UJAM and the Bob Moog Foundation have teamed up to release a plugin that recreates the sound of the Polymoog's Vox Humana preset, a sound made famous by Gary Numan's 1979 hit Cars.
Vox Humana features sounds directly sampled from the Polymoog 280A by musician and YouTuber Alex Ball. Once recorded, a virtual instrument was designed around the samples and based on UJAM's proprietary Gorilla Engine.
The plugin has four timbral settings - Original, Bright, Hollow and Octaves - that offer subtle variations on the original sound. Attack and Decay sliders provide envelope control for dynamic shaping, while a trio of built-in effects that includes chorus, phaser and delay yield additional character and modulation.
The first preset on the Polymoog 280A, Vox Humana features prominently in Gary Numan's Cars. "The Vox Humana sound that plays the lingering high string part was the reason I bought a Polymoog," Numan told Synth History in 2020.
"I loved that sound. The reason that first high note lingers for so long on the song is because I hit that note first when I was trying to come up with a part for the the intro and couldn’t think where else to go with it.
"So I just held it for way too long before finding the descending line that followed, and it worked, so that long held note became a key part of the song."
All proceeds from the Vox Humana plugin will be donated to the Bob Moog Foundation to support its work in science education and the preservation of Bob Moog's legacy.
Priced at £18/$19/€22, Vox Humana is available for macOS and Windows in VST/VST3/AU/AAX formats. Find out more on UJAM's website.
Watch a video from Alex Ball on the Polymoog below.
