Ambiomatic III

The Ambiomatic III is inspired by lo-fi cassette loop musicians, and a recent discovery of old 4-track cassettes that I used to make music on in the 90s. When you put a 4-track tape into a 2-track tape player, one of the sides plays forward and the other in reverse. The Ambiomatic III plays with this idea. 

There is a selection different sound-looped sources, which can be selected by the "SRC" knobs below the cassette. Side A plays a forwards sample and Side B a reversed. You can mix the combination however you like, effectively creating hundreds of textures to play with. On the keyboard, the red keys play Side A, and the green play Side B. You can adjust the octave for each of the Sides via the OCT controls at the bottom left of the window, and also extend the playing range via the Settings button. There is also a pitch control for that weird varispeed effect.

For each Side, you can adjust the pan, level, delay, drive and phasis. Outside the virtual cassette player, there are three effects boxes to control EQ, reverb, a "sci-fi" filter and "lo-fi" crush, as well as being able to feed Sides A and B through oscillators, adjusting their shape and frequency. Lots of ways to experiment with, or destroy, the sound. 

On the Settings page, there are controls for adjusting the "smoothness" of the oscillators, as well as attack and release. The "Tape response" settings enable you to dial in wear and tear into the cassette, with warble, glitch and various noises. 

The Ambiomatic III was designed with live playing in mind, even a small 25 key MIDI controller. It was a fun toy to make; hope someone enjoys it!

Requires the full version of Kontakt 6.8 or later.