Pigments 4 (Download)

Pigments is a softsynth VST with the power to create any sound, from the best mix-ready modern presets to deep custom sound design. Explore every shade of synthesis and make your wildest sonic fantasy a full-color reality, whatever your style.

Your journey into sound
Whatever your starting point, whatever your end goal, Pigments lets you freely enjoy the process of designing sound your own way.

You don’t need to worry about complex settings, making mistakes, or even having an understanding of how sound design works. Instead, enjoy the freedom of sonic experimentation, the satisfaction of a plugin that responds to your style, and finally finding a stunning sound that’s yours and yours only.

Start with presets
Not sure where to begin? Using Pigments’ smart preset browser, pick a style, an instrument type, or even a sound designer, and choose from 1400+ expertly-crafted sounds to get going. Basses, pads, leads, and a fair few sounds that blur the lines - the perfect foundation for your new sonic palette.

Try some tweaks
There’s nothing to fear: first, try turning Pigments’ Macro controls for dramatic changes to multiple elements of your sound. Switch over to Play Mode and experiment with little adjustments to your engines and filters. Whatever you interact with, Pigments will respond quickly, intuitively, and in a way that might pleasantly surprise you.

Change it up
Pigments’ modulations let you make multiple changes to your sound simultaneously, from evolving to randomized. Use different signals, from slow LFOs to rapid random generators, to affect various aspects of your sound, from tuning to filters to engine settings and beyond. It’s as easy as a click-and-drag from modulation source to destination!

Right where you need it
Pigments’ main interface guarantees total control over every part of your sound without hassle.

Exploring a new instrument can be intimidating. That’s why Pigments is intuitively divided into sections, with color-coding, clear labeling, and helpful tips on display at all times.

In the top-left, you’ll see Engine 1, Engine 2, and Utility Engine, where you can mix, tweak, or bypass your combination of sound engines. To the right, Filters 1 & 2, letting you sculpt and shape your sound. Below, the colorful modulation bar showing your modulations in action, with 6 corresponding tabs for each source, from Keyboard to Combinate. Right of this, your simplified Macros, for big tonal tweaks with minimal effort. Finally, at the top, switch over to your FX and Sequencing tabs to add movement and color to your patch.

Every sound engine you need
From soft acoustic timbres to deep hard-edged bass, atmospheric choir pads to granular percussive glitches - with Pigments, anything is possible.

Combine any pair from 4 dynamic sound engines to create a double-edged sound that’s totally unique to you, with different types of oscillators, algorithms, detailed sampling capabilities, and so much more...

Harmonic engine
Access the expansive world of additive synthesis, allowing you to create your own custom waveform down to the finest individual harmonic detail. Build acoustic string & wind sounds from scratch, or modulate for aggressive material timbers that demand your full attention.

Experiment with up to 512 partials, dual customizable formant filters that can be morphed from A to B, odd and even harmonic customization, partial distribution, complex frequency windows, and more.

Wavetable
Huge basses, razor-sharp leads, and dense digital pads await with Pigments’ advanced wavetable synth engine. Choose from over 160 wavetables, select any waveform snapshot, or morph between them - you can even import your own wavetables to unlock limitless possibilities.

Transform any wavetable beyond sonic recognition with dynamic tools like phase distortion, wavefolding, and rich unison & voice controls - make it your own.

Virtual Analog
Our award-winning analog emulation technology lets you harness the iconic sound of the best synths ever made, in the context of Pigments’ advanced stereo architecture. Enjoy the sought-after vintage warmth and timeless retro charm of analog keyboards, monosynths, and modules.

The Virtual Analog engine offers 3 oscillators complemented by noise and unison features. Each oscillator has 5 waveforms to choose from, as well as its own tuning, FM, and keyboard controls, much like the coveted bass synths of old.

Sample
Browse hundreds of samples, or import your own, and render any sound into a detailed granular synth patch at the touch of a button. Warp, contort, stretch, and modulate your samples for timbres ranging from ambient texture to surreal grainy keyboard sounds.

Choose from 8 granular waveforms, with detailed interconnected controls for grain density, length, start position, pitch, and much more - take any existing sound and effortlessly mould it into something beautifully musical.

Utility engine
Whether you’re using Harmonic, Wavetable, Virtual Analog, or Sampling, Pigments lets you add equal depth and texture to any sound with the Utility engine.

This additional engine can be added to whatever pair of sound engines you’ve chosen to create your sound, allowing you to add an extra oscillator and up to 2 layers of sampled noise.

Filters
Pigments features twin morphing filters that can be customized to taste.

Choose from 11 filters, from legendary analog self-oscillating ladders to bleeding-edge modern options like surgeon, formant, and comb.

Refine further with enhanced routing, giving you detailed control over your signal chain. Wire your filters in series or parallel, route each filter to a separate FX bus, or sum both filters pre-FX for that all-encompassing finishing touch.

Boundless modulation
Modulate practically any parameter with anything you choose, with no limit on the number of connections.

Creating modulations and movement is as easy as drawing a line - literally. Drag and drop any modulation source onto your chosen destination, edit by hovering over, tap into each source for more detail, and see how different elements interact with the color-coded modulation source strip visible at all times - never let your modulation out of sight.

Cutting-edge Effects
Add the finishing touches with some studio-grade FX.

Pigments’ FX panel offers twin insert buses and a send bus, each one letting you choose and combine any 3 of the premium effects to create a truly refined, mix-ready sound.

Advanced audio routing
Blend the amount that each synth engine sends to each filter, run your filters in series or parallel, choose how the filters interact with the FX section - and much more.

Just like its intricate modulation, Pigments’ audio routing gives you total control over every aspect of your signal chain, from voice to FX - and it's all just a click away. This paves the way for absolute sound design freedom and creative audio manipulation for every purpose.

Learn while you play
Laying everything in front of you like no other software instrument, Pigments lets you truly visualize your sound and understand what’s happening, and why.

What does a Wavefolder actually do to the waveform? When does your envelope’s Decay turn into the Sustain? How do these LFOs react to each other? See for yourself.