Vital

Vital is a virtual synthesizer that allows you to create complex sounds using a variety of modulation sources and techniques. It is intended to give a flexible workflow and a large variety of acoustic possibilities.

The synthesizer comes with a vast library of high-quality wavetables, and you may also design your own unique waveforms from start or by importing audio files. This powerful tool includes also a variety of modulation sources that can be assigned to nearly any parameters within the synth, such as envelopes, LFOs, step sequencers, and more.

This gives you a great deal of control over the sound and makes it possible to make dynamic, changing patches.

In addition to its synthesis capabilities, Vital also comes with different effects such as reverb, delay, and distortion, that can be applied to individual oscillators or the entire patch. These effects can be further modulated for added depth and complexity.

Furthermore, Vital can be used to produce a wide range of sounds, including powerful basslines, rich soundscapes, and cutting-edge leads.

Compared to other synths on the market, Vital stands out for its ease of use and intuitive interface. The synth is designed to be utilized by both beginners and professional users and has a number of presets that highlight its sonic possibilities. We’ll go into its features in more detail and describe how you can utilize them to produce your own distinctive sounds in the paragraphs that follow.

Vital’s Pricing Options

Vital synth offers different pricing options depending on the user’s needs and budget.
Depending on the user’s needs and financial situation, Vital Synth offers a variety of pricing choices.

The free basic edition of the synth includes the majority of its essential capabilities, making it a great option for individuals who are new to synthesis or want to test the program out before making a purchase.

The Plus version, which costs a fair $25, adds features like enhanced wavetable editing capabilities, more effects, and the capacity to import unique wavetables.

The most complete model costs $80 and includes even more sophisticated capabilities including spectral warping, granular synthesis, and support for MIDI Polyphonic Expression (MPE). Also, consumers have the option to purchase a monthly subscription to Vital for $5, which provides them access to all upcoming updates and new features.

The Voice View

3 oscillators and a sampler

The full interface is divided into four main views: Voice, Effects, Matrix, and Advanced. The Voice View is where you can access the 3 oscillators, a sampler, and 2 filters.
Upon initialization of Vital, only OSC1 is active, but you can activate any of the other oscillators by clicking on the round activation button. To select a wavetable just click on the wavetable name and select the desired option.

Left side of oscillators: Level, Pan, Volume, Panning and Pitch

The Level and Pan controls on the left-hand side of the display enable adjustment of the oscillator’s volume and panning. The Pitch control can be used to transpose the sound by a certain number of semitones (to the left), cents (to the right), or both.

Below Level and Pan, you will find the Routing section. For instance, you may choose Filter 1 to direct the oscillator solely to Filter 1 and not Filter 2. Otherwise, you can decide to bypass any effect by selecting Direct Out.

Right side of oscillators: Unison, Phase, Modulators and Modes

On the right-hand side, you will find the Unison and  Phase sections. the Unison feature enables you to incorporate up to 16 voices. The percentage setting dictates the degree to which these voices are detuned, allowing you to add depth and width to your sound. To add some movement to your sound, you can vary the starting point on the waveform randomly. Phase determines where the sound starts playing in the waveform. Simply increase the phase percentage to achieve a more dynamic sound effect.

Both Unison and Phase have a rotating knob, which corresponds to two morphing modulators, allowing you to twist and shape the sound.

Finally, under the rotating knob, you can select a  specific modulation mode from the menu, that will result in different sounds.

Sampler Section (SMP)

The sampler (SMP) offers a powerful tool for loading and manipulating audio samples, giving the synthesizer an additional level of flexibility. Pitch shifting, time stretching, and sample reversal are just a few of the features it offers, which can be used to shape and transform sounds in unexpected ways. To generate completely new sounds, you can either import your own samples or select from the available sample library. In order to provide users more control over the audio output, the Sampler also offers options for envelope shaping, filter modulation, and FX processing.

Filters section

The Filters section comes with two filters, and each has a range of settings for adjusting the cutoff frequency and other parameters.

Each filter includes a variety of filter types, such as low-pass, high-pass, band-pass, and notch filters, providing a broad range of tonal possibilities. The filters also offer features like resonance control, filter drive, and filter envelope modulation, allowing for the fine-tuning of the sound.

