COLAPSO Help

Thank you for your interest in COLAPSO - Atomic Synthesizer.

Most additive synthesizers ask you to choose partials. COLAPSO doesn't. Its partials are the measured emission lines of real chemical elements. Pick an element from the periodic table and its spectrum becomes the timbre. Each spectral line becomes one partial, with a frequency ratio, a level and a lifetime taken from laboratory measurements. There are 22 elements, and every timbre in the instrument comes from them.

The main control is based on the uncertainty principle. In quantum physics, a particle's position and its momentum (how fast it is moving, and in which direction) can't both be measured precisely at the same time: the more exactly you pin one down, the more uncertain the other becomes. Sound has the same trade-off between time and frequency. A very short sound happens at a precise moment but has no clear pitch, only a broadband click. A perfectly pure pitch has to last a long time, so it has no definite moment. COLAPSO lets you move between the two ends: a broadband click at one end, a pure stable tone at the other, and everything in between. You don't need to know any physics to play it. The help mode explains every control in plain terms whenever you want it.

Don't hesitate to contact us if you have any questions, comments or other inquiries.

Contents

• Overview
• Status Bar
• Menu Bar
• Oscillators
• Uncertainty
• Mixture
• Character
• General
• Spectrum
• Plasma
• Evolution
• Main
• FX
• Master
• Modulation
• Performance modes
• Patches
• Settings
• Troubleshooting

Overview

The COLAPSO window is split into five areas. Across the top is the status bar. Down the left side is the menu bar. In the middle are the oscillator controls on the left and the master column on the right. Along the bottom is the performance strip, which shows either the modulation sources or the keyboard.

In synthesis terms, COLAPSO is three familiar techniques in series: additive, then granular, then subtractive.

1. Additive. Each oscillator is a bank of up to 16 sine partials. Their frequency ratios and levels come from the measured spectrum of the element you choose (see Choosing an element under Oscillators) rather than from the harmonic series, so the starting point is usually inharmonic. You can reshape the partials (Spectrum, Plasma), morph between two elements (Mixture), add harmonics to each partial (Character) and let the partials fade at their natural rates, shaped by a few global controls (Evolution).
2. Granular. The sum of the partials is then cut into grains by a repeating window, synchronized to the pitch of the note (Uncertainty). You set the grain length and rate, and shorter grains add random pitch jitter to each partial, which can be spread across the stereo field. After the grains, the oscillator goes through an asymmetric saturator (General).
3. Subtractive. The three oscillators are mixed and run through a per-voice filter and amp envelope, as in a classic subtractive synth (Main). The filter has nine topologies, with its own envelope, keytracking and drive.

Alongside these three stages, COLAPSO has:

• Effects (FX, Master): two inserts in series and one send, with a send level on each oscillator, taken before the filter. Then a bus compressor and the output level.
• Modulation (Modulation): 4 drawable LFOs, 4 drawable envelopes, 4 macros, mod wheel and aftertouch. Any source can be routed to any modulatable control, with a depth for each route. Envelopes, LFOs and aftertouch run per voice, and aftertouch responds to polyphonic pressure and MPE.
• Voicing (Master): poly, mono and unison with detune, glide and legato.

Status Bar

The following features are found on COLAPSO's status bar, from left to right:

• Midi Learn - Turns MIDI learn on. Mappable controls turn purple and show their current assignment. Click a control, then move the MIDI control you want to map to it. Turn MIDI Learn off when you are done. While it is on, double-click a control to enter an assignment by hand or clear it.
• Clock Source - Internal, Midi Clock or Link (Ableton Link, with a bars and beats readout). As a plugin, the host is the clock source and this shows Host.
• Tempo - The tempo of the internal clock, used by the synced LFOs, Decohere time and delay, and by the phaser. As a plugin, the host sets it.
• Patch - The name of the current patch. Tap it to open the patch browser. The up and down arrow keys also step through the patches.
• Patch buttons - Five buttons to the right of the patch name:
• • Disk - Opens the save patch dialog. See Patches.
  • Revert - Returns the patch to its saved state, after asking you to confirm. An asterisk after the patch name shows unsaved changes.
  • Random - Opens the randomizer. RANGE (1% to 100%) sets how far each randomization moves the patch, and RANDOMIZE applies it. At 100%, a roll replaces the whole patch, including modulation routes. At lower ranges, a roll is a variation on what you have.
  • Up arrow / Down arrow - Select the previous or next patch in the current bank. Both can be mapped to MIDI.

