KAWAII DREAMS FROM MARS

15 Dreamy Patches from Our Favorite Kawaii Keyboards

After a recent deep dive into early rave records, I went down a rabbit hole to find out what synths were responsible for the sounds that made the music so special. So we grabbed a handful of vintage Kawaii synths and fell in love with the K3 (1986), K1 (1988), and GB-2 A.K.A. Session Trainer (1991).

These wavetable synths have an inherent harmonic distortion from the era's conversion technology that give them a ton of character not possible from analog oscillators (and not captured on the recent plugins that have surfaced). So we sampled a mix of era-defining preset patches and custom patches. These sounds are cinematic, nostalgic, and orchestral... but above all, dreamy! 

The Competition

Last year we ran a competition to see who could produce the best track with our MPC Snacks From Mars drum pack. We were not only blown away by the quality of the submissions but by the sense of community the contest instilled. So, a year later, we ran another contest - but this time with a free synth pack!

We asked you to create an original composition using only Kawaii Dreams for non =-drum sounds. With over 130 submissions, we were ecstatic about the results. Hearing how everybody used these sounds, seeing how our brand was incorporated into track titles and artwork, and above all else, the sheer musicality and originality of the submissions was inspiring, and, FUN. 

So, without further ado, here are the winners! 

And here was our example submission:

What You Get

On top of 15 extensively multi-sampled, iconic patches, you'll get thoughtfully designed presets for Ableton, Kontakt, Logic EXS24, Reason, FL Studio, & SFZ to help you dream the sweetest of Kawaii Dreams ✨.