Recording - April 2011 - 64

Audio Damage Phosphor
Review by Mike Metlay

RECORDING'S

SHOWCASE OF SOUNDS

It’s been quite a while since Audio Damage was featured in our pages, and that’s a shame. The company’s plug-ins have always combined great sound, aggressive pricing, and that special tweak of creative insanity that add up to a killer deal for the home recordist. In recent months they’ve added virtual instruments to their stable of innovative effects plug-ins; here we’re reviewing Phosphor, the first Audio Damage virtual synthesizer, a fond if slightly irreverent emulation of the alphaSyntauri. The who what? The alphaSyntauri! First released in 1979 and not entirely unsuccessful (Herbie Hancock used one on the groundbreaking Future Shock) until advances in digital synthesis left it behind in 1984, the alphaSyntauri was, arguably, the world’s very first software synthesizer, and was certainly the first synthesis platform that relied on a home computer. It consisted of three expansion cards plugged into an Apple II home computer (Syntauri Corp. would be out of business almost before the Mac was released) and an external keyboard controller. Some systems had footswitches and even a light pen, and you could run software to draw your own waveforms in glorious 8-bit resolution. Considering that a complete system cost around $1500, it was a bargain for digital synthesis in 1979, although the sound didn’t win many popularity contests. Fast forward to 2011, and advances in computer technology make it possible to recreate this gritty digital dinosaur completely in software on any modern computer. All that’s needed are a few modern tweaks to make it DAW-friendly, a bit of polish to add cool capabilities not present in the original, and the aforementioned dash of creative insanity... all of which Audio Damage is happy to provide. Installation is simple and Phosphor appears as a conDelivery: Web download ventional DAW plug-in; its only DAW-related quirk is that Format: VST for Windows XP/Vista/7 (32 or 64 bit); VST/AU for it has no dedicated patch management window or menus, Mac OS X 10.5+ that’s all done within your DAW. The user interface all fits Copy protection: Registration code on a single screen, and glows with the delightful cool Licensing: single user/single computer; no royalties on music green of the Apple II’s monitor that brings a pang of noscreated with the plug-in talgia to old fogeys like me who actually remember the Documentation: PDF manual available from website Apple II as a studio staple. Everything is visible and easy Price: $59 to understand, and you’ll be programming in a flash. More from: Audio Damage, www.audiodamage.com. The layout of the synth is simple. There are two oscillators, the Primary and the Secondary, each of which generates a
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waveform based on the addition of up to 16 sine waves (harmonics or “partials”), which are dialed in by setting 16 levels on a bar graph (the plug-in displays the resulting waveform over the top of the bar graph). This lets you create a wide variety of interesting waveshapes. (Technically a “true” additive synthesizer will have a loudness envelope over time for each partial, but that makes programming insanely difficult and you won’t miss that capability here, trust me.) Each oscillator has its own ADSR loudness envelope; these envelopes are interesting because you can not only click and drag breakpoints to change attack time, sustain level, etc., you can click and drag on the loudness curve itself to change its shape. From there, you can frequency-modulate (“cross-mod”) the two oscillators with one another, add noise for bite, dial in velocity sensitivity, and set pan and level for each oscillator. Audio Clip 1 demonstrates how two radically different timbres can make up a sound; here we hear a mellow sustained tone with a rapidly panning aliased noise over the top. From there, the oscillators enter a pair of digital delays, then a pair of bandpass filters; with tempo sync and optional filter modulation control, this last stage can add a lot of motion and interest to your sounds. A pair of LFOs with highly configurable waveforms can be routed to modulate various oscillator parameters, and the controls are rounded out with some general settings for keyboard control, polyphony, portamento, etc. All parameters can be controlled via MIDI using a simple Learn technique, and little treats abound to add sonic interest. An control called Pitch Offset lets you detune the two oscillators from one another by a few Hz, which creates subtle timbral changes when combined with cross-mod. You can randomize each oscillator’s waveform settings, or an entire patch, with a button click. And the oscillators and noise generators each have a tiny logo reminiscent of a Space Invaders alien, that switches on Vintage mode, with aliasing and 1970s digital grunge adding noise and character to the sounds. Audio Clip 2 dramatically demonstrates this effect with a series of notes played first without, then with, Vintage mode activated on both oscillators. Phosphor comes with 80 presets that demonstrate a startling variety of sonic possibilities, from the expected bells and clangorous metallic timbres to smooth pads, mellow electric pianos, and grating lead sounds. It’s relatively light on CPU load, with two-fisted chords barely registering 25% load on my relatively “vintage” test Mac under Ableton Live Intro 8.2. And its simple, clear layout invites programming without being at all intimidating. I’ve been waiting a long time to see what sort of offbeat fun Audio Damage would bring to the world of software synthesis, and Phosphor doesn’t disappoint. It’s easy to use, very affordable, and has a unique and useful sonic palette; what more could you want?


