Vertigo

Name: Vertigo
Price: 104.3 USD
Author: discoDSP

by discoDSP · Synth · Additive re-synthesizer

Not rated yet

Vertigo is an additive synthesizer from discoDSP that builds sounds from large banks of sine oscillators and can re-synthesize WAV files and bitmap images.

Dual resonant filters and eight effects follow the oscillators; it lists at $149, with a KVR Marketplace price of $104.30 until 15 Oct 2026.

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

Keywords: additive, polyphonic, hardware emulation, sound design, spectral, cinematic, drag-and-drop routing, evolving, FFT-based, haunting, loose, metallic, modulation matrix, oversampling, pads, surgical, textures.

What it does

Vertigo is discoDSP's additive synthesizer and re-synthesizer. It builds sounds from many sine oscillators per voice, and it can analyse audio files or images and rebuild them as editable additive patches.

Additive engine: Euler-generated oscillators with no wavetables and a noise floor down to -120 dB. The product page lists up to 256 per voice; Vertigo 5 doubled this to 512. Polyphony is up to 16 voices.
Per-oscillator control: frequency and amplitude envelopes for each oscillator, frequency ratio and pitch shift, and two modulation sources per oscillator that can morph, with phase and amplitude control.
Re-synthesis: analyse WAV audio (Vertigo 5 adds AIFF, MP3 and M4A import) or import a bitmap image, with Bartlett, Hamming, Hanning or Blackman windows and FFT frames of 1024 to 8192 samples.
Harmonize and smearing: a Harmonize vocoder with harmonic and odd-harmonic modes, plus phase and frequency smearing to loosen a re-synthesised sound.
Filters: two resonant filters in serial or parallel, with low pass, high pass, band pass 12/24, notch and peak types, a cutoff envelope and wheel, key and velocity modulation. Vertigo 5 moved them to zero-delay feedback designs and added a formant editor.
Effects: distortion (8x oversampled in version 5), a phaser with up to 128 taps, flanger, compressor, 8-band EQ, chorus, delay and reverb.
Vertigo 5 additions: a redesigned interface, MTS-ESP microtuning, partial editing tools, better loop-point detection and an improved noise generator.

Source: discoDSP product page

When to use it

Vertigo is the better pick when you want to rebuild real audio or images as additive sound and then edit each partial by hand. Compared with Serum 2, whose Spectral oscillator also does harmonic resynthesis, Vertigo gives per-oscillator envelopes and image import but has no wavetable, sample or granular engines. It is more specialised than Pigments 7 or Phase Plant, which mix additive-style tools with many other engines and a faster modulation workflow.

Best for: evolving pads, bell tones, metallic and spectral textures, and re-synthesis experiments with samples or pictures.
Genres: ambient, cinematic, sound design and experimental electronic music.
Look elsewhere if: you want a fast, preset-driven workflow or punchy basses; Serum 2 or Pigments 7 are easier to steer.
Tip: if CPU use climbs, lower the number of partials or the polyphony, as KVR's reviewer suggests.

What producers say

There is little recent review coverage; what exists praises the re-synthesis and effects, with CPU load the main caveat.

KVR users rate it 5 out of 5 from 1 review (2003, version 1.5), praising the detailed re-synthesis, the formant-capable filters, the distortion and the developer's support, and calling it "a must-buy" for the price.
Synth Anatomy (2025) welcomed version 5's long-overdue interface update and new features, but noted it is a paid upgrade.
Criticisms: heavy CPU use, and documentation that could explain additive synthesis better.

Where to buy

KVR Marketplace: $104.30 (regular $149)
PluginFox: $149
AudioDeluxe: $149

Tutorials and reviews

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