German programmer and software engineer Björn Arlt began building VST plugins under the name Full Bucket Effects in 2010. Being a musician, and a synth enthusiast from a young age, he was drawn to analysing and building software synths. He now offers both synth emulations and effects as freeware through his website.
ModulAir is a polyphonic modular synthesizer that can hold up to 18 modules. Each module can either be a polyphonic Voice module or a monophonic Master module. Voice modules are used for the individual synthesizer voices, typically oscillators, filters, and modulators. Master modules are used for overall sound processing of all voices, with effects like delay or reverb. There is no limitation in the way that modules are used, and it is perfectly ok to create a synthesizer with Master modules alone. It is also possible to add Reverb as a Voice module, which then will only reverberate the individual voice.
The voice signals generated by the Voice modules are shaped by individual ADSR envelope generators and then summed to form the Voices Sum stereo signal. This signal, along with an external input signal, can be used to feed the Master modules, and the final output can then be selected from the output of a Master module (if applicable), or the Voices Sum signal. While audio signals cannot be sent directly from Voice modules to Master modules, or vice versa, it is possible to send modulation and/or gate/trigger signals from Master modules to Voice modules. This way one can create global LFOs or sequencers and trigger sources.
Currently there are 57 different module types available of which 18 different modules can be used per program at the same time. The module types are divided into the following groups:
- Oscillators (8 types)
- Filters (7 + 4 stereo versions)
- Amplifiers (4 + 1 stereo version)
- Processors (6)
- Modulators (8)
- Sequencers (5)
- Effects (4 + 1 stereo version)
- Tools (9)
Features:
- Fully modular architecture
- Up to 18 modules per patch
- 55 module types available
- Polyphonic Voice and monophonic Master modules
- Up to 64 voices polyphony
- External signal processing possible
- Supports MTS-ESP by ODDSound dynamic micro-tuning
- TUN/SCL micro-tuning file import
- Resizable user interface (not N version)
- MIDI Learn – all parameters can be controlled by MIDI CC
- Plugin supports Windows and macOS (32 bit and 64 bit)
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