“We are very pleased to announce Quanta, our new synthesizer for AAX, AU, VST, VST3, and iOS. Quanta is a 10-voice granular synthesizer built around an incredibly easy-to-use and capable granular engine, with a ‘sidecar’ oscillator that can be used in addition to the granular source, or mixed in with it, or instead of it. Quanta has two multi-mode filters and a cross-platform preset mechanism, and can load AIFF, WAV, Ogg, FLAC, and MP3 format samples.
Modulation sources? Quanta’s got ’em. Quanta features our new Flexible Envelope Generator (FEG), which is an arbitrary-length breakpoint generator with optional host tempo sync. Easily add and remove breakpoints, and set loop points and curves. These comically powerful envelope generators are essentially sequencers in their own right, and Quanta has four of them.
Quanta also has a pair of our new Flexible LFO, which made its first appearance in Discord4. The FLFO has, for all intents and purposes, an unlimited series of waveforms that are easily accessed via the SHAPE, SKEW, and WARP knobs.
Mod routing #easymode. Quanta has a full modulation matrix page; touch a knob and it instantly scrolls to that row, allowing you to easily and quickly direct modulation sources throughout the synth; virtually every control in the synth engine can be modded.
In addition, Quanta is fully MPE (MIDI Polyphonic Expression) capable, and owners of MPE controllers such as the Linnstrument, Haken Continuum, Roli Seaboard and Rise, and Madrona Labs Soundplane can utilize their full expression range.
Quanta for iOS is functionally identical to the desktop versions, and will be available as standalone and AUv3 (iPad only); presets created on the desktop can be used in the mobile version and vice-versa.
Setting aside the marketing-speak and bullet points for a moment, we’d just like to say that we’re very proud of this instrument, which is the result of many months of research and development in both DSP and user interface methods, and the first product of this new chapter in the history of Audio Damage. Our goal was to try to make granular synthesis as easy to understand and use as subtractive, and to make it as musical and playable as possible. Whether we’ve succeeded or not is up to you folks to decide, of course, but we are really pleased with what we’ve come up with here, and are excited to show it to you.
Today (May 3rd, 2018) is the first day of Superbooth 18, and we’ll have beta versions of both desktop and iOS Quanta on display for use, as well as a Roli Seaboard Rise and Linnstrument on hand to demonstrate the MPE capabilities. If you’re in Berlin, please stop by and have a play. We do not have a final price or release date at this time; there are still some things we need to tighten up, and we won’t be shipping Quanta until it is solid as a rock. With that said, it won’t be long; more than a couple weeks, but less than a couple months, is our best guess.”