The new and improved Dune 3 is now even better than previous versions. Not onl;y sounding superior but now with a great wavetable editor and dual filters. The FX section has also been expanded with many excellent presets and fantastic EQ's. Nice also to see a dual arpeggiator. Only thing missing really is still no drag and drop modulation and the choice of colored skins has dissapeared. All in all though this is a formidable synth with superlative fat lush sounds.DUNE 3 builds on the award-winning DUNE 2 synthesizer, adding frequently requested features and innovative ideas, to create the best DUNE experience ever!
DUNE 3 comes with many new patches crafted by expert sound designers. Since DUNE 3 is fully patch-compatible with DUNE 2, it includes its presets as well,
doubling the factory library size to more than 1000 patches.
The revised filter section in Dune 3 now sports a dual multimode filter plus an insert effect. Different routing modes like serial/parallel and seamless blend via the Balance knob allow for unlimited creative input! New filter types have been added as well, and include zero-delay feedback filters derived from our latest analog modeling technology. For creative applications, new insert effects like the formant/vowel filter or phaser greatly increase the range of sound design possibilities.
Dual Arpeggiator
Two arpeggiator units instead of just one greatly increase the sound design capabilities of DUNE 3. The Arpeggiators can be programmed independently and support both classic Up/Down arps, as well as playing back different sequences or even MIDI files. Furthermore, new features like the Random mode or programmable Arp Hold make the arpeggiator more powerful than ever before!
Improved oscillators
At the heart of DUNE 3 are its powerful oscillator blocks. DUNE 3 supports VA, FM and Wavetable synthesis. With a maximum reserve of 8320 oscillators at full polyphony, DUNE 3 is a true unison monster, unlikely to ever run out of oscillators.
New in DUNE 3 is the "Swarm" mode, an evolution of the classic Supersaw oscillator.
Each oscillator gets its own subtle modulation in this mode, breathing a lot more life into the sound than possible previously!
New effects algorithms
DUNE 3 offers many new effect algorithms in all categories like Distortion, Chorus, Phaser, EQ, Delay and Reverb.
One of the most important additions is the new Equalizer, which sports technology from our GQ-7 Graphic Equalizer rack extension.
Designed as a professional mixing and mastering equalizer, the new EQ offers four bands with high-quality parametric and shelving EQs, plus two additional low- and high cut filters with variable slopes. All filters in the EQ are designed to handle modulation without artifacts, such that the EQ can be used for creative purposes outside the realm of traditional EQ applications.
Another great new effect algorithm is the new Shimmer Hall, an exclusive feature of DUNE 3 - ideal for lush ambient sounds, wonderful pads and leads!
Wavetable Editor
The new Wavetable editor introduced in DUNE 3 is one of the most powerful around. Waveforms can be created via free-hand drawing, segments, a dedicated partial editor or by entering formulas. A variety of functions like morphing, fade in/out, normalize, DC remove, Invert/Reverse make creating new wavetables a breeze. Waveforms and Wavetables can be imported and exported in WAV format and are thus compatible with a wide range of third party software.
Acid Pro has been around for as long as i can remember and has always been a very intuitive and easy to use DAW with its paintable loops etc. It has been though,and stiil is, left behind by far more capable DAWs such as Ableton and Stdio One. The recent update doesn't really add anything new to the table, except it's now 64 bit and cosmetic wise it is now a lot more pleasing on the eye. Still a great DAW (especially for beginners) if still a tad dated though, compared to the competition.
One of the most underrated companys, Tone2 have always created exceptionally great sounding and innovative plugins. Electra2 is another fine example and with the recent updates, it's now even better. One of the stand out features of Electra2 is the layering of oscillators , of which contains in essence 4 synths with three independent layers within themselves. This makes for massive sound design mixing, even more so, with the ability to import your own samples which can be edited in various interesting ways. Oh! and i should mention Electra2 each has its own arpeggiator section, per synth, (that's 4 arps going at the same time) which sadly even Synapses Dune2 does not have, although that one has 8 layers but that's another story.
The next one is the Pattern window, offering quite similar groups as can be found in the Effects section, offering three additional groups along with all the aforementioned ones. These are Demo Songs, Noises and Ultra Low. Every group comes with quite a nice number of patterns, offering a star rating system for every pattern. You can also preview a pattern being perfectly in sync with your host. All patterns come with predefined settings for the Effects section, along with settings that are preselected for that pattern in the main window. The one you like can easily be dragged into the arrangement window. Of course, there is a problem that every new added pattern changes the whole settings, so it would be nice to have some option to drag a MIDI clip only once when you first load MIDI in your arrangement, preventing that all further clips will change your settings. The good thing is that you can make your own Groups and add new patterns simply by dragging your MIDI clips inside the Pattern main window, having them for further usage in some other projects. This works in Cubase, but at the moment unfortunately doesn’t work inside Studio One. Hope this would be fixed in a future update.
All controllers are set around a big black guitar picture. In the upper part we find level sliders for all six strings along with modulation and sustain buttons. Of course there are still a zillion other controllers, so you can totally go into detail regarding your sound, but I will only go through those that change the sound quite generally. So, at the bottom you can find a nice number of buttons for various functions. One Key Fifth button, for adding a fifth interval to the note you currently playing. Play Octaves adds an octave to a lower key when you press two notes. Simple Chord makes a proper guitar chord out of your three notes. All these changes are visible on a guitar neck as small dots with names of all played and added notes visible on a guitar neck. There is also Legato Mode, Unison Bend and Auto Slide buttons for exactly those things they are named for. As mentioned before, a few other are also there, but for me the most sweet and useful one is Vel Muting, which plays palm mute notes on lower velocities and open, normal notes on higher velocities. The whole system is set that at the highest velocities we get pitch harmonics that are very specific for any metal music. Hammer-on/Pull-Off is triggered on velocities under 28.
