Synths
The art and science of sound
Aphelion is a research-driven audio company exploring the outer reaches of what is practically possible in sound. We build instruments and effects by starting from first principles, whether that means modeling the physics of a room, the behavior of an analog circuit, or rethinking the assumptions behind synthesis, sequencing, and signal processing altogether. Our work sits somewhere between engineering, acoustics, music technology, and experimental design: rigorous enough to measure, strange enough to discover something new, and always built in service of music. We are less interested in reproducing the conventions of audio software than in finding out what becomes possible when those conventions are treated as questions instead of rules.
The flagship
NETLISTAPH-21 Quadrifier
Four-Voice Netlist Synthesizer
Four voices, screaming into the void, forever.
- Hold a chord and let all four voices scream
- Wrap a plain saw until it splinters
- Fold the resonance back on itself until it snarls
- Feed it a drum loop or a vocal and let that steer the sound
- Play it live, then bounce the real thing
VST®3 instrument · Windows 64-bit · macOS VST3 and Audio Unit are in development.
Also up front
NETLISTProfundus
Monophonic Netlist Bass Synthesizer
The sound of a chainsaw ripping through a dollhouse.
- Drop a sub under every note and feel the floor move
- Fold the resonance until the bass snarls
- Feed the output back in and let it growl
- Write a wobble once and it lands on the beat every time
- Slide from note to note, one voice, all low end
- Play it live, then bounce the real thing
VST®3 instrument · Windows 64-bit · macOS VST3 and Audio Unit are in development.
Also up front
NETLISTOvertime Eight-Tone
Polyphonic Netlist Synthesizer
We took a beloved classic and threw it into a shredder.
- Hold a chord and hear eight slightly different instruments in it
- Carve notches and peaks into the whole chord and sweep them through it
- Wrap a plain saw until it grows teeth
- Fold the resonance back into itself until the filter growls
- Slide a sub under every note, then turn up the fizz
- Play it live, then bounce the real thing
VST®3 instrument · Windows 64-bit · macOS VST3 and Audio Unit are in development.
Also up front
NETLISTCinderblock
Monophonic Netlist Synthesizer
As subtle as a cinderblock to the face.
- Lift one overtone of every note you play and leave the rest alone
- Snap a soft wave into a hard pulse with one knob
- Grow a sub out of nothing and hear it lock on
- Fold the filter's ring until it snarls
- Feed it back into itself and let it howl
- Play it live, then bounce the real thing
VST®3 instrument · Windows 64-bit · macOS VST3 and Audio Unit are in development.
VST is a registered trademark of Steinberg Media Technologies GmbH.