Born Second BS-203 MacroAcidizer is a new acid Synthesizer plugin that bundles emulations of the TB-303, MC-202 and BassBoy+
In mid-August, Audio Damage released the AD-202, an emulation of the Roland MC-202. This release seems to have triggered a wave of new MC-202 emulations. Two more have been released in the last few hours.
One of them comes from Bornd Second and is called BS-203 MacroAcidizer and it’s not just a MC-202 emulation.
Born Second BS-203
BS-203 MacroAcidizer is a new Acid Synthesizer plugin for macOS and Windows. At first glance, Born Second BS-203 MacroAcidizer 203 looks like another MC-202 emulation. Yes, that’s about a third correct, but it’s more than that
It features three distinct analog modeled Synthesizer modes, two of them are bassline faithful emulations. The first is the classic 303 mode that features a software replica of the Roland TB-303 from 1982.
It includes all the original feature set of the Roland TB-303 with its square/saw oscillators, accent, squelching filter, and a decay envelope. Not enough features? No problem! At any time, however, certain features can be expanded, including the oscillators, filters, etc, in the dedicated expanded mode.
The second is the silver 202 mode that replicates the Roland MC-202 and comes with the original sound features: one LFO, VCO, source mixer, VCF, VCA, and envelope. Yes, there is a third.
Number three is the black mode BB and is a recreation of the Juteon-shonen BassBoy+, which was a rare, TB-303 bassline emulation from early days.
It offers a brigther two-pole filter with a ferocious resonant peak that runs at the edge of self-oscillation. Accdent is also differentl flavored.
BassBoy+ also comes with four exclusive controls: a triangle oscillator level, pre-filter saturation, post-filter distortion, and cutoff step. The latter quantizes all filter motion onto a coarse grid and a hold clock for zippered digital sweeps.
All three are monophonic but also function as 6-voice polyphonic synths.
Generative Sequencing
All three modes share the same tweakable generative sequencer where patterns are locked to harmonic major or minior scales. It’s not possible to enter individual steps. Neat, you export the patterns as MIDI file.
Also, all three share the same multi-FX effects engine with a synceable delay, reverb, and the satch saturation.
First Impression
Packing three emulations directly into one plugin is certainly an idea. I can’t say how authentic the three sound, as I don’t own any of the hardware. I downloaded the demo and it’s a fun plugin.
The retro UI is something different. Whether or not you need another TB-303 or MC-202 is entirely up to you.
Born Second BS-203 MacroAcidizer is available now for $25. It runs as a VST3, AU and AAX plugin on macOS (native Apple Silicon + Intel) and Windows.
More information here: Born Second Records
Well I just bought it and it only sent me a MAC download….Soooo
Whats going on here?
please contact the developer, I can’t give you support
Hey John! Keil from BornSecond. I e-mailed you directly but for anyone reading- I released the Windows binary. (It wasn’t available at launch.) Thank you!