1.Winner 2.Interview 3.Tutorial

September 02, 2010

We have a winner in the Synplant raffle on YouTube! Glenn Gutierrez from California was the first to hit command-shift-4 and send us a screenshot counting 100.007 views. Being a long time µTonic user I am sure he will get much joy out of his new botanical audio toy. Congrats! And thanks to everyone else who e-mailed us. Better luck next time.

In other news, if you want to take a peek inside my head and witness the mess up there, brand new online magazine "audiovoltaics" has published what must be the most elaborate interview with yours truly this far.

Finally, if you are new to µTonic and use Ableton Live I strongly recommend Mark Mosher's tutorial on Modulate This! "How to Change Sonic Charge µTonic Drum Machine Patterns On The Fly Within Ableton Live".

Yours truly,
Magnus Lidström

100k Views

August 27, 2010

We are closing in on a hundred thousand views on the Synplant demonstration video! To celebrate this feat we have decided to give away a copy of Synplant to the first person sending us a screenshot of the video page, showing a view count of 100.000 or greater. Send the e-mail to ahundredk@soniccharge.com. Include your full name and country of residence, and do not forget to attach the screenshot.

On another topic, you may be wondering about the status of the announced µTonic upgrade. It is coming along fine, but the beta has been delayed because of a major change in plans. We have decided not to release the smaller version 2.1 upgrade as we first intended but instead go directly to version 3.0.

The good news is that despite of being a much bigger upgrade it will still be free and since we have been working hard all summer (who needs a tan anyhow?) it is nearly ready for beta. If you have signed up for testing you will receive an e-mail when we are ready for lift-off.

Thank you for your patience.

/ Magnus & Fredrik

Synplant Patch Roundup

June 25, 2010

There are a lot of excellent cheap and free Synplant patches floating around cyberspace. The latest addition is the gorgeous Absynplant package from http://absoundscapes.blogspot.com/

I actually got so inspired when hearing the patches that I had to hit record in my host and post the result (basically unedited) to SoundCloud. Check it out:

Rekkerd has collected no less than five completely free Synplant sound sets on this page. If you own Synplant you have absolutely no reason not to download these.

Synplantation Vol 1 is a set of 32 patches for $5 from TeamDNR. Do check out the lovely demo tracks on the page.

Simon Stockhausen has published 22 abstract patches ("donationware") on his new patch-site http://www.patchpool.de (I'm reading your minds here and the answer is: yes he is related to that other Stockhausen, if you didn't know already).

Last but not least Voltage Disciple has published a $10 AUD (around $8 USD) bank of warm analogue sounding patches. Lots of nice basses here. You will find a demo track on the page. (I adore the 808 State reminiscent strings last in that track.)

Big thanks to everyone involved in creating the packages above! It is very rewarding to rediscover the potential of our plug-ins through new patches. If you create or stumble upon some packages that I haven't mentioned, please send us a note and let us know.

Glad midsommar (as we say in this part of the world today)
/ Magnus

MicroTonic - we still love you

June 06, 2010

During the past few months we have been back working on everyone's favorite synthetic drum machine and it is time to reveal some exciting news for you.

Welcome to the amazing world of Patternarium

First up, we have created an online tool that we call The µTonic Patternarium. You could describe Patternarium as an online collaborative patch randomizer. It continuously generates new sounds and rhythms for µTonic through principles of evolution. You get to vote on whether rhythms should prosper and procreate or if they should die. Call it musical Darwinism - survival of the phattest.

Read more and start playing here.

Seriously, go there, even if you don't own µTonic. It is great fun. Promise.

µTonic Beta

Secondly, we want to inform you that a new version of µTonic will enter beta stage in the near future. As customary, we want to wait with revealing the nitty gritty details until the beta is over, but we can say this much: it will support MIDI program change and drag'n'drop of patterns as MIDI files. The upgrade will be free for all registered users.

