NeverEngineLabs Incline is a new resynthesis-driven granular Synthesizer, transforming audio into a navigable sonic terrain
And so it goes again. Following yesterday’s exciting new granular Synthesizer from Baby Audio, another has arrived.
NeverEngineLabs, a company founded by electronic musician Cristian Vogel, has released Incline, an innovative granular Synthesizer.
NeverEngineLabs Incline
Yay, a new granular synthesizer! Yes, that’s true, but it’s not your average one that you find in every other plugin developer’s portfolio these days.
Important: This is a standalone instrument, not a plugin. There is no information on whether this will change in the future.
NeverEngineLabs describes Incline as a toposonic corpus explorer. It uses machine learning algorithms and resynthesis-driven granular synthesis to transform audio content into a navigable sonic terrain.
The way the processor handles inserted audio also differs from that of classic granular synths. Traditionally, the audio is divided into small parts and reassembled into textures during playback.
In Incline, you can sculpt how audio is segmented and ordered, then perform that corpus spatially. This is visualized in a colorful sonic map that can be explored with the mouse.
Creatively Explore The Map
Is the mouse too boring? Well, it can be done automatically. You can also create automation paths to travel from one point to another across the map.
Cristian Vogel from NeverEngineLabs has created three distinct runtime modes in Incline: One Shot, One Loop, and Cloud:
- One Shot – for direct segment audition and precise oneshot and ratchet style playback
- One Loop – for continuous traversal with micro-loop continuity
- Cloud – for distributed granular scheduling and evolving textures
On top of that, the Contour Sequencer can be activated in all modes, giving you autonomous time-synced traversal through the map.
Like any other granular Synthesizer, Incline also offers a variety of adjustable parameters, including the resynthesis core (FFT size, novelty filter…) and real-time granular controls such as cloud density, window density, and more.
NeverEngineLabs says that it’s designed for composers and sound designers interested in exploring advanced granular resynthesis combined with state-of-the-art machine listening algorithms and performance techniques.
First Impression
On paper, Incline looks very intriguing and quite different. However, the first demos I’ve found don’t sound all that impressive. You get the feeling the synth is still a bit of a prototype. But that could simply be because no convincing demos are available yet.
It’s a shame it’s not a plugin yet, but only a standalone app. I hope that changes in the future. Nevertheless, I think it’s good that developers are trying new approaches in granular synthesis.
NeverEngineLabs Incline is available now for $45. It runs exclusively as a standalone app on macOS. The Windows version is coming soon.
More information here: NeverEngineLabs
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