Solstice Updated
Minuit Solstice has been updated to version []. I’ve made ten presets along with ten samples for this update, but more importantly this update brings a few new spectral controls to the edit tab. Texture/tilt, flutter, stretch and bloom all bring new sonic capabilities to Solstice that allow for expanded sound design options that take advantage of Solstice’s spectral resynthesis.
Texture/tilt is an XY control which adds subtle noisy texture to the signal on one axis, and tilts the spectral tone on the other. This control sounds great with motion applied to it, making me wish for some built in modulation.
Flutter is pretty subtle, but it sounds like it is doing some sort of unison with the spectral content while at the same time softening it up.
Stretch is the most obviously “spectral” of the new controls as it stretches the frequencies of your resynthesized sample apart, or together with negative values. Much of the main sonic character remains the same, but certain overtones and tonal qualities will get stretched or squeezed.
Bloom seems to be a sort of spectral comb filter, it has a “Straighten” quality to it as it somewhat flattens the sound out. Negative values give it more of a square tonality like you’d get with negative feedback from a comb filter.
I’m really glad to see updates come to Solstice, I think the core engine is solid and sounds great so it’s nice to see its features expanded. For me the only thing really missing is some simple modulation and maybe a delay. These new spectral controls really allow you to do quite a bit more with this synth, just being able to tilt and stretch the spectrum alone would have opened up some new ideas.