Menu Bar

The column down the left side of the window, from top to bottom:

• Menu - Opens the app menu:
• • Profile - Log in to your Imaginando account and see your license status.
  • Store - Purchases, and Restore Purchases to recover ones you have already made.
  • MIDI - The MIDI input and output devices, so you can choose which ones COLAPSO uses.
  • Settings - See Settings.
  • Notifications - New versions of COLAPSO, each with links to its changelog and download. A badge on the entry counts the unread ones. Opening the page marks them all as read.
  • About - The version of COLAPSO and its credits.
  • Help - Opens this manual in your web browser.
• Help (?) - Turns help mode on. While it is on, touching any control shows what that control does instead of changing it. The oscillator tabs, the MAIN/FX/MASTER switch, the source tabs and the MODULATIONS button keep working, so you can move around the instrument, and each shows its help when you release it. Touch the button again to go back to playing.
• Switch view - Toggles the performance strip between the modulation sources and the keyboard. See Performance modes. It is hidden when the performance strip is turned off in Settings.

Oscillators

COLAPSO has 3 oscillators per voice. Each one starts from the spectral lines of its element, or of two elements blended with MIX. The Spectrum group and TEMPERATURE in the Plasma group decide which lines become partials, where they sit and how loud they are, and this is shared by every note the oscillator plays. For each note, every partial then sounds at its own frequency, transposed by the note and by COARSE and FINE in the General group. FIELD splits each partial into three, Character adds harmonics above it, Evolution shapes its level over the note, and Uncertainty makes its pitch wander.

The partials are then summed and cut into grains (Uncertainty). After the grains, ABSORPTION can crossfade the oscillator to broadband noise with a notch at each spectral line (Plasma), and DRIVE saturates it (General). SEND then takes its share for the send effect (General). Finally, the oscillator's knob in the Blend group sets how much of it reaches the voice's filter (Main). From there, the three oscillators are mixed and go on through the filter, the amp and the effects, as described in the Overview.

The oscillator area:

• Oscillator tabs - OSC 1, OSC 2 and OSC 3, across the top of the voice area. The selected tab is the one the groups below it edit. Each tab shows the color of the element's light, the element's name and a mute switch on its right edge. Right-click a tab to open the oscillator menu:
• • COPY OSC / PASTE OSC - Copies this oscillator's settings as they are right now, including the modulation routes that reach them, and pastes them onto another. Changes made after the copy aren't part of it, so pasting back onto the same oscillator undoes them.
  • RESET OSC - Returns the oscillator to its defaults and removes its modulation routes.
  • RANDOMIZE OSC - Randomizes this oscillator only, as far as the RANGE slider allows (1% to 100%).
• Element chooser - Tap the element tile in the top right corner of the Uncertainty group to open the element chooser, laid out as a periodic table. Elements in the same column have similar-sounding spectra. Tap an element to choose it, or tap ×, tap outside the table or press Escape to leave it as it was.

Uncertainty

This is the heart of COLAPSO. Every note is a stream of grains, and this group sets how long they are. A short grain is precise in time but smeared in pitch. A long grain is precise in pitch but has no definite moment. OBSERVATION trades one for the other, and PLANCK sets how much pitch smear the trade costs. The smear wanders around each partial's exact frequency, so the note stays in tune at every setting.

The picture behind the group is the atom you are playing, drawn in the color of its light. PLANCK blurs its shells together and FIELD pulls its orbits out of round. The electrons orbit faster at higher GRAIN RATIO settings and start to jump as the grains get shorter. The atom brightens while a note plays.

