H.G. Fortune has announced the release of Altair 4, a virtual “SciFi Sounds Lab” instrument plug-in for Windows.
As the subname of this plugin synthesizer says this SciFi Sounds Lab will be of best service for all doing soundtracks for movies or games in the genres of SciFi, Suspense, Horror, Fantasy and alike needing special, spacey, wobbly FX sounds. Ok, it can do some more than these e.g. bell like stuff and even it does fit amazingly well in fairly conventional songs (see below).
This is also an hommage to the movie ‘Forbidden Planet’ from 1956 being the first movie with a complete electronic soundtrack using sounds that could have been done with this plugin. User comments: “This instrument does do a lot of the things the Barron’s did with their circuitry albeit a lot easier. It makes sciFi sounds & noises and everybody will reminiscent to a old soundlaboratory of the 50/60ties”. Anyway Altair 4 puts it to a modern level with some sophisticated controls.
Altair 4 (Pro) features
- 2 oscillators with two soundsources with one (B) driving the other (A) to resonate.
- Each oscillator with three mod inputs and extensive control options.
- 3 LFO: L1 (7 waves) with key restart on first key pressed, L2 (8 waves) and phase modulation.
- L3 (7 waves) with optional modulation by sub LFO.
- 2 hidden LFO: L12 = mix of L1 and L2, L13 = mix of L1 and L3.
- 1 Sample & Hold (6 modes).
- 1 VCA with AR EG (with pan for undelayed sound at Rev section).
- 1 Main Volume with level control: fixed, Velocity, and even Aftertouch, or Wheel.
- 1 Delay (bpm synced) and dedicated pan.
- 1 Bass Boost.
- 1 Reverb with predelay.
- 1 Hold button to hold last played key.
- 1 Joypad with 3 balls to control 6 destinations.
- 8 Voices.
- 256 Patches (2 Banks).
Altair 4 Pro is available to purchase for a introductory price of 19 EUR until 15 May, 2011 (30% off regular price of 29 EUR).
The last public beta version is also available at no cost. This is identical to the Pro version with the exception of the GUI, it has only 3 voices instead of 8, and the internal patchbank is not filled up completely.
More information: H.G. Fortune
