Les Diffuseurs
by XILS-lab · Multi-FX · Ondes Martenot speaker emulation
Not rated yet
Les Diffuseurs emulates the special speakers of the Ondes Martenot: La Palme, a resonance chamber with 12 strings, and Le Metallique, a gong cabinet.
The strings can be tuned or muted one by one and the gong size modulated, for €39 on sale (about $44.28).
Best for: Sound Design, Keys & Synths, Acoustic Instruments. Genres: Ambient & Cinematic, Electronic & EDM.
Keywords: strings, hardware emulation, shimmer, synths, beta, chamber, cinematic, creative, drums, MIDI-controllable, mixing, piano, sound design, tempo-synced, wide.
What it does
Les Diffuseurs recreates two of the resonating loudspeakers ("diffuseurs") of the Ondes Martenot, the early electronic instrument: La Palme, a palm-shaped cabinet with sympathetic strings, and Le Metallique, a gong cabinet. XILS-lab built it with Nori Ubukata and Yves Usson, and added options the originals lacked, such as muting single strings and modulating the gong size.
- La Palme: 12 strings that can each be tuned or muted, so any input sets off sympathetic, pitched resonance.
- La Palme controls: input level, frequency damping, decay, transpose and tune.
- Le Metallique: a gong with two sizes, which can be modulated by a tempo-syncable LFO or the MIDI mod wheel.
- Le Metallique controls: input level, frequency damping, decay and low-end level.
- Stereo placement: the True Stereo Dynamic Engine (TSDE) positions the sound in space, going beyond plain panning.
- Control: any MIDI CC can be assigned to any effect parameter, with wide modulation options.
Version 1.0.3 (still marked beta) was released in April 2024. A demo version can be downloaded.
When to use it
Les Diffuseurs is a narrow, characterful effect: tuned string and gong resonances from one historic instrument, for adding shimmer, ringing tails and metallic colour. Compared with Infiltrator 2 or Effectrix2, it does one thing rather than chaining many processors, and it has no sequencing or glitch features. Unlike Speakerphone 3, it does not simulate everyday speakers, phones or rooms; it models two specific acoustic resonators. Because La Palme's strings are tuned, it behaves more like a pitched resonator than a reverb, so it suits material in a known key.
- Best for: tuned resonances, shimmering tails and gong-like colour on synths, Ondes-style leads, piano, drums and acoustic sources.
- Genres: ambient, cinematic, experimental and early electronic styles.
- Look elsewhere if: you want a general-purpose reverb, or speaker and space simulation (Speakerphone 3), or a multi-effect with sequencing (Effectrix2).
Where to buy
- XILS-lab: $44.28 (regular $101.06) (Listed at €39 (regular €89); converted at €1 = $1.1355 (ECB rate, 29 Sep 2026))
Tutorials and reviews
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