- Choose a sound
Choose how to create your sound under Source, then open Choose a sound to pick a starting point.
- Sound effect presets
- Pick and adjust a ready-made effect, such as a laser, explosion, or door. A quick way to start with a sound close to what you need.
- FM synth
- Uses one waveform to rapidly change the pitch of another. Adjust the waveforms and modulation depth to create clear bells, metallic tones, and electronic lasers.
- Noise synth
- Build sounds from rushing or rumbling noise. Adjust its type, frequency range, and movement to create wind, fire, explosions, and jets.
- Physical modeling
- Uses simplified models of how metal, wood, glass, and strings vibrate and decay. Adjust the material, strike or pluck hardness, and position to create impacts and plucked sounds.
- Granular synth
- Splits source audio into short grains and layers them. Adjust grain length, density, and pitch variation to make teleportation effects or unusual ambience. Choose source audio first.
Granular source audio can be a recording, an imported file, or a synthesized sound. Choose “Use current sound as source” to copy the entire edited sound, or “Choose from library” to pick a saved sound. Trim it first if you only want part of it. The source stays available after generation. Selecting a new source clears edits such as trimming from the previous output.
- Shape your sound
Switch between Basic and Effects to shape your sound. In Effects, add modulation or effects, toggle each layer, and set its active range on the timeline. Drag the ends of a bar to change its start and end, and add points to the amount graph to vary the effect over time. At 0% the layer has no effect; at 100% it uses the full strength of your settings. The total duration is the 0.1–8 seconds set in Basic. Echo and reverb never extend it. Any tail after a layer ends fits within the sound and fades briefly at the end. Increase the duration in Basic if you need a longer tail. All layers, including modulation, run from top to bottom. Turning a layer off keeps its settings. In Range & automation, select a row, use its arrows to reorder it, or duplicate and delete it. FM provides Oscillators and Volume & modulation controls for waveforms, modulation depth, and volume envelopes. Noise, physical modeling, and granular synthesis each have Source settings: noise type, band, and movement; material, resonance, strike hardness, and position; or grain length, density, and variation. A grain length of 1,000 ms equals one second. Each source keeps its settings and effects when you switch sources. Choosing another patch resets the basic and source settings, while keeping effects and granular source audio. The bottom Play button generates and previews the sound after a settings change; otherwise it plays the current sound. Press it again to stop. New variation creates another pattern for every source except FM. All five sources share the same effects and generate mono audio. Set the stereo position with Pan in Arrange. Use the ? buttons for details.
- Polish your sound
Open Trim & edit, move the Start and End handles above the waveform, and trim to the selected range. You can also enter times in seconds. Normalize sets the peak level to −1 dB. For a fade, choose Start only, End only, or Both ends next to the Fade button; a 15 ms fade is applied at those ends. Fade and reverse edits apply to the entire sound.
- Add to library
When your sound is ready, choose Add to library and enter a sound name. Check Name to save, then add it. If the name is already taken, (2), (3), and so on are appended. Generated, recorded, and imported sounds are saved in this browser with your edits, including any tails within the set duration. The duration of already saved sounds stays unchanged. Use WAV to export an audio file. Sound design settings and selected or copied granular source audio are lost on reload, so save source audio and finished sounds to the library or as WAV files. Only the audio is saved; synthesis settings cannot be restored.
- Build an arrangement
Switch to Arrange at the top, open the library, and drag sounds onto tracks. Close the library afterward for more timeline space. Select a clip to see its details and adjust its position, volume, or duplication. You can also save the arrangement and export a mixed WAV file.