Rhizomatic Plasmonic 1.2, the physical modeling synth from Absynth developer Brian Clevinger just got a 1.2 update with native Apple M1 support, new patches, and more.
The Absynth 1-5 series are legendary plugins among sound designers. Many are patiently waiting for a version 6 or an updated GUI. The developer of this is Brian Clevinger. Almost exactly a year ago he premiered with its own company Rhizomatic in the plugin market.
Plasmonic is an ingenious physical modeling Synthesizer plugin with a very special user interface and sound. Although it’s a completely different synthesis, the synth is very reminiscent of the Absynth range. Especially the user interface is again very unique and in green. Brian has today released Plasmonic 1.2, an update for his first independent synth plugin.
Plasmonic
As a reminder: Plasmonic is a physical modeling Synthesizer that goes several step behind classic PM synths. Instead of limiting to the trigger/resonator concept, it offers an expanded synth engine that is capable of producing not only classic acoustic, organic-style sounds.
The core uses two wavetable oscillators, a sample-based impulse generator (built-in samples only), a filtered noise generator, a self-oscillating delaybsed waveguide/multimode ladder filter pair the most important part and a big, flexible modulation engine.
Rhizomatic Plasmonic 1.2
is a free update for all existing customers. Big highlight of the update 1.2 is the native Apple Silicon M1 support. I am very happy to see it here because with resource intensive plugins like Plasmonic, the native M1 support can give you more CPU headroom. According to the developer, they also improved the audio engine for better performance on all platforms.
Brian Clevinger’s physical modeling synth is super expressive thanks to full MPE support. The new update also brings support for Aphex Twin’s co-developed MTS-ESP microtuning technology giving users even more expressive freedom.
Further, Rhizomatic also added a new favorite function in the preset browser and has added 100 new MPE-compatible presets. Plasmonic 1.2 is a nice present with some welcomed addition just before Christmas. Thanks Brian.
Rhizomatic Plasmonic Synthesizer is available as a VST3 & AU plugin and standalone for macOS (Intel, native M1) and Windows. Plasmonic is now on sale for $99/99€ (30% OFF) through December 31st, 2021.
More information here: Rhizomatic Plasmonic
Support for both Apple Silicon and MTS-ESP are big deals for me… yet I mostly ended up playing with the new MPE patches. With sone MPE-enabled synths, it’s hard to get patches which really leverage MPE. For instance, many Pigments patches have limited expression, despite the fact that the synth is fully MPE-enabled (and not yet compatible with MTS-ESP, unlike 9 other V Collection 8.2 synths). So, those new patches are a welcomed addition, on top of the new features.
As for Physical Modelling Synths, which are “limiting to the trigger/resonator concept”? Coming from the VL70-m and Respiro, I might say that the Applied Acoustics Systems offerings are a bit limiting. Still, they do a lot more than trigger/resonator.