![]() The granular element continues this dual work-mode as either a straight-up sampler or granular synth. You can even import a PNG image file to create a sound and then demolish it. You can perform all sorts of sonic manipulation on a visual representation of the re-synthesized file using Photoshop-like tools - or start one from scratch. Finally, it can work its own re-synthesis magic. Or you can use it to add the noise element (like breath) back into the Additive engine when you import. To the VA, you can add filtered noise to your sound just like any analog synth does. ![]() The Spectral element also has a dual use - either as a complete sound source or as a noise source. Then you use the same controls for altering the sound as you do for the VA, though they may work a little differently. There isn't room here for a technical description of additive synthesis (or any of the other methods Alchemy uses), but basically a series of sine waves (partials) produces the fundamental pitch as well as any overtones. Click on the file, and Alchemy quickly calculates the wave-shape as it loads the file into whichever engine, and you are ready to go. However, I was told this is on the to-do list for the next update. One glitch was that I couldn't use my mouse scroll-wheel to roll through the files I had to use the sidebar scrollbar. (SFZ organizes the audio via an attached text file.) Import is a separate page where you can easily bring the same sound into each of the three engines or load different files to each via a pop-up browser. Alchemy works with WAV, AIFF, and SFZ formats. You get another pop-up list of wave-shapes to choose from, or you can import an audio file. A button on the Additive subpage switches from VA to the Additive mode (there is a button to bring up each element's subpage, as well as switches for on/off, solo, etc.). If that isn't enough, you can detune all those oscillators. I rolled it less than a third of the way up and had 24 oscillators. If you want phat, use the NOsc (number of oscillators) knob. ![]() The pulse-width controls not just the square waves, but the ramps and other waves too. Chose a wave-shape and you can adjust and modulate the pulse-width as well as the phase starting point. The additive engine generates all the usual analog waveforms for VA. So, when you strike a key, you can have twelve different sounds going at once, which ought to be enough layers for anyone.įrom the main expanded view, you click on one of the A through D sources to bring up that source's individual page. Each of these is a complete synth voice and each of these sources uses three different types of synthesis engines at once - a Virtual Analog or additive element a granular or traditional sample and a spectral or noise element. Alchemy uses four separate "sources" to make each sound. Alchemy (VSTi/AU) isn't an update of their Cameleon 5000 additive synth, but it slathers on granular and spectral synthesis, covering many of the ways a computer can make noise. Additive synthesis is another scheme that exists almost exclusively in software, and Camel Audio came out with a good one a few years ago. Sampling and FM synthesis are prime examples where cutting out the hardware aspect shouldn't hurt the sound. Though no software will replace my analog Minimoog, many hardware synths are nothing more than specialized computers running software. But there are some that software does better - synths, for example. There are many jobs for which hardware still rules the music roost.
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