Schmidt Vi is the official software recreation of the Schmidt Eightvoice, the hand-built German analog polysynth that debuted at Musikmesse in 2012 and costs €18,900 as hardware. Schmidt developed it with UJAM, analysing the analog signal path in detail and rebuilding it with a new modelling process.
The engine is the hardware's: four oscillators, with sub-oscillators on the first two, FM, ring modulation and sync between Oscillators 2 and 3, and an Oscillator 4 built from five chained ring modulators fed by six pulse waves. The voice splits into two parallel groups, each with a four-pole morphing VCF and a Dual Filter, plus a final 12 dB low-pass, with 16 LFOs and nine envelopes placed directly on the panel. Eight voices run in poly, mono or unison. The plug-in adds MPE, multi-destination pitch bend and aftertouch, knob positions that show real values and a randomizer, and omits only the hardware's multitimbral mode.
Against u-he Diva and Arturia Jup-8 V, Schmidt Vi is the specialist: a single, unusually complex instrument rather than a flexible all-rounder. It costs €179 direct from Schmidt.
Our Schmidt Vi first look walks through the oscillators, filters and modulation and compares it with Diva, Jup-8 V and the GForce Matrix-12.