Nektar is offering lightning-fast sound design with its first ever soft synth, Bolt

Nektar has released its first foray into the world of soft synths with Bolt, a 16-voice harmonics synthesizer.

Designed to give the user a lightning-fast approach to sound design, Bolt features what Nektar is calling an “unusually organic and warm sonic character”. 

The harmonics synthesis engine is based on the MSO (multi sine oscillator) concept and generates and shapes the sound directly in the oscillator, so it doesn’t require the dedicated filter section.

“The unique sound of this oscillator intrigued us right away - it really is something else”, comments Nektar’s Marketing Manager Ralf Schluenzen. “What’s more, you don’t need hundreds of controls to tweak a sound. This makes the technology very accessible, almost like a classic analogue synthesizer concept: On those synths you can practically turn any knob - even if you don’t know what it does - and it almost always sounds great. Transporting this ease of use into a digital synth concept has been our design goal. Tweaking should be inspiring and not a chore!”

Bolt is available for both Windows and Mac (64-bit) as a VST/AU plugin for $99/£89//€99. However, until 31 January 2019, Bolt will be available at the introductory offer of $69. More information can be found on the Nektar website.

Bolt features and specs

• Harmonics synthesizer with up to 16 voice polyphony
• Two oscillators and two sub-oscillators 
• White noise generator per oscillator 
• Overdrive stage for each oscillator
• One ADSR envelope per oscillator
• Unison Voice Double Mode with detune and stereo spread (stack up to four instances)
• FM: Frequency Modulation of oscillator 1 by dedicated additional sine oscillator
• X-Mod: cross-modulation of OSC1 from OSC2
• One ADSR modulation envelope generator
• Three LFOs with extended range up to 10 kHz, 13 waveforms and MIDI sync
• Four modulation targets per modulation source (LFO 1-3, Mod EG)
• Four FX processors: EQ, chorus, delay and reverb
• Mono and Poly modes with adjustable pitch glide
• Support for multiple sample rates
• Automatic 2-stage Protection Limiter