Chromaphone 3

Name: Chromaphone 3
Price: 177.8 USD
Author: Applied Acoustics Systems

by Applied Acoustics Systems · Synth · Physical modeling percussion synth

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Chromaphone 3 by Applied Acoustics Systems

Chromaphone 3 is a physical modeling synth that combines exciters with acoustic resonators such as strings, plates, membranes, beams and tubes.

It is aimed at mallets, plucks, drums and evolving textures, and costs $199.

Best for: Keys & Synths, Drums, Sound Design. Genres: Electronic & EDM, Ambient & Cinematic, Pop.

Keywords: mallets, plucks, physical modelling, macro controls, tube, evolving, textures, hybrid, sound design, arpeggiator, cinematic, drag-and-drop routing, metallic, organic, preset-driven, strings.

What it does

Chromaphone 3 is Applied Acoustics Systems' "acoustic object synthesizer": a mallet or noise exciter strikes modeled resonators, and the result behaves like a real struck or plucked object. The idea is to let you act as an instrument maker, building drums, bars, plates and tubes that respond naturally to how you play.

Exciters: a mallet for struck sounds and a noise source with high-pass, low-pass and band-pass filtering for scraped, blown or breathy sounds.
Eight resonators: Beam, Marimba, Open Tubes, Closed Tubes, String, Drumhead, Plate and Membrane, two per layer.
Coupling: the two resonators can be coupled so energy flows between them, creating hybrid objects; AAS says Chromaphone was the first synth to model this.
Two layers (new in 3): each layer is a full resonator pair with its own timbre, stacked or split, with keyboard range limits, panning and a layer balance you can move by MIDI CC.
Performance macros: four per layer, grouped as Modulation, Timbre, Envelope and Effects, each assignable to a MIDI controller.
Arpeggiator: built in, with polyrhythmic patterns.
Effects: three racks (one per layer plus a master) with reorderable slots for reverb, delay, distortion, phaser, chorus, flanger, filters, EQ, compressor, guitar amp and tremolo.
Presets and tuning: over 1,090 presets (421 new plus 670 remastered Chromaphone 2 sounds) in a tag-based browser, and Scala microtuning with an adjustable reference pitch.

The current version is 3.2.0. A bundle with 22 sound packs is also sold. There is a fully working 15-day trial, and web store orders have a 30-day money-back guarantee.

Source: Applied Acoustics Systems product page

When to use it

Chromaphone 3 does one thing: modeled acoustic objects, where Pigments 7 and Phase Plant are general-purpose hybrid synths with many engines and Omnisphere 3 leans on a huge sample library. That makes its mallets, bells, plucks and percussion respond to velocity and play more naturally than sample- or wavetable-based versions, and lets you morph between materials in a way samples can't. It is less suited to big supersaw leads or classic analog basses, and its two layers share one MIDI channel, so it is not a full multitimbral workstation.

Best for: mallets, bells, kalimba-like plucks, tuned percussion, metallic hits and organic, evolving textures.
Genres: electronic, ambient and cinematic music, sound design and pop production.
Look elsewhere if: you want classic subtractive or wavetable sounds (Serum 2 or Pigments 7), a sample-based all-rounder (Omnisphere 3), or layers on separate MIDI channels with velocity splits.
Tip: assign a macro to resonator diameter and put it on the mod wheel to vary percussive sounds as you play (Synth and Software).

What producers say

Reviewers treat it as a deep but approachable specialist synth, with only small workflow complaints.

MusicRadar (James Russell, 2021) said it gets "even deeper and more versatile" without taxing the mind, praising the two layers, the macros and the preset library; the one con was a Home tab with little use.
Synth and Software (Marty Cutler, 2021) called it an "outstanding synth to add to your studio" with a "mind-bending" range of sounds, a strong preset library and a good browser.
Criticisms: no independent MIDI channels or velocity splits for the layers, little documentation on choosing materials, and no inverted key tracking for pitch (Synth and Software).

Where to buy

Tutorials and reviews

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