samplv1

Samplv1 is just one of four audio synths released together as the Vee One Suite. This is a great collection of sound generators built around the same Qt toolkit and design elements, and they each share many of the same processors, such as the filters and envelopes, used to shape the sound. They can each be used standalone or as a plugin, and they share the same preset management and color scheme. But they also have their own unique sound. That's because they each implement different sound engines. Samplv1 is an old-school sampler that lets you take your own source material, usually a short recording of an instrument or percussive strike, and process it in such a way that the output sounds excellent across many octaves and playing styles. You could take a tinny piano sample, for example, and use samplv1 to convert it into your own mid-90s house piano for your latest pop hit. Other instruments in the suite include a drum kit sampler, a classic subtractive synthesizer, and an additive synthesizer (covered below).

A sampler is an audio production mainstay, whether for faking illness at school, providing beats, playing back samples of an expensive synth, or sampling your pots and pans. And while there are few samplers for Linux, very few attempt to combine a sampled audio source with the general synthesizer elements that augmented many samplers in the 1990s and 2000s. Those that do, such as the filter and the low-frequency oscillation (LFO), add an analog character to the source material. It's these elements that make samplv1 sound so good. Even poorly recorded samples or the content of your /usr/share/sounds directory can be used as creative sources, alongside drum loops and the usual fare, all of which make samplv1 an essential add-on to any Linux music workstation.

Project Website

https://samplv1.sourceforge.io/

Samplv1 lets you play back your samples in stereo, processed through some excellent sounding modulators and filters.

Additive synth

padthv1

The prosaically named padthv1 is an additive audio synthesizer. Additive in this sense means the audio complexity is engineered by combining sine waves to modulate samples, creating a complex series of harmonics and dynamics that can be played at various musical pitches. It's perfect for chime, choral, and pad sounds, common in the mid-1980s, and is in many ways the opposite of the subtractive analog synthesis found in the majority of synths. At the center of this synth's sound is the PADsynth algorithm, which might already be familiar to you. Developed by Paul Nasca, the same algorithm is used in the brilliant ZynAddSubFX to generate similar sounds. Padthv1, however, has a much more advanced Qt-based user interface and runs either as a standalone JACK application or as an LV2 plugin suitable for embedding within your favorite audio software.

Alongside a filter, the low-frequency oscillator, the envelope generator, and the effects that you'd find on almost any synth are in the two GEN sections at the top of the window. These house the additive section that generates the sound piped into the rest of the synth. The controls are identical for them both, letting you select between the waveform you want to use for the basis of the sound, the amplitude for each harmonic, and various scale and width settings that change the spread and tuning of the harmonics. It sounds complicated, but it actually "sounds" really good, even when simply changing values. Additive sound generation like this also sounds completely different from any other sound source. A balance knob adjusts the mix between the two GEN sections, and a ring mod effect can be added to create a more metallic and robotic sound, helping padthv1 hold a unique position in the Linux synth pantheon.

Project Website

https://padthv1.sourceforge.io/

As with all Vee One Suite processors, the level of control and visual feedback is exceptional, especially for an open source synth.