Chromaphone 1

Introduction
*******************
Chromaphone, a physical modelling synthesizer mainly for percussive or stringed sounds, and if you are into: very experimental instruments. No samples, but real calculation.

GUI & Usability
*******************
The GUI is clean and straight forward, as soon as you understand its sound creation structure, that is divided into 2 main sections: Mallet & Resonator. The user gets a fast intuitive overview on what's going on. Unique colors for modulation and modulation amount are clearly readable, so are the labels and fonts, although I'd like to have a bigger skin (my screens are further away than in usual situations). In this case the small fonts can get unreadable.

Preset management is simple and easy to use. And Chromaphone includes also undo and redo functions.

Sound
*******************
Chromaphone has the possibilities to give you very organic, very expressive and dynamic sounds. If it's just a snare, or chromatic congas, or some real marimbas, or even out of this universe instruments.

It starts with the left section for the mallet. You design the mallet in two sections: Mallet and Noise. Within subsection Mallet you can define volume, stiffness, noise and color, and within subsection Noise: volume, frequence, Q and density. Both subsection can mixed with the big slider next to them. Or you just turn the whole section off.

The resonator section defines the body of the instrument you're creating and includes 2 bodies (resonator A and B) at the same time, that also can be mixed with the big fader at the right. E.g. choose as first body String and for the second body Plate, and blend them as you wish. Every resonator have the same parameters, but resonator A gives you more modulation possibilities.

And the modulations are one of the key features that give Chromaphone a very dynamic organic possibilities. On top of that you get an onboard reverb, plus chorus and delay. These effects are quite good, but surely not the best out there. Personally I hardly use any effects.

Presets
*******************
Chromaphone already ships a wide variety of sounds, neatly divided into clearly named banks. If that's not enough for you, there are already a lot of 3rd party banks you can buy.

Stability
*******************
Never encountered any issue, since I bought it right at day one.

Cons
*******************
Why just a 9, and not a 10? Because it is quite a CPU hog, especially when automating some parameters. Of course I have to tell you this experience derives from my old MP running OS X 10.6.8 and Logic 8. Still compared to Diva I've got the feeling it asks for more CPU.

Conclusion
*******************
If you're looking for expressive and "real" percussions, percussive instruments, chromatic percussions or for other percussive craziness and experimental sounds, Chromaphone is divine. And for sound tweaking nerds Chromaphone is definitely a must.

Chromophone by Applied Acoustics Systems is the biggest little plugin I ever tried. Applied Acoustics Systems calls it a "percussive synth," but I have discovered that it can do much, much more! As promised, it shines when creating percussive sounds, but surprisingly, it is capable of lovely strings, pads, and ambient sounds (soundscapes, pads, textures, etc). By turning a few knobs I have created some fantastic ambient Wah Wahs that add a hypnotic pulse to my tracks. The sound is fantastic — expressive, crisp, clear, and pleasing to the ear. Chromophone is a joy to launch. It's also very light on CPU usage, which is always a good thing. I highly recommend this plugin to any electronic musician, regardless of genre!