Sonic Charge Releases Microtonic v3.1

Sonic Charge has released version 3.1 of their Microtonic drum synth, a free update to registered users. The new version adds a new, cleaner GUI, 64-bit compatibility, new MIDI controlling possibilities,  a new online registration tool called Authenticator, and more.

Free Sample Friday: Microtonic Tape Drums

Today's free sample selection consists of synth drum sounds produced in Sonic Charge's Microtonic drum synth recorded to cassette on a cheap home stereo with hot levels to overdrive it, then edited and EQed in Apple Soundtrack.  40 sounds in all as 24-bit/44.1k WAV samples.  Enjoy! About 5.25 MB.

GO GET THEM!

Review: Sonic Charge Pemut8

Product: Permut 8
Developer: Sonic Charge
Format: Windows (VST), Mac (VST & AU)
Demo: Audio demos on product page.  Downloadable 3-week trial version.
Price: $66

Sometimes a plug-in comes along where mere audio or video demos really aren't enough.  Sure, you can get a general idea of the sound of an instrument or plug-in, but with some plug-ins, it's as much about the process as it is the end results.  Sonic Charge's latest release, Pemut8, is a perfect example of this kind of plug-in.  More on that later.

WHAT IS IT?
That's a good question.  It's hard to describe Permut8 without using vague terms like "audio destroyer" or "glitch machine", but those don't really do it justice.  The reason is, although there may be tons of glitch and buffer effects out there, no one has quite done it in the same way Sonic Charge has with Permut8.  Permut8 was inspired by the lofi tastiness of 12-bit digital devices from the 80's.  It's based around a 12-bit digital delay with a variable sample rate from 0 to 352k.  That doesn't sound all that impressive on its own, but what makes Permut8 different is it allows you to switch on and off different "operators"in the modeled processor that further effect the sound.  Depending on the operation you carry out, you can get reverse effects, beat repeater/buffer effects, comb filtering,  flanging, bitcrushing, and more.  Add to this filter, saturation, feedback and other effects to apply to the signal as a whole and you have some serious sound-mangling firepower under the hood here.

INSTALLATION
When you purchase Permut8, you simply select "REGISTER" from the pulldown menu at the top of the interface and enter the serial number you received.  Easy.

DOCUMENTATION
Permut8 has very basic documentation in the form of pop-up windows that come up the first time you launch the plug-in.  This is enough to get you messing around, but if you really want to understand Permut8, you're going to need to crack the full manual, which is available as a PDF.  The manual is well-done and easy to follow, which is important, as this isn't the most obvious plug-in to figure out at first.

INTERFACE
The topmost part of the interface consists of a pulldown menu where you'll find initialize and randomize commands, save and load, links to the manual and pop-up tutorials, etc.  Additionally, there is a two-digit display that allows you to select different banks, each of which contains several presets.  I'm just going to get this out of the way and say the current preset management system kind of stinks.  Why force you to save entire banks?  Let's please just have an alphanumerical display where we can see preset names and select sounds independent of banks.  Perhaps they were trying to replicate some of the archaic methods of preset management on old devices, but I think this is one area where users will forgive you for taking some liberties in bringing it into the present.

Next to the preset selection are switches that allow you to control certain parameters via MIDI keys, opening the door to more real-time use.

The majority of the interface is taken up by the sound parameters themselves.  On the left hand side you'll find INPUT trim (with a limiter), OUTPUT level and CLIP mix, a FILTER that varies form LOWPASS to HIGHPASS and can be placed in various points in the signal chain, and a FEEDBACK parameter which can be used to produce everything from comb filtering effects to digital shrieks.

To the right of this is where the real action takes place, however.  Here you will find the two INSTRUCTION sections.  These run in series and allow you to turn on and off different "bits" to create rhythmic effects, while the OPERATORS control the various ways in which the READ and WRITE buffer interact.  I know that all probably sounds like a bunch of vague nonsense, but I promise you it makes sense once you've messed around with it for awhile.  Spend some time selecting different OPERATORS and switching the various bits on and off just to see what it does. That's part of the appeal of this plug-in that I hinted at earlier.  Sonic Charge made a brave choice to make the interface for Permut8 something that is not immediately obvious when you use it.  That's not a failure on their part (aside from preset management), but instead is aimed at encouraging you to mess around without knowing exactly what you're doing until something just clicks.  To that end, you can even alter the bits by adjusting the HEX readout if you want to feel even further removed from knowing what you're doing.