If you would like to help us out with the beta, please sign up at: http://beta.soniccharge.com/index.php?act=Reg

Please notice that we will accept only a limited number of testers, so take care to fill out the application properly if you are serious about testing.

Happy New Year

December 31, 2009

We hope that you have had a great 2009! It turned out an excellent year for Sonic Charge. Synplant's first full year in existence was met with great enthusiasm from our users and the press. The Synplant demonstration video was viewed over 70.000 times and we are counting 25.000 downloads of the plug-in already. Earlier this year, Synplant reached position six when the public voted on best new product 2009 for the British MIA Music Awards and just recently we found out that Electronic Musician chose Synplant to receive their Download Of The Year award! Hurray!

But lets not forget good old trustworthy µTonic either. After six years in service with one major upgrade it is as vital as ever and still the go-to plug-in for synthetic rhythm explorations. (Although we do admit it has been more than a while since we gave it the attention it deserves over here.)

On another note, we have finally managed to release the Symbiosis source code to the public. Symbiosis is the AU / VST wrapping solution used for our products and for Addictive Drums and Cytomic The Glue to name a few. If you are a VST developer looking to port your plug-ins to AU you shouldn't miss this out.

Thanks for making 2009 such a great year for us and we raise our glasses for a terrific 2010 to come!

/ Magnus & Fredrik

Recommendation: Synplantation

November 10, 2009

TeamDNR has released "Synplantation Vol 1", a commercial set of sounds for Synplant that we can highly recommend. The package consists of 32 well-grown patches that will be yours for only $5. A no-brainer deal if you ask us. Check out this short demo track if you are hesitating.

This Just In

October 16, 2009

We are amazed and proud to discover that Synplant reached position six when the public voted on best new product 2009 for the British MIA Music Awards! musicradar.com arranged the poll and their motivation to Synplant's success goes like this:

“Synthesizers have rarely stepped off the familiar path of oscillator, filter and amp over the last 20-odd years… until Synplant dumped all familiarities in favour of a "genetic approach" to sound design in 2009!”

The nominations included all kinds of hard and soft music equipment ranging from the exotic (esoteric?) Eigenharp to environmentally friendly drums and software such as Propellerheads Record. Korg ultimately won the award with their series of Nano controllers.

Check out the full countdown here.

Praise, myspace and Synplant Radio Sources

October 08, 2009

Synplant and µTonic keeps popping up in interviews. Here are a couple of quotes from recent articles in Computer Music. Check out what long time Sonic Charge user Paul Hartnoll (of Orbital fame) has to say about Synplant:

“ This is absolutely incredible. I did a film score recently with just analogue synths and Synplant. It has a different mindset and that's what you go to it for, plus it's got some amazing capabilities. There's the way that it's like a different sound on each note, which you can then spin while it changes the assignment of where the sound comes from. It's a really quirky but infinitely usable soft synth. ”

In the preceding issue of Computer Music, Charlie May from Spooky (also known for his work with Sasha) said this:

“ I also have Synplant by Sonic Charge ” he continues, on the subject of his other favorite synths. “ It's just fantastic - it's a totally different way of working, which is very organic. It's got to be Ulrich Schnauss' wet dream - all wonky long sounds that blend differently. ”

In other news, we have uploaded a selection of the original Synplant Radio tracks in Ableton Live format. Download here and have fun.

We have also set up a myspace page for Sonic Charge. Come by and say hi!

New Stuff

August 24, 2009

It has been a bit quiet here lately, but rest assure that it only means that we are concentrating harder. A few new projects and upgrades are slowly taking shape on our assembly line. Meanwhile we have decided to release a minor maintenance upgrade for Synplant that addresses some important issues. The version number is 1.0.1 and it will not bring any new features to Synplant but focuses on improving stability and compatibility.

