Native Instruments has announced Absynth 5, a new version of the semi-modular software synthesizer for Windows and Mac.
The fifth version enhances the profound sonic capabilities of ABSYNTH with powerful additional synthesis and effects features as well as overall improved audio quality, and offers an ingenious new way to create complex sounds based on musical attributes.
New in Absynth 5
- Expanded Sound Library — ABSYNTH 5 contains more than 200 new synth sounds, fully taking advantage of the new filter and effects, to create brand-new, unusual sound material. In addition, there are 30 new effect settings for using ABSYNTH 5 as an extraordinary effect unit. In total, the number of ABSYNTH 5 sounds now stands at around 1,800.
- The Mutator – Simple sound design — With ABSYNTH 5 you do not need deep knowledge of synthesizers or sound design skills to create your own professional sounds. The new Mutator technology represents an entirely fresh approach to sound design, allowing the intuitive combination of sound characteristics from several sounds of the factory library, without dealing with the complex Editor Pages of the oscillators, envelopes and effects sections.
- Aetherizer Effect — The new Aetherizer is enormously powerful and versatile. A sophisticated granular effect “decomposes” the sounds in to the smallest particles (“grains”), which are then manipulated and re-assembled in a variety of ways. The results are unusual chorus and vocoder sounds, grain clouds, delays, pitch shifts, reverbs and strange reflections – and everything in between. This effect (as with all ABSYNTH effects) is also for working with external audio signals (e.g. audio tracks in a sequencer) – a playground for creative sound manipulation!
- Cloud Filter — The Cloud Filter has a similar structure as the Aetherizer’s granular effect, but acts in each of the three oscillator channels. It provides granular-based results such as unusual Chorus, Pitch Shift and reverb effects, and can make synth sounds that are dense and aggressive.
- Supercomb Filter — This new Comb Filter creates expanding physical-modelling-like sounds with finely adjustable resonance, which means even more realistic, acoustic and voluminous sounds can be achieved.
- Filter Feedback — Many filter types in the oscillator channels now offer an additional feedback path for more drastic sound manipulation, creating significantly more complex, dirty and distorted results. This feedback loop allows you to send a portion of the filter’s output back to its input, and makes the use of modulators such as wave-shapers, frequency shifters or ring modulators which vastly increase the possibilities for adding distortion to your sound.
- Improved signal quality due to optional over-sampling in many modules, thus reducing “noise”.
- Support for Windows XP / Vista 64-bit systems.
ABSYNTH 5 will be available in October 2009 for a suggested retail price of $199 USD / 179 EUR, and will also be part of the new KOMPLETE 6 bundle. An update for owners of previous versions of ABSYNTH will be available for $79 USD / 69 EUR.
More information: Native Instruments
