Name: Nektar BOLT Harmonic Synthesizer
Brand: Nektar

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A Unique Take on Synthesis

Nektar BOLT is a harmonic synthesizer plug-in. Its unique harmonics synthesis engine delivers rich, organic sound and tons of sonic character — without the need for traditional filters (it all happens right in the oscillator). At the turn of a knob, dial up everything from smooth sine waves to overtone-soaked pulse chains. BOLT’s user interface inspires instant experimentation when creating sounds. BOLT is delightfully easy to use, letting you rediscover the fun of tweaking your own sounds with its streamlined user interface. From fat basses to celestial pads and from searing leads to cinematic sound effects, BOLT ships with more than 500 factory and artist patches suitable for all kinds of genres.

Shape

BOLT’s synthesis engine generates a sound’s overtone series directly in the oscillator, so it doesn’t need a filter section like typical subtractive synthesizers. Its unique harmonics oscillator takes care of it all: Simply by turning the Harmonics and Rolloff knobs, you can change a wave’s shape and core sound. The Odd switch makes the oscillator generate only odd harmonics; introduce Deep with Odd active, and you’ll notice that the waveforms start to resemble saw or square shapes. Each oscillator has its own amplitude envelope, so everything you need for creating the core sound is right at your fingertips.

Modulate

Sounds spring to life with modulation, so BOLT is equipped with four powerful modulation generators, three LFOs and one envelope generator (EG), for a panoply of modulation possibilites. If you want to push the envelope, the mod generators can even modulate each other! And it’s easy to experiment: Modulation targets are preassigned, so you only need to bring up a target amount to hear an effect. The EG is modeled after classic ADSR envelopes and serves up everything from percussive and snappy to lush soundscapes.

BOLT’s LFOs (low frequency oscillators) exceed the range of a conventional LFO, offering an extended range from 0.01Hz up to 10kHz. So they go well into the audible range, which permits extreme modulation effects that include amplitude and frequency modulation. The LFO gives you a choice of 13 different waveforms, including random and stepped waves. Switching Cycle off lets you use the LFOs as additional auxiliary envelopes — or you can sync them to the beat. They can each be synced differently, which can create some complex polyrhythms. You can even assign them to cross-modulate each other’s tempi. You’ll likely never run out of interesting modulation combinations to experiment with.

Refine

Four onboard effects processors — EQ, Chorus, Delay, and Reverb — ensure that BOLT’s patches are always production-ready. The effects are each optimized for ease of use: The presence of only three parameters per processor lets you get great results quickly. Nevertheless, you’ll find ample tweakability, including tempo sync for Delay or parametric and bandpass modes for the EQ. Synth aficionados at Sweetwater are diving headlong into BOLT — and loving it. Nektar is definitely onto something here. Check it out!