APPLIED ACOUSTICS TASSMAN 3
Mar 1, 2004 12:00 PM, BY JOHN McJUNKIN
Tassman is Applied Acoustics' all-in-one solution for people who need software synths based on powerful physically modeled algorithms but who also need to assemble them into usable musical instruments quickly and easily. A number of “roll-your-own” synth kits are out there, but this one has features that make it stand out. It's not the most complex system available, but it grants you quick access to some very high-quality sounds. Also, the newly available version 3.0.2 packages some nice updates.
THE MAIN CONCOURSE
The primary structure includes two different screens or views, Builder and Player. The Builder view is divided into two segments: the Construction area and the Help area. The Help area displays textual information about the selected module and gives access to the company's online manual. The Construction area gives a flowchartlike visual description of the instrument that you're assembling. To the left of the view window is a Windows-esque browser menu containing all available modules, constructs and patches (which includes those that come preinstalled with Tassman, as well as any modules or subpatches that you may have constructed). This facilitates drag-and-drop creation of instruments. You simply grab an oscillator; drag it in; drag in a VCA, maybe a filter; and next thing you know, you have synthesis happening. I really liked this approach, because it feels really easy to slap together a synth pretty quickly.
The Player view is especially useful, as well as visually appealing. It's a not-quite-photo-realistic representation of the various modules, such as oscillators, VCAs and VCFs. But the retro look of this view is just plain dope. The meters are round with realistic VU ballistics. Big metal-looking toggle switches and giant black Bakelite chicken-head knobs are present, too. The Player view contains 16 rows, each of which can accommodate as many as 100 to 150 modules. Imagine a rack on 3-inch centers (as opposed to the 19-inch standard), and turn it sideways; that's how the rows work here. Some modules take just a sliver of horizontal space and others more. Just move in the parts that you need. It doesn't look like any instrument that has ever existed in reality, but I used to dream about building a modular synth that looked like this when I was a kid.
MODULE MANIA
The modules that wait in the browser library to be dragged into virtual reality in your synth are broken into 11 categories: effects, envelopes, filters, generators, in/out, logic, mixers, resonators, routing, sequencers and subpatches. Once you've dragged a module into position, the standard cut, copy and paste commands work to duplicate or eliminate. Each module has inputs and outputs, and one really cool feature is that when you connect them with a virtual wire, you can click the mouse along the way to make the wire visually follow a path of your choosing. This was particularly good for my head when my tangle of wires started to look like pasta. Multiple modules can be selected and acted upon together. Users can name and physically locate each module in the Player view's rows. Assigning MIDI controllers to any parameter was stunningly easy. Also, you may want to assemble some commonly used combinations of modules into what AA calls subpatches. You can then drag the whole shebang into another construct later on.
Among the available modules are VCOs, which yield noise, saw, pulse and sine waveforms. Of course, the duty cycle of the pulse wave can be set to 50 percent to achieve a pure square wave, and it can also be modulated by virtually any signal. There is also a dedicated VCS (voltage-controlled sinus) module that creates — you guessed it — sine waves only, which is handy for FM synthesis. One of Tassman's greatest strengths is its ability to physically model acoustic instruments. In addition to the traditional periodic waveforms, models of acoustic instruments can be used to provide the incipient signal. There are instruments like organs (both pipe and tonewheel simulations), marimbas, struck “beams,” flutes, strings, membranes and various bowed versions of all but the flute and organs. Also present are plate and multimode modules that work together to model reverb and other harmonic effects. Multimode in this case refers to the fact that multiple “modes” of a plate or membrane can be calculated. Richer and more complex timbres are created with more modes, but your CPU is also under more stress. There is an interesting model of a reverb based on three physical tubes and two tube-resonance models, as well. I like this type of inspired thinking that enables me to design sounds that are different from what everybody else does, which is, of course, one of the main reasons to use a synthesis construction tool in the first place.