• ELEMENT - The tile in the top right corner. Which element's spectrum becomes the note's partials. Tap it to open the element chooser (see Oscillators).
• OBSERVATION - The main control, from a short click at 0 to a pure tone at 1. Turn it down for percussive, noisy textures and up for clean, stable tones. The middle is grainy but still pitched. The level stays roughly even across the range.
• GRAIN RATIO - How fast the grains repeat, as a fraction of the note's pitch, from 0.125 to 1.00. At 1.00 they repeat at the note's pitch, which is the brightest setting. Each halving adds a deeper sub-octave, and 0.5, 0.25 and 0.125 stay in tune with the note. Values in between land off the harmonic series and sound noisier. It is heard most once OBSERVATION is low enough to separate the grains.
• TONE - The shortest a grain can be, in cycles of the note (0 to 12). It keeps grains long enough to hold a pitch. It sets how far OBSERVATION can travel toward the click end.
• PLANCK - How much pitch smear OBSERVATION produces, from 0 to 2. At 0, OBSERVATION changes only the grain length and every partial holds its exact pitch. Higher values smear more at every setting, until the short end washes out into noise. The real-world value is 0.08. The smear is the same number of hertz on every partial, so low notes and low partials wander most.

Mixture

Blends two elements in one oscillator.

• ELEMENT B - The second element. Tap the tile to open the element chooser.
• MIX - Morphs from the first element to Element B. The spectral lines of the two are paired, strongest with strongest, and each pair slides in pitch and level, so the middle of the range is a new spectrum rather than two sounds at once.

Character

Grows extra harmonics above every partial, separately for each one, without changing its level. The same setting sounds different on every element.

• INTENSITY - Odd harmonics (3rd, 5th, 7th and up), for a hollow, square-like tone.
• ASYMMETRY - Even harmonics (2nd, 4th, 6th and up), for a brighter, saw- or reed-like tone. Use both together for the brightest result.

Spectrum

Above the Spectrum group is the partials graph, a spectrum of the partials the current oscillator plays, with frequency shown relative to the note you play. Each bar is one partial and its height is its level. A bar's color is its lifetime, how long the atom stays excited before it gives off that light. Short-lived partials are orange, long-lived ones are teal. With EVOLVE on, this lifetime sets how long the partial rings. The graph follows the Element, Mixture, Spectrum and Temperature controls, so it is the quickest way to see what a knob does. Field, Absorption and Character shape the sound after this point. Point at a bar to see its distance from the note you play in semitones, its frequency ratio and, when several spectral lines share the bar, how many.

The Spectrum group decides how many partials the voice has and where they sit.

• PARTIALS - How many of the element's spectral lines are played, strongest first, up to 16. Low counts keep only the defining partials. High counts fill in the detail and get denser.

• STRETCH - Pushes the partials apart or pulls them together. 1.00 is the literal measured spectrum. Below that, the partials are squeezed toward the note you play into a denser cluster. Above it, they spread wider.

• CAVITY - Pulls the partials off their real, inharmonic frequencies and onto a harmonic series. At high settings, several partials can land on the same harmonic and merge into one.

• CONTRAST - How uneven the partial levels are. At 100% they follow the measured strengths, and at 0 every partial starts out equally loud.

Plasma

Spectral lines are the light that atoms give off when they are hot enough to glow. The Plasma group sets the conditions of those glowing atoms: how hot they are, whether they sit in a magnetic field, and whether you hear the light they give off or the light they absorb.

Together, these controls shift the balance between its partials, split each partial into detuned copies that can be spread in stereo, and can crossfade the tone into noise with a notch at each partial.

• TEMPERATURE - How hot the atoms are, which changes how bright each spectral line is. At the center you hear the spectrum as it was measured. Above the center, each note also gets a slight random detune.

