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Madrona Labs, makers of Aalto and Kaivo, have released Virta, which is not a synth that makes you sound like John Williams, but a ...
... "patchable toolbox for turning your voice or other instrument into wild new synth sounds. Virta is a modular synthesizer and effects processor that responds directly to you. When you route your voice (or any kind of audio) into Virta, the sound analysis engine precisely extracts information about its pitch, timbre, and dynamics over time. These new signals can control nearly any parameter in Virta, just the same as you can with MIDI or OSC. This makes for an instrument that can easily follow your every twist and turn. Virta is modular, so audio-controlled synthesis is just one road you can travel.
You can also make stuff like:
- Expressive vocal processing chains.
- 4-voice MIDI-controlled pitch shifters.
- MIDI/OSC-controlled synths (with or without audio control).
- Drones for days.
- First-ever faithful emulation of the mating call of the Space Pony (!!).
Virta can also be a very useful toolbox for more simple effects. Its processing modules, including an input compressor and a pitch shifter with feedback delay, are very open and transparent at low volumes, coloring the sound more when pushed. Because it's so easily programmable, drawing on the patcher UI that they've been obsessively refining for five years, Virta is a quick and gratifying way to dial in that channel effect you want.
Though the audio analyzer is designed to capture the nuances of the human voice, other monophonic instruments will work just fine, producing very musical results. And go ahead and feed a drum loop into it if you like---what comes out will definitely be surprising, and might be just your thing."
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Price: $89.00 (Intro). Virta is available for Mac OS X and Windows in VST and AU plug-in formats.
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