Cakewalk are on something of a run with software for the Mac - what with Dimension Pro and now Rapture, one might think they are working on a Mac version of Sonar or Project 5 (that really is just conjecture though – honest!).
The new Rapture synth plug-in is a wavetable synth with on the fly re-sampling for alias free sounds. We had a look at the new synth (still a beta version) and were impressed with the sounds on offer. Jesse Jost giving us a looksee dreadfully early on Saturday morning.
Rapture is hailed by Cakewalk as "the ultimate wavetable synthesizer" and features up to six elements per instance for full fatness. Actually you could make that up to 45 virtual oscillators with Cakewalk's very own oscillator multiplication (sort like the Access hypersaw) with positioning across the stereo field and control over the detuning of each one.
Rapture Highlights:
Wavetable synthesizer with cutting edge sound manipulation capabilities, well suited for electronica-related music styles
Non-aliasing resampling engine for pristine sound quality
Over 500 professionally-crafted sound programs
Six fully-programmable, stereo sound-generating Elements
Multi-waveform Oscillators with ring modulation
Two 16-mode filters per oscillator with LoFi and Drive
Over 40 Envelope Generators, LFOs, and Step Generators for superior parameter modulation
Comprehensive MIDI Modulation Matrix
Mix and modulate all Elements through global FX and dynamic Step Generator
Superbly designed graphical envelope generators and LFOs for ease of use
Expandable with native support for SFZ sample formats
Mac formats: AU™, RTAS®, VSTi™
Windows formats: DXi (32-bit & x64), RTAS, VSTi
Pricing and Availability
Rapture has a $199.00 U.S., estimated street price and will be available at select music and sound retailers around the world February 2006.