SpectraPad vs Additive Synth

SpectraPad is a powerful spectral synthesizer designed for creating rich pads, evolving textures, shimmering atmospheres, and sounds that sit somewhere between the familiar and the completely unexpected. Rather than relying on conventional oscillator shapes alone, SpectraPad lets you build sounds from their harmonic structure. You can shape the balance and character of individual partials, spread energy across the spectrum, introduce formant-like qualities, add movement and modulation, and transform relatively simple harmonic material into complex, evolving instruments. With a conventional synthesizer you often begin by choosing a waveform. With SpectraPad, the waveform is effectively the result of everything you do to the spectrum. That makes sound design far less predictable — and considerably more interesting. You can start with a familiar harmonic structure, pull energy towards the lower or upper harmonics, introduce unusual frequency relationships, change the spectral character, add formants and movement, and very quickly arrive somewhere completely different. SpectraPad has been designed so that you don't need to understand spectral synthesis to enjoy it. You can simply explore the controls and listen. But for those who want to dig deeper, the individual harmonic and spectral controls provide an enormous amount of sound-design potential. Whether you're looking for a warm pad behind a mix, an evolving cinematic atmosphere, a delicate bell, a synthetic string ensemble, or something you have never heard before, SpectraPad gives you the tools to create it. SpectraPad features a built in stereo arpeggiator and gate effects, as well as well as stereo delay, stereo echo and cloud effects. Many parameters can be automated to create an even more complex presets. Features • Spectral sound generation - Build sounds from a rich collection of harmonics rather than being limited to traditional oscillator waveforms. • Detailed harmonic shaping - Control the number, level, and distribution of partials to dramatically reshape the character of a sound. • Harmonic Curve & Balance - Quickly tilt and reshape the harmonic spectrum without needing to adjust every partial individually. • Spectral Focus - Concentrate or spread harmonic energy to create everything from tightly defined tones to broad, complex textures. • Formant shaping - Introduce vowel-like A, E, I, O, and U characteristics for vocal and organic timbres. • Subharmonic & Harmonies - Add additional weight and depth below the fundamental for larger, more powerful sounds and upper harmonies. • Extensive modulation - Bring static spectra to life with envelopes, LFOs, and modulation controls. • Built-in ARP and GATE sequencing - Turn held notes into rhythmic and melodic patterns for instantly evolving performances. • Precision & Experimentation - Dial in authentic tape echoes, lush ambient delays, or push the engine into unpredictable granular and feedback-driven territories.

WHAT IT IS Additive is a synthesizer that builds each sound up from harmonics instead of using a filter to cut it down. You can set every harmonic individually, then shape how it moves over time: some can pulse together while others drift, shimmer, or move in the opposite direction. This gives you control over every part of the spectrum and a large range of sounds, from shimmering pads and bell-like plucks to deep resonant basses. Start with a preset, generate a sound with Random, or build your own from the ground up. WHAT IT DOES * Harmonic bank: set up to 50 harmonic bands by drawing them, picking a shape, or generating a random spectrum. Every band is yours to change. * Custom movement for every harmonic: give each band its own modulation depth, phase, and rate, so the movement happens inside the sound. * Cutoff and resonance, uncoupled: Bands and Slope set the cutoff, while Bulk is a resonant peak you can place anywhere in the spectrum, independent of where cutoff sits. * Morph: draw two spectra and move between them by hand, with an LFO, or with an envelope. A note can begin as one sound and become another. * Modulation: four LFOs with nine shapes, including ones you can draw yourself, plus tempo sync and four envelopes. * Voicing: Character, Detune, Chorus, Drive, and Stereo take the harmonics from pure sine waves to analog-leaning, distorted, or otherworldly. * Play the spectrum: assign brightness, movement, Morph, or anything else to the XY pad and the Z slider, and explore the movement inside the spectrum yourself. * Presets and Random: more than 100 presets cover basses, pads, textures, plucks, leads, bells, organs, keys, brass, and drones. Random generates a whole new sound, and you can adjust every detail to make it your own. * FX: delay, reverb, drive, compression, and EQ are built in, so your sounds leave Additive finished. * AUv3 and standalone: load Additive as an instrument in your host, or play it directly in the app with the on-screen keyboard and arp. * Four themes: Hardware, Cobalt, Dark, and Light. REQUIREMENTS * iPad with iPadOS 15 or later * An AUv3 host for the plugin, for example AUM (the standalone app needs none)