Update: checkout the discount link on the right side of the blog.
If you are looking for a synth that can morph between subtractive, FM, wavetable, and addditive synthesis yet has a simple interface check out Gladiator by Tone2.
OVERVIEW:
Tone 2, the developers who created Vanguard, released Gladiator a few months back. I'd seen mention of it in magazines for a few months and finally took the time to download it and all I can saw is wow! The interface not only looks great but offers a nice metaphor for controlling the complexity under the hood (click the image above to see a larger view). The variety of sounds is huge and the sound is fantastic.
Gladiator is described by Tone2 as a Harmonic Content Morphing (HCM) synth. They explain this as a new synthesis method "based on a large and expandable repertoire of standard waves like pulse, unique synthetic waveforms as well as resynthesis waves like trumpets, organs, pianos and voice samples. These waves can be modified in real-time by e.g. FM modulation, altering its harmonic structure, syncing, waveshaping,… Any modification of a wave can be modulated producing lively shimmery sounds (recall: with only one oscillator!). In total there are more than 30,000 different spectra available for combination and modulation."
MY LIST OF TOP FEATURES:
1) Programmable Arpeggiator that lets you turn steps on, set pitch, slide to pitch. I really like this interface.
2) Step LFO. This is like the trancegate on Vanguard but has many more features.
3) A refreshingly straight-forward modulation routing scheme.
MORE TO COME:
According to Tone2's web site, there are going to continue to expand Gladiator in the future with additional sounds, wafeforms, resynthesis of custom content, custom sounds for the vocoder section, and add the ability to import of wav samples.
LINKS:
MP3 DEMOS:
Mark Mosher
www.markmoshermusic.com
www.modulatethis.com
Mark Mosher 
One response to “Tone2 Gladiator Synthesizer – A Great Interface Takes the Pain Out of Complex Synthesis”
Just an FYI – Tone2 has realeased Gladiator 2. More info here http://tone2.com/html/___gladiator_2.html.
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