• FIELD - Puts the atoms in a magnetic field, which splits every partial into three: a middle line and a pair up to 12 semitones above and below it. The interval is the same on every partial and every note. A fraction of a semitone makes each partial beat, and larger settings turn it into a chord. With WIDTH turned up, the pair spreads across the stereo image.

• Q - The switch above FIELD. Snaps FIELD to whole semitones as you turn it, so the pair sits on exact intervals. Turning it on rounds the current setting. Modulation still moves freely between the steps.

• ANGLE - Where you are looking at the field from. It sets the balance between the middle line and the pair, and how far WIDTH can spread the pair. At 0° the middle line is gone and the pair spreads widest. At 90° the middle line is at full strength and the pair sits in the center.

• ABSORPTION - Morphs from emission to absorption, from tone to noise. At full, each spectral line is a notch in broadband noise.

Evolution

In nature, every spectral line has a lifetime: some die out in a fraction of a millisecond, and others ring for seconds. The Evolution group lets those lifetimes play out, so the note changes timbre while it sounds.

• EVOLVE - The group's on/off switch. When it is on, each partial decays at its own measured rate. When it is off, the spectrum holds steady for as long as you hold the key.

• LIFETIME - How long the partials ring. At the center, each decays at its own measured rate. Turn it down and they all decay faster, until at the bottom they share one short decay. Turn it up and they all ring longer, until at the top they share one long decay.

• CASCADE - Gives each partial an attack, so the note arrives in stages. At 0 every partial starts immediately.

• EMITTERS - How cleanly the note dies away. At 0 the tail fades smoothly, and turning it up breaks the tail into a flicker. At the top, each partial stops at its own random moment. It works with EVOLVE on.

• DECOHERE - Starts the note at a different Observation setting from the one you chose, and slides it back to yours as it sounds. Positive values start nearer the pure tone, negative values nearer the clicks. At 0 the note starts and stays at your Observation setting.

• DEC. TIME - How long the Decohere slide takes, from 10 ms to 8 seconds, or a fraction of a bar with SYNC on.

• SYNC - Locks the Decohere time to the tempo.

• SPREAD - Scatters the partials' decay times at random, so they stop dying together. Every note draws a fresh random set and runs at its own speed.

General

The oscillator's tuning, saturation, stereo width and effect send.

• COARSE - Transposes this oscillator in semitones, two octaves in either direction. Every partial moves by the same factor, so the element still sounds like itself. Set the three oscillators an octave apart for a wide register, or a fifth apart to play a chord from one key. The knob steps in semitones, but modulation routed to it glides smoothly between them.
• FINE - Fine tuning, in cents (±100). A few cents between oscillators gives a wide, beating stack. Go further to set the spectrum between two notes.
• DRIVE - The oscillator's warm saturation, applied to each voice separately. The curve is deliberately asymmetric, which adds the second harmonic and sounds like valve warmth. It is roughly level-compensated, so it changes the tone more than the loudness. Unlike Character, it acts on all the partials together, so at high settings they start to mix with each other.
• WIDTH - Stereo width. Each channel gets its own pitch smear, so the two sides drift apart. The spread follows the smear: it narrows toward mono as OBSERVATION nears the pure-tone end, and the sound is mono with PLANCK at 0. WIDTH also spreads the pair of lines that FIELD creates, which widens even a pure tone (see Plasma).
• SEND - How much of this oscillator goes to the send effect, from off up to +6 dB. It starts at off. The send is taken after the amp envelope, but before the oscillator's level in the Blend group and before the filter, so the send effect hears the oscillator unfiltered, whatever its level in the mix. Muting the oscillator mutes its send too. See FX.

The oscillator's level in the mix is set in the Blend group of the master column.

Main

The master column is on the right side of the page. It holds the controls that apply to all three oscillators together: their blend, the filter, the macros, the effects, the voice settings and the output. A three-way switch at the top chooses what it shows: MAIN, FX or MASTER.

MAIN holds the controls you play: the blend of the oscillators, the filter and the macros.

