AIR Xpand2

Back in the early days of Avid Pro Tools,  Air Music Technology originally created Xpand! as part of the collection of innovative tools included as plug-ins with Pro Tools. When Pro Tools 8 came out, Air added an additional Gig of sounds, tons of better features and new controls. It was also renamed as Xpand!2. Of course Pro Tools became the industry standard and everyone got into all the cool abilities of Xpand!  Air kept developing and improving Xpand!2 and more and more musicians and engineers wanted it, even those not using Pro Tools. Air Tech Xpand!2 has wavetables and FM synthesis for sample playbacks. Plus there are literally thousands of Xpand!2 patches ready to go right as they are. Finally, Xpand!2 is now on it’s own, available to anyone who wants it’s amazing sounds, no matter what DAW you prefer. Wondering what else AIR is doing these days?

Four on the Floor
Xpand!2 is a multitimbral workstation offering four active sound slots, or parts, per patch. Each part is provided with its own MIDI channel, Note Range (Zone), Mix, Arpeggiation, Modulation, and Effects settings—an excellent method for creating individual parts. Harnessing the four parts together to build one amazing Patch is where Xpand!2 reveals its true power. The Voice Mode for each part can be set to polyphonic or monophonic. Polyphonic parts can have up to 64 voices; monophonic parts offer First, Last, Highest, or Lowest priority making it easy to designate a bass, lead, or solo instrument.

Sounds Galore
Using everything from wavetables and FM synthesis to sample playback, the expert sound design team at Air Music Tech has carefully created thousands of ready-to-play Xpand!2 patches. Creating your own is easy, too. Parts can be quickly browsed and are conveniently sorted into 29 categories, offering a simple path to find just what you’re looking for.

Smart Knobs and Easy Edits
Six smart knobs are provided for custom-tweaking your Xpand!2 sounds. Each knob changes function depending on the part selected, offering hands-on control of the most critical sound elements. Select the Easy mode, and all six knobs now control all four of the common parts in a patch simultaneously for quickly performing those crucial edits. And of course, all of your edits can be saved for instant recall.

Major Modulation
Express yourself with powerful performance features! Pitch Bend wheel and Aftertouch (pressure) modulation assignments can be made independently for each part. Modulation rates can be tempo sync’d or free-wheeling. Numerous modulation destinations are provided, and the WAVE destination parameters are different from part to part, providing unique Xpand!2 sound-shaping capabilities.

Advanced Arpeggiation
Keep things moving with advanced arpeggiation. Simply set the Rate—including dotted and triplet values—and then select the Mode. Using the Latch switch allows the arpeggiator to continue to play, even when your hands leave the keyboard. Each Xpand!2 part is provided with its own arpeggiator.  Many parts such as Action Pads and Loops will automatically activate the Arpeggiator, as it forms an integral part of the sound.

Dynamic Effects Duo
Xpand!2 includes two independent effect processors with fifty studio-grade effects, ranging from rich reverbs to the mind-bending Chaos Delay. When selecting a new effect type, Xpand!2 will instantly change the edit knob functions to provide accurate control of every effect. The output of FX1 can be fed into the input of FX2 to create advanced “cascade-style” effects.

Features

• Four-channel multitimbral operation
• Up to four stereo instrument parts per patch
• Up to 64 voices per part; Mono or Poly voice modes
• Smart Knobs provide intuitive sound editing
• Easy Edit Knobs control the entire patch at once
• Two digital effects processors; 50 editable effect types
• Individual arpeggiation control for each part
• Multiple sound generation engines:
  • Subtractive Synthesis
  • FM Synthesis
  • Tonewheels
  • Sample Playback
• 2500 total presets and parts