At the very bottom you'll see a graphical representation of the READ and WRITE buffers and the SYNCable CLOCK FREQ which selects the speed at which the INSTRUCTION sections do their thing.  You can also turn off the SYNC and freely adjust the frequency for truly out there effects.

THE VERDICT
I'll cut to the chase and say that I absolutely love this plug-in.  With that said, I also believe this is not for everyone.  Sure, it ships with 300 presets which are all nice enough, but to my mind, this isn't a preset user's plugin.  This is one for people who like to tweak and experiment until they come across that perfect little touch of audio magic.  In many ways, working with Permut8 feels like working with some bizarre, circuit-bent device, and indeed the types of sounds it can produce are not far removed from that at all.  But as I said in the beginning, this is a plug-in where the process of creating new effects is part of the appeal.  Even if you have no idea what you're doing, it's a blast to randomly flip switches and dials to see what the result is.  To that end, this seems like a plug-in that's built for live performance.  Map some parameters to your MIDI controller, and tweak away.

The sound quality of Permut8 is a nice meeting of the digital and analog worlds.  The analog processing section (INPUT/OUTPUT, FILTER, FEEDBACK) really does lend a bit of analog-style warmth to the occasionally harsh digital sound of INSTRUCTIONS section.  And the digital section is everything you'd hope it would be.  All sorts of crazy digital distortions and manipulations are possible with rhythmic precision and an interface that really feels like working on a weird bit of old hardware.

And if you're REALLY a tweaker, an artificial terminal comes up when you click on the plug-in name that you can apparently operate as an actual assembly terminal of some sort.  This is a bit above my geek-level, so I haven't messed with it myself, but just the idea of putting it in there is pretty awesome,  I love it when a developer doesn't "dumb down" their products!

So who needs to check out Permut8?  Obviously anyone into experimental music is going to love this.  Likewise, IDM and dance music producers looking for edgy effects are going to eat this up.  I also think people who do live PA sets and the like would have a lot of fun with this.  You very well may have an entire plug-in folder full of glitchy plug-ins, but I guarantee you don't have anything like this.  Spend an hour with the demo and you'll figure out rather quickly whether it's the sort of thing you'll enjoy or not.  But for those who will enjoy it, I feel confident they're going to love it dearly. [9/10]

Sonic Charge Releases Permut8 Effect

Here's what they have to say:

"Permut8 is an effect plug-in that embraces the sounds of primitive signal processing hardware. At its core is a 12-bit digital delay with variable sample rate from 0 to 352 khz. The delay is controlled by a programmable processor that allows you to change and modulate the delay time with various "operators". The input and output stages offers virtual analog components for saturation, limiting and filtering. The sound of Permut8 is raw and complex but noisy and warm at the same time."

Permut8 goes for $66.

Free Sample Friday: Microtonic Meets Decimort

Today's Free Sample Friday consists of synthesized drum sounds created in Sonic Charge's Microtonic and then processed (all at the same setting) with D16 Group's Decimort to dirty them up a bit. 11 24-bit WAV samples weighing in around 650k.

GO GET THEM!

Review: Sonic Charge Bitspeek

Product: Bitspeek

Developer: Sonic Charge

Formats: VST for Windows XP and higher and VST & AU for Intel Macs running OS 10.5 or higher.

Demo: Unregistered version functions as normal with occasional audio drop-outs.

Price: $29

Many years ago, when I tried out Sonic Charge's µTonic drum synth plug-in, I was struck by the robotic, spoken alert that announced it was an unregistered version. The voice had a really unique quality to it that I hadn't heard before and I thought to myself that it would be really cool to have a plug-in that replicated that sound. I pretty much wrote that possibility off, though, assuming it was just one of those dorky things that only I would be interested in. Evidently, I was wrong.

WHAT IS IT?

Bitspeek is a plug-in that utilizes a linear prediction codec to process sound. If that went way above your head, linear prediction codecs are a voice compression technology utilized in everything from the infamous Speak n' Spell to your cell phone. It works by analyzing certain characteristics of the original audio, such as its pitch and formant, and then resynthesizes it using a combination of an oscillator, noise, and filter. The result is an eerily lo-fi robotic effect.

INSTALLATION

Bitspeek installs with your run of the mill installer. Left unregistered, Bitspeek functions as normal, but with periodic audio drop outs, thus allowing you to really put it through its paces before you decide to buy (and you will). Registration is done via a simple, unique registration code issued by Sonic Charge.

INTERFACE

Bitspeek's interface vaguely mimiks the look of the old Speak n' Spell toys. The top third features a real time visualizer displaying the audio signal. The lower two thirds consist of Bitspeek's 8 controls.

