Download Tag: Hybrid Synthesizer

Cobalt is a VSTi software synthesizer inspired by many of the digital synthesizers from the 1980s.

In the early 80s as digital technology became cheaper, many manufacturers designed synthesizers that combined earlier analog technology with newer digital technology. These were known as hybrid synthesizers. Well-known hybrid synthesizers are the Korg DW8000 and DW6000, the Ensoniq ESQ-1, and the Kawai K3.

In analog/digital hybrid synthesizers, the oscillators responsible for generating waveforms are digital while the filter section remains analog. This approach freed designers to use any kind of waveform; they were no longer restricted to traditional analog waveforms such as sawtooth, triangle, and pulse. However, by using an analog filter, these synthesizers retained the warmth earlier analog synthesizers were known for.

Though Cobalt is a purely digital synthesizer, its overall architecture is very much like those early hybrid synthesizers. It features a wide selection of waveforms, most of which were resynthesized from actual hybrid synthesizers, while providing traditional subtractive synthesis capabilities for sculpting its sound.

Key Features:

• GUI created by grymmjack.
• 26 waveforms – many of which were resynthesized from 80s hybrid synths.
• Flexible modulation routes.
• Apply PWM to any waveform.
• LFO delay.
• Polyphonic Portamento.
• Key tracked envelopes.
• Rich overdrive effect based on a custom algorithm.
• Stereo delay effect with MIDI synchable delay times.
• Easy to use.

http://www.lesliesanford.com/

Catalyst produces hybrid waveforms by taking two oscillators, applying half wave rectification then sticking the results together to form some unusual waveshapes. The focus of the synth is producing some interesting, dynamic waveforms. The concepts may not be that familiar, however the synth has been designed so that each control does something meaningful and useful. There is an in depth manual on the developer’s site explaining what’s going on ‘under the hood’ and 64 presets to get you started.

The synth has been featured in Computer Music Magazine: “Different is good and Catalyst is nothing if not different.”.

Update, June 2013: The calibration of the control linking the envelope to the filter cutoff has been modified to yield a deeper envelope to cutoff modulation.

The short sound demo is created entirely with Catalyst. No external effects used, just a little mix compression.

http://www.brokengadget.org

BR808 is a synthesizer plug-in for Windows, programmed by Benjamin “BeRo” Rosseaux.

Features:

• 8 oscillators, ADSRs, free-drawn envelopes, LFOs, voice+channel filters & distortion per instrument.
• Waveforms: Sine, Triangle, Parabola, Pulse, Sawtooth Up, Sawtooth Down, SawTri, White Noise, Pink Noise, Gray Noise, Brown Noise, Blue Noise, Clip Noise, Gaussian Noise, Band-limited Triangle, Band-limited Parabola, Band-limited Pulse, Band-limited Sawtooth Up, Band-limited Sawtooth Down, Plucked String, SuperOsc, Sample.
• Modes: Phase Modulation, Ring Modulation, Amplitude Modulation, Additive, Subtractive, Frequency Modulation, Phase Mul Modulation, Frequency Mul Modulation.
• Hard-sync, transpose, fine-tune, color, feedback and a lot of other very flexible settings.
• Effects include Stereo delay, Stereo chorus/flanger, Reverb, Compressor.
• Extensive modulation matrix.
• Sample exact modulations (the main reason why BR808 may use slightly more CPU time than other comparable synths).
• Sample support.
• Speech synthesizer.
• PADsynth algorithm.
• Custom LFO waveforms per sample.
• 10-band equalizer.
• Multiple instances.
• Optional internal 1x, 2x, 4x, 8x and 16x oversampling (1x=off).
• Almost everything is automatable with MIDI CC through the modulation matrix.
• Multi-threaded on multi-core systems, uses SSE (when available).
• Self-playing-EXE exporter.

http://audio.rosseauxnet.de/

BR404 is a synthesizer plug-in for Windows, programmed by Benjamin “BeRo” Rosseaux.

Features:

• Many different oscillator waveforms and filters.
• ADSR and freeform envelopes.
• Extensive modulation matrix.
• Sample exact modulations (the main reason why BR404 may use slightly more CPU time than other comparable synths).
• Sample support.
• Speech synthesizer.
• PADsynth algorithm.
• Custom LFO waveforms per sample.
• 10-band equalizer, Winamp compatible parameter presets.
• Multiple instances.
• Export song as win32 executable.
• Own file format (bmf2wav converter included).
• Replay plugin for Winamp (and compatibles).
• SDK for Delphi 5/7, FreePascal 2.x and MSVC / MSVC COFF library file format compatible products included.
• and more…

http://audio.rosseauxnet.de/

Bass One is an easy to use 3-oscillator bass synthesizer

http://www.dazesounds.com/

Astralis Orgone is a “Dual Sample” based Synthesizer. It is the next generation of the Astralis Range and is highly optimized with great improvements in CPU use and especially load times. It is a rounded synth capable of sounds ranging from Trance Style Rhythms to Hard Leads and excels at Pads, Atmospheres and FX. Great care has been taken into developing a logical layout and many useful control features, such as double click resets and CTRL fine control adjustments. It comes with 128 presets and 150 samples, though you can add your own samples very easily.

Astralis Orgone Lite is the free version of Astralis Orgone with a reduced feature set. It is free, fully functional and a feature packed synth in its own right. It includes 128 presets and the diversity of sound created from 25 samples demonstrates the power of the Astralis System. Great for creating atmospheric Pads/Ambience/FX as well as Trancegate, Modulated and Arpeggiated Rhythms. The synth is free to use but donations are always appreciated to support future developments. More details here.

