KONTRAST review
I tested and made presets for Dawesome’s Kontrast, a new take on wavetable synthesis with unique wavetable scanning. Kontrast is quite a bit simpler than Myth, but has many of the same elements. The two new standout features are the wave scanning oscillator engine, and a powerful step sequencer. The UI shows a top down view of your wavetables in black and white, with am almost brutalist grey tabbed layout that feels very structured.
OSCILLATOR
The main oscillator is a unique wavetable scanning synthesis that morphs between traditional wavetable synthesis, and what I’ve seen called “terrain scanning” synthesis. What’s interesting is that you can morph from a normal scan line into a circle, flower, and other odd shapes. A phase control allows you to apply FM synthesis to the scan line, with sync and PWM available as well. The “rose” control folds the circle in on itself with a number of pedals for unique and interesting textures. You can also apply noise, and some cool “bio” and “crush” effects to add chaos.
In addition to the main oscillator is a secondary oscillator for standard shapes, noise, or even to use as a sub. There’s also a number of “vibe” modes and different post processing to add subtle texture and distortion to the over all oscillator signal.
FILTER
The filter section has quite a bit more than just a filter, you get dual low pass filters, a high pass filter, pre and post drive, the modal engine from Myth, and a new “chainsaw” distortion. The low pass filers can be run in series or parallel, and the first filter provides five different models to choose from. I would have very much liked a notch or even a band pass here. Next to the modal filter is an inharmonic control, this bends the overtones of both oscillators to produce unique inharmonic tones that allow you to create a variety of materials.
FX
The effects section is surprisingly versatile, taken from Myth is a modular effect layout that allows you to load one of 20 different effects into five slots. Not all the effects from Myth are here, but the new “Mal-Sync” found in Hate is here, which is a fun touch. You get reverb, delay, chorus and modulation effects, distortion, “orbit”, EQ, OTT, and more. The new compressor module from Hate is here as well, so I hope these new modules make their way into Myth at some point. Finally, the output section also contains its own one knob “ott” and compressor controls.
SEQUENCER
The new sequencer is one of the highlights of Kontrast, so much so that I built my first pack around it. 16 steps run across five lanes, allowing you to set the probability, pitch, velocity, and gate for each step. Additionally, each lane can have its own step length for fun polymetric sequencing. Different playback modes allow you to play through the sequence forward, backwards, ping-pong, and randomly. It’s worth noting that the velocity, gate, and probability for each step can be modulated as well, meaning you could set a macro to blend between different patterns.
I do wish the layout was a bit different, I’m not fond of seeing 16 knobs in a row when sliders can look a bit cleaner, also you can only “swipe” through the pitch lane to draw patterns, which isn’t possible with the knob laden lanes. I also would rather have a second mod lane alongside velocity instead of gate.
MODULATION
Kontrast also has five modulation slots that can be set to envelope, LFO, random, keytrack, and function. The LFOs are capable of syncing up with the sequencer, so these can be used as additional modulation if you want. The random module has a new “threshold” mode that lets you trigger the sample hold from a modulation source. Finally, the function curve is a nice touch, it lets you remaps modulation and apply smoothing to it for custom curves. One nifty little feature that’s easy to overlook is the “pause” buttons on each modulator, these allow you to mute the modulation and help with troubleshooting and reverse engineering presets.
While testing Kontrast I made well over a hundred presets, I can say that it’s obviously great for pads, but it does a strikingly great job at percussion. This paired with the sequencer and modulation allowed me to make some fun generative percussion patches. I also found Kontrast to be solid for bass, as nearly any wavetable synth is, the new scanning modes and variety of effects gives it some dirt and edge. the (mostly) fixed layout is a nice change of pace from Myth, I love modular plugins, they are very freeing and expansive, but it’s nice to just patch with what is available in front of you. The limitations force you to explore more of the controls that are available, rather than relaying on layering new modules to get the job done. There’s so much more I haven’t touched here, like the expression, randomization, motion recorder and more.
You can pick up KONTRAST from Dawesome’s website here: https://www.dawesomemusic.com/plugins/kontrast/