The first of these is a sample rate slider allowing you to select the sample rate at which Bitspeek does its thing. This is independent of your DAW's sample rate and is used only for determining the rate of calculations, and thus the sound quality of the processing. Options for 8, 11, 22, and 44k are available, with the lower rates obviously making the processed audio much more lo-fi.

Next door to that you'll find the Frame Rate control. This determines how often the pitch, volume, and formants of the input material is analyzed. Everything from constant analysis to totally freezing the audio is possible, and by activating the Sync control, you can set the Frame Rate to specific note values, opening the door for bizarre rhythmic effects.

Next to the Sync switch, is the MIDI control, which allows you to "play" the effect via a MIDI controller. This function only works with hosts that allow MIDI to transmit to plug-ins, so some users will not be able to utilize it.

At the bottom of the interface are 4 knobs marked Pitch, Tracking, Detune, and Noise. Pitch allows you to transpose the incoming audio up or down three octaves in both semitones and cents. The Tracking knob controls how closely the resynthesized signal follows the incoming audio. Lower settings will give more synthetic/robotic results. Detune controls the pitch of a second oscillator that can be used to fatten up the sound by up to 1200 cents. The Noise control determines the balance between the oscillator and noise in the resynthesized sound. Turned all the way up, the plug-in will use only noise to replicate the sound giving a Kraftwerkian whisper effect.

THE VERDICT

Although the number of controls on offer here may seem spartan, Bitspeek is actually capable of a surprisingly wide range of manipulations. The quality is top notch and totally nails the sound of many a speaking toy those of us who grew up in the 80's will remember fondly. Although the most obvious application here is to process vocals with Bitspeek, you can use it on literally any mono audio signal with equally cool results. Unlike mere bitcrushers, Bitspeek can really tear apart a sound until it only vaguely resembles what you fed into it. You're damn right it's fun! If all that isn't enough to convince you, then the pricetag surely will. At only $29 even us starving artist types can add it to our plug-in folder without a second thought. Just get it already. You won't be sorry. [10/10]

Don't Forget The Free Microtonic 3 Update Goes up at Midnight Tonight!

The subject line says it all. Sonic Charge releases a major update to its fantastic drum synth µTonic a minute from midnight tonight. The update is absolutely free for registered users. Use it to torture your hung over room mate tomorrow morning!

Some Details About the Upcoming µTonic 3 Update

I mentioned a little while back that Sonic Charge would be releasing a big (and free) update to its wonderful µTonic drum synth/drum machine plug-in on New Year's Eve. Now, they've spilled a few details on some of the new features we can all expect. (Thanks to Ronnie over on Rekkerd for posting this, as I missed it originally! Hope you had a great Christmas!)

Here's the deets:

"One week left of 2010, which means one week left before the first major µTonic upgrade in over five years. I thought today would be a good day to reveal a bit more about the upcoming version 3.0.

The primary motivation behind this upgrade is to transform µTonic into a more dynamic instrument, without sacrificing its simplicity or drastically alter its "trademark sound". We've always been proud of how µTonic sounds, and our intention has never been to turn it into a MegaTonic. If you are expecting to see four oscillators with sample playback and granular delay effects on top, you will be disappointed. Instead, you are going to see a set of well-balanced new features for exploring sounds, building patterns and performing live withµTonic. Features that will bring the best out of the beast.

We have already revealed that the upgrade is free and will feature the much requested support for "MIDI Program Changes" and "MIDI-file drag and drop". I will now reveal another significant addition: "Morph". "Morph" lets you transform all eight drum patches simultaneously from one point to another. This feature can be used both for performance (think: dramatic build-ups), for editing (think: finding semi-random sounds, "Synplant style") or for crazy loony fun experiments (think: what would it sound like if I morph the kick to a snare and the snare to a kick, back and forth?).

A sound-file says more than a thousand words so I pulled a random preset from our big preset-bag ("EE Flat Lines") and made a quick little arrangement with three different morph configurations. Enjoy."

MicroTonic Morph Demo by malstrom

Sonic Charge to Release µTonic 3 on New Year's Eve

Sonic Charge's Magnus Lindström announced this week that a major upgrade to his highly-regarded µTonic drum synth would be released on New Year's Eve at a minute before midnight. There are no details on what features we can expect from the new version, although I have heard rumors that it might include the ability to view the pattern sequencer for all parts as a single grid, more akin to the traditional Roland TR drum grids.

And the best news? The upgrade is absolutely free to registered users! Not a bad last minute Christmas present, eh?

Thoughts on Sonic Charge's Patternarium Site?