Modulation section: envelopes, LFOs, random modulation, macros

This section allows you to add movement to your sounds. You can use a variety of tools, such as envelopes, LFOs, random modulation, and macros, to give your sounds more complexity and depth.

Envelopes

The Vital Synth has 3 envelopes that you can use to modulate different parameters of your sound. These are:

• Filter Envelope: used to modulate the cutoff frequency of the filter.
• Amplitude Envelope: used to modulate the volume of the sound.
• Auxiliary Envelope: used to modulate any parameter that you want.

Each of them has six stages: delay, attack, hold, decay, sustain, and release.

• Delay: adds a delay before the envelope starts to take effect.
• Attack: determines how rapidly the envelope rises to its maximum level.
• Hold: keeps the peak level for a predetermined period of time.
• Decay: controls how quickly the envelope falls to the sustain level.
• Sustain: sets the level that the envelope maintains as long as the key is held down.
• Release: controls how quickly the envelope falls to zero when the key is released.

Create Envelopes
Clicking on the envelope’s name in the Voice view’s modulation section will allow you to build, apply, and adjust an envelope in the Vital Synth. This will open a window where you may modify the settings for the envelope. To assign the envelope to a parameter, such as the filter cutoff or the oscillator pitch, you can also drag and drop it.

LFOs

The Voice View also includes 4 LFOs that can be assigned to modulate any parameter in Vital.

To assign any LFOs in the Vital Synth, just right-click on a parameter and select “modulation source” then select the desired LFO from the dedicated menu. This will open up a window where you can select on of the following parameters:

• Mode: choose between sine, triangle, sawtooth, square, sample, hold, random
• Frequency: this parameter can be adjusted from 0.01 Hz to 100 Hz.
• Smooth: controls how smoothly the LFO switches between waveforms.
• Delay: adds some delay before the LFO begins modulating
• Stereo: parameter enables you to pan the LFO left or right for a larger stereo image

You can also edit the LFO shape by dragging the nodes on the LFO graph or choosing predefined shapes in the shape menu.

Random Modulation

For adding unpredictable variations to your sound design, Vital Synth offer two sources of randomness: Random1 and Random2. The Style control offers three types of randomness:

• Gaussian: produces a bell curve-shaped distribution of random values,
• Uniform: produces a flat distribution
• Constant: provides a single random value that remains constant until the frequency is changed.

The Frequency setting ranges from 1/128th notes to 32 bars, and it determines how frequently the randomness happens.

Finally, you can change the modulation signal’s Stereo spread and Sync the randomness with the tempo of your composition.

Macros

The Vital Synth comes with 4 assignable Macros that allow you to control multiple parameters with a single knob. You can assign macros to any parameter in the modulation section, including envelopes, LFOs, and random modulation sources.

Just right-click on the parameter and select “Assign Macro”. You can then adjust its range and polarity controls. By assigning several parameters to a single macro control and modifying them all at once, you can easily create complex soundscapes. This makes it also simpler to perform live or to automate changes in your composition.

The Effect View

Located at the bottom of the interface, the effects section of the Vital Synth can be accessed by clicking on the “FX” button. It comes with four main effects, and each one of them can be adjusted to shape your sound.

Chorus

This effect creates a deep, expansive, and rich sound. The effect section of Vital’s synth provides various controls to adjust the chorus effect, such as:

• Depth: controls the amount of modulation depth applied to the signal.
• Rate: sets the speed at which the chorus effect oscillates.
• Spread: adjusts how much the left and right channels are offset from each other.
• Delay: sets the delay time between the original signal and the chorused signal, creating a sense of space and depth.
• Feedback: adjusts the amount of signal that is fed back into the effect, to create more complex and evolving sounds.
• Mix: adjusts the balance between dry and processed signal.

Compressor

The Vital’s compression effect is a dynamic processing tool that helps to balance the difference between the loudest and quietest parts of the signal, making the sound more balanced and polished.

