APARILLO Review
Sugar Bytes Aparillo is a one of the more unique Fm synths out there, it approaches FM synthesis from a new angle, using a per voice adjustment curve to generate unique voicing and layering otherwise not possible with most other synths. Aparillo is a 2 op FM synth with some simple effects and a variety of interesting modulation systems. I’ve found Aparillo allows for some very intuitive and quick sound design, especially great for metallic clangs and ambient textures. You may notice Aparillo defaults to “unison” mode instead of poly, this is because the real fun comes from each of the voices being stacked in interesting ways. Polyphonic mode sorta splits this up in a somewhat interesting but far less powerful manner. It’d be truly nice if there was a full poly mode, that simply gave you 4-8 notes polyphony of the unison mode.
The UI is incredibly visual, with two rows of dots that sway and rotate based on their settings. and each control showing a dense grid of dots to display each voice’s current value. They’ve broken down the entire interface into four simple pages, with a modulation popup for each control that allows for it. There is also an “Orbit” system capable of adding an extra layer of modulation on top of the base synthesizer, but it is a bit tricky to get used to. I can’t say Aparillo is the most advanced synth out there, not by a long shot, and I wouldn’t use it for most sounds. But I will say it’s really quite unique, and whenever I do use it, I get some inspiring results.
Sound Generation:
I normally break up the synth engine, modulation and effects into separate topics, but for Aparillo they are too closely entwined. The core oscillator is a two op FM synth. It has 3 algorithms and the tuning modes, which come in handy for setting ratios. You get controls for FM, balance, brightness, shift, and formant. These all work to adjust the tone and sound of the generated signal. Where things really get interesting is in the modulation, you can click each icon to open up a small modulation popup. This can be used to simply apply an LFO or envelope to the parameter, but you’ll notice many curves as well. By using a curve you apply a different static value to each voice of the current control, allowing you to spread the control’s settings. This also works for envelopes and there is a form of spread for LFOs so the motion can also be spread across voices. There’s even a few options for how this modulation applies to each voices, allowing you to skip voices or even do some interesting patterns.
Spreading FM ratios, depths, filtering, and envelope settings across voices is what really lets Aparillo get some bright metallic tones, it lets you layer and edit multiple variations of a sound all at once and almost feels like a hybrid FM/16 partial additive synth. This system applies to the filter and resonator as well for even more options, especially when you consider there is a tuned resonator option and a comb filter mode. After these are an interesting panner, simple delay, and a basic but good enough reverb. These last three effects aren’t anything too special, but a nice addition. While unison mode is where I personally find the most fun, it is possible to use this spreading system in a more subtle way in polyphonic mode, it can be nice to play a polyphonic patch where each note has a slightly different tone.
The LFO section gets pretty interesting, at first all the dots flow up and down in formation, but when you apply jitter and various phase controls they form waves and other chaotic shapes. This means each voice has an offset LFO value which can create very spread and de-synced motion. You can get some interesting raindrop like patterns when you apply gravitation to this system as well. There’s even sample hold for more stepped motions, and a collision mode for retriggering the LFO based on if the two LFOs cross paths or not. This collision system can even be applied to the arpeggiator to make sputtering sporadic patterns. Also worth mentioning is the arpeggiator’s ability to blend in from the current sound, it’s not simply on or off as in most synths, but is running in the background and can be crossfaded in.
Finally the Orbit mode takes different groups of front panel controls, and places them as runes in a 2D plane. There is a red orb that can travel around the 2D space, as it enters each runes radius, the given controls for that rune are adjusted. This lets you control almost the entire synth from a single XY pad, and apply different modulation amounts to various settings. You can even record this motion and loop it for organic motion and control. There’s a good amount of randomization available here as well. I’ve yet to really learn and understand this section, it can be a bit tricky to use, but it’s always fun to see these creative systems in various synthesizers.
The layout and control systems in Aparillo inspire a lot of exploration and creativity. It’s best not to approach this one from typical sound design perspectives, and instead think about clever ways to use the supplied methods immediately available. It’s really a fun synthesizer, I like to explore various voice spreading systems across the FM, filter, and envelopes to create dimensional layers that would take much longer to layer out manually, let alone explore. I’ve also found playing with the LFO and ARP can produce unique rhythmic textures and sequences. I don’t think Aparillo is for everyone. It’s almost more of a powerful toy than a necessary sound design tool, but I can totally see this one being used in some specialized professional settings.
If you plan on purchasing APARILLO from Plugin Boutique, please consider supporting me by using my affiliate link APARILLO: https://www.pluginboutique.com/product/1-Instruments/4-Synth/3978-Aparillo?a_aid=61c378ab215d5
Also check out my free pack of 25 presets for APARILLO: https://databroth.gumroad.com/l/ltbnf