KV331 SynthMaster 3

SynthMaster 3 is KV331 Audio’s flagship all-around modular software synthesizer available in VST2, VST3, AudioUnits and AAX formats. It features many different synthesis methods including VAnalog, Additive, Vector, Wavetable, Granular, Phase Modulation, Phase Distortion, Frequency Modulation, Pulse Width Modulation, Ring Modulation, Physical Modeling and SFZ Sample Playback. It comes with 3000 factory presets designed by a world class team of sound designers: Arksun, Aiyn Zahev, BigTone, Cipryan Bot, Davide Puxeddu, Demis Hellen, Gercek Dorman, NatLife, New Loops, Nori Ubukata, Selcuk Ergen, Xenos Soundworks, XTD and Yuli Yolo

New Features

Modular Architecture:
Each SynthMaster 3 instance can have up to 16 Layers. New layers can be created by adding a new layer or by duplicating an existing layer:
Each layer can have up to 16 modules. The following modules are available in SynthMaster 3.0:

•Generator modules: Basic Oscillator, Additive Oscillator, Vector Oscillator, Wavetable Oscillator, VAnalog Oscillator, Granular Oscillator and Modulator.

•Effect modules: Digital Filter, VAnalog Filter, State Variable Filter, Ladder Filter, Diode Ladder Filter, Bite Filter, Comb Filter, Phaser Filter, Formant Filter and Waveshaper.

New modules can be created by adding a new module or by duplicating an existing module:
Each layer can have up to 32 modulation sources. The following modulation sources are available in SynthMaster 3.0:

•ADSR Envelope, Multistage Envelope

•LFO, Step LFO, Noise LFO

Scaler
New modulation sources can be created by adding a new source or by duplicating an existing source:
The Routing tab provides a visual representation of the signal flow in the layer. Using the routing view, modules can be added / removed / bypassed / activated / replaced with other modules, connections can be created / removed between modules:

Multiple View Types:
SynthMaster 3 provides 3 different types of views to edit layer parameters:

•Layer View: This view is used for editing a single layer’s parameters:

•Track View: This view is used for editing keyboard zones, velocity zones, voicing, unison, arpeggiator and sequencer parameters of multiple layers:

•Mix View: This view is used for editing insert fx and fx send parameters of multiple layers:

Granular Oscillator:
The new granular oscillator introduced with SynthMaster 3 applies granular synthesis on a single sample, multisample or wavetable to generate its output. The oscillator features up to 16 “voices” with each having up to 32 grains, resulting in up to 512 grains per oscillator:
Each voice can have different settings with the help of spread parameters for volume, pan, detune, position, grain length and grain start time. Each grain can have randomization for volume, pan, detune, position, grain length, grain start time and playback direction:

VAnalog Oscillator:
The new VAnalog oscillator introduced with SynthMaster 3 generates its output in real-time using curve segments to mimic how analog circuits generate waveforms. The oscillator has 2 wave shapes that can morph in between and an additional sub oscillator which has its own wave shape. It comes with many built-in shapes from well known analog synths. Since it might generate aliasing noise when generating its output, the oscillator has quality parameter to set the degree of oversampling:
The oscillator features up to 16 “voices”. Each voice can have different settings with the help of spread parameters for volume, pan, detune, symmetry, x morph and y morph:

Wave Shaper:
The new Waveshaper effect introduced with SynthMaster 3 comes with different types of distortion algorithms: Soft Tanh, Soft ATan, Heavy, Fuzz, Fold Sine, Fold Tri, Fold Round, Rectify Full, Rectify Half, Clip and Bitcrush:
There is also a Custom algorithm which allows users to draw their own distortion curve using curve segments. The distortion curve can be set to be unipolar (Symmetric) or bipolar (Asymmetric):

Phaser Filter:
The new phaser filter introduced with SynthMaster 3 is similar to the phaser effect. However, as being a polyphonic effect, it operates per voice. It uses multiple allpass filters mixed with the input to create phasing effects:

Formant Filter:
The new formant filter introduced with SynthMaster 3 uses a parallel bank of filters to create vowel sounds. Users can select the initial and final vowels (formants) and morph between them:

Noise LFO:
The new Noise LFO modulation source introduced with SynthMaster 3 can be used to generate sample and hold noise. The LFO generates different types of noises (white, pink, brown, violet, blue), which are sampled and held, bit reduced, and then passed through an attack/decay envelope follower:

Scaler:
The Keyscaler modulation source in SynthMaster 2 is vastly improved in SynthMaster 3. It is now called Scaler, as users can select another modulation source as its input (instead of just Keytrack) and use the scaler as a waveshaper for its input:

