Applied Acoustics Systems’ Multiphonics CV-2 can be like having a carefully curated hardware modular rig on your computer – uniquely balanced, doing less with more. AAS has a new free pack showing off those capabilities, launching with a live jam and a bunch of discounts.
A student asked me this week about what I’d recommend, given a) they want to get into modular, b) they want to learn patching, and c) they’re easily distracted. Uh-oh. Yeah, “get into modular” is easy – lots of options. But following along with good documentation and not getting distracted by too many possible module add-ons narrows the field. (VCV Rack can work but then I recommend forcing yourself to work in just the default VCV modules, for instance.)
Multiphonics CV-2 is perfect for this, because instead of being an open-ended rabbit hole to an overwhelming set of modules, it functions more like a single system. Forcing yourself to work with that module set is a good exercise. It’s also exceptionally well documented, with each module coming with copious notes and examples. And it has a unique sound, with particularly good filter/LPG choices, waveshapers, the OBJEQ physical modeling filter, and now audio analysis for effects.
It’s also one of the rare, rare cases where I spend some time with the example patches. AAS this week quietly dropped a free set called Bits & Pieces. Some of their top sound designers have contributed, so there are some sweet starting points, with a couple bass patches, three chords patches, a massive drone (apparently made for a dance piece), a grainy “radioactive spill,” a bunch of leads, a strummed plucked patch (got to have some plucking with AAS), various sequences, and a chip music, game-inspired patch called Level One.
There’s a lot to learn from designers like Cipryan Bot, Adam Pietruszko, and Christian Laffitte – I’m routinely digging into their patches for AAS’ physical modeling instrument Chromaphone, too. So while these are fun to play, they also are strong illustrations of how to use FM, work with that Objeq model I always rave about, and pull off a ton of tricks with quantization, dynamics processing, and even just using a bunch of the same module in unexpected ways. You can pull these apart and mod them, too, so it has that feeling of wandering in on someone else’s patch and then being able to muck about with it.
Here’s Thiago Pinheiro playing with it from Brazil.
Multiphonics CV-2 (which works both as instrument and effect) is on a discount now, as are a bunch of other packs. But I’m not kidding, I was talking about this tool with a few people wondering how to get into modular and then – this popped into my inbox.
Existing owners should see this in their account already via the AAS site; grab the installer and you’re good to go. Once it’s installed it pops up in Patches on the left-hand side of the UI.
And you can find all the sale pricing at Plugin Boutique:
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Applied Acoustics Systems @ Plugin Boutique browse and buy
https://www.applied-acoustics.com