Yesterday Sonic Charge announced Patternarium, a Flash-fueled semi-random patch and pattern generator for their drum synth Microtonic. Anyone tried it out yet?

My personal thought is that this is an amazing, perhaps revolutionary approach to generating new content for older products. Combining a user voting system and the 'evolution' based approach to patch generation first seen in their Synplant synth is a really forward thinking approach. I'd love to see other developers follow suit with patch generators for synths and effects. Can you imagine how much it would extend the shelf-life for virtual instruments? What do you guys think? Yea? Nay?

News from Sonic Charge

Some cool news items from Sonic Charge, creators of the excellent Microtonic Drum Synth.

The first is the introduction of the Microtonic Patternarium, what Sonic Charge refers to as an "online collaborative patch randomizer". This tool will create random sounds and rhythms that you give the thumbs up or thumbs down to in order to influence their evolution. You can definitely see Synplant's hand (tendril?) in influencing this...

The second is the announcement that the next version of Microtonic is currently in beta testing. The company is currently accepting applications for a limited number of beta testers, so if you'd like to give it a go, just fill out the application. No new details as of yet aside from the fact that it will support MIDI program change and drag and drop of patterns as MIDI files. (I'm personally hoping for a dedicated pattern page where I can see the trigger buttons for all sounds at once and a more pleasant, analog sounding distortion...)

Sonic Charge Microtonic Easter Egg (Literally!)

If you've never heard the term before, an "easter egg" is a hidden feature, message, or joke in a computer program put there by the programmer for fun. They really serve no practical purpose other than to make the user smile.

Sonic Charge, makers of Microtonic and SynPlant, took that a bit further, as you can see from the screenshot above, when they temporarily replaced the usual blue trigger indicators in Microtonic with colorful easter eggs.

What other easter eggs have you found in software you own?

"Thorns" Mod Available for Sonic Charge Synplant

An enterprising programmer named Johan Brodd let me know that he created a mod for Sonic Charge's Synplant, which I reviewed here yesterday. It apparently allows parameters to have values well outside their normal range for much wilder sounds. Here's what his documentation has to say:

"Thorns (unatended version)

This is my original version. Parameters are well outside of boundries in this mod, the sound is wild and wonderful as the seeds grown from it. There is a problem with this version. Since the parameters are outside recomended boundries there is problems saving and loading such patches.

Thorns (Magnus corrected version)

This version is more reliable with Magnus recommended adjustments. This gives a more random sound, but it has the standard pitch range as in Synplant's default configuration. Load and save works.

Thorns (Wildgrown version)

Same as above, but with wider pitch range. This is something Magnus don't recommend since the pitch should be kept in sync with the internal default values. If you don't care and want some more fun then this is your choice. Load and save works.

Credits goes out to Magnus Lindstrom for this amazing synth called Synplant."

You can download the mods yourself here.

Review: Sonic Charge Synplant

Product: Synplant softsynth
Manufacturer: Sonic Charge
Type: Digital synth with very unique user interface
Support: http://www.soniccharge.com/support
Platforms: VST for Windows XP or later, VST & AU for OSX 10.4 or later
Price: $89 (+VAT where applicable)
Demo: 3 week demo available at http://www.soniccharge.com/download

Whether you prefer hardware or software when it comes to your synths, one thing you have to admit is that the lower overhead cost of producing software synths allows manufacturers to try out much wilder ideas than would be viable to do in hardware form. I mean, can you imagine how much Absynth would cost if it was a hardware synth?! That said, generally even the more creative approaches to synthesis usually still bear some basis in good ol’ subtractive synthesis. You program them with knobs or buttons, you send oscillators through a filter of some sort, and you shape the amplitude with an envelope. This is all well and good in that it makes the learning curve with a new instrument a bit less steep, but it also keeps your sound programming ‘in the box’ creatively speaking. Sometimes it’s nice to go into an instrument with no idea what you’re doing and just start playing around. It kind of recaptures the excitement of what it was like the first time you had a go at programming your own sounds. With Sonic Charge’s new softsynth, Synplant, they’ve created an entirely new way of interfacing with a synthesizer and they’ve managed to do it in such a way that, technically speaking at least, there’s almost no learning curve.

INSTALLATION
Installation couldn’t be easier. You simply download Synplant from Sonic Charge’s website, run the installer, and you’re good to go. If you’re just demoing Synplant, you’ll have three weeks to try it out before it “dies”. If you’ve purchased it, however, you are given a serial number that you enter along with your email address, and you’re done.

