Publisher : Rhythmic Robot Audio
Format : Kontakt (5.6.5+)
Quality : Mono 44.1 kHz 24 bit
Description : Inspiring alt-Victorian steam synth
Across the city’s filthy, sooty rooftops, weaving between belching chimneys and arcing Tesla coils, an evil genius in a clanking mechanical exoskeleton grimly stalks a dashing young woman whose only crime was daring to dream of becoming an aeronaut. Now that dream will be knocked out of her in the dark, lonely walls of Newgate Prison – unless, of course, she manages to get to her prototype gyrocopter in time…
Drawing inspiration from alternate universes and the excesses of alt-Victorian gothic (with a little H.G. Wells thrown in for good measure), SteamPunk is a Frankestian blend of barrel organ, steam engine and electric synth – the perfect instrument for serenading the Parisian ghouls of the night while you soar safely above them in the gondola of your hot air balloon. Or something like that. However you decide to use it, it sounds pretty cool.
SteamPunk is based on three sound engines: Steam Pipes are organ-style wooden pipes with a raspy, flute-like presence; The Reeded Pipes are taken from our 37-note Suzuki Melodica and bring a more buzzy and harmonically dense tonality; while Anbaric Waves access a harsh, electrically generated set of oscillators, driven by faulty paper-cone speakers and prone to overloading and tearing. In addition, Sub and Noise waves can be welded into the mix to further expand the sound palette.
These sound engines create the main tone, but what really brings SteamPunk to life is the Mechanisms panel , where you can take control of the squeaks, wheezes, whirrs and hisses that any self-respecting alt-Victorian hurdy-gurdy produces as it operates. Key press and key release noises are processed separately, while a dedicated dial block controls exactly how inaccurate you want your waveforms to be. Pitch and pressure are subject to random changes, and there is a lot of deliberate instability in the instrument. The fundamental waves can be detuned, set to fifths, or doubled for thickness; and all of this can be run through a good chew filter circuit to bring it under control.
The result is a soundscape that can evoke both the nostalgic glow of a fairground calliope and the implacable menace of Dr. Jekyll’s laboratory: a turn of the dial can be the difference between sweet simplicity and sullen oppression. Anbaric Waves’ balancing of dual air oscillators allows the organic vibration of the sound to be either subtle or full-on, while the filter and various control options mean that more traditional trumpet-based starting points can be given a modern (or wormhole-verse) twist. And of course, our Glitch Control gives you instant randomized patches to call your own!
SteamPunk is perfect for sound design, scores, or simply adding instant inspiration and left-field patina to any genre. It plays great with our other hybrid or sci-fi instruments (like Crank , Shortwave or Spaceman ) and adds a strange and eerie quality when layered with more traditional synths. Put on your flight goggles, reset the chronometers and launch it…
• A strange and unusual alternate universe sound generator
• Bellows driven pipes, reed tubes and anbaric circuits working in harmony
• Powerful ambiguity controls ensure every note is unique
• Customizable mechanical noises for user-defined creaks, rattles, groans and hisses
• That’s it synthesizers sounded in a parallel wormhole of Dickensian London