• Blend - OSC 1, OSC 2 and OSC 3 set how much of each oscillator reaches the mix. Each knob carries the oscillator's mute switch in its corner.
• Filter - One filter per voice, with nine circuits.
• • CUTOFF - The cutoff frequency, from 20 Hz to 20 kHz.
  • RESONANCE - Emphasis at the cutoff. At the top, the filter whistles over the note.
  • EG 2 AMT - How far EG 2 moves the cutoff, up to eight octaves either way.
  • KEYTRACK - How much the cutoff follows the keyboard. At full, it moves an octave per octave played.
  • DRIVE - How hard the circuit is driven, with the gain taken back off at the output. It appears on the Soft Ladder, Diode, OTA, Sallen-Key, Inverter and Slew Ladder circuits.
  • DAMPING (Comb only) - How quickly the comb's echoes die away.
  • VOWEL (Formant only) - Moves the formant bank through A, E, I, O and U.
  • SPREAD (Formant only) - Fans the formant bank's four peaks apart, or pulls them together, around the vowel's center.
  • FILTER - The selector at the foot of the group. It picks the circuit and its mode, and its arrows step through every circuit and mode in turn.
• Macros - Four knobs that can each move several settings at once. Drag a macro's name onto a control to route it, as with any modulation source (see Modulation). Double-click a name to rename it (up to 16 characters). A macro with nothing routed from it shows "-", and its name comes back with its next route. Macros can be automated from your host.

The filter circuits and their modes:

FX

COLAPSO has three effect slots: two inserts, Insert A and Insert B, and a Send.

• Insert A and Insert B - Two effects on the whole mix, one after the other. Every voice passes through them after the filter and the amp. Insert A starts as Chorus and Insert B as Delay.
• Send - An effect that runs in parallel with the inserts. Each oscillator's SEND knob in the General group sets how much of it reaches it (see General). Its return is added to the mix after the inserts, ahead of Glue. It starts as Reverb.

Each slot has a power switch on its label, a selector on its frame to choose the effect type, and a reset button that returns the slot's controls to their defaults. When you switch a slot off, it goes on running on silence until its tail has died away, so it starts clean when you switch it back on. Changing the effect type starts the new effect fresh.

The last knob in each slot sets its level:

• DRY/WET (Insert A, Insert B) - The balance between the dry mix and the effect. On Delay and Reverb, the first half of the knob fades the effect in with the dry at full level, and the second half fades the dry out, so all the way up leaves only the effect. It is greyed out on Filter and EQ, which process the whole signal.
• RETURN (Send) - How loud the send's effect comes back into the mix, from off up to +6 dB. The send returns only the effect, so the dry sound still comes through the inserts.

The effects, and their controls:

• Chorus
• • RATE - How fast the chorus sweeps.
  • DEPTH - How far it sweeps. Keep it low to thicken the sound. Higher settings sound detuned.
  • FEEDBACK - Feeds the chorus back into itself, toward a flanger.
• Phaser
• • CENTER - Where in the spectrum the notches sweep around.
  • RATE - How fast the notches sweep, as a fraction of a bar. STOP holds them still.
  • DEPTH - How far the notches sweep on either side of the center.
  • SPREAD - Offsets the right channel's sweep from the left's, which widens it.
  • FEEDBACK - Deepens the notches into resonances.
• Distortion (inserts only)
• • DRIVE - How hard the signal is pushed into the shaper.
  • SHAPE - The shaper's curve: SAT (soft saturation), FOLD (wavefolding), FUZZ or NOCK (a hard knock).
  • OUTPUT - The level after the shaper.
  • PRE HP / POST LP - Cut the lows before the shaper and the highs after it.
• Bitcrusher (inserts only)
• • BITS - How many bits each sample keeps. Fewer is grittier.
  • RATE - The sample rate the signal is held down to. Lower aliases more.
• Filter (inserts only) - A filter on the whole mix, separate from the per-voice filter in MAIN.
• • CUTOFF / RESO - The cutoff frequency and the emphasis at it.
  • MODE - LP, BP, HP, NOTCH or PEAK.
• EQ (inserts only) - Two bands.
• • GAIN 1, GAIN 2 - Boost or cut, up to 15 dB either way.
  • FREQ 1, FREQ 2 - Where each band sits.
  • Q 1, Q 2 - How narrow each band is.
• Delay
• • TIME - The time between repeats, from 10 ms to 2 seconds, or a fraction of a bar with SYNC on.
  • SYNC - Locks the delay to the tempo.
  • FEEDBACK - How many repeats you hear before they die away.
  • CUTOFF - Darkens each repeat a little more than the last.
  • SPREAD - Offsets the right channel's delay from the left's, which widens the repeats.
• Reverb
• • DECAY - How long the tail lasts, which you hear as the size of the room.
  • DAMPING - How fast the top end dies away inside the tail.
  • MOD. - Slowly moves the reverb's internal delays, so long tails don't ring metallic.

