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Antares Kantos - New soft synth controlled by audio.

From the company that revolutionized vocal intonation processing comes kantos 1.0, a software-based synthesizer that finally liberates you from the tyranny of MIDI, keyboards, controllers or, in fact, anything that stands between you and the music you hear in your mind.

Whether you are looking for an alternative to conventional controllers, or are looking to produce electronic music with a level of dynamic expression that's simply not otherwise possible, kantos 1.0 will, quite literally, change the way you make music.

To get a basic idea of what kantos 1.0 is about, check out the Q&A and demos below. Then download a demo version and try it out for yourself.

Basic Q&A
User Interface
Audio Examples
Music Demos

Here are answers to some basic questions about kantos 1.0. If you just can't wait to hear what we're talking about (and we don't blame you), check out the audio examples now. We'll wait.

So now you're probably thinking, "How the heck does kantos 1.0 do that?" Well, here's how:

Q: How the heck does kantos 1.0 do that?
A: Unlike conventional MIDI synthesizers, kantos 1.0 is controlled by audio. Any pitched monophonic audio. Like your voice. Or a musical instrument. Live, in real time. kantos 1.0 analyzes incoming audio and instantaneously extracts pitch, dynamics, harmonic content and formant characteristics. This information is then used to control the kantos 1.0 sound engine in ways never before possible with a conventional MIDI synth.

Q: In some of those audio examples it's hard to believe that we're not listening to a processed version of the input signal. Does kantos 1.0 also function an effects processor?
A: Nope. kantos 1.0 is really a synthesizer. While it is possible to mix some of the input signal into the final mix (and we make it very clear where that has been done in the examples below), pretty much everything you are hearing is the result of using the input signal's pitch, dynamics
and timbral characteristics to control kantos 1.0's various functional modules.

Q: Does the input signal have to be a solo voice or instrument?
A: Not really. For reliable pitch detection, the input does have to be monophonic. But unlike most pitch detection algorithms, kantos 1.0 works fine with unison sections (i.e., multiple singers or instrumentalists playing the same pitch).

Q: What happens if you drive kantos 1.0 with a polyphonic or unpitched signal?
A: All sorts of potentially interesting things. You obviously won't get predictable pitches from unpitched input, and kantos 1.0 won't generate harmony from chords, but particularly with rhythmic input, you can get very exciting (and sometimes downright surprising) results. Check out some of the audio examples below to hear for yourself.

Q: What exactly makes up the kantos 1.0 sound engine?
A: kantos 1.0 provides a combination of traditional synthesizer functions and new functions unique to audio control. They include:

2 Wavetable Oscillators
Pitch Constraint and Quantization Control
Noise Source
3 Resonant Multimode Filters
2 Chorus Generators
Timbral Articulator
2 Envelope Generators
2 LFOs
Modulation Matrix
Gate Generator
Noise Gate
Delay Line
Mixers
A Cool UI (well, it's not actually part of the engine, but it gets you in the mood)
Q: I'm familiar with most of those functions, but what the heck is an "articulator?"
A: The kantos 1.0 articulator is a unique module that takes the harmonic content and formant information from the input signal and dynamically applies it to the synthesized signal. It can either reproduce the input signal's formant and harmonic characteristics with uncanny accuracy or, through the use of its formant offset and resonance controls, warp them into a variety of mutant forms.

Q: Can you add new wavetables for the oscillators?
A: Of course. (Did you think we'd include a question like that just to answer "No?") kantos 1.0 will ship with a variety of traditional - and not so traditional - wavetables. As we develop new wavetables, we'll make them available for download from our web site. And for the more adventurous, we'll show you how you can create your own custom wavetables with pretty much any audio or sample editor.

Q: Is kantos 1.0 polyphonic?
A: Not in the traditional sense. If you are using kantos 1.0 to create melodic lines, you get one line per instance. If you want harmony, you can create multiple lines one-at-a-time, or instantiate kantos 1.0 on as many individual tracks as your CPU power will allow. On the other hand, audio example 4a below was created in real time with one instance of kantos 1.0. No overdubbing or multitracking was involved.

More at the Antares Kantos Product Page

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