Synthwave Dimensions sits in the same bracket as Kilohearts’ own in-house packs like Galactic Future Bass, and at first glance the pitch is identical: pre-built Phase Plant patches, retro-inspired sounds, minimal setup. We tested both head-to-head. Synthwave Dimensions wins on genre specificity. It loses on depth and variety. If your sessions already live in the 80s and you need production-ready sounds fast, this pack earns its keep. If you want range, keep reading before you spend anything.
This is a Plugin Boutique preset pack built for Kilohearts Phase Plant. It targets synthwave, chillwave, and vaporwave producers who want to skip the patch-building session and get straight to arrangement.
How It Compares Out of the Box
Against Galactic Future Bass, the first difference you notice is the tonal character. Galactic leans brighter and more aggressive. Synthwave Dimensions sits darker and more filtered, with a stronger emphasis on vintage detuning and chorus-heavy pads.
Against Drum & Bass Phenomenon, there’s no useful comparison. Different genre entirely.
The 64 presets break down as 21 Leads, 12 Pads & Strings, 10 Basses, 8 Keys, 4 Bells, 4 Plucks, 2 Brass, and 3 FX. That’s a sensible spread for the genre. The lead-heavy weighting makes sense. Synthwave is a melody-forward genre and you’ll use those 21 leads constantly. The 2 Brass patches feel undercooked, though. You get them, you appreciate the gesture, and then you move on.
Performance Deep Dive
Every patch ships with at least 5 macro controls. That’s the spec. In practice, most patches we opened had 6 or 7 macros assigned, covering filter cutoff, reverb depth, chorus width, envelope attack, and vibrato rate as the most common slots.
We loaded the lead patch “Neon Horizon” and mapped Macro 1 to a hardware controller. Sweeping the filter from around 800Hz down to 200Hz with a touch of resonance dialled in gave us exactly the slow-close filter movement that defines the genre. No patching. No modulation routing. It was already done.
The synthesis techniques are varied. Traditional oscillators with detuning and unison cover the pad and lead work. Wavetable oscillators handle the more textured, evolving sounds, and you’ll spot FM synthesis underneath several of the harder bass patches. We pulled up one of the 10 bass presets, “Grid Runner,” and found two FM operators stacked under a wavetable layer with a tight envelope. The low-end sits around 60-80Hz with strong upper harmonics at roughly 240Hz and 480Hz, which means it cuts through without needing a boost.
Phase Plant’s CPU load is not this pack’s fault or feature. The presets themselves run lean. Complex patches with multiple generators hit medium CPU. Simple leads barely register.
Where It Wins
The production-ready argument is real. We dropped “Glass Memories,” one of the pad patches, into a session with a drum machine and a bass line already running. It sat in the mix without a single EQ move. The high-frequency content tapers off naturally above 8kHz, leaving space for cymbals. The stereo width is wide but not phase-problematic. That’s clever patch design, not accident.
The macro setup is the other genuine win. Five macros minimum per patch means you can automate meaningful variation across an arrangement without opening the synth UI once. For a live performance or a fast writing session, that matters. Galactic Future Bass has fewer pre-assigned macros on average. We checked. Synthwave Dimensions wins that comparison cleanly.
The intro price of around $13 USD is also hard to argue with. Even at the regular price of $19 USD, if 10 of these 64 patches end up in your regular rotation, the math works.
Where the Competition Wins
Galactic Future Bass ships with more patches per dollar when you catch it on sale. It also has stronger community documentation. People have published tutorials, resampling chains, and macro maps for it. Synthwave Dimensions has none of that yet. No user ratings. No producer walkthroughs. No confirmed placements in released tracks. That’s not a death sentence for the pack, but it’s a real gap if you like to learn from how others use a tool.
The 64-preset ceiling is also frustrating compared to some competitors that push 100 or more patches at the same price point. We wish Plugin Boutique had pushed this to 80. The category gaps show. Three FX patches and two Brass patches aren’t enough to rely on for a full production.
Expressive E’s MPE presets for Phase Plant exist in a different tier entirely, but if you have an MPE controller, those packs offer a level of expressiveness Synthwave Dimensions simply wasn’t designed to touch.
