Percussa Soundor – Free Open Source FM Synth

PERCUSSA announced SOUNDOR, the free and open source FM Synthesizer for Max for Live, the visual programming environment in Ableton Live based on Cycling 74’s Max/MSP. SOUNDOR is available as a free download from the Percussa website, and allows users to explore FM Synthesis using hand and finger gestures, through AudioCubes’ high speed and low latency sensors, requiring no MIDI mapping or programming.

SOUNDOR features 4 oscillators each with their own waveform mixers, allowing the user to mix sine, square, sawtooth, triangle and noise waveforms to create totally new kinds of waveforms. Each oscillator section also features a state variable filter (SVF), and can modulate any other oscillator in pitch and/or amplitude. Each oscillator’s output can also be sent via its own ADSR to a master out, for lots of sound possibilities. Oscillators can overdrive each other through the built in waveform mixer, and can be controlled through the MIDI Keyboard as well as manual settings.

SOUNDOR integrates seamlessly with AudioCubes: rather than having to MIDI map the AudioCubes onto parameters in SOUNDOR, the moment an AudioCube is plugged in, it is automatically connected to any of the waveform mixer parameters and filter sections, through an easy to use connection matrix in the synthesizer. The 4 high speed low latency sensors of AudioCubes can control multiple parameters simultaneously and can even be inverted. A pedal input allows the user to keep the sensors values in place, while the hands are near the sensor, allowing exploration of the parameter space of the FM synthesizer while at the same time allowing rigid locking of parameters to keep the sound steady once an interesting combination of parameters has been found. SOUNDOR supports the well known preset system of Ableton Live and Max4Live, so presets can be saved and recalled just as for other Max4Live devices.

SOUNDOR is free and open source (creative commons, noncommercial, attribution, share-alike). PERCUSSA encourages users to download the synthesizer and to come up with their own versions and modifications.

Availability and Pricing
SOUNDOR is available from PERCUSSA as a free download. For video and audio demos, see the Soundor product page.

 

 

 

Post Your Thoughts