Percussa's Soundor is a free and open source FM Synthesizer for Max4Live, designed for use with AudioCubes controller.

AudioCubes

Soundor is designed for use with Max4Live - the visual programming environment in Ableton Live that is based on Cycling 74's Max/MSP. It comes with 4 oscillators that have their own waveform mixers, this allows you mix sine, square, sawtooth, triangle and noise waveforms to your preference.

Each oscillator section also come with a state variable filter (SVF), and can modulate the other oscillator's pitch and/or amplitude parameters. Further sound flexibility is provided by sending each of the oscillator's output to a master out, via its own ADSR. Oscillators can overdrive each other through the built in waveform mixer, and you can tweak the parameters through a MIDI Keyboard as well as through the settings.

The special niche of Soundor however is its ability to seamlessly integrate with AudioCubes. AudioCubes is an audio controller in the shape of a cube that lets you control audio via finger and hand gestures. Using it with Soundor lets you explore FM Synthesis in a unique way without any need for MIDI mapping or programming. You simply plug the AudioCube in, and it gets automatically connected to the waveform mixer parameters and filter sections. You can also tweak this integration via the easy to use connection matrix in the synthesizer.

The 4 sides of the AudioCubes hardware act as sensors and controls multiple parameters simultaneously. You can even invert the parameters. A pedal input allows the user to keep the sensors values in place, while the hands are near the sensor, allowing exploration of the parameter space of the FM synthesizer while at the same time allowing rigid locking of parameters to keep the sound steady once an interesting combination of parameters has been found. Soundor also supports the preset system of Ableton Live and Max4Live, allowing for quick saving and loading of presets.

Here is a video demo of Soundor and AudioCubes creating Wind and Water sound effects:

Soundor is labeled as a free and open source software (creative commons, noncommercial, attribution, share-alike). Advanced users can even tweak the synthesizer to create their own personalized modifications. It is available for both Windows and Mac OS X systems.

For more information on Soundor and the AudioCubes hardware, you can visit Percussa.

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