Who Should Buy Which
✅ Buy if you produce synthwave, chillwave, or
vaporwave and need a working sound library today.
✅ Buy if you want pre-configured macro mappings and don’t want to spend an afternoon on modulation routing.
✅ Buy if you catch it at the intro price of around $13 USD. At that level, the risk is low.
❌ Skip if you want a diverse, genre-spanning Phase Plant library. This pack does one aesthetic and only that one.
❌ Skip if you’re on an older Phase Plant version you can’t update right now. Compatibility isn’t negotiable here.
❌ Skip if you expect community support, tutorials, or producer testimonials to guide your workflow. None exist yet.
Score Breakdown
| Category | Score | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| Sound Quality | 3.8/5 | Patches are polished and sit in the mix well, though a few feel generic |
| Value for Money | 4.0/5 | Intro pricing is hard to beat; regular price is still reasonable for the genre focus |
| Ease of Use | 4.3/5 | Pre-configured macros and effects mean minimal setup time |
| Features | 3.0/5 | 64 presets is thin; FX and Brass categories are underserved |
| CPU Efficiency | 4.0/5 | Pack itself doesn't add overhead beyond what Phase Plant normally draws |
| Overall | 3.8/5 | Solid genre tool at the right price; not a complete library |
Alternatives to Consider
If Synthwave Dimensions’ 64-preset limit leaves you wanting more range, here are three places to look.
Kilohearts Phase Plant Review covers the synth itself in detail, and the Kilohearts preset store is worth checking for in-house packs that ship with deeper documentation and broader sound palettes.
Kilohearts’ Galactic Future Bass pack overlaps in aesthetic territory, leans brighter in tone, and has more community documentation. If you produce future bass alongside synthwave, it’s the stronger all-rounder. Check the manufacturer’s site for current pricing.
Best Phase Plant Expansion Packs runs through the full field if you want to compare preset counts and price-per-patch before committing.
For producers who want to go deeper on the synthesis side rather than loading presets, Best Wavetable Synth Plugins covers alternatives where you build the sounds yourself.
The Verdict
At $13 USD intro, Synthwave Dimensions is a satisfying, low-risk entry into a specific aesthetic. The patches are production-ready. The macro work is genuinely useful. “Glass Memories” alone is worth keeping in a template session.
But it’s a specialist tool. It does synthwave, chillwave, and vaporwave. That’s it. If your work lives there, it earns a place in your library. If you produce across genres and need one Phase Plant pack to cover everything, skip this and look at wider palettes first.
The one annoying reality: 64 presets at a regular price of $19 USD is tight. Other packs give you more patches per dollar. Catch it at intro pricing and the value argument snaps into place. At full price, you’re paying for curation. Decide if that’s worth it for your workflow.
Frequently Asked Questions
Do I need a specific version of Phase Plant to use Synthwave Dimensions?
Yes. The pack requires the latest version of Kilohearts Phase Plant. Older installs won't load the presets correctly, and there's no documented workaround. If you haven't updated Phase Plant recently, do that before purchasing.
How many macro controls do the presets include?
Every patch ships with at least 5 macro controls pre-assigned. Most we opened had 6 or 7, covering filter cutoff, reverb depth, chorus width, and envelope controls as the most common assignments. That's enough to automate meaningful variation across an arrangement without opening the synth UI.
Is Synthwave Dimensions worth buying at full price compared to the intro price?
At $13 USD intro it's a straightforward yes for synthwave producers. At $19 USD regular, it's closer. The 64-preset count starts to feel light against competitors at that price point, so we'd wait for a sale or catch it at intro if you can. Check Plugin Boutique for current pricing.
How does Synthwave Dimensions compare to Kilohearts' own in-house packs?
Galactic Future Bass is the most direct comparison. Galactic runs brighter and has stronger community documentation with tutorials and macro maps published by users. Synthwave Dimensions wins on genre-specific depth for the 80s/90s retro aesthetic and has better pre-configured macro assignments on average. If you produce strictly synthwave, Synthwave Dimensions is the sharper tool. If you want range, Galactic covers more ground.