Instruments
Synth Designer, Forge Steel, Sampler, Granular, Noise Lab.
Every instrument in EDM Forge follows the same shape: an overview, a parameter map, a quick try it recipe, and the gotchas we wish someone had told us. Each one runs standalone in the Studio and — for the Forge Steel family — drops straight into the modular rack as a patchable module.
Synth Designer
The everything-synthA modern wavetable / virtual-analog hybrid. Two oscillators, sub, noise, dual filters, three envelopes, three LFOs, an eight-slot mod matrix, plus an effects chain. Use this when you want a single device that can be a saw lead, a wobble bass, a pad, or a pluck without leaving.
Parameters
| OSC 1 / OSC 2 | Wavetable + analog shape. Unison 1-16, detune, phase, pan spread. |
| SUB | Sine / square / triangle, octave switch. |
| NOISE | White / pink / sample-hold, dedicated filter send. |
| FILTER A / B | LP, HP, BP, Notch, Comb, Formant. Series or parallel routing. |
| ENV 1-3 | ADSR with curve controls. ENV 1 hard-wired to amp. |
| LFO 1-3 | 10 shapes, host-sync, retrigger per voice or free-run. |
| MOD MATRIX | 8 slots — any source → any destination, bipolar amount. |
| FX | Reverb, delay, chorus, phaser, distortion, compressor. |
Try it
- Load preset 'Reese — Drift'
- Increase OSC 1 unison to 7, detune ~25%
- Route LFO 2 → Filter A cutoff at ~40%
- Add a quarter-note delay with 35% feedback.
Gotchas
- Unison voices stack CPU fast — 16 × OSC 1 + 16 × OSC 2 = 32 voices per note.
- Mod matrix is bipolar. If a knob is fully clockwise, +100% modulation drives it out of range and silently clips.
Forge Steel Series
Four flagship synths, each named after a layered-metal craft. Each one runs standalone and also appears in the modular rack as a single patchable module — your existing patches and CC mappings carry over verbatim.
Demascus
WavetableFolded-steel wavetable synth. Two wavetable oscillators with morphable position, a unique 'fold' shaper that mimics steel forging, and a vowel filter bank for vocal-like leads and pads.
Parameters
| WT POS A / B | Scrub through the wavetable. Modulate for movement. |
| FOLD | Wave-folding amount — adds odd harmonics. |
| VOWEL FILTER | 5 vowel formants, morphable via the X/Y pad. |
| MOTION | Slow drift LFO targeting WT POS, FOLD, and FILTER simultaneously. |
Try it
- Patch 'Cathedral Pad'
- Push MOTION to 60%
- Sweep the VOWEL XY in time with a slow attack.
Gotchas
- FOLD past 80% can introduce DC offset — keep a high-pass at ~30 Hz on the master.
SanMai
FMThree-layer FM synth — outer, core, outer — modelled after the 3-ply san-mai forging technique. Six operators with a fixed bell-clean topology that's easier to dial in than a classic DX-style matrix.
Parameters
| OP 1-6 | Each: ratio, fine, level, envelope (4-stage). |
| FEEDBACK | Per-operator feedback for noise-like timbres. |
| ALGORITHM | 12 hand-picked algorithms covering bass, bells, pads, plucks. |
| VELO → INDEX | Hard-wired velocity to modulation index — touch sensitivity for free. |
Try it
- Algorithm 3 + carrier ratios 1, 2, 3
- Set OP 6 feedback to 0.8 for a noisy attack.
Gotchas
- Operator levels are exponential. Going from 95 → 100 is a much bigger jump than 50 → 55.
ColdWeld
HybridA laboratory hybrid: virtual-analog oscillator + granular layer + physical-model exciter, all running in parallel and bonded by a shared filter and envelope. Designed for sounds that don't fit a single category — metallic plucks, breathy basses, broken keys.
Parameters
| ANALOG OSC | Saw / pulse / triangle, PWM, hard-sync. |
| GRAIN | Sample slot + size, density, position scatter. |
| EXCITER | Karplus-Strong with damping, position, and a noise burst. |
| WELD | Bond amount — cross-modulates the three layers. |
| SHARED FILTER | Drive-and-feedback LP/HP, post all three layers. |
Try it
- Drop an 808 sample into GRAIN
- Pull ANALOG OSC level to 60%
- Push WELD to 70% and play C1.
