU, and AAX. In my testing, I primarily used the VST3 native version, which worked flawlessly and without crashes in Ableton Live 12.Thanks to UAD for providing a pre-release version, and you don’t need a UAD hardware for it.

Anthem is a classic analog-style Synthesizer with two oscillators, a sub-oscillator, a mixer, a filter, two envelopes, an LFO, multi-effects, and a sequencer. You can play it in mono, unison, or paraphonic with a legato option. A strange decision not to make the synth polyphonic. I got a paraphonic patches with four notes maximum in my testing. Correct me if I’m wrong.

A very puristic Synthesizer, which, in direct comparison to the competition, such as Diva, The Legend HZ, and GForce Software synths, is somewhat under-equipped. Before I give any preliminary assessment, let’s get into the details. Everything starts with the oscillator section.

Oscillators

It consists of two classic analog-modeling oscillators, each with morphable waveforms from triangle, triangle-saw, saw, saw-square, square, and various pulse positions. Nice, you can manually and negatively/positively modulate the morphing with an LFO or filter envelope.

For each oscillator, you can set the octave range (-1/0/+1) and tune it with the coarse/fine control. An octave below and above is certainly sufficient, but not very far. One could have gone further here. A saw sub-oscillator with up to two octaves below the main oscillator adds extra depth and punch to your sounds.

Oscillator 2 is feature-identical to Oscillator 1 in the core, but also includes the warp section, offering two classic subtractive synthesis sound design features: sync and ring mod (RM).  These unlock options generate much richer harmonic sounds.

You can manually work with sync or ring mod, or modulate the amount of them with an LFO or filter envelope. By modulating the sync with an envelope, you can achieve the beloved sync sounds.

There is also a pitch mod, featuring both negative and positive pitch (frequency) modulation. It’s a straightforward implementation, but you can achieve FM sounds. From here, the oscillators enter a classic mixer with independent volume control and an additional mixable pink or white noise generator.

The oscillators have a nice, fat, round, high-quality sound. They’re certainly in the top league. Since the shaping options are very classic and largely known from a trillion other analog-style synths, the sound options you can create aren’t particularly innovative. Yes, that’s what we expect from a classic analog modeling synth, but in pristine quality.

Nevertheless, I like the sound output of the Universal Audio Anthem Synthesizer. The highlight for me is the ability to modulate the morphing in both directions, allowing you to infuse some interesting, evolving shapes in the overall sound.

Filter

Then it goes straight to the filter. This isn’t a multimode filter, but a simple lowpass filter tweakable with cutoff and a resonance control. An overdrive circuit (drive) adds extra warmth and juice to the filter character. Additionally, you can activate a non-resonant high-pass filter. 

Without looking away, you can modulate the cutoff and resonance in the same section with various pre-mapped modulators: envelope, LFO, and keytrack. With a knob you can modulate the highpass filter with the same selection.

Although the filtering core and modulation options are classic and somewhat limited, you get an excellent-sounding analog-timbred filter here.

With little resonance, it sounds beautifully smooth. If you crank up the resonance to the maximum, the filter roars like crazy. The extra ingredient here is the drive that shapes and rounds all these screaming fields off perfectly. 

Everything is very high-level, ​​but I would have liked a real multimode filter or the option to choose different filter types. A simple lowpass with switchable highpass is a bit too little for me in 2025.

Modulation

The motto “less is more” is carried through in the modulation engine of the Universal Audio Anthem. It hosts two slider-controllable ADSR envelopes with velocity control, as well as a syncable multi-wave LFO. There’s not much to say about the envelopes: classic but snappy.

The LFO, on the other hand, has various selectable waves with a tilt parameter for morphing the waveforms through different sub-waveforms. The range of the LFO spans from very slow (0.05 Hz) to extremely fast (200 Hz), unlocking deep audio-rate modulations. There is also a sync and a retrigger option.