• Implemented support for the "all notes off midi message". We have discovered that some hosts (most importantly Cakewalk Sonar) requires this to stop notes from playing. In other words, the hanging note problems in Sonar should have been fixed now.
• Improved compatibility with older VST 2.3 hosts, including FXpansion's RTAS wrapper. VST 2.4 is still the official requirement, simply because we need to put a limit on the extent of our guarantees. However, we will continue doing our best to provide "unofficial support" for as many hosts as we possibly can. In short, we expect this version of Synplant to work well with the RTAS wrapper.
• Fixed a rare but serious problem with the GUI freezing up on Mac (never to defrost again, never to come back to life). Turned out to be a bug in Synplant in combination with some unexpected behavior from OS X.
• Some minor updates to the internal code libraries that will improve stability in general.

We are also releasing the first new patch package since the release of Synplant last year.

The name is Crop of Year One and it is available free to download for all registered Synplant owners. For your listening pleasure, we have prepared mp3 previews of some of our favorite patches.

Finally, two new demo tracks are available on the jukebox. Seismic Formations by yours truly (using mostly patches from the new package plus some Addictive Drums and µTonic) and Wonderful Dreams by DJ Quad which was made with Synplant and reFX Nexus as the only two instruments.

Page Refresh

May 08, 2009

Synplant In Motion

February 18, 2009

The Verdicts Are Coming In

January 31, 2009

Reviews on Synplant have begun appearing in the music press and online magazines and we couldn't be more pleased with what we've seen so far. Computer Music gave it full score of 10 / 10 plus the "Editor's Choice" and "Innovation" awards. Read the full review on Future Publishing's musicradar.com.

German magazine Beat were also impressed enough to give Synplant a couple of awards ("Innovation" and "Price Tip"). Speaking of Germans, online magazine delamar features a video walkthrough in their Synplant review and amazona.de thinks Synplant is "Sehr Gut!".

Swedish Studio were actually the very first to review our little green monster back in November and they liked it too. It seems like Greek magazine Soundmaker has nothing negative to say about it, but it all looks like Greek to me I am afraid.

Wuzik Sound Magazine has published a wicked wacky review together with an interview. From Italy, Audio News Room just gave Synplant their "Sonic Joy Award" for 2008. Finally, another full score for our leafy noise maker on rekkerd.org.

This is just the beginning of course. More reviews are scheduled to appear in most major magazines, including Keyboard Magazine, Sound On Sound and Electronic Musician. We are definitely looking forward to reading those.

Feedback Signals

December 20, 2008

For about a year or so we have been collecting the urls that link to us using some proprietary technology from Elysian Development (yeah, that is Fredrik). I have always thought that it would be nice to share this information with our visitors and I finally got some time to set that up. Take a look at the bottom of this page and you will find the top 20 sites during the past week that led people here. You can also click "all pages..." to see a list of exact pages. (In case you wonder, the process of collecting links is automatic but we will need to approve new sites before they become visible on the home page.)

In other news: Goldbaby Productions are generously giving away a sample set consisting of µTonic drums recorded through some fine old tape machinery. I think it is a nice Christmas treat, giving our tonic all that warm cozy tape saturation.

Finally Audio News Room has published a µInterview with Yours Sincerely here.

Merry merry X from Magnus Lidström

Voices on Synplant

November 12, 2008

Synplant has soon been out for 48 hours and it has already stirred up quite a buzz on music-tech sites all over the internets. I thought I might share urls for some of the reviews and forum threads that we have found so far. (I'm including only English sites for the benefit of our international audience.)

In no particular order: www.kvraudio.com, createdigitalmusic.com, rekkerd.org, www.analogindustries.com, www.ableton.com, www.harmony-central.com, matrixsynth.blogspot.com, www.vi-control.net, elektron-users.com, forum.cakewalk.com, www.bigbluelounge.com, www.musicradar.com, www.digitallofi.com.

/ Magnus

Sonic Charge Synplant

November 10, 2008

It is with great joy and pride that we can finally present Sonic Charge Synplant - the organic alternative to synthesis.

