Synthetic Materials is a simple yet powerful KONTAKT-based instrument filled with a rich assortment of modern classic analog sounds and wavetable synthesizer sounds, complete with a semi-generative sequencer with quantization scale.
All of the basic sounds (60 in total, compressed to about 5GB) have been sampled in 24-bit ultra-wide stereo and include a lot of interesting content for long, evolving and atmospheric pads. The instrument comes with 100 snapshots plus 25 sequencer demos, but Synthetic Materials actually creates these sounds in its own way. There are also 50 Multis showcasing what can be achieved by layering Synthetic Materials tools.
Create your creations by choosing from two different LP filter types (envelope and LFO) or add a little graininess with a drive effect that has its own dedicated envelope. Enhance your sound even further with the instrument’s built-in effects, including 4-band EQ, stereo ping-pong delay, rotation, chorus, reverb and compression.
Add expressiveness based on pitch with slide legato, vibrato and pedal-inspired pitch shifter. Pitch Shifting lets you generate up to two additional notes for each one you play for octave or chord effects, including velocity scaling, auto panning, and fine detune.
Control all of these parameters from a single screen in the tool’s GUI or with an NKS controller.
Last but not least, the step sequencer has been designed to be easy to use, creative and musically inspiring. Although it has a maximum of 16 steps, the sequencer is driven by a probability-based generative engine that allows you to design patterns that will never sound the same twice. The step length for each sequence can be set from sixteenth notes to a massive 8 bars to develop soundscapes. Velocity and gate are adjustable for each step.
But the fun begins when you explore some of the more unusual sequencer features …
Option A / B allows you to set musical variations with an alternate pitch for each step. Add anything from subtle shifts in direction to total chaos by assigning steps to “bump” or “jump”. All this is, of course, probabilistic! Finally, you can even jot down musical ideas using the sequencer’s “Automate Shift” feature, which automatically transposes your sequence as it runs, while keeping everything perfectly in key and mood using the built-in quantize scale.
