Catalyst is a synth with a focus on creating interesting sounds by creating dynamically evolving waveshapes.

Catalyst produces hybrid waveforms by taking two oscillators, applying half wave rectification, then sticking the results together. The design idea came from the book Electronic Music Circuits (Howard W. Sams & Co, 1982, Klein. B.). The concepts may not be that familiar, however the synth has been designed so that each control does something meaningful and useful, and programming becomes very intuitive. If you are so inclined there is also a manual to shed further light on what is going on under the hood.

Catalyst blends and shapes oscillator waveforms together to form hybrid waveforms which are then passed through an analogue style filter and chorus unit. The design focuses on producing interesting waveforms using rectification in a way likely to be unfamiliar to most synthesists outside the world of modular synthesis. The synthesiser is designed to be easy to use and offers something a bit different from the usual subtractive synthesiser design. Some of the controls may be a little unfamiliar to users, but a quick jiggle of a slider or knob will give you a good idea of what the control can do.

• Two oscillators.
• Voltage controlled amplifier (VCA).
• ADSR envelope generator.
• Voltage controlled filter (VCF).
• A low frequency oscillator (LFO).
• Chorus unit.