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Astralis A and B

Synth (Hybrid) Plugin by Homegrown Sounds
MyKVRFAVORITE11WANT1
No Longer Available
Astralis A and B
Astralis A and B
Astralis A and B by Homegrown Sounds is a Virtual Instrument Audio Plugin for Windows. It functions as a VST Plugin.
Product
Version
1.1.1
Instrument
Formats
Sample Formats
Loads and/or Saves
SF2 (SoundFont), WAV
Copy Protection
Serial Number
My KVR - Groups, Versions, & More
18 KVR members have added Astralis A and B to 6 My KVR groups 18 times.
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+6 in private groups

KVR Rank

Overall: 16278   13690

30-Day: 17218; 7-Day: 10075; Yesterday: 10740

Astralis A and B are now only available as part of the Astralis Collection, which also includes Orgone, Bion, Bionic, Scala Creator and Astralis FX.

Astralis is described as a "tweaker's synth", great for ambient pads/sounds as well as rhythmic effects and very long evolving tones. Aside from having 2 independent synths with dual and spectral oscillators, 2 cascadable filters (8x), 2 Modulation Sequencers, a Gate Sequencer (TranceGate), and a comprehensive FX section, Astralis also includes a unique Microtonal Scale System. This system uses patches created using the included Microtonal Bank/patch manager. Custom scales of up to 24 notes can be created, and scale entry is designed with scala files in mind using either ratio or cent values. 160 tuning patches are included as default including a wide selection of eastern scales. Unlike many other microtonal systems Astralis does not rely on the pitch bend which remains fully functional.

Main features

Synths:

  • Dual Oscillator - 11 Waveforms, Harmonic Control, 9 Mix Modes and Realtime Modulation.
  • Spectral Oscillator - Sine based oscillator with 16 Partials and realtime modulation. The Spectral Oscillator can be swapped for a second Dual Osc.
  • 2 complete synths, synth 1 uses the Dual Oscillator and Synth 2 the Spectral Oscillator but is swappable for a second Dual Osc.
  • 2 Polyphonic Filters with Low Pass, High Pass, Band Pass, Notch, Peak A, Peak B and both cascadable up to 8 times.
  • Filter Limit - Reduce the lowest/highest filter frequencies.
  • Filter 1 can be routed through Filter 2 or Filter cutoff frequencies can be linked.
  • 2 Volume ADSR Envelopes one per synth.
  • White Noise Source can be added to either synth.
  • Drive/Distortion Each synth has an independent distortion selectable between soft and hard.
  • Each Synth has independent Volume, Pan, Octave, semitone and fine-tune controls.
  • Synth 1 can be used to sync to Synth 2.
  • 6 Voice Polyphony and Mono Mode.
  • Glide - sets the amount of time taken to go from one note to the next.
  • Pitch Bend up to 4 Octaves.

24 Note Microtuning Patch System:

  • Unique system for using custom tuning scales over 1 or 2 Octaves. Patches are built using the included Bank Manager. Built with Scala files in mind patches can be entered in either ratios or cent values, have a title and description. Any MIDI key in the patch can be set to any pitch, and the pitch bend will function properly unlike other Microtonal systems. 160 Patches are included with many World Tunings (Middle East, African, Far East etc.).
  • A Base Tuning - A usually set at 440hz can be set to any value for authentic recreation.
  • Root Note - The root note can be altered over a 2 octave range.

Special Features:

  • Gate Sequencer (Trance Gate) - Can be used on any of the 3 ADSR Envelopes.
  • Spread - Sets the pan of each polyphonic voice to a specified position or can be random.
  • Attack Reducer - Control over the individual attack of each polyphonic voice, can also be set to random.
  • Release Reducer - Control over the individual Release of each polyphonic voice, can also be set to random.
  • Custom Clock - To build a custom pulse clock synced to the host BPM to drive the sequencers.
  • Keyboard Velocity Graph - For building custom velocity maps.

Modulation Options:

  • Modulation Matrix - 8 x 8 Matrix with a choice of 11 Sources can be mapped to a choice of 26 Destinations.
  • Modulation Sequencer 1 - Polyphonic Sequencer which can be stepped or smoothed, synced to the Host Tempo. Also has keyboard mapping.
  • Modulation Sequencer 2 - Monophonic Sequencer which can be stepped or smoothed, synced to the Host Tempo. When smoother behaves like a programmable LFO.
  • Low Frequency Oscillator with a selection of 17 waveforms.
  • Voice Modulator - Per polyphonic voice values which can be set or random.
  • Other Modulation sources are Velocity, Modulation Wheel, Pitch, Aftertouch, Expression and Pitch Bender.
  • ADSR Envelope 3.

Effects Section:

  • Flexible Routing Options to change the order of the effects, plus parallel mode.
  • Reverb.
  • Delay.
  • Echo.
  • Ring Modulator.
  • Flanger.
  • Organic.
  • 8 Band Graphic Equalizer.
  • Clipper with 4 modes.
Made with SynthEdit

Latest User Reviews

Average user rating of 5.00 from 1 review
Astralis A and B

Reviewed By jodejo [all]
July 22nd, 2007
Version reviewed: 1.1.1 on Windows

User Interface :

The GUI is nice and sober wich is perfect in this context of an ambient/athmospheric synth. It is easy to use from the start and it is very logical in his conception: in the left synth one and two, in the right the effect section, modulation, sequencer, microtuner. In the top of
the synth you can find generals adjustments and a virtual keyboard who can hold keys (very handy to create your own presets!)

Sound and features:

Currently Astralis is compose by three synths: Astralis A, B and C (still in beta version at this time).
Astralis A and B are waveforms based synths with various possibilities (see main features) concerning effects,
modulations options, routing and to handle waveforms. It's simple you can do all you want with waveforms and create your own sound easily (bass, rythmic sounds, pads, athmospheres). All these sounds are moving wich is perfect for soundscapes. Astralis B is the same but with reduced cpu. That's great with Astralis A to produce sounds with more space.
Astralis C is a sample based synth. It's a beta version at this time but works very well and increase greatly the possibilities.
To summarize, the Astralis pack is a real quality sound factory : almost all sounds can be created and give a total control on these sounds. And in this point of view it offer me more that I expected.

Documentation and Customer Support:

Astralis have a manual made a little bit like an e-page wich is very fine. In it we can find all the needed to understand how works Astralis and the microtonal scales. Necessary to create your own presets this documentation
is fully printable. If ever have problems or a question the Hg Sounds site have a users forum. Otherwise the Hg Sounds team is nice and very reactive with users.

Stability:

I've a P4 processor with 512 Ram: not the must for audio recording. Astralis need cpu but never crash. This need of cpu isn't an handicap for me because he give me enormously.

Value For Money:

A must: finally Astralis will compose of four synths and a indepedent effect section. I bought it with the offer and I would remake this choice even without this offer.
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