Arpeggiator / Sequencer:
Each Layer in SynthMaster 3 has a separate arpeggiator and sequencer. The MIDI input signal first goes through the sequencer followed by the arpeggiator. Each step in an arpeggiator / sequencer can have random values for trigger, hold and slide parameters.
The sequencer has a larger edit window to make editing sequencer patterns easier:
Each layer has its own MIDI output channel so that users can route the MIDI generated by the Arpeggiator / Sequencer to different tracks in their DAW:

Preset Browser:
SynthMaster 3 features an intuitive preset browser with advanced search features. Presets can be filtered by Product, Author, Bank, Instrument Type, Attributes, Styles (Genres) and Preset name:
SynthMaster 3 is backwards compatible with SynthMaster One and SynthMaster 2. If those products are installed and authorized on the user’s system, SynthMaster 3 shows the presets for those products, and can load those presets as entire presets or into layers:

SynthMaster 3 provides instant previews for presets that have NKS (Native Kontrol Standard) previews prepared. This allows the presets to be previewed without loading. Presets that have previews have a play icon next to their name. By moving the mouse over the play icon, the preview can be listened to:

Waveform Editor:
SynthMaster 3 comes with a comprehensive Waveform Editor to create single cycle waveforms
Single cycle waveforms can be created in 2 different ways:

•Using curve segments. The segments can be tied together or be disconnected

•By free hand drawing. In this mode, spectrum of the waveform can be edited as well

Wavetable Editor:
SynthMaster 3 comes with a comprehensive Wavetable Editor to create wavetables. Wavetables can be created using single cycle waveforms or sample/wavetable files:
7 types of wavetable effects are available to further sculpt the wavetable: Spectral Filter, Waveshaper, Modulator, Bender, Shifter, LoFi and Sync.
The generated wavetable can be saved in SynthMaster 3’s own format, or exported in WAV format to be used in other wavetable synths. The number of exported frames can be set between 2-256:

Multi Sample Editor:
SynthMaster 3 comes with a comprehensive Multi-Sample Editor to create multi samples.
Multi-samples can be created easily by dragging and dropping wav/aiff sample files. In automatic import mode, root notes of the files are read from file name / header:
The multi-samples can be exported in SFZ format, which is a well documented format to store multi-sample related data.

1800 Factory Presets
SynthMaster comes with 1800 factory presets from a world class team of sound designers:

• Arksun
• Aelyx Design
• Aiyn Zahev
• Bluffmunkey
• BigTone
• Frank ‘Xenox’ Neumann
• Kevin Schroeder
• Nori Ubukata
• Rob Lee
• Vandalism
• Vorpal Sound
• Gercek Dorman, Michael Kastrup, Umit Uy, Ufuk Kevser, Teoman Pasinlioglu, Brian ‘Xenos’ Lee

Oscillators
Stereo Oscillators with Unison/Voice Stacking: Oscillators in SynthMaster have stereo output. Using the “voices”, “voices mix”, “detune curve”, “detune spread”, “pan stread”, “tone spread” and “phase spread” parameters, each basic/wavetable oscillator can generate a rich “supersaw” type sound.

Basic Oscillators
Basic oscillators in SynthMaster are capable of synthesizing many different types of waveforms: Sine, Square, Triangle, Sawtooth, Pulse, Noise, single cycle waveforms and multisampled WAV/AIFFs defined in SFZ files. Each oscillator comes with 17 different algorithms in the following categories: Spectral (LP, HP, LS, HS, BP, BS), Bend (Bend+, Bend-, Bend+/-), Sync (Rect Window, Half Cos Window, Cos Window, Tri Window, Saw Window), Pulse (Pulse1, Pulse2) and Quantize.

• Sine, Square, Triangle, Sawtooth, Pulse, Noise
• Single cycle waveforms
• Multisampled WAV/AIFFs defined in SFZ files

Wavetable Oscillators
A ‘Wavetable’ oscillator is similar to a basic oscillator, except that the waveform can be scanned (interpolated) through up to 256 different waveforms shapes. The position of the waveform can be adjusted using the ‘wave index’ parameter. Starting with version 2.9, SynthMaster now supports loading wavetables from wave files!

• Contains many wavetables
• You can import your own wavetables by drag and drop

Additive and Vector Oscillators
An ‘Additive’ oscillator is actualy 8 ‘basic’ oscillators running together. Each ‘basic’ oscillator has its own detune, tone, phase/pulse width/algorithm parameter, frequency, waveform type and algorithm parameters.

A ‘Vector’ oscillator consists of 4 ‘basic’ oscillators, mixed at different ratios. The mix ratios are determined by 2 orthogonal parameters in 2 dimensions: ‘X Index’ and ‘Y index’.