Gotchas
- GRAIN streams from your sample — switching presets reloads. Keep grain samples short (<2 MB).
Filigree
Additive64-partial additive synth with a spectral brush. Paint a harmonic profile, draw partial envelopes, then morph between four snapshots over time.
Parameters
| PARTIAL BRUSH | Pen-style editor for harmonic amplitudes 1-64. |
| MORPH XY | Interpolates between snapshots A/B/C/D. |
| DETUNE | Per-partial detune for analog feel. |
| SPECTRAL DELAY | Each partial delayed independently — creates risers and gestures. |
Try it
- Brush a 'pluck' profile (high low partials, decaying highs)
- Animate MORPH from A → D over 4 bars.
Gotchas
- With 64 partials and >8 voices, CPU is heavy. Use 'Voice Limit' to cap polyphony.
Sampler Deck + Pads
One-shot & loop playerDrag any audio onto a pad slot or the sampler deck. The deck is for melodic playback (mapped across MIDI), the Pads device is the 16-pad finger-drumming grid.
Parameters
| ZONES | Multi-sample mapping — split by velocity or note range. |
| PITCH / GAIN | Per-pad, semitones + dB. |
| VELOCITY | Per-pad curve (linear / log / fixed). |
| CHOKE GROUPS | Group pads so one cuts off the others (classic open-hat / closed-hat). |
| WARP | Optional time-stretch for loops; locks to project BPM. |
Try it
- Drop a 909 kit on Pads
- Put closed/open hats on choke group 1.
- Record-arm and finger-drum 8 bars.
Gotchas
- Warping a one-shot smears transients. Keep warp off for percussion, on for loops.
- Pads device uses sample-accurate triggering; choke groups behave like hardware drum machines.
Granular Engine
Texture sculptorGranular sampler designed for pads, textures, and risers. Load a sample, the engine spawns grains across it — control density, position, size, pitch spread, and panning per-grain.
Parameters
| GRAIN SIZE | 5 ms – 500 ms. |
| DENSITY | 1-200 grains/sec. |
| POSITION | Where in the sample new grains start. Modulate for scrubbing. |
| SCATTER | Random offset per grain. |
| PITCH SPREAD | Random ±semitones per grain — wide for clouds, 0 for tight. |
| FREEZE | Freezes the buffer in place — playhead stops but grains keep firing. |
Try it
- Load a vocal phrase
- FREEZE on, DENSITY 80, PITCH SPREAD 0.5
- Play long chords.
Gotchas
- High density × wide pitch spread = aliasing on bright source material. Drop a soft LPF after.
Noise Lab
Experimental sound designFour engines under one device: FM noise, Karplus-Strong, spectral, and the 'uncertainty' chaos engine. Shared mod matrix and an output FX chain make it a one-stop shop for risers, impacts, atmospheres, and SFX.
Parameters
| ENGINE | FM noise / Karplus / Spectral / Uncertainty. |
| MOD MATRIX | 6 slots, sample-and-hold and chaos sources included. |
| HUMANIZE | Adds per-trigger micro-variance to every parameter. |
| VARIATIONS | Saves N parameter snapshots; cycles between them as you trigger. |
Try it
- Engine: Uncertainty
- Bind chaos source → filter cutoff at 60%
- Trigger with a quarter-note clock.
Gotchas
- Uncertainty is non-deterministic — bouncing twice gives different results. Bake to audio when finalizing.
Drum Kit & PolySynth
Default voicesThe 'just give me something' voices. The Drum Kit is the 909-style default behind new drum tracks; the PolySynth is the simple 2-osc subtractive behind new melodic tracks. Both are designed to sound good with zero tweaking, but every knob is still there.
Parameters
| DRUM KIT | Kick / snare / hat / clap / tom voices — each with pitch, decay, tone. |
| POLYSYNTH | OSC A+B, sub, LP filter, ADSR amp + filter envs, single LFO. |
Try it
- New project → the default track is already a PolySynth. Hit Z–M to play.
Gotchas
- Both are deliberately CPU-light. For bigger sounds, swap to Synth Designer or a Forge Steel device.