Altair 4 - The SciFi Sounds Lab

Forbidden Planet is one of my favorite science fiction movies and the soundtrack has been a big influence in my musical career. As soon as I saw 'Altair 4' in my RSS feed from KVR I downloaded the demo and then bought the pro version. For those who don't know - Altair 4 is the so-called 'Forbidden Planet' in the movie by that name (from 1956).

The VST is a SynthEdit design made by HG Fortune for Windows only. It is not a general purpose synth, in fact it is aptly named 'The SciFi Sounds Lab' because it specializes in making certain types of sounds - typically those associated with science fiction effects. Especially, the classic Sci-Fi from the 50's and 60's which featured signal generators and theremins and stuff like that.

The manual that comes with the VST is not very complete - there is no block diagram and the description of the controls is a bit weak, but it's enough to get you started.

There are two resonators that generate ring modulated and FM modulated effects - or at least they sound like this to me. The effects have a variety of modulators and controls, a synchronizable delay stage and a reverb stage. No filters and only an AR envelope - this is a very specialized tool.

I would have like a randomize feature because this design is well-suited to that type of exploration. I used the 'MiniHost' VST Host randomizing tool to make my first set of presets.

I think a phaser/flanger effect would also make a nice addition to the output stage, but you can always follow the VST with your own effects...

Typical types of sounds that you are likely to make with this are: bell, bleeps, arcade noises, sample and hold sequences, inharmonic timbres, experimental sounds,heavy LFO designs, and weird and strange things. You probably would not design a violin or a piano!

- Jim Hurley, May 1, 2011Read Review