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Description

Sonic Charge Synplant is a unique synthesizer plugin that pushes the boundaries of sound design with its innovative approach to music creation. Unlike traditional synths, Synplant utilizes a graphical interface that allows users to "grow" sounds from seeds, making it an intuitive and visually engaging experience. This groundbreaking method empowers musicians and producers to craft complex sounds with a simple click-and-drag technique, offering a fresh perspective on sound synthesis.

Synplant's interface is designed to inspire creativity, presenting a botanical theme where each sound is represented as a plant. As you tweak the parameters, you can visually see your sound evolve, providing an organic and interactive way of designing audio. The plugin is perfect for producers looking to experiment beyond conventional synth parameters and find new sonic landscapes.

With Synplant, you can explore countless sonic possibilities, from lush pads to intricate textures, all while maintaining a user-friendly experience. Its compatibility with major digital audio workstations ensures seamless integration into your existing setup, making it a versatile tool for any music production environment.

Key Features:

  • Innovative sound design through a graphical interface
  • Unique approach to synthesis using "growing" sounds
  • Intuitive and interactive botanical theme
  • Visual representation of sound evolution
  • Compatible with major DAWs
  • Ideal for exploring unconventional soundscapes
Sonic Charge

Sonic Charge

Synplant Showcase

Video thumbnail for Synplant Showcase by Sonic Charge

Synplant Showcase

Sonic Charge

Sonic Charge

Video thumbnail for 10 Instantly Inspiring VST/AU Plugins: Sonic Charge Synplant by Computer Music

10 Instantly Inspiring VST/AU Plugins: Sonic Charge Synplant

Computer Music

Computer Music

Reviews

PROS

  • Innovative interface allows unique sound creation through visual interaction

  • Capable of producing highly unusual and modern sounds

  • Perfect for ambient and experimental electronic music

  • Excellent for creating synth risers and build-ups

  • Offers a unique genetic approach to sound synthesis

  • Simple, tactile controls encourage creative exploration

  • Allows every key to produce a different sound

  • Provides an engaging and playful sound design process

  • DNA editor offers fine-tuning of synth parameters

  • Versatile with a lot of character despite its simplicity

CONS

  • Unusual GUI and workflow can be confusing

  • Can be quiet and require compression to enhance sound

  • Difficult to predict changes from tweaks

  • Some users find it challenging to create chords

Owner Insights

We analyzed real musician discussions from forums and Reddit to find what players love, question, and tweak about Sonic Charge Synplant.

Features and functionality

  • Users appreciate Synplant's unique modulation method, which replaces conventional knobs with a more exploratory interface, enhancing creativity in sound design.

    Source
  • The gene manipulator in Synplant provides a detailed tutorial, allowing users to tweak and understand each setting's impact on sound.

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  • Synplant allows users to edit waveforms between sine, triangle, saw, and square in the DNA section, also supporting FM synthesis, offering extensive sound design flexibility.

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  • Every note in a chromatic scale can sound distinctively different in Synplant, a feature praised by Brian Eno and rarely found in other synths.

    Source
  • Synplant's sound design process emphasizes auditory experimentation over traditional knob-tweaking, encouraging users to create based on what they hear.

    Source

Use cases and applications

  • Synplant is favored for sound design, with one owner citing its effectiveness in creating dub techno sounds.

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  • Synplant excels in creating atonal percussive synth sounds, offering unique patches per note, ideal for experimental sound design.

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  • Notable artists like Flume and Modeselektor frequently use Synplant, underscoring its appeal for creating innovative electronic music sounds.

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User experience

  • It's noted that Synplant is missed by those who switch to computerless setups, indicating its valued role in digital workflows.

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  • Some users find Synplant's generative nature less useful for achieving specific sounds, making it more suited for exploratory sound creation rather than targeted synthesis.

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  • Users report that Synplant can produce rich, warm, and organic sounds despite some perceptions of its digital tone from initial presets.

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Software and compatibility

  • There is interest in an iPad version of Synplant, suggesting demand for mobile accessibility that the developer has not pursued.

    Source
  • Synplant offers a generous three-week trial period, allowing users ample time to explore its capabilities before purchase.