Master

MASTER holds how the voices respond to your playing, and the output stage at the end of the chain.

• Voice
• • TIME - Glide time between consecutive notes, up to 2 seconds. It is greyed out while GLIDE is off.
  • DETUNE - How far apart the stacked voices are tuned in UNI mode, up to 100 cents on either side. UNI stacks all the voices set by Voices in Settings, 8 by default, spread evenly across that range.
  • BEND - The pitch wheel's range: 2, 3, 5, 7, 12 or 24 semitones.
  • GLIDE - Turns glide on.
  • MODE - POLY gives each note its own voice, up to the number of voices in Settings. MONO plays one note at a time, and the newest note wins. UNI stacks every voice on a single note and spreads them with DETUNE.
  • LEGATO - In MONO and UNI, a note played while another key is down keeps the envelopes running from where they are.
• Output
• • GLUE - Bus compression after the effects. Turning it up also makes the sound quieter, so use LEVEL to make up the difference.
  • LEVEL - Output trim, from -70 to +6 dB.
• Scope - An oscilloscope of the output, with two meters:
• • GR - How much gain reduction Glue is applying, up to 12 dB.
  • OUT - The output level. If the bar turns orange, the output is too hot: turn LEVEL down.

Modulation

In COLAPSO, you modulate a control by dragging a source onto it. Any source can go to any control that accepts modulation, and each route has its own depth. There are fourteen sources: four LFOs, four envelope generators (EG 1-4), the four macros (M1-M4, see Main), the mod wheel (WHEEL) and aftertouch (AT).

• The sources strip - When the performance strip shows the sources, each LFO and EG has a tab in its own color, and so do WHEEL and AT. Each tab shows its source's current value. Tap an LFO or EG tab to edit it, and drag any tab to route it. The macros are dragged by their names in the Macros group. Right-click an LFO or EG tab to copy, paste or reset it:
• • COPY / PASTE - Copies the source and pastes it onto another. PASTE shows the name of the copied source. LFOs paste onto LFOs, and EGs onto EGs.
  • RESET - Returns every control to its default whilst keeping outgoing modulations intact. An LFO's drawing becomes a flat line, its WAVE returns to Sine and its grid to 8 columns and 2 rows with SNAP off. An envelope gets its standard curve back.