Semi Modular Architecture
For each SynthMaster instance, there are 2 layers followed by 2 global effect send busses. The modulators can modulate frequency, phase, amplitude or pulse width of the oscillators or any other modulators at audio rate, or they can be used as regular oscillators. Each layer has its own:

• Arpeggiator
• 2 Oscillators
• 4 Modulators
• 2 Filters
• 4 ADSR Envelopes
• 2 Multistage Envelopes
• 2 2D Envelopes
• 2 LFOs
• 4 Keyscalers

Massive Modulation Architecture
SynthMaster has more hundreds of modulation targets and 48 modulation sources including ADSR Envelopes, 2D Envelopes, Multistage Envelopes, LFOs, KeyScalers, Easy Parameters, Vocoder Bands, MIDI Velocity, Aftertouch, Pitch Bend and MIDI CC. The modulation matrix, which has 64 available slots, has visual filtering as well so that targets for a specific source, or sources for a specific target can be filtered and shown on the user interface.

• ADSR Envelopes
• 2D Envelopes
• Multistage Envelopes
• LFOs
• KeyScalers
• Vocoder Bands
• MIDI Velocity
• Aftertouch
• Pitch Bend and MIDI CC

Filters

Zero Delay Feedback Filters: All of the 4 new filter categories in SynthMaster are developed using the zero delay feedback filter technology. With advanced filter parameters like input gain, drive and acid, you can get that “analog” sound from the filters!

VAnalog Filters
The ‘VAnalog’ filters are modelled after the famous ladder filter, so they self oscillate when the filter resonance is maxed out. They have continuosly variable slope, which is unique to SynthMaster. They have 3 different CPU settings: “Basic”, “Normal” and “High”. The Basic setting sounds similar to the other algorithms in most cases and consumes at least 50% less CPU.

Multimode Filters
With the new ‘multimode’ filter type, it is possible to switch from Lowpass to Bandpass to Highpass filter types continuously. For analog multimode filters, it is also possible to change the slope of the filter continously from 0 db/oct to 24 db/oct.

Dual Filters
With the new ‘dual’ filter type, two multimode filters can be run simultaneously, either in parallel, or in series. The mix ratios between the filters, and the topology (parallel/series) between them can be changed continuosly, as well as the modes and cutoff frequencies of the filters.

Comb Filters
Comb filters are digital filters used in physical modeling synthesis.

Effects

Rich set of Effects: SynthMaster features 11 different effect types: Distortion, LoFi, Ensemble, Phaser, 6 Band EQ, Compressor, Vocoder, Delay, Chorus, Tremolo, Reverb.

11 types of effects
Distortion, LoFi, Ensemble, Phaser, 6 Band EQ, Compressor, Vocoder, Delay, Chorus, Tremolo, Reverb.

Flexible Effects Routing
Each of the 11 effect types can be inserted on any layer insert or on any of the 2 global effect bus inserts.

Before/Inside/After Filter Distortion
A distortion stage can be inserted before, after, or even inside the filters. For analog filters, the distortion is applied for each of the 4 filter stages in ‘inside’ mode.

Other Features
Some other features of the SynthMaster v2.9 can be listed as follows.

Powerful Arpeggiator
The arpeggiator in SynthMaster features classic arpeggiator modes such as Up, Down, UpDown, DownUp, UpDown2, DownUp2, AsPlayed as well as Sequence, Chord and Arpeggiate modes. Each of the 32 steps of the arpeggiator has its own Velocity, Note Number, Note Length, Slide and Hold parameters.

Easy Parameters
SynthMaster features 8 easy knobs and 2 XY pads that can be freely assigned as modulation sources, so that the complexity of the synth engine could be hidden away and only most important parameters of a preset can be controlled by the user. The easy parameters can be globally linked to MIDI controllers, and they can be assigned automatically by SynthMaster as well.

Microtuning
SynthMaster supports Scala tuning, so tuning can be set either for each preset or globally by loading from a Scala tuning file.

Preset Browser
SynthMaster features a comprehensive preset browser with separate search criterias for instrument type, preset attributes, music style or preset author.

Online Presets
Registered users can upload their presets to the online preset library, or browse and download presets created by other registered users; using the preset browser right inside the plug-in window.

Multiple Skins
SynthMaster comes with 3 different skins in different color variations. Using the included user interface editor, users can not only customize the existing skins but also can create their own custom interfaces as well.

Importing MIDI patterns as Arpeggiator Sequence
Monophonic or even polyphonic (chord) MIDI patterns can be imported into the arpeggiators in SynthMaster by just drag and drop of the MIDI file onto the arpeggiator view on the plugin window.

Importing WAV/AIFF Multisamples as SFZ definitions
Multisamples in WAV/AIFF formats could be imported into SynthMaster as SFZ definitions, by simply drag and drop of the WAV/AIFF files onto the oscillator waveform view on the plugin window.