Almost two years in the making, this is our first major release since µTonic 2.0 in 2005. It is a synthesizer with a user interface that we dare say may raise quite a few surprised eye-brows. A product that takes a resolute step away from the paradigm of virtual machinery and embraces an organic approach to sound creation.

Read more and download a fully functional trial version from the Synplant product page.

If you already own µTonic, do not miss the 25% discount we offer on Synplant for the rest of 2008. (If you do not own µTonic, you can purchase a bundle with Synplant and µTonic for a reduced price.)

We hope that you will find Synplant an inspiring and vitalizing recharge for your sonic explorations!

New Mysterious Product Sighted

June 03, 2008

We are getting closer to releasing our new mysterious product from captivity and we now need some help with taming it. In other words: it is time for beta and we are accepting applicants for the beta test from today onwards. We have some conditions that must be met before applying as a tester, namely:

1. You need an internet connection on your studio computer. (The beta version does not function if there is no internet connection available.)
2. You can not be affiliated with any established music magazine or news website / blog. (Please contact us personally instead and we will put you on our press-release list for an early preview of the product.)
3. No product images, audio snippets or other information can be leaked to people who are not active beta testers.

Sign up as a beta tester on this forum - http://beta.soniccharge.com

Once you are registered you need to validate your e-mail address. You will then be placed in a validation queue. If (and only if) you are accepted as a beta tester you will get an e-mail telling you that your account has been activated. You can then logon to the forum and get access to installation files and guides.

We will only accept a limited amount of beta testers. Filling out the information about yourself, your beta testing experience and what kind of system your are running increases your chances of being accepted as one of the beta testers.

Thanks in advance. Hope to see you soon on our beta forum.

Cheers,
Magnus, Fredrik, Majken and Tore

Ho, ho, ho!

December 21, 2007

Yeah, we realize that an awfully long time has passed since you last heard of any major news from us. Let us take this opportunity to reassure you that we are working on some new exciting products over here. Although we need to test your patience a bit further before revealing exactly what kind of wondrous new contraptions we are growing in our laboratory, we can at least offer you some news concerning your good old trusty µTonic.

Mac users will be especially pleased to hear that we have an upgrade for µTonic that will work a whole lot better with Apple's recent upgrades of OS X and Logic. (Multiple outputs now work in Logic 8, and the graphics problem in Leopard has been remedied.)

If you are not on Mac, we still have something that should hopefully jingle your bells. With some very generous donations from our skilled team of patch-alchemists, we have compiled a new zip-archive filled to the brim with astonishing patches. Both the Mac upgrade and the patch package is available for download from our download page, where it is now also possible to preview all of the programs directly on the page!

 Click here to preview the programs in XMasTonic2007.zip.

Finally, you may notice that we have done some improvements to the look and feel of this site. Hope you like it as much as we do. Now go make some electronic music and have a terrific Christmas (or whatever you prefer to celebrate)!

Best regards,
Magnus & Fredrik Lidström

Being Mr Malström

September 07, 2007

Audio News Room, a music-tech blog in Italy, recently published an interview [Eng] / [Ita] that I hope you will find interesting if you would like to know what is going on inside the head of a soft-synth nerd like yours truly.

/ Magnus

Vista

May 27, 2007

While the µTonic plug-in itself doesn't seem to upset Windows Vista the least, the installer unfortunately did. Although you could get around things by running it in so called "compatibility" mode, we've gone ahead and created a new installer that should hopefully work better in harmony with the Vista operating system.

It is available for download on the download page.

Merry X!

December 24, 2006

Merry Christmas everyone! As mentioned earlier we are contributing to a rain-forest conservation project organized by WWF. The project operates in Bolivia. The objective is to purchase land in order to protect it from market forces, population pressure and infrastructure advances that continue to pry open the Amazon rain-forest. I would like to take this opportunity to present some more facts from WWF.

