HG Fortune has released Altair 4 - The SciFi Sounds Lab, a new VST instrument plug-in for Windows that is best suited for creating soundtracks for movies or games in the genres of SciFi, Suspense, Horror, Fantasy and similar, that need special, spacey, wobbly FX sounds. It can do more than these, e.g. bell-like stuff, and it even fits well in fairly conventional songs.

Altair 4 is also an homage to the movie 'Forbidden Planet' from 1956, it being the first movie with a complete electronic soundtrack using sounds that could have been done with this plug-in.

Altair 4 Pro - Main features:

• 2 oscillators with two sound-sources with one (B) driving the other (A) to resonate.
• Each oscillator with three mod inputs and extensive control options.
• 3 LFO: L1 (7 waves) with key restart on first key pressed, L2 (8 waves) and phase modulation.
• L3 (7 waves) with optional modulation by sub LFO.
• 2 hidden LFO: L12 = mix of L1 and L2, L13 = mix of L1 and L3.
• 1 Sample & Hold (6 modes).
• 1 VCA with AR EG (with pan for un-delayed sound at Rev section).
• 1 Main Volume with level control: fixed, Velocity, and even Aftertouch, or Wheel.
• 1 Delay (BPM-synced) and dedicated pan.
• 1 Bass Boost.
• 1 Reverb with predelay.
• 1 Hold button to hold last played key.
• 1 Joypad with 3 balls to control 6 destinations.
• 8 Voices.
• 256 Patches (2 Banks).

Pricing & Availability

Altair 4 Pro is available for €19, a 30% introductory discount offer, until May 15th, 2011. The regular price after May 15th will be €29.

The last public beta is available for free and is pretty much the same as Pro version but the GUI is not so beautiful in some details, it offers only 3 voices instead of 8 and the internal patch-bank is not filled up completely.