Tassman also packs a large selection of voltage-controlled filters, as you might imagine, including resonant lowpass, highpass and bandpass units with slopes of 6, 12 and 24 dB/octave. A comb filter is also available. Envelope generators are present in several different flavors, including ADSR and the proprietary ADAR, which is essentially attack/decay or attack/release. An LFO is also available with sine, square, random and triangle waves that can range from 0.1 to 35 Hz. A sample-and-hold circuit can be used to modulate pretty much anything you want, and a sidechainable dynamics processor features controls for threshold, ratio (1:1 to 30:1), and attack and decay times. As a compressor, this processor sounds really good with some of the plucked-string models. Time-based effect modules such as delay, flange, phase and a stereo chorus are also available. Of course, there are other level-oriented modules for gain, linear gain, panning, phase inversion, mixing and even simple on/off switches.
One module, called RMS (root mean square), in essence extracts the envelope from a signal, thus enabling envelope following or vocoding. There are several different types of good old-fashioned CV sequencers, too. The most sophisticated one has a portamento function that allows “sliding” from one note to the next, begging for you to emulate a Roland TB-303. A pickup module models the use of an electromagnetic guitar pickup for the creation of saturation and distortion-type effects. Finally, there is a very important group of modules: the logic units. A lot of real power lies in the logic modules. These allow you to do some pretty sophisticated mathematics, enabling much more elaborate timbres and textures.
VERSION 3: NEW AND IMPROVED
The new elements in version 3 start with compatibility, namely with Mac OS 9.x and 10.2 (and now Audio Units) along with Windows XP, 2000, ME and 98SE. Support for MAS and Direct Connect are now realities, as well. Stand-alone operation is also bolstered by plug-in capability, including support for DXi and VST. The core processing code has been rewritten for maximum efficiency. The browser, Builder and Player are now integrated into a single resizable window with horizontal and vertical scroll bars. This integration enables drag-and-drop creation of instruments. Tassman ships with 50 all-new instruments and more than 1,000 presets. MIDI learn/forget is available for all onscreen controls, and multiple MIDI maps can be stored for each instrument. Instrument import and export has been tidied and simplified for sharing with friends. Aftertouch support is also now present. And probably most important is the enhanced selection of new and improved modules, most of which have already been discussed.
WHAT DOES ALL OF THIS SOUND LIKE?
As you can see, an infinite number of possibilities exist. All of these modules can be arrayed in any way, shape or fashion that you can imagine. Obviously, the more complex your arrangement is, the more CPU overhead is used. Applied Acoustics has managed to streamline these algorithms, however, to a pretty reasonable level of efficiency. You can come up with some incredible sounds without killing your computer.
So how does it really sound? Good — very good. The modeled acoustic instruments are quite solid. And don't kid yourself: This is where the industry is headed. Users have settled for sampling and all of the trickery that surrounds it thus far, but the industry is within a decade or so of indistinguishable modeling of acoustic instruments, and products like Tassman demonstrate how close it's getting. But don't forget the synthetic sounds. This thing really nails down the emulation of electronic synthesizers. It ships with re-creations of classic synths of all varieties, and I'm here to say that they sound really fat, plain and simple. The ARP Odyssey and the Moog Minimoog knockoffs, in particular, are just rock-solid. There's a warmth and fullness here that some other products just don't have. The Applied Acoustics Website has a nice little user library with some neat little things there for you to try. Did you ever think that you'd be able to call up your buddy and say, “Hey, I just finished building a new synth. I just uploaded it. Why don't you try it out?”
To be honest, I initially felt that Tassman's $499 price tag was kind of steep. Once I delved into the thing and learned how powerful it really is, however, I discovered that it's worth every penny. It's not so overwhelmingly complicated as to leave you scratching your head, but it's also deep enough to enable you to create pretty much any noise that your brain can dream up. It will also work quite well on an older machine because the programmers have gone to great lengths to streamline the program and minimize CPU strain. If you have the need for a powerful yet simple way to create a huge diversity of sounds, musical or otherwise, I strongly recommend Tassman.
Product Summary
APPLIED ACOUSTICS
(DIST. BY ILIO)
TASSMAN 3 > $499
Pros: Flexible, intuitive soft-synth construction. Excellent physical-modeling algorithms.
Cons: None.
Contact: tel. (800) 747-4546; e-mail info@ilio.com; Web www.ilio.com
System Requirements
MAC: G3; 128 MB RAM; OS 9.2/10.2 or later
PC: PIII/500; 32 MB RAM; Windows 98/2000/ME/XP; ASIO-, WDM- or MME-compatible audio interface
Acceptable Use Policy blog comments powered by Disqus
| Want to use this article? Click here for options! |  |