Seasonal Delights

December 01, 2006

December is the month of joy, happy family gatherings, too much egg nog and grandma's hand-knitted sweaters. It is also the month of endless bargains from plug-in manufacturers, and Sonic Charge will be further proof of that. In fact we are lowering the price of our delicious Tin Tonic from $129 to $89 (shipping included within Europe, $10 for the rest of the world), and the downloadable version is yours for only $69 during the entire month.

We would also like to announce that we will donate $10 from every sale to forest conservation programs by WWF. (More details coming soon.)

Cheers,
Magnus

µTonic for OS X Goes Universal with v2.0.2

June 12, 2006

A new version of µTonic for OS X is now available. The new version is a so called "Universal Binary" which means that µTonic is now compatible with Intel Macs.

As customary, this upgrade is free of charge and is available for download from the download page. (We also recommend PowerPC users to upgrade since this version improves compatibility with certain PowerPC Audio Unit hosts.)

Patches, Patches, Tons of Patches

June 12, 2006

With generous contributions from a lineup of skilled µTonic patch alchemists we have compiled the biggest µTonic patch package in the universe. Counting no less than 168 programs and 188 drum patches, we call it the Big Pack Sonic Recharge.

This package is offered as a free gift exclusively to all registered µTonic users and is available from the download page.

To demonstrate the mighty powers of Big Pack Sonic Recharge, we have prepared a little demo tune composed out of nothing but programs and drum patches from this package. Click the image on the right to spin this tune in our sparkling new Sonic Charge Jukebox (courtesy of long time friend and collaborator Kalle Paulsson).

Best wishes from Magnus, Fredrik & Kalle

End of Deal

April 11, 2006

Sorry guys and girls if you missed it, but the Camel Audio campaign is now over. The deal turned out to be a great success, especially considering the sheer amount of positive reactions that we have seen during the past three weeks. I guess it proves that Ben and I are not alone in appreciating the combination of Camels and Tonics.

Thanks a lot. I'll leave the announcement up still, so that you can enjoy the demo tracks.

/ Magnus

µTonic in Full Effect(s from Camel Audio)

March 17, 2006

While no one can argue that µTonic stands strong on its own, adding effects to it certainly brings out other dimensions in its sound; effects such as CamelPhat and CamelSpace, developed by Ben Gillett of Camel Audio. Plug-ins that are designed with a similar philosophy to µTonic of putting creativity and usability in focus.

Ben and I have decided to honor each other's work by giving our customers an opportunity to buy our products for a significant discount. As of today and until April 10th, existing and new Sonic Charge customers are granted 25% discount not only on CamelPhat and CamelSpace, but on the whole Camel Audio product range, including Cameleon 5000, the Biolabs Absynth Sounds and the PhatSpace and Complete Camel bundles.

Existing customers will receive an e-mail containing instructions on how to take advantage of this offer (in case you do not receive this e-mail, contact us through the support form). New µTonic customers will receive the instructions in the registration information sent from share-it! after the purchase.

To demonstrate that µTonic serves even cooler dipped in a little bit of Phat and Space we have prepared a couple of clips for you. The tracks were created using Sonic Charge and Camel Audio software only.

Hope you like them.

/ Magnus

	Camels On Tonic		µTonic vs Camel Audio
	A three part piece (by yours truly) featuring lots of various uses of CamelPhat and CamelSpace on µTonic. (The Tonic even gets to play a few melody lines in there.)		An intense clip using Tonics and the Camel effects topped with some eerie sounds from Cameleon 5000. Generously donated to the cause by Boom Jinx.

All Good Things Must Come to an End

January 01, 2006

Yeah, good ole' 2005 came to its end and so did the introduction offer for Tin Tonic Edition. The price is now $129 instead of $89. The good news, however, is that we are lowering the shipping and handling costs considerably. For our European customers we even include it for free in the $129 price. If you live outside of Europe, the price for shipping and handling is $10 regardless of where you live.

Have a terrific 2006!

