M-theory is a hybrid synth that is built around the Karplus-Strong delay based
physical modeling technique, and uses samples, VA oscillators, and noise to
drive the delay based oscillator; resulting in a very wide range of high quality
synthetic and hybrid acoustic modeled sounds. M-theory is the successor to the
highly popular String Theory and, in comparison to its predecessor, M-theory is
far more flexible and delivers a much higher quality tone, with greater depth,
clarity, and character.
Feature-wise, It has many more tone shaping
options, expanded filtering, more effects, programmable arps (clock gate), a
dedicated bow/sustain mode, dampening, and more. One of the biggest feature
changes is the option to use samples as exciters for the delay oscillators...but
this is most definitely not a rompler.
How it works
The
best way to think about the two part oscillator section in M-theory, and how
samples can work in it, is to consider a guitar string. The string is under
tension, but it needs outside intervention to get it vibrating. You can pluck it
with your fingers, use a plastic or metal pick, you can bow it, hit it with a
drum stick, etc. In each case, the resulting sound is still very much one of a
string but it will differ depending on how you chose to make the string vibrate,
and with what material.
In M-theory, the delays can be though of as the
guitar string, and the exciters can be thought of as what you used to make that
guitar string vibrate. So just as how different objects/materials will produce a
different tones on a guitar string, using different sources as exciters in
M-theory will lend some of their tone to the delays, but the overall sound still
is the sound of the delays and not so much the exciters. In fact, when you use
samples you'll find that remarkably little of the original sound will actually
be retained, but they can have a very large effect on the tone of the synth.
M-theory provides 3 options for exciters: 24 built-in samples, user
loaded samples, or virtual analog oscillators (including noise) and you can have
two of them feeding the delays at once, each imparting a bit of its tone to the
overall sound.
Features:
- Karplus-Strong style synthesis
engine
- Dual exciters, each with the option of samples, VA or noise
sources
- Option to load your own samples
- Independent low, band, high,
and all pass filters
- Dual programmable arpeggiators and an extra MIDI note
trigger/doubler feature
- Built in tremolo, metal effect, chorus, delay, and
reverb.
- 320 presets