Founded by GILLA, a music producer based in South Korea, quietformat are a new independent audio developer focuses on creating new and intuitive expessive sound-design tools. Their first release, Meltone, has just been launched, and aims to combine the sought-after sound of classic analogue instruments with the expressive possibilities offered by MPE (MIDI Polyphonic Expression.
The instrument is built around GILLA ARP, a generative sound engine that’s based on a process referred to as harmonic particle layering. The company say that rather than looping pre-programmed patterns, the engine responds in real time to chord inputs, and generates “shimmering textures” that evolve organically, creating everything from ambient soundscapes and pads to expressive lead patches.
The instrument’s top section houses a pair of oscillators that offer sine, triangle, sawtooth and square waves along with a noise option, and is followed by LFO, Filter and Pitch modules. There are two LFOs, each with a choice of wave shapes and Speed, Smoothing and Delay parameters, while the Filter section offers an analogue-inspired resonant filter with velocity response, LFO modulation and key tracking. Next up is a Pitch section, which can be used to set up pitch modulation via a pitch wheel, key tracking or the synth’s LFO and envelope sections. Finally, the lower section of the GUI offers access to dedicated Amp, Filter and Pitch ADSR envelopes.
Compatibility
Meltone is supported on PCs running Windows 10 and above, and Macs running macOS 10.13 or later. VST3 and AU plug-in versions are available, along with a standalone application.
Pricing & Availability
Meltone is available now, priced at $119.