/ Magnus

µTonic on Can

December 06, 2005

We promised you gifts galore this winter and we are not planning to let you down. Last week we launched the Audio Unit version of µTonic and this week we would like to introduce you to a new little fellow called the Tin Tonic Edition.

Tin Tonic Edition is the boxed edition of Sonic Charge µTonic, stylishly designed by Bitplant. The package consists of a metal can containing a USB flash memory that you use to install µTonic. For the smoothest possible installation experience, the USB memory will even be prepared with your personal registration information so that setup will only require a few mouse clicks.

The regular price for the Tin Tonic Edition is $129, but as an introductory offer during December, the price will be $89. Except for shipping and handling costs, this introduction price is the same price as for the download-only version, making Tin Tonic the ideal holiday gift for the serious synthesist. µTonic veterans who have already bought their registrations can obtain it for an even lower price of merely $49. (All prices are excluding VAT where applicable. For delivery costs and times, see this page.)

Tin Tonic Edition is only available online and shipping will commence on December 12, but you can place your order already today. Go to the product page to continue.

µTonic Goes AU with Version 2.0.1

December 01, 2005

First of December, snow is falling, Christmas is approaching and the factories at NuEdge Development are in full production to ensure that there will be gifts enough for everyone this year.

First out is a new version of µTonic that offers Audio Units compatibility on Mac. As usual, the upgrade is free of charge and can be downloaded from the download page. Notice that version 2.0.1 is a general maintenance upgrade that we recommend all users to download, including those using the VST version under Windows and Mac. (The one exception is if you are running OS X 10.2. From now on, µTonic will require 10.3.9.)

December month will also see the birth of an exclusively designed boxed edition of µTonic that we expect to end up on quite a few wish lists to Santa. There will be other news as well that should be of interest to the AU & VST plug-in development community. Stay tuned to this channel for updates on these stories within short.

/ Magnus Lidström

Upgrade Hassles

July 22, 2005

µTonic Version 2.0

July 06, 2005

Yes boys, girls and superstar DJs - it is true. Time passes quickly and the µTonic is celebrating a year and a half by maturing into version 2. Admittedly, version 1 did hold out for quite some time. This is actually the very first upgrade and it focuses on improving the usability of our unbeatable beatbox even further with features such as direct previewing in the file browsers, MIDI-controller support, a new "pitched" MIDI-mode, individual outputs and much, much more (look here for a complete walkthrough of the changes).

Naturally, the upgrade is free for all registered users and it is downloadable from the download page. The price is still $69 (excl. VAT) for new customers, but the price will be raised on October 1 to $89, so if you are serious about your synthetic drums, do not linger and miss the opportunity to get it for the cheapest possible price.

Finally, Mac users will be pleased to hear that an Audio Unit version is being constructed as we speak and is expected to be released later this year. (Watch this space for news.)

I trust that you will find our new Tonic revitalizing and most electrific!
/ Magnus

a New Site Was Born

December 21, 2004

Yes, time was quite due for the extreme makeover of our old Sonic Charge site (if you could call a single page a site). The old site served its purpose all right, but it simply left a little too much to the imagination. With generous help from Fredrik Lidström of http://www.elysian.se, NuEdge Development can now proudly present a site that actually contains several different pages (what a concept!). Now, apart from looking prettier, the site will offer more dynamic content and has the potential to grow in time as we see fit.

To start off, we have the download section where registered µTonic users are offered downloadable packages with programs and patches. For the introduction, we have assembled a brand new package with no less than 75 programs and countless drum patches. (If you thought you knew what the µTonic was all about, check out the "GinFuzz" program!)

In the download section, you will also find another package that was offered as a Christmas gift 2003 to some of the first µTonic customers. Furthermore, we have compiled a brand new µTonic FAQ that we recommend a look at whether you're an experienced µTonicker or not.

So, from all of us, to all of you, a very merry µChristmas!

Best regards,
Magnus Lidström