Sauceware Scorch 2 – Sample Synth & MIDI Sequencer, 67% Off

Preset browsers are where momentum goes to die: hundreds of sounds, each auditioned for two seconds, none of them quite becoming a melody. Scorch 2 attacks the problem from the instrument side. Sauceware rebuilt the plugin completely for this version — a new sound engine, two sampler engines, deep modulation, built-in effects and an integrated MIDI sequencer — and then put a Chaos Knob in the middle of it that can turn any starting sound into a track idea. The Deal Board numbers make it better: $49.99 against a $150 list price, a 67% saving on an instrument that behaves like three products in one. This listing is the Rosetta build for Apple Silicon machines.

A Completely Rebuilt Engine

Scorch 2 is not a reskin of the original. The new engine combines recordings of live instruments with analog-inspired sounds and folds in the entire Scorch 1 sound library, so owners of the first version lose nothing and new buyers inherit two generations of material. Two sampler engines give you layering and shaping power that single-engine instruments cannot match, and the factory content ships at 475+ presets — melodies, basses, atmospheric textures and experimental sounds all ready to be bent out of shape. Because the content is sample-based, the character is immediate: these are recorded, textured starting points rather than bare waveforms waiting for a effects chain to make them interesting.

The Chaos Knob and the Three Macros

The signature control earns its name. One twist of the Chaos Knob transforms pitch, modulation and sonic character simultaneously, so a polite preset can come back wearing a completely different personality — and because the changes move together musically, the results are usable far more often than randomisation has any right to be. Underneath it, three performance macros keep the expressive controls one grab away: Bite pushes aggression and edge, Space opens up depth and dimension, and Motion introduces movement. The workflow this creates is fast in a specific way: find a preset in the right neighbourhood, twist Chaos until it surprises you, then ride the macros while the part records. Sound design stops being a separate session and becomes part of writing.

A Sequencer Inside the Instrument

Scorch 2 does not stop at sound — it helps you start the song. The integrated MIDI sequencer runs dedicated Chord, Melody and Bass channels, so harmonic movement, a lead line and a low-end pattern can be sketched from inside the plugin that is making the noise. For beatmakers, that collapses the usual loop of generating an idea, exporting it, routing it and losing the thread. The built-in effects section completes the sketching environment with Reverb, Delay, Distortion, Chorus and Tape processing, enough to present any idea at near-finished quality before it ever leaves the instrument.

Depth When You Want It, Speed When You Don’t

Beneath the performance surface sits deep modulation for the days when you do want to build sounds properly, and extensive sound-shaping controls across both engines. That dual personality is the real design achievement here: Scorch 2 is a fast idea machine on the surface and a legitimate sound-design environment underneath, and it never forces you to choose which one you are using today. It runs as VST3 and AU on macOS and Windows, and you do not need to own Scorch 1 — its library is already inside.

The Deal Board Verdict

Price the components separately in your head: a 475-preset sample instrument, a second generation of library content, a three-channel MIDI sequencer and a five-effect processing suite. Sold as one rebuilt plugin at $150 it is fairly priced; at $49.99 it is priced like a preset pack while delivering an instrument, a writing tool and an effects rack. Producers who write modern melodies and basslines for a living — and producers who keep stalling before the melody exists — are both the audience. Sixty-seven percent off is the kind of number that does not need a hard sell, so here is the soft one: this is the most creative surface area per dollar in this batch.