Madrona Labs has announced the release of Aalto, a virtual synthesizer for Mac.
Aalto is a new semi-modular software synthesizer with an innovative, patchable UI, distinctive sounds, and a charming personality.
Subjectively speaking, Aalto can make a wide range of sounds, from lush to edgy, including some very complicated ones, without sounding too thick in a mix. Aalto’s sounds are not hyped or confined, they are wide-range, open and natural.
Aalto features
- Buchla-inspired complex oscillator, with FM, timbre and waveshape controls that enable a wide range of expressive sounds.
- Sounds are uniquely malleable and alive, in part because they are made with dynamic calculation, not static wavetables.
- Designed as much for sequencing patterns as for playing individual notes.
- Each voice has a separate, built-in sequencer with a patchable, independently controllable rate and offset that make it easy to achieve evolving, chaotic textures.
- Each voice includes a lowpass gate module with a vactrol emulation in the control path.
- Patchable waveguide / delay module with a waveshaper and a peaking EQ is built into the feedback loop (can be used as an additional oscillator or waveguide).
- State-variable filter topology with mixable simultaneous outputs, tuned to have a similar range to an Oberheim SEM filter.
Aalto is currently available to purchase as an instrument plug-in for Mac (AU), priced at $99 USD. The license is for Aalto on all future formats and platforms as they are released. Mac and Windows VST versions are planned for fall 2010.
More information: Madrona Labs / Aalto
