34Audiovisuals SwarmaDie 2 is an authentic emulation of Trent Reznor’s Swarmatron drone synth for macOS, Windows, and iOS.
For the soundtrack for The Social Network, Trent Reznor and Atticus Ross used the Swarmatron, a hand-built analog drone synth by Brian and Leon Dewan. It consists of eight analog oscillators tuned to approximately one note, each slightly different in pitch.
It’s playable with two ribbons. One controls the pitch, and the second spreads the oscillators, creating a distinct swarming drone sound comparable to the noise a swarm of bees produces. 34Audiovisuals has now created an emulation called SwarmaDie 2.
34Audiovisuals SwarmaDie 2
SwarmaDie 2 is a new drone Synthesizer for macOS, Windows, and iOS inspired by the signature sound of the Swarmatron.
Like the original hardware, 34Audiovisuals SwarmaDie 2 features 8 detuned saw/sine oscillators with independent analog drift. The user interface provides an overview of their tuning, and you can turn them on and off individually.
You can play them with two ribbons. The first lets you play the pitch of all eight oscillators, while the second is the swarm that spreads them from a focused unison to a wide, chaotic cloud.
Alongside this, it has portamento with variable slew rate per voice, stereo width, and spatial movement controls.
There are two benefits compared to the hardware Swarmatron: you can use multiple instances of it as plugins on your computer or iOS device. Secondly, you can save your favorite settings in presets.
First Impression
The original Swarmatron can produce beautiful, rich, cinematic swarming drone sounds. Well, I can’t say how identical the SwarmaDie 2 sounds to the original. However, the workflow is identical, allowing you to achieve similar results.
Place your finger (iOS) on the ribbons and let the oscillators swarm out. I’m pretty sure experimental musicians who love drones will certainly have a lot of fun with it.
34Audiovisuals SwarmaDie 2 is available now for 9,99€. It runs as a VST3, AU, and AAX plugin on macOS (native Apple Silicon + Intel) and Windows. The iOS version is out now on the Apple App Store for $4,99 and supports AUv3.
More information here: 34Audiovisuals / Apple App Store
Be the first to comment