DOCUMENTATION
In addition to an excellent, easy-to-understand manual, Synplant itself contains a built-in tutorial that runs the first time you fire it up. You don’t have to go through it, but, like the manual, it can be useful to look at since this synth takes such a radically different approach.

USER INTERFACE
More than anything, it is the user interface that makes Synplant unlike anything you’ve ever worked with before. Instead of knobs and sliders marked with familiar names like ‘cutoff’ and ‘resonance’, you’re instead presented with a virtual “seed” in a black circle surrounded by a ring marked with musical keys representing keys on your keyboard. There’s just seven sliders in addition to that, but let’s stick with the whole “seed” concept for a second, because that’s what makes this such an innovative interface.

The “seed” is a randomly generated starting point for your sound. You alter the sound by dragging out “branches” that change it in one way or the other as you drag them out. You don’t have any control over what dragging the branches alters, but that’s where the musical keys come in. Each branch that you drag out alters the seed in a different way and is assigned a different key on the keyboard. This way, you have 12 options to choose from as you sculpt your sound. You can choose to leave it mapped this way (so one sound is on all the C’s, another on all the D’s, etc.) for some unusual effects, or you can choose the sound from those 12 that you like the best and “clone” it so just that one sound is mapped across the keyboard. You can either stick with this sound, or use it as a new seed to further alter. Or, if you are finding that the seed isn’t providing you with anything to your liking, you can start over from scratch by having Synplant generate a new seed to start from. There are also undo and redo buttons at the top of the interface in case you make a mistake along the way.

There are four sliders circling the seed window. The first, tuning, allows you to tune the sound. This usually isn’t necessary since Synplant will attempt to make the sound map on the keyboard in a musical way, but sometimes it’ll be out of tune, which is where this knob comes in handy. “Atonality” basically decides whether your seed will be a musically tuned sound, or more like a sound effect. “Release” acts just like the release value on a standard amplitude envelope works. Finally, there is “Effect” which controls the wet/dry mix of Synplant’s built-in “chorusing reverb”. Additionally, at the bottom, there are sliders for wheel scaling (the mod wheel can be used to grow all the branches simultaneously), velocity sensitivity, and volume.

Now, I know what you’re thinking. What good is a synth if the only way to create sounds is more or less at random? What happens if you come up with a sound that is close to what you want, but not quite there? This is where the Gene Editor comes in, which you access by clicking on the double helix button at the top of the interface.

The Gene Editor allows access to 37 different parameters that can be altered using sliders cleverly disguised as a DNA double helix. Some of the parameter names are a little esoteric, but you can turn on an interactive help function that explains what each one does when you place your mouse over it. Most of what you’ll need to tweak your sound to perfection is found here, and of course everything is fully automatable in your host program.

HOW DOES IT SOUND?
Synplant comes with 300 nicely varied presets, and registered users have access to 250 additional patches for download off the website (with a valid registration key). Sonically, Synplant has a very digital character. There are analog emulations among the presets, but you’re not going to fool anyone into thinking you’re using a Moog by a long shot. Emulations of acoustic instruments are generally not Synplant’s strong point either, although it does bells and mallets quite well, and there’s a pretty nice sounding contrabass among the presets. Overall, I’d say the general sound of Synplant is like that of an FM synth, although it is capable of a wider variety of timbres. It can do noisy sounds, but even in that state it’s not terrible aggressive. So if you’re after hard as nails sounds, this might not be for you. Overall I could see this being very useful to people making ambient, IDM, or even electro house artists looking for a little retro-digital flavor. Ultimately, you’ll have to download the demo and give it a try yourself to decide where it’s for you or not.

CONCLUSIONS
It's really hard to find fault with Synplant. I only really have two complaints. First, I encountered stuck notes in Logic quite a bit no matter what controller I was using. It seemed to happen most often when I changed patches, but it also would occasionally happen seemingly at random. Secondly, it would be nice if there was a greater variety of effects available, but even this is being nit-picky since I think most of us use external plug-ins for that purpose anyway. Synplant is one of those synths that you’re probably either going to love or hate. Some people might not appreciate the odd interface or the random nature of its sound generation, while others will find it incredibly refreshing. Make no mistake, this is not a synth to sit down with a specific sound in mind and start programming. This is one where you can spend hours wandering blindly through the virtual forest of timbres it creates until you find something that appeals to you that you might never have come up with on your own. I personally loved it and would like to see more companies take chances with radical programming interfaces like this in the future.

Here's a quick little throwaway ambient track I threw together in about ten minutes to give you an idea of the sound of Synplant. No compression, EQ, or external effects used, just 9 instances of Synplant.