Plaits Palette, Auduina and an Editor for your Typhon: Synth Journal
Make your own Plaits Firmware
Plaits Palette, Auduina and an Editor for your Typhon: Synth Journal · Source: Rubato Audio, Los Aparatos, Voidcontrol MIDI
Plaits Palette is a handy web app that lets you build your own custom firmware for Mutable Instruments Plaits! Also in this week’s Synth Journal: An experimental granular synth with a light sensor and an assistant for your Dreadbox Typhon.
Synth Journal
Rubato Audio Plaits Palette: Build your own Plaits Firmware
Plaits by Mutable Instruments has been discontinued for some time now, but thanks to its open-source architecture and the many excellent clones available, the module’s fanbase and user community are still very much alive. If you’re one of the many users who swear by the versatile macro oscillator, you’re in for a treat. Plaits Palette by Rubato Audio lets you build your own custom firmware and upload it to the module – right inside your browser!
Using a convenient drag-and-drop interface, you can select the model you want for each of Plaits’ slots, and it doesn’t end with the stock models. The extensive model library also includes a bunch of experimental models developed by Rubato Labs, as well as community contributions. It’s easy to mix and match models from different banks, and you can even do things like import SysEx banks and customize patches for the DX7-style FM models.
In addition, Plaits Palette lets you customize the module’s chord tables and speech engine. When you’re done, simply click a button to create a firmware WAV file for uploading to Plaits.
Besides the original MI module, Plaits Palette apparently works with true 1:1 hardware clones, such as After Later Audio Pixie and CalSynth Pleiades. It does not, however, work with Behringer Brains, as that module uses a different internal architecture and firmware flashing system.
Los Aparatos Auduina: Experimental Granular Synth with Light and Touch Sensors
Auduina by Los Aparatos from Argentina is a cute little experimental granular synth that lets you playfully control sounds using various sensors. In addition to a light sensor, Auduina comes with a pair of alligator clips that you can touch with your hands or clip on any object. It also has a CV input for sound manipulation through voltage, e.g. from a modular system.
As the pitches can be quantized to major pentatonic scales in all 12 keys, the synth’s output is easy to fit in with whatever else is going on in your track. An unquantized continuous mode is also available. I’m not sure as to what exactly the ’granular’ part is, but Auduina looks like a fun little instrument for noodling, creative experimentation, and adding a unique layer of uncertainty to your tracks.
You can order it from the developer for 149,000 Argentine pesos (approx. USD 100).
Typhon Unofficial Assistant: Get a Hand with your Typhon
The Unofficial Assistant by Voidcontrol MIDI is essentially a plugin editor for the Dreadbox Typhon, although the developer prefers to refer to it as an ‘assistant’. The reason for this is that, due to the Typhon’s MIDI implementation, the program lacks some of the standard features you might expect from a full editor/librarian, such as full bidirectional communication and direct saving to the synth’s patch storage. That said, it’s still a very capable editor that lets you control all parameters of the synth and automate them in your DAW.
In addition to real-time control of every MIDI-controllable parameter of the Typhon, the Unofficial Assistant offers the ability to pull presets from the hardware: change a preset on the synth, and the editor will follow. However, as the Typhon does not transmit its knob movements via MIDI, the editor cannot follow hardware control movements in real time. It does work the other way around, though.
The software also includes a 32-step sequencer that locks to your DAW tempo, as well as a patch librarian with the ability to categorize, search, and export patches. If you’ve created a preset in the editor that you’d like to store in the hardware synth, you can export a .typhonpr file to use with Dreadbox’s own Preset manager.
The Typhon Unofficial Assistant is available as a VST3 plugin and standalone application for Windows. A Mac version is under consideration. The software costs $15.
The Dreadbox Typhon is available from our affiliate partners Thomann* and Sweetwater*.
*This post contains affiliate links and/or widgets. When you buy a product via our affiliate partner, we receive a small commission that helps support what we do. Don’t worry, you pay the same price. Thanks for your support!
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