Astralis Orgone Main Features:

• 2 Independent Synthesizer sections, each having:
  • A Sampler which uses 16/24/32bit WAVS.
  • 150 wavs included.
  • Filter with Low Pass, Hi Pass, Notch, Band Pass, Peak A and Peak B modes cascadable up to 8 times.
  • Volume, Pan, Octave, Semi and Fine Tune controls.
  • Auto Leveling Drive.
  • White Noise.
  • FX Send.
  • Lofi.
  • Normalize.
  • Velocity Sensitivity.
  • GUI Volume Envelope with up to 32 stages and repeating range.
  • Zone – Limit to a range of the keyboard.
  • Pitch Bend Enable.
  • Microtuner Enable.
  • Glide.
  • Filter Range Limit.
  • Sample Reverse.
  • Sample Loop Alternate Mode.
  • Sample Loop Zero Crossing.
  • GUI Wave Display and Overlay for visually editing Loop Points and Start Position.
  • Unique Bank System for handling samples – Emulates a hardware Synth with Bank dropdown menu and a dropdown to select the sample from this bank. banks are simply folders of WAVs in the user selectable sample store location. Creating a bank is simply a case of creating a folder and putting some samples inside.
• Refresh Files
  • Rescans the hard drive to find newly added files without restarting the Synth.
• Polyphonic Gate Sequencer / Trancegate
  • 32 Note Sequencer with GUI buttons.
  • 4 Modes – Forward, Reverse, Random and Alternate.
  • Polarity mode for Synth 2’s gate can play All Off Notes, or First Off Note following an On Note.
  • Shift pattern left Right.
  • Flip Pattern.
• Modulation Matrix:
  • 12 Possible Sources that can be mapped to 5 destinations from a choice of 31.
• Gapper
  • Up to 32 Step sequencer to control the Gapper Pattern.
  • 4 Modes – Forward, Reverse, Random and Alternate.
  • Release Time.
  • Pulse Width.
  • Attack Time.
  • Mix Level.
  • Shift pattern left or Right.
  • Flip Pattern.
• Low Frequency Oscillator
  • 17 waveforms used through the Modulation Matrix.
  • BPM or Free Mode.
• Fully Featured Arpeggiator/ Note Sequencer:
  • 17 Different Modes (more to come).
  • Latch Mode.
  • Pulse Width.
  • Note Sequencer Mode with up to 32 steps.
  • Note Enabler for skipping steps in any ARP Mode.
  • Range – Limit to a section of the Keyboard.
• FX section:
  • Parallel Routing Mode and all possible combinations of chained effects (127 modes).
  • Reverb.
  • Echo.
  • Ring Modulator.
  • Stereo BPM/Freeform Delay.
  • Flanger.
  • LFO based Filter with Low Pass, Hi Pass, Notch, Band Pass, Peak A and Peak B modes.
  • Organic – Unique Delay Based effect.
  • Compressor.
  • 8 Band Graphic Equalizer.
• Polyphonic BPM based Modulation Sequencer:
  • Can be used via the Modulation Matrix.
  • Has direct Pitch sends to each synth with many modes plus ability to send through the current Microtuner Patch.
  • Keyboard Range – can be limited to a section of the Keyboard.
  • Smooth Mode for creating legato or using as a virtual LFO.
  • Secondary Raw Output via the Modulation Matrix.
  • Shift pattern left or Right.
  • Flip Pattern.
  • GUI Slider Bars lockable to notes depending on selected mode.
• Monophonic Modulation Sequencer:
  • As above but mono and without the Pitch Sends.
• 32 Stage General Purpose Envelope
  • Used via the Modulation Matrix.
• Spread:
  • Automatic Stereo randomization, switchable per Synth.
• 4 Octave Preview Keyboard:
  • Can use Sticky Keys for easy hands free editing of patches.
  • Can behave as a normal Keyboard.
  • Animates all incoming MIDI data.
  • Scroll Mode can be switched off in which case mouse left/right operates pitch bend, up/down the Mod Wheel.
  • MIDI Reset (Panic).
  • MIDI Retrigger – Retriggers any incoming MIDI notes.
• Sophisticated Randomization System:
  • A single Random Button is used to randomize all sections selected in the Randomization mixer.
  • 30 Sections are selectable.
  • FX has its own Randomize Button, will randomize only the selected Effects.
  • Randomization has been carefully limited to the most useful setting to ensure more chance of a usable patch.
  • Every control has its own min/max set to ensure a useful outcome.
  • Additionally Local Randomizers are everywhere throughout the synth for each section.
• Microtonal Tuner:
  • Directly uses Scala Files.
  • Uses the same bank/patch system as the Sample System, folders can simply be added to the user selected MT Patch location.
  • Up to 127 Note Scales supported.
  • Does not use MIDI to retune like many other systems which means that Pitch Bend can be used with MT patches.
  • Octave Stretch for Acoustic Instrument Simulation.
  • Root Offset Tuning.
  • Hz Based Tuning.
  • Has 4 Note Layout Modes to provide flexibility on how patches are used.
  • Unused notes switchable between last note or Octave note.
  • Switchable per Synth so for example Pythagorean tuning can be overlaid on the Equal Temperament for a harmonically interesting sound.
• Default Settings:
  • Most controls have an in built default setting, generally double clicking will reset to this value.
  • Also each section has a Default Button.
  • There is a Master Default Button which will set Most setting to the default patch. as a simple starting point.
• Information Display:
  • All controls display their current value when manually tweaked, usually in percentages.

http://www.hgsounds.com/