Applied Acoustics Systems

As always, the lightweight downloads and disk footprint are superb with these physical modeling instruments. Love that! I've already used one of these sounds on an upcoming song.

They do demand a bit of CPU, so be ready for that. Several of these sounds will make it worth your while.

It takes a while to go through all of these sounds. Thankfully, they take up only a tiny bit of disk (so the download was a breeze).

I've only had one or maybe 2 of these sound packs that did not pay off. On sale, you can often get them for $19 or even less. When that happens, go for it.

Thiago Pinheiro makes sweet paks for AAS. I have a couple others that are fantastic. .. one for Strum and one for Chromaphone. I look forward to picking this one up too. The video demo sounds smooth and comes with useable presets. This is not much of a review. .. just an enthusiastic post from a user who is about to grab this pak.;-).

Absolutely great guitar plug-in... I use it on just about every project. The many, many preset strumming patterns cover all styles I'm ever going to want to use - and the MIDI drag and drop feature really works great when it comes to constructing my MIDI guitar rhythm parts (especially for a non-keyboardist such as myself!!). The AAS Support folks have been quick to answer any and all of my questions.

A good product, versatile. Has a weird sound though that emulates a hummed string, very hard to mix out. Use notches and hope for the best.

Gorgeous preset pack. Certainly not every patch is going to sound like the actual instrument, but it's astonishing the variety of sounds and variations Cipryan Bot has summoned from what is, essentially, a two-timbre subtractive synth! And even the patches that aren't as realistic, they're inspiring and playable in their own right.

Disclaimer
This is an update to my original review of CV-1.
These are my concise early thoughts about this new audio software as a music producer, educator, and equipment junkie.

Getting Started
As with all AAS products, the website is clear and provides an easy pathway for research, purchase, download, installation, authorization, and launch.

Upon Launch
Multiphonics CV-3 is a modular software synth that is unlike any other. It has a clear, well-organized interface with knobs and patch plug things that seem less daunting than many of the Eurorack synths and that messy Reaktor. This is a lovely-looking synth with organic elements that are crisp and easy to navigate. CV-3 is inviting and fun to use without the fear of making an unwanted mess (wanted messes are encouraged, of course as this is a modular "playground". The digital footprint (aka file size) is relatively small. The processing power needed is low to moderate with most patches. I'm on a Mac M2, and running this does not put a dent in %. It is extremely stable. Comes is AU, VST3, AAX, Stand-Alone. Scaleable interface. Drag-n-drop modules. The virtual patch cables are easy to grab, move, and snap into desired plugs.

Sound
The sound is so nice with lots of FM Synthesis on board. I no longer miss my old DX7. The sonic pallet ranges from clear-as-s-bell to dirty-as-hell and everything in between. It's easy and fun to create your own patches from scratch or use the generous factory library as is or as a starting point. I believe there are nearly a thousand presets, neatly categorized. The effects list seems nearly endless. This thing is packed with all kinds of cool goodies to manipulate patches. I especially like the basses. When combined with the gate sequencer and filters I get a groovy TB-303 thing happening. Connecting and stacking can become a fun addiction. I read somewhere about an auto-connect feature, but I have not explored it yet. .. sounds intriguing. And, as expected from AAS, there are some expansion packs available from groovy sound designers. Note, these often go on sale and I usually take advantage of their expansion pack bundle deals.

The Update
I used CV-1 quite a lot but had some issues that prevented me from diving deeply into CV-2. I'm all over this new version. It features added physical modeling elements, which is wonderful because AAS is the industry leader in physical modeling with a suite of established top-end soft synths like Lounge Lizard, Strum, Chromaphone, String Studio, etc. In this case, many oscillators and filters emulate real-world aural stuff. Multiphonics now has MPE compatibility. Admittedly, I have no idea what that is, but I noticed a lot of forum members mentioning it so it must be cool.;-).

Developer
I love these guys. I met them in person a few years back at NAMM. They are cool cats. They release frequent updates, respond to inquiries, and are very supportive of their users. They also price things fairly and often run sales. Also, there have been around a while and don't seem to be going out to pasture anytime soon.;-) They rock on and on and on, always brewing something in that Canadian lab.

Conclusion
I agree with the caption on Applied Acoustic Systems' product page. .. Multiphonics CV-3 is "Powerful Yet Easy-To-Use". This synth is fun, inspiring, inviting, and very, very musical. This synth has given me another reason to wake up and fire up my Mac.

Outro: So, what ever happed to Tassman?
Tassman used to be Applied Acoustics Systems' flagship synth. I loved it! Is this a new version of Tassman, renamed? Well, Tassman was discontinued a few years ago. I did some investigating and found this: https://www.applied-acoustics.com/tassman-4/faq/. Multiphonics is not a continuation of Tassman. This is a totally new synth. Both share the same modular philosophy and are closed systems (no third-party modules), but Tassman behaved a lot like Reaktor, whereby patches were created in a "builder" interface, which required users to switch into the "Player" interface to tweak and play — sounds were interrupted when changes were made in the patch. Multiphonics is more like a Eurorack (but better) with patching done with wires directly on the playing interface. No doubt, the Tassman's coding became outdated. Multiphonics CV-3 represents the latest in coding/tech, and in my opinion it's much faster, smoother, and more fun.

Absolutely gorgeous sound for Unobtanium guitar with Mithril strings, played by Cyborg from Alpha-Centauri. It has strings, it can be strummed, amplified but it does not sound like something you hear on stage, or near campfire.

Background for my opinion: I'm not a guitar player - only keys. My main music interests: electronic/edm/experimental/hybrid.

I tried to choose my first guitar VI to buy. Of course I wanted to find "most of the most" guitar: realistic, simple and powerful...and inexpensive :) I trialed couple of them: MusicLab, Amplesound...Absolute fantastic edge of technology, but all of them seemed to me like sample archive with several knobs - you can build a music with it, but it is not VI for playing with keys. Okay, okay - it is not rocket science - I got some results with keyboard, but just did not like workflow. Then, I tried AAS Strum GS-2: "Oh, that is not guitar...and this is guitar..and..woah! i'm playing guitar!". One, two... and I just got music sketch and experiment with a result. Tons of sound presets and built-in rhythmic patterns, but you can just strum with keyboard. Or tweak sound in a way you never thought it was tweakable. "Do I really need 100% authentic super guitar sound?"

Pros: Playable fantastic strumming engine, Playground for guitar sound experiments, Built in patterns and FX, Quite realistic as electric rhythm guitar (and fast).

Cons: Not so easy, fast and plausible as acoustic guitar or lead guitar, No scratches/squeaks/slaps.

Forget about cons if you can consider this VI not as guitar, but "guitar-like synth", or "sketching/experimental instrument"