Cyclop

Cyclop is a professional synthesizer that comes packed with DSP algorithms and is specialized in wobble sounds in order to help you tweak the audio signal in different ways. This bass machine lets you work with vocal sounds and oscillators in order to produce humanoid sounds and various special effects.
You can use it as a standalone utility or integrate it within various compatible hosts as a VST/AU/RTAS/AAX plugin.

User interface

The layout may seem a bit overwhelming at a first glance but this only because the tool comes with a multitude of features to play with. In the upper part of the menu you can check out the modulation and FX area while the lower half is reserved for synthesizer, audio routing and filters.
The program can be easily controlled via a MIDI keyboard, and you can use four main knobs, set the synthesis controls and assign modulators. You can work with three synth controls, three filter controls, two routing controls, master pitch, as well as master level.
The Routing module is specifically designed for connecting oscillators and filters in different ways while the master effect area embeds sub-oscillator, bass processor, distortion and stereo imaging.

Working with presets and samples

Cyclop comes with several presets and samples that you can make use of. You can assign tags, add ratings and specify the author for the selected preset, and filter presets based on their tags and other criteria (e.g. author, folder or tag list).

Tweaking the four main controls

The application gives you the possibility to work with four main controls (Wobble, Assign, Sound and FX) in order to alter the sound. Each control integrates a recordable envelope which remotes the control when its play button is active and a MIDI note is played.
The Wobble knob enables you to choose between twelve LFO speeds and waveforms while the Assign one is used for morphing from one wobble to another or fading a wobble in or out. The Sound one is designed for morphing from one sound to another by turning parameters up or down and the FX gives you control over the FX Sequencer.

Other audio features to experiment with

Cyclop comes with a pitch looper for repeating the audio signal for a certain amount of time, looper for repeating the audio signal at a certain rate, collection of several vinyl effects (e.g. scratch slow or fast, vinyl fast or slow, tape stop fast or slow), send FX (they are delay-based effects), and gater for interrupting the audio signal with a groovy pattern.

MIDI configuration settings

The tool lets you ignore program change messages, disable the saving mode for MIDI-CC assignments, load or save your current MIDI-CC assignment, alter the pitchbend range, and make the overall tune fit to your “out of tune” audio file.

Applying master effects and various filters

You can work with a sub-oscillator for playing along with your MIDI notes, bass processor for amplifying the synthesized sound, stereo processor for spreading the audio signal in the audio field, distortions, amp/speaker simulation, overdrive, intensive distortion, diode (provides mojo), clip boost (audio is boosted until it clips), sine (audio is boosted and runs through a sine algorithm), 1-bit, crush, and digitize.
When it comes to enabling filters, you may activate the high-pass, band-pass, band-pass/low-pass combination, 2-pole low-pass, mid-boost, ripple, combo and other ones.

Built-in game

Avid gamers may press on the Cycle Robot logo in order to play a built-in game where you need to shoot bots while you can still play MIDI notes. The game triggers MIDI notes whenever you shoot, hit an enemy or vice versa, or when enemy breaks through.

Powerful and efficient audio synthesizer

All in all, Cyclop delivers a rich-featured suite of options for tweaking the sounds with the aid of distorting and modulating modes as well as special effects. The advanced feature pack makes it suitable especially for power users.