COLAPSO Review
When I saw Imaginando’s new Colapso synthesizer, I reached out to them and they kindly hooked me up with a copy for review. Colapso is an additive synthesizer that frames its controls around the uncertainty principle. While this is mostly set dressing, and the controls could have more “technical” names, none of it gets in the way of operation and it adds a nice inspiring twist to the workflow.
The UI reminds me a little bit of Generate and Kult. Which is funny because those also deal with chaotic science and obscure UI, but keep in mind that Colapso is additive and is capable of quite a different palette of sounds from those two. The colors and control layout are nice, I also enjoy all the various symbols decorating the main controls. This just gives a different vibe to the workflow and brings fun/life to the sound design process.
Similar to Kult, you pick your main oscillator from a “periodic table” of oscillator sounds. You get 22 “elements” to chose from, each being a different configuration of partials.
Some might prefer to just have a partial editor, and presets for each of these, but I think for a plugin like this it brings enough variety without over complicating things.
However, I did have one frustration, I wanted to be able to preview and click through elements in succession, but after each selection the periodic table closes and you have to open it back up again to select a new element.
The controls are broken up into six sections: uncertainty, mixture, character, spectrum, plasma, and evolution. Uncertainty is where you select your main element and set the observation parameters. With full observation, the tone simply rings through and the other controls do very little. With less observation the tone sputters out with grain ration and tone affecting the quality of that sputtering. This adds some nice organic texture to the oscillator
Mixture lets you morph between a different element. it’s worth noting that this is done by interpolating the partials rather than crossfading between them, so you can get a whole range of interesting partial configurations by mixing different elements. Character imparts square and saw harmonics to the partials giving you brighter tones.
The spectrum controls are where things get really fun. Stretch is the classic additive partial spread, and cavity seems to spread various clusters. In the plasma section you get a simple tilt named “temperature” and stereo spread named “field. I have no clue what angle does, but absorption adds some nice noise to the sound. The evolution section is like an envelope affecting various controls over time, though with a bit more integration and complexity compared to simply using an envelope modulator.
Colapso offers three of these oscillators for you to layer as you please. I think this set of controls offers a wide range of musically useful sounds. I found it easy to produce pleasing plucks and pads and to morph between sounds without too much setup. These oscillators are then fed into a multi-mode filter that has a range of modeled filter types and even a comb filter.
As for modulation, you get four LFOs and four envelopes with drag and drop assignment. The LFOs can be edited like an MSEG which is always a nice touch. They also offer a couple random modes. There’s also a simple effects section to round things out with all your basic synth effects.
I appreciate how simple Colapso kept everything. While I think some of the menu UI could be improved, there are very few menus to begin with. Much like other playful “conceptual” synth designs, this one is very fun to use. It’s almost like a weird hybrid of Generate, Kult, and Tela. The odd control names don’t really interfere with sound design at all and getting fun results is fast and easy. It feels like a weird alien instrument which I find inspiring. I love weird conceptual plugins like this.
You can pick up COLAPSO from Amaginando’s site here: https://www.imaginando.pt/products/colapso-atomic-synthesizer