Madrona Labs Aalto 1.8.3 - Win - x86 x64

Vst2 X86 X64 | 12.2 MB
Aalto is a semi-modular software synthesizer with an innovative, patchable UI, distinctive sounds, and a charming personality.

Aalto’s sound engine lets you create sounds that have been difficult or impossible to make with softsynths before now. The heart of Aalto is a Buchla-inspired complex oscillator, with FM, timbre and waveshape controls that enable a wide range of expressive sounds. These sounds are uniquely malleable and alive, in part because they are made with dynamic calculation, not static wavetables.

Aalto is designed as much for sequencing patterns as for playing individual notes. Each voice has a separate, built-in sequencer with a patchable, independently controllable rate and offset. This topology makes it easy to build complex, evolving textures.

Each voice also includes a lowpass gate module with a vactrol emulation in the control path. The vactrol equation slows down the response to incoming control signals through a complex nonlinear filter. You can turn the vactrol response down to instantaneous, or up to a pronounced ring.

Following the lowpass gate is a patchable waveguide / delay module with a waveshaper and a peaking EQ built into the feedback loop. Because it has such short and controllable delay times, unlike a typical analog delay, it can be used as an additional oscillator.

Aalto’s filter is a state-variable topology with mixable simultaneous outputs, a more resonant take on the Oberheim SEM filter.

Subjectively speaking, Aalto can make a wide range of sounds, from lush to edgy, including some very complicated ones, without sounding too thick in a mix. Aalto’s sounds are not hyped or compressed, they are wide-range, open and natural. We hope our approach will appeal to experienced sound designers who have their own favorite EQs and limiters. And for those just getting into synthesis, Aalto is an accurate and honest tool for learning. We have tried to make Aalto a deep instrument that will reward lasting engagement.





aalto version 1.8.3 changes:

- added handling of "all notes off" and "all sound off" MIDI messages
- fixed bugs with Scala .scl and .kbm handling
- fixed issue with step sequencer not quantizing to current scale
- fixed issue with step sequencer UI not reaching maximum when dragging
- added slower LFO minimum speed and finer adjust (0.0001 Hz)
- added response to "canDo" MPE query in VST plugin
- increased glide time to reduce zipper noise for panel parameters
- fixed possible DSP freeze with extreme LFO feedback
- fixed sometimes missing t3d light
- fixed sometimes missing label backgrounds.