With a new take on what a synthesiser should be, Klevgrand’s recently announced Tomofon instrument promises both old favourites and never-before heard textures thanks to its unique architecture. We take a look and listen…
The Synth Establishment
In a way, the synth is to music what electricity is to the lightbulb. Before it started to appear on record and stage, musicians could have been forgiven for not quite knowing what to do with these mysterious beasts. Much in the same way that the discovery of electricity sat around for a bit waiting for uptake in the form of the humble lightbulb, the synth also waited for an application of its own. Aside from the odd trailblazer, it took a while for mainstream musicians to take in its potential before it spawned new sounds and even whole genres.
Growing The Synth
Constructing sounds electronically from scratch is quite an achievement. While subtractive methods of synthesis (one of the earliest and best known), can work very well with a little knowhow, engineers have sought ways to improve the scope of the instrument, both in the breadth sounds available and in their editability. Synth design from the 1980s onwards sought to use new methods such as elements of sample playback on hard-to-synthesise elements, as well as synthesised wavetable or granular sampling methods to recreate virtual or real periodicities to string together into new sounds.
Beyond Wavetable - Tomofon And The Audio Model
Swedish audio gurus Klevgrand recently added Tomofon to a list of innovative tools taking in processors, reverbs, and instruments (including the brilliantly quirky Rassel shaker instrument that presses any iPhone into a percussive workout!).
In Tomofon, Klevgrand has taken the wavetable concept further. Taking existing monophonic audio from the real world, it generates a number of shorter cycle ‘chunks’ (ie, wavetables) to be mapped as layers on a per-note basis. Contrasted with a conventional sampler’s whole sample for each velocity layer, Tomofon’s layers of wavetables allows seamless and continuous transition between both wave layers (Y axis) and notes (known as pitch zones) along the X axis. This collective structure is known as an Audio Model.
In the video, we take a look and listen at Tomofon’s clean interface and fresh sounds. We explore its Audio Model architecture and take a tour of its tabbed GUI and effects. We also listen to some of its more naturalistic sounds that exploit the Audio Model concept.
Klevgrand On Tomofon
Overview:
Tomofon comes pre-loaded with a pack of 119 Audio Models. Included with your download is also over 160 presets to choose from, to get you going right away. From there on you can venture further and experiment with the existing Audio Models, or start using the built-in editor of the plug-in, importing your own sounds to shape and deconstruct. More instruments (Audio Model Packs and presets) will be added by Klevgrand in the future.
The synth engine is packed with features that emphasizes the musical and audible possibilities of how to play back an Audio Model. Everything is displayed in an intuitive manner that supports a musical workflow.
Details:
Pitch and (layer) depth envelopes that can be edited by the user
Envelope times can separately be controlled via MIDI velocity
Several LFO’s (including Sample and Hold with randomness)
Modulation matrix (2 x MIDI CC, Velocity and Keymap)
Monophonic playback with separate glide times for pitch and velocity
Polyphonic legato playback where started notes syncs envelopes with currently playing ones
Up to 4 doubling voices with separate pitch, pan and level
Filter with modulation possibilities
Post Reverb, Delay and EQ
The Tomofon is pre-loaded with an Audio Model Pack of 119 instruments and 160 presets
Pricing & Availability
Tomofon is priced at $129. It requires macOS 10.10 or later (optimised for the M1-processor), Windows 7 (SP1) or later, running a AU, VST3 or AAX compatible 64-bit host.