    Source
Add

4.5 out of 5

Based on 16 Reviews and 83 Ratings

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moogbadger

Different

Synplant is created by Magnus Lidström, the man behind Sonic Charge, who also came to prominence with the Malstrom synthesizer included free with Propellerhead's Reason. Under the hood, Synplant is actually a fairy conventional (FM? I dunno?) synth, but what makes it stand out from the crowd of synth plug-ins is its innovative user interface. The idea basically is that the user simply pushes and pulls at graphics until they get a sound they want! The core sound is represented by a 'seed' at the centre of the interface. Each seed grows 'branches' (nicely animated wavy fern things). As the branch is pulled, it changes loads of synth parameters FOR THAT NOTE on THAT KEY only. So, in other words, it's possible to create a synth patch where every sound on every key is different, which is a departure in itself! If one particular sound takes your fancy, you can 'replant' the seed so that all the keys now share that sound. The process can be repeated endlessly until you've reached a sound you like. If you get a sound that's almost right apart from one thing, you can dive into the synth's 'DNA editor' window, which gives you finer control over things like envelopes, filter cutoffs, amplitude modulation levels and so on, like a 'normal' synth would. The global controls on the front panel control broader things like FX wet/dry level, atonality, tuning and so on. The modulation wheel often offers up surprises, and the whole plant can be spun with automation to give evolving sounds too...

I love Synplant mainly for its sound; it's sort of cold, digital, but somehow organic and quirky at the same time. It also sounds very 'modern' in the sense that it's not trying to slavishly recreate a MiniMoog or whatever; it sounds like something that could only really exist in the 21st Century. It's almost impossible to predict how tweaking the branches will affect the timbres, and it's very liberating to just use simple tactile controls and your ears to create new sounds. Sometimes it's worth just hitting the 'create new random seed' button and seeing what it can come up with!

It can be a bit quiet and weedy sounding, which I usually fix with compression. Still, this makes a change to a lot of modern soft synths which immediately blow out your channel strip (yes, looking at you, Arturia!) and you have to instantly turn them down...

john_withers

Fascinating

Bought on a whim as a deal when I bought micro-tonic to use with the Teenage Engineering Tonic Pocket Operator. Fooled around with it a bit and it does produce very unusual sounds that I could see being useful but a very unusual GUI and workflow made it hard to be sure what your input would result in. If you dig deep into the DNA of this it could be rewarding.

axvard

Sonic Charge Synplant

Grow Synplant is a software synthesizer with a genetic approach to sound creation. Instead of creating patches the conventional way by turning dials and knobs, Synplant lets you explore a world of organic sounds by planting seeds that grow into synth patches. Mutate Once you are ready to get your hands dirty and dig deeper into the anatomy of Synplant you will have the option to crack open your sound seeds and modify their underlying genetic code. Create The purpose of this product is to move focus away from the sometimes intricate and difficult process of sound synthesis and instead let you develop sounds by simply using your ears. You will find that creating synth patches with Synplant will be as easy as listening and deciding what you like and then having the sounds evolve in the directions you desire. Although Synplant is exceedingly easy to use, whatever you do, do not let its relative simplicity fool you. Beneath its straightforward and playful interface you will find a versatile synthesizer of the utmost quality with lots of character.

xitb
xitb

281

absolutely out of this frequency spectrum

Ha Ha bit of an exaggeration possibly ... Like the cliche says though " all that can hinder you is your own imagination " I use it all the time despite my want to try something else ... Vital for experimental electronic dabbling

Preferred Settings + Usage:

I throw digital die with this one as the serendipity is amazing ... Instant Push button fun

johnief

Best Synth For Risers

This synth is awesome for doing synth risers in the build up for a track! Thanks to @nicky_romero for showing this in his video of how he made "Toulouse". Thats the reason why I bought this synth because I loved the sound of his rising synth a lot! And I've been able to replicate my own very awesome sounding version of this riser so this synth really does work awesome for that! Highly Recommended

chrisbrownnews

FX

Really use it when i wanna some crazy fx sounds, i really don't know how to make chords out of this plugin.