This section comes with several controls such as:

• Threshold: sets the level at which the compression takes effect. Signals that exceed this threshold will be compressed.
• Ratio: controls the compression amount applied to the sound. Higher ratios result in more compressed sounds.
• Attack: determines how long it takes for the compression to kick in after the sound exceeds the threshold.
• Release: determines how long it takes for the compression to cease after the sound drops below the threshold.
• Makeup gain: This parameter controls the amount of gain applied to the compressed sound to make up for any loss in volume.

Delay

Vital’s delay effect is a time-based effect which creates multiple repetitions of the original audio signal, each of it occurs after a set amount of time. It can be used to create a sense of space and depth, as well as to add rhythmic variatians and complexity to your sounds.

The delay effect section in Vital comes with several controls to adjust its behavior, such as:

• Time: sets the time interval between each delayed repetition.
• Feedback: controls the amount of the delayed signal that is fed back into the effect.
• Mix: controls the balance between the dry and the wet signal.
• High Pass Filter: controls the cutoff frequency of a high-pass filter applied to the delayed signal, allowing you to adjust the tone of the echoes.
• Low Pass Filter: controls the cutoff frequency of a low-pass filter applied to the delayed signal.

Distortion

The distortion effect in Vital Synth offers three different distortion modes:

• Soft: produces a subtle distortion effect,
• Hard: introduces a more aggressive distortion
• Fuzz: adds a fuzzy, distorted quality to your sound.

Moreover, the distortion effect has parameters for Drive, Tone, and Mix that let you alter the distortion‘s intensity, frequency balance, and mix level.

EQ

The EQ (equalization) effect is useful when you want to remove unwanted frequencies, enhance certain frequencies, or create specific tonal characteristics.

In the synth effect section of Vital, the EQ effect provides several controls to adjust its parameters. The most important are:

• Gain: controls the amount of boost or cut applied to a selected frequency band. Positive values apply the boost to the frequency range, while negative values cut the frequency range.
• Frequency: selects the center frequency of the frequency band you want to boost or cut.
• Q (bandwidth): this is the width of the frequency band you want to boost or cut.
• Type: here you can select the type of EQ filter being used, such as a low-pass, high-pass, band-pass, or shelf filter.

Filter

This additional filter section enables you to eliminate or enhance particular frequency ranges. It works by letting some frequencies through while blocking others. The settings are the same as for the 2 filters in the voice view.

Flanger

The flanger effect is frequently used in music production to give sounds like guitars, synths, and drums movement and excitement. You may produce a variety of flanger effects, from delicate sweeps to intense and chaotic modulation.

The flanger works by delaying and modulating a copy of the original sound to produce a characteristic “swooshing” or “jet-plane” sound. The delayed sound is then mixed back with the original sound, creating a complex and sweeping sound that can add depth and movement to a sound.

The flanger effect in Vital provides several controls to adjust its parameters, including:

• Depth: refers to the intensity of the flanging effect, by adjusting the amount of modulation applied to the delayed sound.
• Rate: it‘s the speed of the modulation
• Feedback: is the amount of the signal‘s delay that is fed back into flanger.
• Mix: controls the balance between the dry and the wet (processed) signal.

Phaser

It combines a duplicate of the original sound with a delayed and phase-shifted version of itself to produce a characteristic sweeping sound. After being mixed back into the original sound, the phase-shifted signal produces a complex and dynamic sound that can give a sound more depth and appeal.

You can additionally manipulate your resulting sound with the following parameters:

• Rate: this parameter regulates the modulation’s pace.
• Depth: this parameter regulates the amount of modulation applied to the delayed signal, this parameter regulates the strength of the phaser effect.
• Feedback: adjusts the amount of the delayed signal that is fed back into phaser.
• Stages: controls the number of phase-shift stages used in the effect, with more stages creating a more complex and pronounced effect.
• Mix: regulates the balance between the dry and the wet signal.

