Version 4 of MetaSynth and MetaSynth Pro Announced

With version 4 of MetaSynth, Eric Wenger's electronic music and sound design laboratory for the Macintosh has been re-written for OS X and its capabilities have been vastly expanded. MetaSynth 4 has a new sleek user-interface and introduces new realtime capabilities, 16-track integrated mixing room, full-fidelity stereo realtime previews, capture-to-disk, multi-oscillator and FM synthesizers, new granular synthesizer, stereo Image Filter, spectral granular synthesis and much much more. MetaSynth now supports sample rates up to 96 kHz. MetaSynth 4 is a 16-bit application while MetaSynth 4 Pro creates 24-bit audio. The new detailed tutorials provide guidance that will help novices and experts master MetaSynth's unique approach to music and sound creation. So much has changed that the software jumped directly to version 4 from version 2.7.

MetaSynth now offers several new "room" for unleashing your creativity:

The Image Filter Room applies MetaSynth's image-to-sound paradigm to the creation of powerful dynamic stereo filters that can be morphed and edited in realtime to create a wide variety of filtering, eq, and convolution-like effects. The Image Filter Room can be used for crafting finely-detailed sound eqs or creating wild dynamic effects, and, like the Image Synth, the Image Filter Room's tuning space is completely customizable.

The new Spectrum Synth Room introduces granular spectral synthesis, a new technology that allows sounds, loops and sequences to be created by analyzing, editing and rearranging the harmonics of events derived from recorded and synthesized sounds. The Spectrum Synth is great for creating hybrid instruments for multisamplers, eery soundscapes, infectious grooves, and other never-before possible sounds. It is also a high-resolution tool for analyzing the harmonic content of any sound.

The Sequencer Room is a non-MIDI single-track sequencer that shares the Image Synth's new instrument/synthesis engine that includes single and multi-oscillator instruments,vastly improved FM-synthesis engine, the amazing Grain Synth for creating astounding filter sweeps, and single and multi-sample-based instruments. This is the place to compose riffs and phrases which can be used standalone, in the Montage Room, or imported into the Image Synth.

The Montage Room replaces the MetaTrack application and integrates 16-track mixing into MetaSynth with a powerful and easy-to-use interface that allows multitrack sequences to be created with an intuitive graphic interface. MetaSynth Pro adds recording capabilities to the Montage Room.

The Image Synth and Effects Room have gained powerful new realtime capabilities that permit full-fidelity stereo preview and capture-to-disk. It is now possible to play and create music on-the-fly in both the Image Synth and Effects rooms. The Image Synth now supports layers and has a built-in graphic eq for fine-tuning its presets. The new instrument architecture provides a number of new multi-oscillator and FM synthesizers and the new Grain Synth. The Effects Room now features envelope control of effects parameters, vastly-improved sonic fidelity and a host of new effects.

Both versions of MetaSynth use 64-bit floating point calculations for the highest-possible resolution. MetaSynth 4 opens and saves sound in 16-bit format. MetaSynth 4 Pro opens and saves sound in 24-bit format and provides recording capability in the Montage Room.

Pricing and Availability

MetaSynth 4 and MetaSynth 4 Pro are currently available for download purchase from U&I Software and will be available for retail purchase late Spring 2005.

MetaSynth 4 is $499 and MetaSynth 4 Pro is $599. Discounted upgrades are available to registered users.

For more information, visit their web site at www.uisoftware.com