I've been anxiously awaiting the release of Camel Audio's new monster synth Alchemy (click image above to see large view). The technology and presets been being developed for years. Their web site had a "Coming Soon Autumn 2008" teaser on it for quite some time. Well the wait is over and today Alchemy is available for purchase!
What is Alchemy all about?
- Additive, spectral and granular synthesis and resynthesis, sampling, virtual analog engine with unison and PWM.
- 4 stereo sources each of which has additive, VA, spectral, granular and sampler engine, morph between sources using advanced harmonic blending and precise time alignmen, crossfade between sounds with vector mixin.
- Performance controls and remix for easy tweaking by non-programmers. 16 controls per preset carefully assigned by the preset designer, for instant access to each presets most tweakable paramete.
- 8 remix pad variations per preset - click and drag to morph between variations two XY squares
- You can import your own samples from SFZ, WAV or AIFF files.
- 2GB of samples and analysed content.
- 300 presets covering everything from pads and soundscapes to keys, basses and leads designed by many of the worlds top sound designers.
- 16 effects types including all of the CamelSpace and CamelPhat effects!
- 128 Step Groove Arpeggiator
- Extensive modulatation routing with midi learn
I think what's most exciting is that Alchemy builds on the strong additive feature set of Cameleon 5000 and takes additive, spectral synthesis, and granular synthesis to the next level. Alchemy has 600 oscillators. At this resolution, post resynthesis audio sounds almost like a sample but you get additive control. Fantastic! I've pasted in the feature set from their site and bolded what I think are the most innovative items.
Additive:
- Very high quality analysis and resynthesis - import vocal phrases, drum loops made possible by 600 stereo oscillators
- Realtime modulation of amplitude, pitch and pan spectrums by any modulator - for example, control the odd/even harmonic balance, pan partials using LFOs, stretch or contract the harmonic spectrum and lots more
- Individual amplitude, pitch and pan envelopes for each partial
- Easy to use additive editor with unique detail knob to simplify sounds for editing
Spectral Synthesizer
- Phase vocoder analysis for high quality pitch and time stretching
- Noise resynthesis mode using 256 band noise shaping
- Advanced graphical sonogram editing - choose from a range of brushes and select the colour and opacity
- Graphical spectral cut, copy and paste - cut or copy and paste specific frequency and time regions
- Sampler or granular playback modes
- freely modulatable parameters including grain size, density (up to 10 simultaneous grains), random grain time and random pan
- Selectable and customizable granular window shapes
Alchemy costs $249 / €199 / £179, and is now available. To really get your mind around Alchemy checkout videos on the page listed below as they are very detailed. If the videos and sample audio are any indication, this synth is going to be a monster and a fantastic tool not only for musicians but for sound designers.
Links:
- Learn More, Listen to Samples, Watch Videos, Buy
- Demo version coming soon...
- Manual
- Add-on sounds: Atmospheric Alchemy | Electronic Alchemy
- See other Modulate This! articles on Alchemy
Mark Mosher
www.modulatethis.com
www.markmoshermusic.com
