Created for composers, sound engineers and musicians, Drone is a creative tool that delivers ever-evolving textures and atmospheres, from deep and powerful low-frequency sounds to rich and shimmering.
Equip a dual-layer sample synthesizer with hundreds of included long format samples, transform them into mesmerizing textures with the IRCAM Granular engine, add depth, grain and detail with built-in effects such as Swarm, Feedback Loop and Harmonics, and easily create motion to your liking with customizable XY controller and Chaos or LFO modulators.
Drone is a fully featured tool specially designed to create rich and detailed sound environments and sound effects with endless movement and variety.
• Texture and atmosphere designer
• Create rich and immersive drones for movies, games, music and more.
• Dual sampling engine with IRCAM Granular, modulation and high quality effects
• Built-in integration of MPE and surround sound sources
Workflow
High-end drone is a multi-layer sample / granular synthesizer with unison, feedback loop, harmonic modulator, manual and automatic parameter animation, bus effects professional quality, 32-stage gate sequencer, true surround engine * and built-in MPE. integration based on an exclusive library of long format samples designed specifically for drones and soundscapes.
Whether you want to quickly browse presets for inspiration or create your own sound based on the concept, Drone’s interface is structured to provide what you need, when you need it.
Sound Exploration
The high-level MAIN page is the perfect place to browse presets, explore the included sample library, and make extensive changes. When you’re ready to dig deeper, a full set of controls will be available on dedicated edit, effects, modulation, and settings pages.
Dual Sample / Granular Engine
The EDIT page contains a full set of Source 1 and Source 2 sample layer controls, an XY pad, an LFO / Chaos modulator, and Swarm and Feedback Loop effects. Quickly browse over 500 samples by category or hit the Randomize button until you find the perfect one, choose between regular samples or IRCAM Granular, adjust the level, pitch, and attack and release timing and shape.
XY Animator
The XY Pad lets you manually manipulate and animate sound and is a great tool for targeted sound design and cinematic motion. The Y-axis controls the combination of voice effects (configurable in the FX page), and the X-axis can mix Source 1 and 2 in several different ways, including typical crossfade and filter modes.
Chaos Modulation
Directly below the XY pad is a modulator that automatically moves your sound in the predictable XY LFO mode or dynamic chaos mode. In XY LFO mode, you have a fully tunable LFO for each axis, with variable shape, speed and depth, unipolar / bipolar range, and phase switchable. In chaos mode, the XY position is animated randomly using only velocity and depth inputs, which can be fantastic automation targets.
Roy and Feedback
Below the editors Source 1 and Source 2 are Swarm and Feedback Loop. Swarm is a Unison vocal effect that provides up to 8 voices and a range of up to 48 semitones. The Feedback Loop allows for a subtle to infinite loop with Frequency Shift, Delay Time and Drive input capable of creating incredible depth and variety over time.
Powerful Effects
The FX page is divided into two sections: Key Group Effects (top) and Bus Effects (bottom). The effect level of the key group is controlled by the Y-axis of the XY panel (displayed at the top of the page). Three effects are available, including distortion, harmonics, and filter, and can be changed in sequence using the arrows (<>).
Distortion is a multi-mode effect that provides Tube, Tape or Fuzz-style distortion with input, output and driver controls.
Harmonics is a new Harmonic Modulator that provides independent gain control and LFO modulation for each harmonic order (I-VIII). With a little distortion, this can drastically change your sound over time.
The filter is a switchable LP / HP filter with variable frequency. Modulated with the FX Mod knob, you can easily move the filter frequency along the Y-axis.
Bus effects include tape delay with feedback, saturation and host sync or runtime speed, Sparkverb algorithmic reverb with independent bass and treble attenuation multipliers, and a bus limiter.
Gate sequencer
The MOD page has a functional Gate Sequencer that lets you create sequences up to 32 steps in length. Set sequence speed, shape (smoothness) and depth independently. Sequence can operate in random or restart mode, and includes a large set of presets. The Pitchbend Depth and Modwheel Display for regular controller keyboards can be adjusted at the bottom of the page.
Expressive control
The SETTINGS page is divided into 3 sections: Program, MPE and Panorama. In the Program, you can adjust the global polyphony, velocity curve, root note, and assign the dynamic strength as a modulator for gain, filter, harmonics, or distortion. In MPE, you can control the parameters for channels X, Y, and Z, set the grayscale range for X, and map for Y and Z. In PAN, you can set panning for each channel depending on the instrument configuration (stereo, quad, or 5.1 *).
Sound, Design
At the heart of the Drone is an exclusive library of sounds created by UVI and renowned sound design Nicholas Becker (film credits including Gravity, Arrival and Ex-Machina), divided into 4 categories: acoustic, digital, organic and synthetic.
Acoustic sounds include orchestral sounds from UVI, as well as Nicholas Becker’s exclusive suite of sounds created with theremins, water lanterns, crystal bowls, bass guitar, EMT reverb boost, bass amplifiers, Space Echo and more.
Digital sounds include highly expanded Max / MSP patches and noise samples that are glitchy, choppy, slow, frozen and otherwise digitally distorted to the extreme.
Organic sounds include field surround recordings of cities, nature and the underwater world, sometimes processed for greater tonality and chromatic reproducibility.
Synthetic sounds include exclusive recordings of synthesizers such as Korg Radias, Access Virus Ti2, Black Corporation Deckard’s Dream and Schmidt Eight Voice.
A deep and inspiring sound design tool with endless potential to evolve soundscapes, detailed textures and evocative atmospheres, Drone is a unique and powerful tool ideal for movies, games, music and more.
The SETTINGS page is divided into 3 sections: Program, MPE and Panorama. In the “Program” you can adjust the global polyphony, velocity curve, fundamental tone and assign the velocity as a modulator for gain, filter, harmonics.