Number 5… is Alive! Tools for Take & Teo: Sounds and Presets
Sounds for Small Keyboards!
5,0 / 5,0 | 
The pentamerous Sequential and Oberheim synths of recent years, Take & Teo, get some tasty treats, as do some of Arturia’s ‘Mini’ synths.
Sounds and Presets
Labyrinth Vol.1 for Oberheim TEO-5 by Scott McAuley Sounds
A lot of people (silly people) wrote off the TEO-5 from Oberheim as just a Sequential Take 5 copycat, what with its 44-key, small footprint form factor, but honestly, that is where the similarities end. They are both very different-sounding synths, and the TEO-5 is full-on Oberheim in both its look and sound.
That’s not to say that the TEO-5 is just a smaller version of previous Oberheims, either. It is very much its own synth with its own sound, but riddled with that lovely Oberheim DNA. And Scott McAuley has mined that DNA and used it fully in his latest soundbank.
As with all of Scott’s banks, you get a lot for your money, 80 sounds to be precise! And Scott just manages to squeeze every last bit of performance out of the synth with his sounds. A synth this small has no right sounding this big, except this is an Oberheim in the hands of Scott McAuley!
Scott uses all of the TEO-5’s extensive sound shaping functions to deliver a sound bank that coves all the basses… and leads, pads, arp, keys and more! Sorry… bad joke! But seriously, if you own a TEO-5, you owe it these sounds.
You can buy Labyrinth for just £25.99 directly from Scott’s website, where you can also find a couple of demo patches for you to try out for free!
Exploration Vol.2 for Sequential Take 5 by Cool Wav
A bit like the TEO-5 , Sequential’s 44-key, 5-voice synth, the Take 5, met with a rather cool reception. Was it a cut-down Prophet 5? Did the world need another 5-voice, Prophet-like synth? Well, given that the Rev.4 Prophet5/10 was out of the financial reach of many of us, maybe we did.
And the Take 5 has definitely argued its own case since its launch four years ago. It definitely has Prophet 5 genes, and that can never be a bad thing, right? It also makes a great way to enter the Sequential world at an affordable price. Oberheim’s TEO-5 did the same and, more recently, so did the Moog Messenger.
And now, for all you Take 5 users who know exactly what I’m on about, there are 128 new, custom patches courtesy of those lovely people, or should I say person, at Cool Wav. Exploration Vol.2 continues, unsurprisingly, where Vol. 1 left off.
But unlike Vol.1, which only had 16 patches and was completely free of charge, Vol.2 is packed with 128 new sounds for your Take 5 that cover all instrument types and a multitude of genres and styles. Better still, the bank is reduced from $40 to $28 through the 4th of July, and if you place your order before July 1st, Cool Wav will offer you a free bonus product of your choice.
Visit the Cool Wav website to buy your copy now!
Surfaces for Arturia MiniFreak by A. Kav/LFO.Store
We mentioned small synths that sound bigger than they have any right to earlier when talking about the Oberheim TEO-5 and Sequential Take 5, and the Arturia MiniFreak is right up there with them. It sounds ‘mahoosive’ and with its small keys and diminutive stature, this is one deceptively good synth.
Then, just a couple of weeks ago, Arturia announced not only version 4 of the MiniFreak firmware, adding 16 band vocoding into the package, they also released a new hardware version with a bright white body and a new gooseneck mic with which to vocode your nights away.
‘Surfaces’ from A.Kav takes full advantage of all the new MiniFreak features and delivers 65 new presets that cover pads, textures, sequences and lots of vocoder FX. And if you own the software version of the MiniFreak, MiniFreak V, you can load these straight up to your computer too!
This bank is a real treat and simply reinforces the belief that ‘MiniFreak’ is, pound for pound, one of the best synths you can lay your hands on these days. Can we dare dream that a full size version might happen one day..?
Buy the ‘Surfaces’ presets for your Arturia MiniFreak here for just €15.
Memory Bank for Arturia MiniBrute V by Oblivion Sound Lab
We definitely seem to be focusing on small but mighty synths this week, and this one is no exception. Arturia threw us a curveball when they launched an emulation of one of their own hardware synths. And not just any old hardware synth. The hardware synth that many people attribute the resurgence of analog hardware synthesizers to!
Arturia’s MiniBrute was a gnarly little beast with that awesome Brute oscillator and Steiner filter. Who knew, back then, where that oscillator and filter would end up? Whilst the MiniBrute would spawn a number of versions and revisions, the original is still a favourite, which is why Arturia brought it back in software form.
Of course, they replicated the original but gave it much more besides, including polyphony, which, whilst not giving you a PolyBrute experience, certainly gets you a very unique, analog sound. Oblivion Sound Lab saw this ability and has exploited it fully with their ‘Memory Bank’ sound pack.
Using futuristic themes of abandoned technology, they’ve come up with 50 sounds that sound both old and new, making use of the MiniBrute V’s enhancements, such as aftertouch. It’s a top-quality bank of sounds that could only be improved by being compatible with the original hardware!
That, of course, is completely impossible, given its lack of memories, aftertouch and polyphony, but this is a must-have bank for MiniBrute V owners, make no mistake. Grab it here for just $10!
Cola Pop for Moog SUB37 by Dawnchaser/Kulshan Studios
Bringing up the rear this week is another great soundset from Kulshan Studios for the Moog Sub 37 and derivatives. What constitutes ‘pop’ these days is somewhat different to my interpretation, forged as it was, in the 70s and 80s, but that doesn’t mean to say I don’t like what I hear in this bank!
Kulshan Studios tells me that if you’re into the likes of Swift, Gaga, XCX, Caprenter et al, then these sounds will be right up your street. There are lots of plinky leads, smooth bass sounds, bright and hollow melody sounds and some slightly growly things inside!
Of course, all of these scream that Moog sound, and this is almost certainly why this synth is loved so much, both inside and outside of the ‘pop’ community. These sounds will work on the Sub 37 as well as the Subsequent 37/37 CV, which is nice!
You can grab ‘Cola’ for just $23, and if you’re quick, you can take advantage of their summer 2025 offer of 25% off by using the code SUMMER25.
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