sound particles skydust 3d
It’s the first 3D synth but will SkyDust 3D clutter up your mixes or scatter magic dust across them? Andy Jones journeys through time and space…
Sound Particles might not be a name you’ve heard of but earlier this year, the brand announced one of the most exciting products of the NAMM show: a ‘first ever’ 3D synth in the form of SkyDust 3D.
As you may have guessed, we’re talking spatial audio here but we’re not just talking spinning sounds floating around your head (although that is an option). What we have is a synth that can be used ‘normally’ but can also apply a heap of modulation options to your sound’s position in space, and alter those positions over time.
So we’re talking both ‘time and space’ – not many synths can boast that! And if Jean-Michel Jarre is keen on the concept (he calls it “the first musical instrument for immersive sound”) then we’re obliged to boldly go where no synth has gone before…
Quite a good synth anyway
Before we get too ‘immersed’ though, we should give you a quick overview of SkyDust’s main synth architecture, which is pretty impressive without even considering the spatial side of it. You get eight oscillators, each with 16 waveforms to choose from, and these can be layered together for some impressively fat, analogue-style sounds. Or you can choose to have each modulate another, with an easy grid system used to select which oscillators are modulating which. Just this in itself could send you to an FM world of sound design experimentation for hours.
The main synth architecture is pretty impressive without even considering the spatial side of it
SkyDust uses an easy tab system of ten different options including how to set up the aforementioned oscillators and that FM grid. You also get tabs for filters (for each oscillator – with six to choose from), sequencing,arpeggiation and effects. Already we can see that this is a synth with an impressive engine at its heart.
Where’s the space, man?
But this is where it gets even more interesting, because under the Spatial tab you can assign each of the oscillator’s positions and how they move within your surround sphere. You can do this using a set of around 30 presets (‘Back To Front’, ‘Rotations’ etc), or create your own movements. Breaking it down even further, you can even create and use individual movement presets which operate each oscillator.
If all of this sounds complicated it’s actually not considering what you are doing. This is more often than not because how you are shaping the oscillators is visually illustrated in a handy graphic of your surround space. Each of the eight oscillators is revealed in different colours so you can easily see their respective positions. Thos familliar with Dolby Atmos software should feel quite comfort
