Introduction

CellSynth is a music synthesiser, sample player and audio processing tool.

If you already have a sound knowledge of synthesis, it will not take long to familiarise yourself with the tools you have at your disposal.

If you have no prior knowledge of sound synthesis, don't worry. All you need is the courage to experiment. In fact, using CellSynth will actually help you understand how sounds are synthesised on both old analog machines and modern digital samplers, synths and effect units.

Although CellSynth's interface will be unfamiliar at first, it will soon become clear as the cells are represented by simple icons that indicate their function and the connections and flow of the signal are all represented graphically.

To help at first, you can turn on CellSynth's tool tips (Options menu: Tips - on by default), which will pop up if you leave your mouse over cells or parameters in the cell edit dialog. Once you have familiarised yourself with the icons and parameters, you can switch tool tips to only display sample names, or off completely.

The best way to learn how to use CellSynth's powerful functions is to work through some examples. The first example in the "CellSynth by Example" Chapter can be followed as a tutorial and each stage can be checked against the finished steps (the Matrix files of each step are provided on the CellSynth CD).

The Power to Create...

Underneath the deceptively simple looking interface lurks incredible power and flexibility. The Cells are the building blocks that can create sounds that are limited only by your imagination and creativity.

Create familiar sounds such as that of traditional analog synths by using the sine, square, saw-tooth and triangle cells as sound generators and modulators, following the methods used since the beginning of electronic sound synthesis.

But why stop there... add samples, either used traditionally, as you would in a sampler, or apply any of CellSynth's features to them. Anything is possible.

Powerful MIDI support allows real-time control over CellSynth from any MIDI controller, or the built-in Event Sequencer can be used to program note or controller events, allowing automated mixes and effects. CellSynth can also be synced to clock to allow it to be used as part of a larger MIDI setup.

This all adds up to a program that really does have the power to create whatever your imagination can dream up.