I certainly would have liked a second or third dedicated LFO here. More LFOs open up a lot of sound design options. The Universal Audio developers altogether dispensed with a modulation matrix in their new synth. Instead, each modulable parameter has a voltage symbol and a switch to select the modulator.

Setting the modulation value is next to the symbol. It works, but it could be implemented more elegantly—no modulation matrix, so also no drag-and-drop modulation here. Plus, you can assign parameters to the mod-wheel (vibrato, cutoff, or LFO-rate).

Just like the oscillators and filters, nice, but there are many gaps here; you’d get more from other 2025 analog modeling synths.

Effects

A multi-FX processor with three effect types is available to refine and enhance the sounds. A chorus with a stereo option and intensity control adds depth, width, and texture to the raw sounds.

Furthermore, you have a modulation FX section, featuring phaser, flanger (+), flanger (-), and warble algorithms with rate and depth controls, giving you everything you need to add motion and life to your sounds.

In the Space FX block, you can find an authentic Roland RE-201-style syncable space echo processor, as well as spring and hall reverbs. No shimmer reverb, a scandal. Unlike the other FX blocks, it has a dry/wet knob called amount knob but no on/off button.

The Anthem Multi-FX section is of the same quality level as the rest of the engine. You can tell that Universal Audio has a lot of expertise in crafting effects that sound exceptionally well, especially the Space tape echo, which sounds remarkably smooth and pristine.

One downside, however, is that none of the effects can be modulated. The engine’s limitations run like a thread through the entire plugin. 

Sequencer

The final piece of the puzzle of the new Universal Audio Anthem is the sequencer. It has three lanes, each with 16 steps: gate, pitch, and velocity. You can choose between different Playblack directions: forward, reverse, ping-pong 1, ping-pong 2, and random. 

A notable feature is that each lane can have a different step length, such as gate 16, pitch 12, and velocity 4. This is a great feature for creating polyrhythmic sequences.

Besides this, you can add swing (0% – 100%), tweak the gate scale, and work with legato in the gate lane.

But those are also all the features of the sequencer. It’s also quite classic. Modern features, such as probability or ratcheting, are entirely missing, which is a shame. There would undoubtedly have been room to make the whole thing a bit more inspiring.

Lastly, Anthem features a built-in sound browser with numerous ready-to-use presets categorized by a system that utilizes tags, including genre, type, description, and more.

The A/B function is nice, allowing you to switch between two sounds. Or you can use it to make parameter adjustments to hear the sound before and after the tweaks.

The sounds range from classic bass, leads, and pads to more experimental sounds. Since the feature set isn’t as extensive as that of Serum 2 or Pigments 6, the sounds aren’t as wild either. I consider it a classic bread-and-butter sound library.

Universal Audio Anthem Sound Demo

Here’s an insight into what the plugin sounds like and what types of sounds it includes.

Universal Audio Anthem Review: Conclusion

Universal Audio has created a high-end sounding analog modeling Synthesizer here. One of the best I’ve tested so far. Very analog and punchy, as it should be. The filter, in particular, is creamy, and at high resonance and drive, it becomes a beast.

Unfortunately, in terms of features, it’s “more of the same.” It doesn’t stand out from the competition in this regard. If you have a U-he Diva, Synapse Audio The Legend HZ, etc., you won’t be getting anything new. The features are on par with many freeware products, which somewhat overshadows the excellent sound quality.

Anthem is an excellent synth to learn the basics of subtractive analog-style synthesis. The interface and handling are super easy. However, Anthem isn’t an expert synth, as it simply lacks in terms of capabilities. For me, it’s a great addition to the UAD Spark subscription, 

However, for $149 (introductory) and later $199, you can undoubtedly find more capable analog modeling synths (such as Diva and The Legend HZ) on the same level in the soft synth plugin market. And yes, with full polyphony, not paraphony. 

Universal Audio Anthem is now available for an introductory price of $149, down from $199. It runs as a VST3, AU, and AAX plugin on macOS (native Apple Silicon + Intel) and Windows.

More information here: Universal Audio

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