Groove Synthesis have just launched a free firmware update that kits out the 3rd Wave with two major new features, alongside some other noteworthy improvements and bug fixes.
Shimmer Verb
Available for all three versions of the instrument, the OS 2.0a introduces a new Shimmer Verb processor that now sits alongside Super Plate in the instrument’s second effect slot. The new arrival allows users to shift the pitch in fractions of a semitone across a full two-octave range, from one octave down to one octave up — it’s not limited to complete octave or semitone shifts, and settling on in something in between promises to deliver interesting results that most comparable effects can’t produce. A Filter Cutoff parameter provides control over the reverb’s tone, while its Rev Time, Pitch Amount and LP/HP Cutoff are all available as destinations in the mod matrix. Check out the video below to hear the new effect in action.
Make Waves Improvements
OS 2.0a also brings some improvements to Make Waves, the 3rd Wave’s built-in wavetable-creation tool, and the company say that those who have tried turning their own audio into wavetables will notice that the results are now more consistent.
The big news, though, is the addition of a third mode: Spectral, which takes a different approach to the two existing options. Pitch On was built for sources with a clear, stable pitch, and does its best to detect that pitch and lock the resulting waveforms to it; Pitch Off skips the pitch detection entirely and instead finds the best splice points to carve unpitched material such as drums or found sounds into a clean set of waveforms.
Spectral mode takes a different approach entirely. Instead of tracking pitch or searching for splice points in the waveform itself, it analyses the audio in the frequency domain to determine the best slice locations across the entire file. Chorused sounds, ambient recordings, or just about anything with a pitch that wanders or never quite settles should be catered to by Spectral mode, and it’s been specifically designed to tackle the sorts of sounds that confused the existing modes!
And More!
In addition to the two headline features, the update also introduces expanded MIDI CC mappings for the 24M and 8M desktop modules, new MIDI SysEx features including wavetable and sample import/export, a new envelope retrigger option with a quick reset and an assortment of bug fixes.
Groove Synthesis have also said that the OS 2.0a update completes the MIDI SysEx work that was required to control and manage the 3rd Wave from outside the instrument itself, opening the door for third-party tools to be created and the official software companion that they are currently developing. Although they’re not sharing the full details yet, the company say the upcoming software will make it easier to organise and edit 3rd Wave sounds from a computer; to this end, Groove Synthesis are looking for a small group of early adopters who are willing to help test it out — those who are interested should get in touch via the company’s support page.
Availability
OS 2.0a is available now and is free for all 3rd Wave 24K, 24M and 8M owners.
