TheSynthFactory has debuted Azimuth, a virtual analog and wavetable synthesizer for Mac and Windows computers.
On its surface, Azimuth is a clear and easy-to-read synth. The interface is a single page, with all parameters visible and legible.
Four oscillators drive the core sound of Azimuth, with each being capable of eight voices of unison per voice. The wavetable engine is perfunctory and adds a wonderful flavor to things, but don’t expect cross-engine modulation and sound destruction.
Each of the four oscillators is readily panned, creating some wonderful stereo effects for big wide pads. The voices can also be delayed, which lends itself to some interesting effects depending on how you construct your presets.
There are a pair of multimode filters with various modes you can flip through. The first filter you can specify per voice, while the second voice is a global filter. These are both readily modulated and lend Azimuth to some interesting patches full of movement and vitality.
For modulation, there is a trio of LFOs, one for the gain, filter, and pitch. All three LFOs can be assigned to each selectable voice, with oscillators one through four and the sub-oscillator and noise generator ready for sonic weirdness.
Four master effects are present, with a phaser, EQ, reverb, and delay all being accounted for.
The phaser sounds quite nice and has a genuine syrupy nature when running your trance arps. The reverb lacks controls but is fine as a built-in audio effect. The delay line is equally minimal, with a classic and ping-pong mode selectable, which are firmly synced.
Can’t say I’m a huge fan of the EQ, the three bands are fine, but gain appears to be applied globally across all three bands.
All these elements center around a gigantic X/Y pad at the center of the interface. You can record your mouse movements or assign them to key tracking and velocity. The values for the X/Y pad are pre-assigned to the gain controls of all four oscillators, allowing for some vector-based synthesis like the Prophet VS or Wavestation. Sadly, there is no wave sequencing.
Azimuth is a tidy little synth that is quite fun to dial in. Supported plugin formats are VST3 and AU. Intel and Apple Silicon binaries are provided by the developer.
Download: Azimuth
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Last Updated on March 20, 2023 by Tomislav Zlatic.
