Hgsounds Cassetto (KONTAKT)
The idea behind Cassetto was to create a synthesizer which has an old and slightly faulty sound as well as a fairly fixed yet interesting architecture. The end result is a synth with it's own character and capable of some very unique tones.
Although Kontakt is often used for complex samples, Cassetto uses sampled oscillators so that it is a true synthesizer and all sounds are constructed in the same way as any other subtractive synth, it comes with 200 presets with more to come, however it is also a synth that invites you to make your own.
Firstly, I chose the Elektron Analogue Four for the Oscillators as it has a nice selection of strong analog waveforms. Each of the Raw Waveforms was then recorded note by note over 4 octaves onto a very old and well worn cassette. I have owned this cassette since at least 1987 as it had me playing guitar badly around that time, which was recorded over a Pet Shop Boys album funnily enough. It was the 3rd cassette I tried and had the most dropouts which is what I was looking for. I had been looking for a suitable cassette deck for this project for a long while, and a friend came up with this one (JVC CD-1635 MK II) which is actually a really nice machine after bit of de-oxit, I'd already tried a couple of others with auto gain inputs which was a bit too extreme, I was after subtlety. Here is what it looks like (you can see the cassetto! cassette if you look closely). These were then recorded into the computer through a focusrite OctoPre and each 4 second sample was looped manually at different lengths to provide the multisampled oscillators. I was actually surprised how lovely they sounded once tamed by Filters. This is what some of the raw unfiltered waveforms sound like with random start time (phase).
Features:
2 Oscillators with both multi-sampled cassette sampled sound and single cycle Waveforms
Noise Oscillator sampled from Tape
Unstable for warbling the oscillator pitch
Dual Filters with a large choice of filter types
Parallel Filters or One for each Oscillator
2 LFOs with selectable Waveforms, LFO1 resets on note, LFO2 is free running
Random LFO of the Filter
Filter Envelope for the Cutoff, Pitch and Optional Volume of Oscillator 2
VCA Envelope for Volume Control
Reverb with 50 Impulse Responses
Delay
Modulator with a choice from Chorus, Flanger or Phaser
Arpeggiator with Sequencers for various parameters
Preset Browser with the ability to save presets
Global Randomizer and Default, with the ability to save you own Default preset.
Section Default and Randomizer buttons
over 200 Presets (with more to come)
Download link:
Links are Interchangeable - No Password - Single Extraction
