The twist is not the controls, because it uses faders. The big twist for me is that this is FM with a high dose of analog, which makes this synthesizer fairly unique and great sounding.
I always thought that I would be comparing the Twistfm to the Kodamo Essencefm, but this is not the case. They are so different in many ways, both in operation which is obvious to the eye, but also in sound. For me, the Kodamo has a more digital sound, and therefore sounds more like traditional FM. The Kodamo initially sounds softer, while the Twist sounds much wilder. While this is not a Kodamo review; I would say getting more sounds out of the Essencefm is much more immediate, but for more gnarly sounds; Twistfm definitely rules. Both synths provide amazing tools for sound design.
Overall, I give the Twist 5-stars, also considering the mainly ease of operation. The many sliders and functions make the Twist quite intuitive. It also comes with some great sounding presets. I didn't count but it has got to be close to 100.
The one negative for me is having to hold the menu button down while adjusting volume for each operator/oscillator. While this is also required for other operations; the volume adjustments especially did not feel as comfortable than I would have desired.
Overall, the Twistfm is well worth investigating, especially if you are looking for both tame and very wild sounds. I would absolutely suggest researching it with the kodamo Essencefm, as they are both very different, but have the capability to produce fantastic sounds.
It's a difficult choice to choose between two excellent synthesizers, but I gotta say; I am not sure that any synth (ever made) sounds as good or big as 16 performance slots using 300 voices.