L

Strange sounds :D

As Axwell once said, Synplant is great for creating 'strange' sounds.

J

great buttt...

i think this vst could use a bit more creativy

hippocoon

Wow...

The final touch that we were missing before come out! 5 start ambience and buildup possibilities!

R
r3con

2926

Synplant

this is definitely the best synth around for making Ambient or freaky sounds.

jimmarchi1

I believe you, who would lie about that? More reviewing in future reviews please....

Artist usage

Add artist
See how Zedd uses Sonic Charge Synplant

Zedd

Music Producer

ARE WE DREAMING

...
Verified via YouTube

Zedd used a preset from Sonic Charge's Synplant in his record 'Lost at Sea'. The preset is called 'AZ Piano Detuner' and can be heard at the beginning of the track. The preset is located in the factory bank.

See how Nicky Romero uses Sonic Charge Synplant

Nicky Romero

Music Producer, DJ

...
Verified via YouTube

Nicky Romero explains @ 32:40 ''it has weird sounds!!''.

See how Alesso uses Sonic Charge Synplant

Alesso

Music Producer

...
Verified via YouTube

"Synplant is also very good. I use that, too." at 5:50.

See how Axwell uses Sonic Charge Synplant

Axwell

Music Producer

Swedish House Mafia

...
Verified via YouTube

Axwell talks through the making of the Swedish House Mafia track "One" in this video interview. At 2:46 he says, "We got some chords, courtesy of Synplant... [it] makes interesting sounds."

See how Flume uses Sonic Charge Synplant

Flume

Music Producer, DJ

What So Not

...
Verified via Photo

In tracks 48-52, in this photo of Flume's screen running Abelton Live, Synplant can be seen.

See how Grimes uses Sonic Charge Synplant

Grimes

Singer, Keyboardist

...
Verified via Imgur

In a Future Music (issue 298) interview, when asked whether she is seeking “inspiring new sounds and effects plug-ins”, she responds: “There’s this synth that’s like a plant you can grow, called Synplant … it has all these weird parameters where you can take a sound and throw a plant arm around it. It’s really visual, so you’re not really working with numbers … It’s very intuitive and you can mess with the sounds without having to know that much about how it works.” It’s not clear from the interview whether Grimes has actually used this synth in any of her recordings.

See how Swedish House Mafia uses Sonic Charge Synplant

Swedish House Mafia

Music Producer

...
Verified via YouTube

"Chords, courtesy of Synplant, makes interesting sounds..." (2:46)

See how Brian Eno uses Sonic Charge Synplant

Brian Eno

Singer, Keyboardist

David Bowie (band)

...
Verified via YouTube

Brian Eno uses and briefly speaks about Synplant in this BBC Documentary

See how Dannic uses Sonic Charge Synplant

Dannic

Music Producer, DJ

...
Verified via YouTube

While being escorted to his hotel in Jakarta, Dannic talks about producing a new track and at 3:33 you can see the project running on his laptop together with the Sonic Charge Synplant.

See how Feed Me uses Sonic Charge Synplant

Feed Me

Music Producer

Seventh Stitch

...
Verified via Twitter

"@soniccharge Thank you! Think you indirectly feature in half the tracks on it. Synplant for a lot of 'As I Need You'"

See how Underworld uses Sonic Charge Synplant

Underworld

Music Producer

Freur

...
Verified via MusicRadar

This article on the recording of the "Barking" album describes the band's then-current studio setup. It states, "Underworld relied on both software and hardware synthesizers. Soft-horses included Logic ES2; GForce ImpOSCar, ImpOSCar2, String Machine, and Oddity; Sonic Charge’s Synplant; Synthogy Ivory (piano); Rob Papen BLUE; and Native Instruments’ Battery 3, FM8, Reaktor 5, and Massive."

See how Hard Rock Sofa uses Sonic Charge Synplant

Hard Rock Sofa

Music Producer

...
Verified via Photo

Hard Rock Sofa can be spotted using the Synplant Software Synth in a photo they posted of their mobile studio setup.

Used With

Based on how musicians on Equipboard use Sonic Charge Synplant, it is most commonly used with the following gear.

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