OSC 73: Synthmaster

Three Options:

This month, we wanted to give back to all you long time OSCers and also give back to KV331 Audio for being an awesome sponsor. A lot of you have been itching to use Synthmaster, so you may finally use it! If you do not have Synthmaster, here is the 'special' twist this month: If you've entered in THREE or more OSCs in the past, and you definitely are going to enter this month, you may have a copy of Synthmaster Player FULL version (800+ sounds**). If you're not sure and want to try it out, or have done less than three OSCs, you may use Synthmaster Player Free (200 sounds**). So if you're serious about getting Player Full send me a PM with your name and email, and I'll get you sorted out. 

#1 Download Synthmaster Player Free (200 patches): Here

#2 If you are serious about entering the challenge, and you've been in 3 or more OSCs in the past, contact bjporter (with your email and full name), and he'll set you up for Synthmaster Player FULL. (It offers 600 more sound than the free one).

#3 Use Synthmaster or Buy it Here

 (Synthmaster CM is not an option this month)

Features:

SynthMaster is an 'all-around' semi-modular software synthesizer and effect plug-in that features many different synthesis methods including VA, Additive, Wavetable, Wavescanning, Phase Modulation, Frequency Modulation, Pulse Width Modulation, Ring Modulation, Amplitude Modulation, Physical Modeling and SFZ Sample Playback synthesis. With its multi-synthesis oscillators, analog modelled/digital filters, flexible effects routing with 11 types of high quality effects and a massive modulation architecture with 95 separate modulation sources and 650+ modulation targets; SynthMaster is a 'must-have' for all synthesizer enthusiasts!

Specs:

• • Cross-platform VST, AU and AAX: SynthMaster runs as a VST and AAX instrument on both Windows and Mac OSX, and as an Audio Unit instrument on Mac OSX.

  • 800 Factory Presets: SynthMaster comes with 800 new factory presets from a world class team of sound designers: BigTone, Michael Kastrup, Rob Lee, Umit 'Insigna' Uy, Ufuk Kevser, Aiyn Zahev, Frank 'Xenox' Neumann, Teoman Pasinlioglu, Nori Ubukata and Brian 'Xenos' Lee.

  • Semi-Modular Architecture: For each SynthMaster instance, there are 2 layers followed by 2 global effect send busses. Each layer has its own: Arpeggiator, 2 Oscillators, 4 Modulators, 2 Filters, 4 ADSR Envelopes, 2 Multistage Envelopes, 2 2D Envelopes, 2 LFOs and 4 Keyscalers. The modulators can modulate frequency, phase, amplitude or pulse width of the oscillators or any other modulators at audio rate.

  • Massive Modulation Architecture: SynthMaster has more than 650 modulation targets and 95 modulation sources including ADSR Envelopes, 2D Envelopes, Multistage Envelopes, LFOs, KeyScalers, Easy Parameters, Vocoder Bands, MIDI Velocity, Aftertouch, Pitch Bend and MIDI CC. Each modulation target can have up to 3 modulation sources. The modulation matrix, which has 64 available slots, has visual filtering as well so that targets for a specific source, or sources for a specific target can be filtered and shown on the user interface.

  • Easy Parameters: SynthMaster features 8 easy knobs and 2 XY pads that can be freely assigned as modulation sources, so that the complexity of the synth engine could be hidden away and only most important parameters of a preset can be controlled by the user. The easy parameters can be globally linked to MIDI controllers, and they can be assigned automatically by SynthMaster as well.

  • Powerful Arpeggiator: The arpeggiator in SynthMaster features classic arpeggiator modes such as Up, Down, UpDown, DownUp, UpDown2, DownUp2, AsPlayed as well as Sequence, Chord and Arpeggiate modes. Each of the 32 steps of the arpeggiator has its own Velocity, Note Number, Note Length, Slide and Hold parameters.

  • Basic Oscillators: 'Basic' oscillators in SynthMaster are capable of synthesizing many different types of waveforms: Sine, Square, Triangle, Sawtooth, Pulse, Noise, Wavetable and multisampled WAV/AIFFs defined in SFZ files.

  • Additive Oscillators: An 'Additive' oscillator is actualy 8 'basic' oscillators running together. Each 'basic' oscillator has its own detune, tone, phase/pulse width, frequency and waveform type.

  • Vector Oscillators: A 'Vector' oscillator consists of 4 'basic' oscillators, mixed at different ratios. The mix ratios are determined by 2 orthogonal parameters in 2 dimensions: 'X Index' and 'Y index'.

  • Wavescanning Oscillators: A 'Wavescanning' oscillator is similar to basic oscillator, except that the waveform can be scanned (interpolated) through 16 different waveforms shapes. The position of the waveform can be adjusted using the 'wave index' parameter.

  • Stereo Oscillators with Improved Unison: Oscillators in SynthMaster have stereo output. With the new "voices", "pan spread" and "detune spread" parameters, each basic/wavescanning oscillator can have its own unison settings which eliminates the need to enable unison for all voice elements.

  • Analog Filters: The 'analog' filters are modelled after the famous ladder filter, so they self oscillate when the filter resonance is maxed out. They have continuosly variable slope, which is unique to SynthMaster.

  • Digital Filters: The 'digital' filters are biquad filters with a hard limiter in their output. The limiter features an envelope follower with attack, release and threshold parameters.

  • Multimode Filters: With the new 'multimode' filter type, it is possible to switch from Lowpass to Bandpass to Highpass filter types continuously. For analog multimode filters, it is also possible to change the slope of the filter continously from 0 db/oct to 24 db/oct.

  • Dual Filters: With the new 'dual' filter type, two multimode filters can be run simultaneously, either in parallel, or in series. The mix ratios between the filters, and the topology (parallel/series) between them can be changed continuosly, as well as the modes and cutoff frequencies of the filters.

  • Comb Filters: Comb filters are digital filters used in physical modeling synthesis.

  • Before/Inside/After Filter Distortion: A distortion stage can be inserted before, after, or even inside the filters. For analog filters, the distortion is applied for each of the 4 filter stages in 'inside' mode.

  • Rich Set of Effects: SynthMaster features 11 different effect types: Distortion, LoFi, Ensemble, Phaser, 6 Band EQ, Compressor, Vocoder, Delay, Chorus, Tremolo, Reverb.

  • Flexible Effects Routing: Each of the 11 effect types can be inserted on any layer insert or on any of the 2 global effect bus inserts.

  • Microtuning: SynthMaster supports Scala tuning, so tuning can be set either for each preset or globally by loading from a Scala tuning file.

  • Preset Browser: SynthMaster features a comprehensive preset browser with separate search criterias for instrument type, preset attributes, music style or preset author.

  • Online Preset Browser: Registered users can upload their presets to the online preset library, or browse and download presets created by other registered users; using the preset browser right inside the plug-in window.

  • Multiple Skins: SynthMaster comes with 3 different skins in different color variations. Using the included user interface editor, users can not only customize the existing skins but also can create their own custom interfaces as well.

  • Importing MIDI patterns as Arpeggiator Sequence: Monophonic or even polyphonic (chord) MIDI patterns can be imported into the arpeggiators in SynthMaster by just drag and drop of the MIDI file onto the arpeggiator view on the plugin window.

  • Importing WAV/AIFF Multisamples as SFZ definitions: Multisamples in WAV/AIFF formats could be imported into SynthMaster as SFZ definitions, by simply drag and drop of the WAV/AIFF files onto the oscillator waveform view on the plugin window.

Synthmaster

Synthmaster Player:

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