I’ve got a bee in my bonnet about trying to make a polyphonic version that mirrors the functionality of my Dominion 1 analog synthesizer as close as possible. Obviously, I’m not expecting a 1:1 “clone,” but I’d like to see how close I can get. I’m looking for recommendations for modules that get me:
An oscillator that has morphing analog waveforms as well as a symmetry control and ring modulation.
Filters… lots of filters… (from the product page)
“The filter offers twelve operation modes. Available are four low pass variations with 6, 12, 18 and 24 dB/oct. slopes. Also available are two of high pass-, band pass and notch filter with slopes of 6 and 12 dB/oct.”
Obviously multiple filter modules are fine.
Mixers/VCA that do a good job of sounding authentically overdriven. Of course, any drive modules are welcome.
The rest is basic stuff. I’d like the above to sound as “analog” as possible, but if you have suggestions that are great but very digital, sure, why not?
Vult Vessek is good for more complex analog waveforms and has PWM, AM, Fold and Shape.
Bogaudio has a good standalone AM/RM module and if you want more control you could try the one from Frozen Wasteland
Filters - Squinky’s Stairway as mentioned above is a good choice for an 'all-in-one" filter but if you want to try out multiple filters then Vult has your back - excellent analog modelled filters of all types. There is also Vult Freak which has all the different filter types built in but it is a commercial module (The Vult commercial plugins are well worth it.)
Vult’s Punch offers 2 types of analog modelled stereo VCA that includes Drive, and the Mockba Tuube is a good standalone tube drive module.
Vult Flame and Debriatus are both great for generally warming up your sound (or mercilessly torturing it!) in various ways and can help things sound more analog. Vult/Leonardo is a genius when it comes to analog modelling.
Can’t promise these will get you exactly where you want to go but hopefully a good starting point for you to explore.
Here’s a video of Red Means Recording giving the hardware version of Vult’s Freak filter a good workout - if you want “Filters… lots of filters” then this should give you a good idea of what Freak can do.
Thanks for this! It’s exactly the information I was looking for. I’m not expecting to get the same raw character in the software, but in a sense I wouldn’t want that in a poly.
I have to say that I’m getting amazing results so far. I’ve had to keep my voice count to 4 to keep the oversampling high enough to make the filter FM sound good, but the type of sound I’m making is so huge, it’s enough. In a weird way, the stability of the oscillators makes it even better, as you don’t get that sometimes annoying phasing. I’m super happy.
The different filters may respond quite differently to FM. I know my Stairway is terrible in this respect (It already uses too much CPU, and it under-samples the filter CV. If you really case about filter FM make sure to try out a few filters…
