Sculpture - Similar VST effect?

[Sadrobit]

First post!

I've read a bit about "Sculpture" for Logic(?) maybe it was Pro Tools..

Anyway, I'm wondering if there is a similar VST effect out there.. something to run a sound through to give it that breathy, breathing effect.

Or better yet, any recommendations on how to turn a normal sound into more of a woodwind type sound?

[PaulSC]

Sculpture is built into Logic, not available in Pro Tools. But it's a software SYNTH, not an effect, so you can't really process existing sounds through it. (You can sidechain a sound into Sculpture, but that's another story.)

Anyway, the main technique used in Sculpture is physical modelling, and some good alternatives available as VST instruments include Tassman, TERA, and Reaktor. There are probably others that are PC-only, but I'm a Mac user so the ones I know about tend to be cross-platform.

But if you're really looking for a VST effect to add a breathy quality to your sounds, two good techniques are granular processing and comb filtering. A good, affordable granular processor is KTGranulator http://www.koen.smartelectronix.com/KTGranulator/ . Maybe someone else can recommend VSTs that include comb filtering.

[Sadrobit]

I'm just a little bit familiar with KTGranulator (from the past). Although I only ever really used it on loops and such to create some crazy textures.

Essentially, I want to take one of my synths and treat it like a woodwind. Like, my Virus.. if I could hold it like a recorder and blow into it to produce a sound.. I'd like to achieve the end result through software.

I'm almost at a loss of how to explain it

I'll tinker around with Reaktor as well and look into Tassman and TERA.

Any other suggestions?

[shamann]

For such an effect, it's a tough call. There isn't anything that I know of that is a model imposer exactly. Your best bet would be to look into a FFT processor that allows you to impose the spectra of one sound on to another. Some places to look might be Delaydots Spectrumworx, Plogue's Bidule, Prosoniq's Morph, or Elevayta's plugins.

Or you could build some kind of delay-based model effect, but you would have to sit down and figure out everything that characterizes the woodwind sound for you, and then piece together an effects chain that'll give you those results.

[Meffy]

Hi, and welcome to KVR. Paul and shamann have already said most of what I would've so I'll just remark that your nick is an anagram of "Dr. Tobias," who used to be my doctor.

The Reaktor instrument that you'll want to try is "Steampipe." Very nice, and fairly authentically unstable in the way physical systems are. The Tassman does the same kind of stuff too, and is made specifically for physical modelling synthesis (Reaktor tends to concentrate more on the "electronic" sound than Tassman does.)

I like the Tassman very much, use it more often than Reaktor. But they're both great synth construction kits.

[rs_ml]

What I can see from their website, maybe AVOX Antares THROAT is what
you are looking for?

RS

[aMUSEd]

Steampipe is the closest in that, unlike Tassman and String Studio, it is capable of morphing between patches like Sculpture. But from my limited experience of playing on sculpture in the music shop it's still very far off indeed - Sculpture is just awesome - one of the things that makes me want a MAC from time to time.

[Sadrobit]

Good god Sculpture sounds so nice.. the interface looks so clean. When did PC's become so dirty?

Thanks for all the suggestions! There's plenty here to play around with for the next week or so.

Meffy.. you always were my best patient.

[robenestobenz]

Off topic really, but I have one preset for mutagene's mutantkoto which sounds excellently like a recorder-ish kind of wind instrument, if you're interested. It was the first patch I did for the synth, so I don't know what other capabilities it has.

[soma]

You can get far with a vocoder, or a good envelope EQ and add some white noise, maybe some phasing.

[jens]

Maybe someone else can recommend VSTs that include comb filtering.

Wunderverb!