Reverb

The reverb effect creates the impression of space and depth by adding a series of reflections and delays to the original sound. You can additionally shape the sound with the following settings:

• Size: controls the size of the virtual space being simulated, ranging from small rooms to large halls.
• Decay: adjusts the amount of time it takes for the sound to dissipate.
• Damping: simulates how the high frequencies are absorbed by different materials in a real-world space.
• Pre-delay: sets the time delay between the dry and wet signals, creating a sense of space and distance between the original signal and its reflections.
• Mix: controls the balance between the dry (original) signal and the wet (processed) signal, allowing you to adjust the reverb amount applied to the original sound.

The Matrix View: Mapping Modulation Sources to Targets

The Matrix section is a sophisticated modulation routing system that allows you to assign and control various parameters of the synth’s sound engine in real-time.

By assigning modulation sources to specific targets in the matrix, you can produce complex modulations. LFOs, envelopes, and other synthesizer parameters function as the modulation sources, whereas oscillators, filters, and effects operate as modulation targets.

Finally, the Matrix section offers additional settings to adjust its parameters, including

• Source: allows you to select the modulation source you want to use.
• Destination: refers to the modulation destination you want to modulate.
• Amount: manages the amount of modulation applied to the destination.
• Curve: adjusts the shape of the modulation curve
• Trigger: controls the trigger mode of the modulation, allowing you to set the modulation to trigger on different events, such as note-on, note-off, or free-running.

The Advanced View: Tips for Power Users

In Vital’s synth, the Advanced View is a mode that gives you access to extra controls and capabilities that are not present in the standard view. You may more precisely adjust and personalize your audio with these settings and features.

You can select from additional oscillator modes, such as pulse width modulation, ring modulation, and phase distortion. Additionally, the Advanced View allows you to adjust the parameters of the envelopes, including the number of stages, sustain levels, and curve shapes.

This view provides more advanced modulation routing options for more complex and sophisticated results. Moreover, you can use the modulation sequencer to produce intricate rhythms, or the LFO designer to create custom LFO shapes.

The Advanced View also provides access to the built-in effects, such as the EQ, reverb, and delay, allowing you to adjust and fine-tune the effect’s characteristics.

The Advanced View additionally offers a series of meters and visualizers that let you track and examine the synth’s signal in addition to these controls and capabilities. The frequency content of the sound is shown by the spectrum analyzer, while the waveform is shown by the oscilloscope.

Five Tips To Get The Most Out Of Vital

Start to experiment and explore the synth’s various parameters and features. By applying these tips, you can create unique and expressive sounds. Try combining these tips in different ways to create a wide range of sounds and textures.

Pressing CTRL to Fine Tune

You can fine-tune a parameter’s value when modifying parameters in Vital by pressing the CTRL key. You can get the ideal balance and tone for your patch by making precise tweaks to the sound. This function is very helpful when modifying the envelope and LFO parameters because even minor adjustments can have a big effect on the sound.

Octave Shifts: How to Create Deep Basslines and High Leads

You can produce high leads and deep basslines by changing the octave of each oscillator in Vital. One oscillator’s octave can be changed to produce a thick, rich sound, while another oscillator’s octave can be changed to produce a bright, sharp sound.

Using LFOs as Macros: How to Add Complex Modulation

Vital’s LFOs can be used as macros, allowing you to add complex modulation to your sound. Moreover, by assigning an LFO to multiple parameters, you can produce dynamic modulations that evolve over time.

Create Custom Reverb Tones with Chorus

The built-in reverb and chorus effects of Vital can be combined to produce unique reverb tones. You can add depth and width to the reverb by altering the chorus effect’s parameters, which will result in a distinctive and expressive sound. To obtain the ideal tone for your sound, experiment with various chorus settings and reverb decay times.

Create Randomized Sequences that Stay in the Key

You can produce random sequences that stay in the key by using the built-in modulation sequencer. By assigning the sequencer to the oscillator pitch or the filter cutoff, you can create sequences that move in and out of the key, adding a sense of tension and excitement to the sound.

Conclusion

In conclusion, Vital is an effective and adaptable synthesizer that provides a wide variety of options and possibilities for sound design. You can get the most out of Vital and produce distinctive, expressive sounds that stand out in your music creation by following these five guidelines. These pointers can help you advance your sound design and utilize Vital to its fullest ability, regardless of your degree of experience or expertise.

Source : vital.audio