AAS Chromaphone 3 $199

The ‘acoustic object synthesiser’ is back. James Russell looks at the new version of AAS’s physical modelling instrument

- James Russell

The previous version of Chromaphone was one of the most realistic-sounding – and one of the most downright fun – plugins I’ve ever played with, so what could possibly be added for a new version?

While most of Chromaphone’s basic mechanics remain unchanged from version 2, the headline addition for version 3 is the duplication of resonator pairs. Previously, you could mix and match two resonators from a choice of nine (String, Beam, Drumhead, Marimba, Membrane, Plate, Closed Tube, Open Tube and Manual), and couple them acoustically to create a wide variety of instruments. There are no new resonator choices, but doubling this into two layers of acoustic pairs increases the possibilities exponentially.

There’s a new Home tab, which presents your two resonator pairs along with a gain control for each and four macros, but not much more. It’s presentable, but it doesn’t add much functionality, and most people will head immediately for the Browser or Edit page. The Browser lets you explore Chromaphone 3’s 421 new presets, as well as ‘remastered’ Chromaphone 2 patches. All are tagged by Pack, Sound, Category and Creator to make it easier to find what you’re looking for.