Tiagolr Ripplerx is a new open-source, free physical modeling Synthesizer plugin à la Chromaphone for macOS, Linux, and Windows.
It’s no secret that I’m a massive fan of physical modeling synthesis. It’s one of the synthesis types that inspires me the most. At the top of my favorite physical modeling synths is the AAS Chromaphone 3, a percussive Synthesizer for macOS and Windows.
Tiagolr, a developer, has recently released RipplerX, which could be the illegitimate sister of Chromaphone.
Tiagolr Ripplerx
Ripplerx is a new open-source, free physical modeling Synthesizer plugin for macOS, Linux, and Windows. The plugin is not only reminiscent of AAS Chromaphone’s color scheme, but it also sounds like it and has very similar functions.
The developer aimed to develop a free plugin that gives you sounds like Chromaphone or Ableton Collision. The Canadian company AAS also developed the latter based on the Chromaphone engine.
According to Tiagolr, the plugin is a port of Rippler2 for the Reaper DAW. It started as a research project into physically modeled drums and ended up a synth heavily based on Chromaphone and Sai’ke Partials.
Differences
On the technical side, the plugin is more on the feature set of the old Chromaphone v1 from 2012 and v2 from 2016. Tiagolr Ripplerx has only one sound layer, two flexible resonator cores, and two exciter modules (noise and mallet).
The engine offers nine acoustic resonator types, each consisting of up to 64 partials: string, beam, membrane, drumhead, plate, marimba, open tube, closed tube, and a new squared model. You can play them in serial or parallel coupling.
You can then shape each resonator type with different parameters, including inharmonicity, tone, material, decay/release envelope, and more.
Resonators must be excited for them to sound. The two exciters carry out this task. First, you have a flexible noise generator with a built-in resonant multimode filter with cutoff and resonance controls and a dedicated ADSR envelope generator.
Next is the mallet exciter with stiffness control and the option to mix the noise with it—just like we know it from Chromaphone v1 and v2. Further, you can map velocity to parameters. The plugin ships with a bright and dark GUI and is scalable in different stages.
There are a few factory presets, but saving custom sounds is impossible. I couldn’t find a save function in Tiagolr Ripplerx, or maybe I missed something.
Sound Demo
I had to try out the plugin right away. Here is a sound demo with parameter tweakings combined with the free ValhallaSupermassive delay/reverb plugin and its latest Pleiades algorithm
Tiagolr Ripplerx First Impression
Yes, it sounds like Chromaphone. I haven’t heard any significant difference between the two. The differences are in the features; the original has a sequencer, effects, and more. Chromaphone 3 even has two layers. But it is a fascinating project, and I am excited to see where the open-source developers will take it.
Tiagolr Ripplerx is a free download from the GitHub repository. The open-source code is also available here. Ripplerx runs as a VST3, AU, and LV2 plugin on macOS (native Apple Silicon + Intel), Linux, and Windows.
More information here: Github
great plugin!
great OPEN SOURCE plugin!