basic64 is inspired by the 8 bit sounds of the classic Commodore 64.
It's not a straight emulation, but is based around the SID chip with some extras for that 8-bit retro game sound, lofi gritty noises or just plain oddness
features
- 16, 8 or 6 bit sound quality
- 3 oscs, each with their own ADSR envelope
- oscillators can be sync'd and ring modulated by each other
- pitch envelope modulation
- pitch wobble option, for subtle instability
- 2 tempo-sync LFO's to modulate pitch, cut-off and pulse width
- LFO's have attack/release curves
- tempo-sync arpegiator
- flexible routing to state variable filter (LP, HP & BP)
- envelopes can be reset or continuous at retrigger
- monophonic or polyphonic option
- midi learn / midi CC support
- 128 presets by sinkmusic & WhiskeyPriest
Download zip file (1.2 MB)
Controls
Basic's basics
on the right hand side, there are 4 buttons to set up the basic options of the synth
bit rate - choose from 16, 8 or 6 bit sound quality
mono/poly - monophonic has only one voice and uses less CPU, polyphonic has 3 voices, for playing chords
stable/wobble - the pitch can be made to 'wobble' simulating pitch instability
env reset/env damp - this is the behaviour of the envelopes when retriggered part way through a cycle by another note
reset - envelope attack phases starts at zero level, useful for percussion/game sounds, may cause clicking on pad type sounds
damp - envelope attack phase starts at current level, good for wafty pads
oscillators
for each oscillator, choose from saw, pulse, triangle or noise waveform
each oscillator has a volume control, detune (+/- 36 semitones), an ADSR envelope and the ability to route through / bypass the filter
The knob for pulse width only effects the pulse waveform (figures)
envelopes
attack, decay and release are in ms, sustain is a level (0-10)
sync - this restarts the oscillator cycle in sync with another, which has a greater effect if the oscs are detuned and so have different cycle lengths
Osc 2 can be sync'd with Osc 1
Osc 3 can be sync'd with Osc 2
ring mod - this modulates the oscillator output by multiplying it with another osc output
each osc is modulated by the previous one (osc1 is modulated by osc3)
filter - this routes each oscillator to the filter independantly, so you can filter none,some or all of the oscs
pitch envelope
each osc pitch can also be modulated by an envelope, great for percussion and game sounds
the pitch knob (semitones) controls the depth of the envelope
select which oscs to modulate using the 1,2,3 buttons
State variable filter
The filter type (low pass, high pass, band pass) can be selected, and the cut off (kHz) & resonance controlled
LFO
There are 2 identical tempo-sync LFOs, which both modulate cutoff, pitch and pulse width, but can be set to different speeds and depths for complex modulation. Select which LFO to edit from the 1 & 2 buttons
choose the LFO waveform in the drop down and the LFO cycle in beats
choose the depth of modulation for the 3 parameters, cutoff (kHz), pitch (semitones) and pulse width (0-10)
the LFO has an attack/release envelope (ms) to gradually increase and decrease the LFO depth
Arpegiator
The tempo-sync arp is ideal for those 8 bit game sounds
choose the rate in beats, the octave range (1-4)and the note length (s,m,l,xl)
all knobs and slider controls have midi CC support and midi learn
- press the 'learn' button
- led will light
- tweak a GUI control
- tweak your midi controller knob/slider/button/whatever
- led will go out
- controller will now move the GUI control
- press 'reset' button to remove all learned controls
credits
Thanks for the 3rd party modules from Dave Haupt, Lance Putnam, and Chris Kerry
Presets by sink and WhiskeyPriest, thanks guys!
release history
basic64 is a rewrite of basic 1.0.4, which adds ringmod, arpegiator, 2nd LFO, LFO modulation of pitch & pulse width, pitch envelope, bit rate, pitch wobble, envelope damping, polyphony and a brand new GUI
