SkyDust 3D: first spacial synth plugin from Sound Particles

Sound Particles is wowing NAMM delegates with “the first spatial synthesiser plugin in the world”, SkyDust 3D, offering instant 3D sound simply by playing notes. “Fantastic for stereo and exceptional in 3D” it’s definitely grabbing the increasing demand for immersive and three dimensional soundscapes in music production, cinematography and the like.

The AAX Native, AUv2 and VST3 plugin offers a number of significant features including multiple, random and sub-presets, filter presets, a spatial sequencer, envelope generators and LFO, independent oscillators, movement modifiers, divergence of note position in the 3D soundscape, output in a variety of multichannel formats, binaural reproduction for stereo headphone use, 3D panning, and a 3D visualiser.

There’s also eight oscillators, a polyphonic synth with up to 256 voices, anti-aliasing, a range of waveforms, noises and modifiers, an arpeggiator with various modes built in, scale adaptions, FM synthesis, subtractive synthesis, and more.

Here’s the full spec list:

Midi Indicator
Virtual keyboard with pitch-bend, modulation wheel, and sustain pedal indicator

Zoom UI (resizable Window)
40 EG’s per voice: 8 gain EG’s, 8 pitch EG’s, 8 filter EG’s, 8 spatial EG’s, 8 extra EG’s
40 LFO’s per voice: 8 gain LFO’s, 8 pitch LFO’s, 8 filter LFO’s, 8 spatial LFO’s, 8 extra LFO’s

FM modulation (phase modulation) with 8 operators
FM matrix, for custom FM connections
4 FM parameters per operator: ratio (or fixed frequency), detune, modulation gain, feedback

A FM view to help visualize the current FM diagram
Binaural: 5 HRTF datasets, with more than 100 HRTF profiles
Support for SOFA files (personalized HRTFs)

Supports Ambisonics up to 6th order (only SkyDust 3D)
Support multichannel: LRC, LRCS, Quad, 4.0, 5.0, 5.1, 6.1, 7.0, 7.1, 9.0, 9.1, 5.0.2, 5.1.2, 5.0.4, 5.1.4, 7.0.2, 7.1.2, 7.1.4, 7.0.6, 7.1.6, 9.1.2, 9.1.4, 9.1.6, 9.0.8, 9.1.8, 11.1.8, Auro 11.1, Auro 13.1, IMAX 12.0, 22.2
Support for stereo: stereo, stereo (VBAP), stereo (MS), stereo (…)

Support for binaural (3D sound over Headphones) – 2 XY pads, with custom parameters per axis
Snap feature, with snap time, on XY pads
FX: Delay, Reverb, Bit-Crusher, Distortion, EQ (3 bands), Parametric EQ (1 band)

FX presets and sub-presets
Dry/Wet control
Meters in-between FX slots

LFO’s with depth, rate, phase, delay
Ability to sync LFO’s with host (tempo)
Global LFO’s (all LFO’s in sync with each others)

11 Movement modifiers: Random rotation, Oscillate, Floating, Random Target, Rotation, Moving Up, Moving To Position, Moving Left, Moving Front, Moving Rear, Moving Right
EG with multiple types: AR, ADR, ADSR, AHDSR, DAHDSR
Global octave, transpose, detune

4 macros, with support for multiple parameters, and custom curves
Multiple 3D views: 360 view, rear view, top view, spherical view, SkyDust view
Main volume and main meters

Mixer panel, with independent control of oscillators (volume, mute, solo, meter), 4 FX dry-wet and main volume (and mute)
Optional monophonic behavior, with “Mono” or “Legato” mode, and variable glide time
Curve editor, with multiple point editor and curve adjustment, or using knobs (depth, min, mid, max)

Ability to filter matrix entries by source or destination
Matrix sub-presets
8 extra EG’s and 8 LFO’s, able to control multiple parameters and associated curve editor

Extra EG’s/LFO’s sub-preset
Arpeggiator with 7 patterns, and ability to add additional octaves (from -2 to + 2)
Ability to sync Arpeggiator with host (tempo)

Modern Sequencer with up to 128 steps and multiple parameters
Keyboard editor per sequencer step, for easy note entry
Polyphonic sequencer (support of multiple notes per sequencer step)

3D panning per sequencer step
Ability to add any parameter to sequencer, with step values
Intelligent sequencer, with ability to adapt to major/minor sequences, by forcing a scale

Initial 3D position by oscillator
Variable Oscillator divergence, to obtain slightly random positions on each note
Global spatial settings or independent spatial settings by oscillator

3D position Envelope Generator, to define multiple positions thru time
3D LFO, with independent depth for azimuth and elevation.
Dedicated pitch EG and LFO per oscillator, for maximum flexibility

Random pitch values for interesting pitch effects, such as pitch convergence/divergence
Keyboard and MIDI Velocity mapping on filters
Random presets, with the ability to lock certain sub-modules