Results for Applied Acoustics Systems

Coincidental Music has announced its Prism Stick and Happy Hour soundsets for the Applied Acoustics Systems Chromaphone and Lounge Lizard EP-3 software synthesizer instruments.

It’s been somewhat delayed, but at last Prism Sticks for Chromaphone is here.

In the end, as the patch count headed up way beyond the 200 mark, I thought I would end up with two patchbanks. However, I’ve whittled it down considerably and I hope you find the patches useful, inspiring and fun.

Prism Sticks features

• 125 patches: 10 Bells & Chimes, 23 Keys, 19 Pads, 10 Percussive Atmospheres, 13 Percussive Hits, 11 Plucks & Strings, 18 Soundscapes & FX, 13 Synthetic and 8 Wind.
• Note: Only for use with AAS Chromaphone not with AAS Player.

The Happy Hour: Exotic Cocktails soundset features 100 patches for the Lounge Lizard EP-3 virtual electric piano instrument.

I love electric pianos of all shapes and sizes. Even cheap ones can make me smile. And, while there are some really great sampled Rhodes and Wurlis out there, there’s something about Lounge Lizard that I find makes it much more fun to play. I think it’s because the slight variability in the sound makes you listen closer to what you’re playing, then react and adjust, in a way you wouldn’t do with a more regular and predictable instrument.

As I started tweaking it, I realised that there were quite a few avenues one could go down, far removed from its original purpose. Which led me to Happy Hour!

Happy Hour features

• 100 patches: 10 Chimes, 10 Drums & Perc, 14 FX, 11 Keys (Rhodes), 16 Keys (Specials), 5 Keys (Wurli), 12 Organs, 8 Stringed, 14 Synths.
• Note: Only for use with the full version of AAS Lounge Lizard EP-3 Electric Piano, not with Lounge Lizard Session.

Prism Sticks is available to purchase for £12 GBP; Happy Hour is £7.50 GBP. Future updates (including additional patches) are included in both sets.

More information: Coincidental Music

Daniel Stawczyk (aka Status) has launched a Summer Sale, offering 40% off on most soundsets.

Status Summer Sale

• Caffeine for Discovery Pro by discoDSP $12.
• PLUS for LittleOne by XhunAudio $11.
• RAW for Toxic Biohazard by Image Line $11.
• MOON for Ultra Analog VA-1 by AAS $12.
• Verge for V-Station by Novation $14.

The sale ends August 31st, 2012.

More information: Daniel Stawczyk

Applied Acoustics Systems has announced it has extended its Summer deal for the Tassman 4, offering its virtual modular synthesizer for Windows and Mac at $250 USD off.

Tassman is an extremely rich modular sound synthesis environment based on physical modeling. It brings together highly realistic emulation of acoustic instruments, analog and FM synthesizers, loop processors, and crazy hybrid creations simply not possible by any other means.

Tassman is both an impressive collection of unique synths and effect processors, and a tightly integrated environment which lets you customize patches in any way you wish. Great sounds, complete control, and sound design power – that’s what Tassman is all about!

Tassman 4 is available to purchase for $99 USD until August 20th, 2012 (regular $349 USD).

More information: Applied Acoustics Systems / Tassman 4

Applied Acoustics Systems has announced a Monster Splash Summer Deal for its flagship synthesizer Tassman 4, offering it for $99 USD.

Tassman is an extremly rich modular sound synthesis environment based on physical modeling.

It is both an impressive collection of unique synths and effect processors, and a tightly integrated synthesis studio which lets you customize instruments in any way you wish or even create your own from scratch.

Tassman 4 for Windows and Mac (VST/AU/RTAS/Standalone) is available to purchase for $99 USD until the end of July 2012 (regular $349 USD).

Applied Acoustics Systems’ latest effort in physical modeled software instruments is Chromaphone, a “creative percussion synthesizer”.

It is based on the combination of acoustic resonators to create drums, percussion, string and hybrid synth-like instruments. Membranes, bars, marimbas, plates, strings, and tubes form pairs that are excited by a mallet and a flexible noise source.

Access to different parameters such as the material of the resonators, their tuning and hit position allow for the creation of a vast range of realistic and creative instruments and sonic colors. Whether real, innovative, or with an ethnic touch, Chromaphone will fill your music with rich and organic tones.

Chromaphone has an easy layout with exciter sources and resonator modules in the middle.

Sound is generated with mallet and noise modules which excite the two resonators. The mallet has controls for volume, stiffness, noise and noise color; the noise module uses a white noise generator + multi-mode filter, with dedicated envelope. Both sources can be mixed.

Various resonator types are available: string, open and closed tube, plate, membrane, bar, and a marimba bar. A manual mode lets you adjust the frequency of up to four different partials.

The output of both resonators is mixed proportionally with the balance slider, with the “parallel mode” basically simply mixing the two outputs, and a “coupled mode” which features “bidirectional transfer of energy between the objects”. In simple terms this means that both resonators influence each other, which according to AAS results in tones and timbres that reproduce the richness of sounds from real acoustic instruments.

Chromaphone includes a dedicated vibrato effect (pitch modulating LFO), a LFO unit for modulating the Noise module, and a multi-fx section in which you can pick two effects (in series) from a selection of delays, chorus, flanger, phaser, (auto) wah wah, notch filter, 3-band equalizer, distortion, tremolo and reverbs.

The presets library includes over 300 sounds categorized in mallets, percussions, kits, chimes and bells, plucked strings, basses, keys, strings and pads, synths, organs and pipes, soundscapes and textures, and effects sections.

Check the audio demos below to get an impression of what Chromaphone is capable of.

So what do I think?

If nothing else, Chromaphone is incredibly versatile. So much even, I feel like its tagline “creative percussion synthesizer” is kind of selling it short.

While it does an amazing job with percussion sounds – both the traditional and more creative variety – the types of sound you can get from this instrument are way beyond “creative percussion” to me. The pads, soundscapes, textures, effects etc. in the factory bank show that Chromaphone can do a lot more than percussion, and for even more adventurous sounds I can also highly recommend the expansion libraries by sound designers Martin Walker and Simon Stockhausen.

With its physical modeling, Chromaphone produces wonderfully dynamic, expressive sounds. Experimenting pays off, as just the turn of a knob or two can yield completely different, unique sounds.

Needless to say, Chromaphone is a fantastic synthesizer for cinematic, soundtrack type works. It will likely suit many electronic music producers as well, especially in the area of ambient, minimal, and idm genres.

I am truly excited about this synthesizer and I can’t wait to use it in some of my projects. Go check it out!

More information: Applied Acoustics Systems / Chromaphone

Applied Acoustics Systems has announced Cardinals, a new soundset for the Chromaphone software synthesizer.

Cardinals is sound designer and composer Simon Stockhausen’s presentation of dualism in all sort of realms.

You’ll find dark and light, tonal and atonal, serenity and anxiety, and eastern and western scattered across the Achromatic and Chromatic Percussion, Danger Zone, Keys, Synths, Strings, Pads, Textures, and Scapes categories.

The 109 presets encapsulate their own enclosed universe for many hours of exploration.

Cardinals is available as a preset bank for Chromaphone including the AAS Player plug-in for Windows and Mac (VST/AU/RTAS), priced at $39 USD.

More information: Applied Acoustics Systems / Cardinals