http://www.audiodamage.com

Recording - April 2011

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of Recording - April 2011

Recording - April 2011
Fade In
Contents
Talkback
Fast Forward
Blue Spark Microphone
Chris Cox Remixes Michael Jackson
MOTU BPM
FXpansion Geist
JDK Audio R20 Microphone Preamp, R24 Equalizer, and R22 Compressor
Reviewed & Revisited: Cakewalk SONAR X1
Slate Digital Trigger Platinum
Reviewed & Revisited: Synthogy Ivory II
WaveMachine Labs Drumagog 5.0
DAW Details
Readers’ Tapes
It’s Your Music—Know Your Rights. Chapter 13: The Role of the Producer—Part 1
Recording’s Showcase of Sounds
Advertiser Index
In The Studio
Recording - April 2011 - Recording - April 2011
Recording - April 2011 - Cover2
Recording - April 2011 - 1
Recording - April 2011 - Fade In
Recording - April 2011 - 3
Recording - April 2011 - Contents
Recording - April 2011 - 5
Recording - April 2011 - Talkback
Recording - April 2011 - 7
Recording - April 2011 - Fast Forward
Recording - April 2011 - 9
Recording - April 2011 - Blue Spark Microphone
Recording - April 2011 - 11
Recording - April 2011 - Chris Cox Remixes Michael Jackson
Recording - April 2011 - 13
Recording - April 2011 - 14
Recording - April 2011 - 15
Recording - April 2011 - MOTU BPM
Recording - April 2011 - 17
Recording - April 2011 - 18
Recording - April 2011 - 19
Recording - April 2011 - FXpansion Geist
Recording - April 2011 - 21
Recording - April 2011 - 22
Recording - April 2011 - 23
Recording - April 2011 - JDK Audio R20 Microphone Preamp, R24 Equalizer, and R22 Compressor
Recording - April 2011 - 25
Recording - April 2011 - Reviewed & Revisited: Cakewalk SONAR X1
Recording - April 2011 - 27
Recording - April 2011 - 28
Recording - April 2011 - 29
Recording - April 2011 - Slate Digital Trigger Platinum
Recording - April 2011 - 31
Recording - April 2011 - 32
Recording - April 2011 - 33
Recording - April 2011 - Reviewed & Revisited: Synthogy Ivory II
Recording - April 2011 - 35
Recording - April 2011 - WaveMachine Labs Drumagog 5.0
Recording - April 2011 - 37
Recording - April 2011 - 38
Recording - April 2011 - 39
Recording - April 2011 - DAW Details
Recording - April 2011 - 41
Recording - April 2011 - 42
Recording - April 2011 - 43
Recording - April 2011 - 44
Recording - April 2011 - 45
Recording - April 2011 - Readers’ Tapes
Recording - April 2011 - 47
Recording - April 2011 - 48
Recording - April 2011 - 49
Recording - April 2011 - 50
Recording - April 2011 - 51
Recording - April 2011 - 52
Recording - April 2011 - 53
Recording - April 2011 - It’s Your Music—Know Your Rights. Chapter 13: The Role of the Producer—Part 1
Recording - April 2011 - 55
Recording - April 2011 - Recording’s Showcase of Sounds
Recording - April 2011 - 57
Recording - April 2011 - 58
Recording - April 2011 - 59
Recording - April 2011 - 60
Recording - April 2011 - 61
Recording - April 2011 - 62
Recording - April 2011 - 63
Recording - April 2011 - 64
Recording - April 2011 - Advertiser Index
Recording - April 2011 - 66
Recording - April 2011 - 67
Recording - April 2011 - 68
Recording - April 2011 - 69
Recording - April 2011 - 70
Recording - April 2011 - 71
Recording - April 2011 - In The Studio
Recording - April 2011 - Cover3
Recording - April 2011 - Cover4
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