Native Instruments Super*Saw: A. G. Cook’s Signature Supersaw Sound Finally Becomes Its Own Synth
NI's First New Software Synth in Years, Built With the Charli xcx Producer Himself
Native Instruments Super*Saw: A. G. Cook's Signature Supersaw Sound Finally Becomes Its Own Synth · Source: Native Instruments
Native Instruments just released Super*Saw (pronounced “Super Star Saw”), a synth built together with A. G. Cook, the PC Music founder, BRIT Producer of the Year, and the guy behind the sound of Charli xcx, Beyoncé, Caroline Polachek, and Oklou. Super*Saw costs €99 and brings Cook’s elaborately layered signature supersaw sound design straight into your DAW as a playable instrument.
Native Instruments Super*Saw: Everything on the New Synth Made With A. G. Cook
The Supersaw Sound: From Painstaking Multi-Instance Layering to Its Own Instrument
A supersaw is built from multiple sawtooth waves, slightly detuned against each other, delivering exactly the kind of wide, dense, harmonically rich texture that’s become one of the defining sounds in modern pop through Cook’s work with Charli xcx, Beyoncé, Caroline Polachek, and Oklou. Until now, though, getting there meant painstakingly stacking multiple plugin instances, a process Cook spent years refining in his own production work.
That exact workflow became the starting point for Super*Saw. The instrument grew out of a two-year collaboration between Cook and Native Instruments’ design team, who worked directly from his patches and production sessions to make one of modern pop’s most coveted sounds actually playable. Two years for a synth is a serious development timeline for a plugin like this. It should probably pay off.
Two 16-Saw Oscillator Banks and the X/Y Morpher
At the core of Super*Saw sit two independent oscillator banks, each packing 16 sawtooth waves. A 4-corner X/Y Morpher lets you set four distinct patch states and continuously interpolate between them. What would otherwise require extensive automation becomes a single performance gesture here, an interesting approach for live use and sound design alike.
Musical tools like chord, scale, and quantize keep things harmonically grounded, while controlled deviation from the grid still allows for intentional dissonance. Per-voice glide and offset controls handle the liquid smears and stereo motion that sit at the center of Cook’s sound design approach.
Presets, Effects, and Komplete Kontrol Integration
Super*Saw ships with a wide preset library covering everything from blissed-out harmonies to metallic dissonance, ravey leads, and impossibly smooth glides. Built-in chorus, delay, and reverb sit alongside low-pass, band-pass, and high-pass filters with 2-pole and 4-pole slopes. Mono/poly switching covers leads, basses, stacks, and chords without forcing you to hop between plugins. The instrument also integrates with Komplete Kontrol keyboards and Maschine. Logo and morpher design work come from Simon Whybray, Cook’s longtime visual collaborator.
Why This Release Matters Right Now
For Native Instruments, Super*Saw is more than just another plugin. Plenty of users have spent the last few years pointing out that not much has happened on the software side at NI, outside of ongoing work on Kontakt and Maschine. A genuinely new software synth was overdue.
The release also lands shortly after another major piece of Native Instruments news: the acquisition by inMusic, the parent company behind Akai Professional, Moog Music, and Denon DJ, which finally closed out the Berlin company’s long bankruptcy process. A brand-new, elaborately produced instrument built with one of pop music’s most in-demand producers is a pretty clear signal of where Native Instruments wants to head under its new ownership.
Bottom Line
A genuine new software synth from Native Instruments, built with someone who actually shaped the sound instead of just lending his name to it, is exactly the kind of release plenty of NI users have been asking for. The X/Y Morpher and the musical constraint tools turn a fairly simple concept into an instrument with real performance potential. For anyone who loves the supersaw sound, this is shaping up to be one of the more exciting releases of the year.
Price and Availability
Native Instruments Super*Saw costs €99 and is available now here at Thomann*.
More Information
- Native Instruments Super*Saw product page
- inMusic Acquires Native Instruments: The Background
- More News on Native Instruments
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