Antares Kantos Audio Controlled Synthesizer (Macintosh and Windows)

From the company that revolutionized vocal intonation processing comes kantos 1.0, a software-based synthesizer that finally liberates you from the tyranny of MIDI, keyboards, controllers or, in fact, anything that stands between you and the music you hear in your mind.

Whether you are looking for an alternative to conventional controllers, or are looking to produce electronic music with a level of dynamic expression that's simply not otherwise possible, kantos 1.0 will, quite literally, change the way you make music.

Input and Gate Generator
kantos 1.0 is designed to be patched as an insert effect on a channel of your digital audio software. Route the audio which will control kantos 1.0 in on this channel and use the Input control to set a nice hot level.

The Gate Generator gives you control over the triggering and duration of the envelopes as well as (optionally) retriggering the oscillators' wavetables. A real time display of the input signal's amplitude helps you set the independent Gate On and Gate Off levels as well the minimum Gate Hold time. Also included is a variable-threshold noise gate to help clean up any annoying background noise in the control audio.

Oscillators and Filters
kantos 1.0 provides 2 flexible wavetable oscillators. Each oscillator also includes its own independent multimode resonant filter and chorus generator. kantos 1.0 ships with a variety of wavetables and additional wavetables will be available from our web site. You will also be able to create your own wavetables with pretty much any competent sample editor.

Each oscillator also includes a pitch constrain keyboard. Press keys to limit the notes that the oscillator can play (useful for getting interesting melodic material from polyphonic and unpitched input). Press all of the keys to limit the oscillator to a diatonic scale and to remove any expressive pitch gestures from the input audio.

Noise Generator and Filter
This is a broadband noise generator with its own dedicated multimode resonant filter. Useful for (among other things) adding sibilance to a patch and for passing through the articulator to create a unique "whispering" effect (check out audio example 1c below).

Articulator
This is the heart of kantos 1.0. Using the harmonic content and formant information detected by kantos 1.0's input section, the Articulator can apply that information to the output of the oscillators and noise generator. The 2-axis Amount and Q control defines the amount and character of the harmonic processing. With the control dot at the lower lefthand corner, the input is passed through unaffected. The maximum effect is obtained with the dot at the upper right corner. The Formant Offset parameter shifts the input's detected formants up or down in frequency, affecting the sounds character in yet another way. Finally, the Emphasis section lets you tailor the sound's overall harmonic balance.

LFO
kantos 1.0 includes two multi-waveform LFOs which are routed in the Modulation Matrix. Their frequency can be set manually or by the Tap Tempo section described below.

Envelope Generators
Two ADSR Envelope Generators are also included as modulation sources.

Normally, a patch's dynamics are derived from the dynamics of the input audio. However, pressing the Amp Envelope's "On" button allows that envelope to control the dynamics.

Modulation Matrix
Although kantos 1.0 generates incredible expressive control from the input audio's pitch, dynamics and harmonic characteristics, it also provides a flexible modulation matrix for an almost limitless variety of dynamic effects. Any source can control multiple destinations and any destination can be controlled by multiple sources. Almost every variable parameter is available as a destination.

Delay and Tempo Control
For rhythmic effects, kantos includes a delay line with variable feedback. The delay time can be set in absolute time or, via the Tap Tempo function, in BPM. The Tap Tempo section can also be used to set the frequency of the LFOs or to sync one or both of the LFOs and/or the Delay.

Mixers
The kantos 1.0 output section includes two mixers. The Submixer controls the internal sound sources. In addition to the wavetable oscillators and noise generator, two additional sine wave oscillators track the fundamental frequencies of their respective wavetable oscillators.

The Main Mixer lets you balance the main synth output, the delay line return, and, if desired, the original unprocessed input audio. If kantos 1.0 has been instantiated as a mono in/stereo out plug-in, each of the main mixer inputs include a pan control.

Technical Info

System Requirements:

Platform: OS -- Latest - Hardware
MAS: Mac 9.x -- 1.0.1 -- Any

RTAS Mac***: Mac 9.x -- 1.0.1 -- Digi001/Mbox/HD

RTAS Mac: Mac 10.2.3 -- 1.0 -- Digi001/Mbox/HD

VST Mac: Mac 9.x -- 1.0.1 -- Any

VST Mac: Mac 10.2.3 -- 1.0 -- Any

RTAS PC: Win 98, ME, NT, 2000, XP -- 1.02 -- Digi001/002/Mbox/HD

VST PC: Win 98, ME, NT, 2000, XP -- 1.02 -- Any

DirectX: Win 98, ME, NT, 2000, XP -- 1.01 -- Any

Notes:
All Macintosh software requires a PCI PowerMac. While some applications may run on a NuBus PowerMac (i.e., 6100, 7100, 8100), they are not tested to do so.

kantos 1.0 Macintosh versions minimally require a Mac G3 233MHz - a G4 is strongly recommended.

kantos 1.0 PC versions minimally require a Pentium or Athlon processor at 1GHz - a P4 or Athlon XP at higher speed is strongly recommended.

IMPORTANT NOTE: Digidesign Pro Tools does not support the Celeron processor. Therefore kantos 1.0 is not guaranteed to function correctly in Pro Tools on a Celeron-based PC.

*** kantos 1.0.1 RTAS is compatible with Pro Tools Free 5.0.1

Requires Pro Tools 6.x TDM or LE and Mac OS 10.2.3 or later.

Audio Samples