• LFO - The selected LFO's shape fills the strip, and the shape is also the editor. Tap to add or remove a node, drag a node to move it, and drag a segment to bend it. Hold Shift while grabbing a segment to raise or lower it instead. With SNAP on, nodes snap to the grid and Shift drags them freely. With SNAP off, Shift is what snaps them. Beside the shape's top corner are two buttons, shown on every wave that can be drawn (all but S&H, Filtered S&H and Random Sine):
• • Grid (#) - Sets the editor's grid: COLS (2 to 16, 8 by default), ROWS (2 to 12, 2 by default) and SNAP. Double-click COLS or ROWS to reset it. Each LFO saves its grid with the patch.
  • Draw steps (pencil) - While it is lit, tap or drag across the shape to set each column under it to a flat level, like a step sequencer. Levels snap to the rows as nodes do.
  • WAVE - Sine, Triangle, Saw Up, Saw Down, Double Saw, Square, S&H, Filtered S&H, Random Sine or Custom (whatever you draw).
  • RATE - From 0.01 to 40 Hz, or a fraction of a bar with SYNC on.
  • QUANTISE - Reads the shape in steps, like a sequencer.
  • SMOOTH - Rounds off the corners of the shape and the steps of Quantise.
  • POLARITY - Shifts the range of the LFO's output. At 0% the output goes equally above and below zero. At +100% it stays positive, and at -100% negative.
  • SYNC - Locks the cycle to the tempo.
  • KEY TRIG - Restarts the LFO on every note. When it is off, the LFO runs freely.
  • 1 SHOT - Runs the shape once per note and holds at its end.
  • REVERSE - Plays the shape backwards.

• Envelope Generators - The selected envelope fills the strip in four regions, A, D, S and R. Edit the line inside A, D and R the same way as an LFO's shape. Drag S up or down to set the sustain level. EG 1 is the amp envelope, and EG 2 moves the filter cutoff through EG 2 AMT. Both can also be routed elsewhere. EG 3 and EG 4 do nothing until you route them.
• • ATTACK, DECAY, RELEASE - From 1 ms to 8 seconds each.
  • SUSTAIN - The level held while the key is down, from -70 to 0 dB.
  • VELOCITY - How much the envelope's height follows how hard you play (0-100%, default 0). At 0 every note gets the full envelope. Turned up, softer notes get a lower one.

• Mod Wheel and Aftertouch - WHEEL follows the mod wheel and AT follows aftertouch. Polyphonic pressure and MPE move only the notes being pressed, and channel pressure moves every note.

• Modulations panel - Tap MODULATIONS, to the right of the oscillator tabs, to see every route in the patch. The top line shows how many routes there are. Routes are grouped by source, and each source shows how many controls it reaches. Each row shows the control, its Mod Slot (S1 to S32), the range the source moves it through, in the control's own units, and a depth bar. Drag along the bar to change the depth.
• • × - Removes one route.
  • CLEAR - Removes every route from one source.
  • CLEAR ALL - Removes every route in the patch. It changes to CONFIRM, and a second tap does it.

Making a route

1. Drag a source's tab from the sources strip, or a macro's name, and drop it on any control with a + at its top-right corner. Holding the drag over an oscillator tab, a MAIN/FX/MASTER tab or a source tab opens it, so you can reach a control that isn't showing.
2. A depth dial opens beside the control, set to +50%. Turn it to set how far the source moves the control. Depths are bipolar: turn it the other way to move the control in the opposite direction. While you turn it, the dial shows the range the source moves the control through, lowest to highest, and the control's ring shows the same range.
3. Click anywhere else, or press Escape, to close the dial.

The + then becomes the number of sources that reach the control. Tap the number to change their depths, and double-tap a dial to remove that route. When a control has at least one route, a thin line beside its value runs from where you set it to where its modulation sources are taking it.

Per-voice and shared controls

LFOs, envelopes and aftertouch run separately for every voice, while the mod wheel and the macros are single values for the whole instrument. The exceptions are STRETCH, CAVITY, CONTRAST and MIX, which are shared by every note an oscillator plays, so any source routed to them moves all notes together. For these, each source runs a single shared copy:

• Envelopes - Restart with every new note, at that note's velocity, and release when the last key is let go.
• LFOs - Restart with a new note only while KEY TRIG or 1 SHOT is on.
• Aftertouch - Follows the latest pressure from any key.

Performance modes

The performance strip at the bottom of the window shows either the modulation sources or the keyboard. Switch between them with the switch view button at the foot of the menu bar on the left.

• Sources - The modulation sources. See Modulation.
• Keyboard - An on-screen keyboard. Drag the bar above the keys to change octave, and drag its handles to show more or fewer keys.
• • PITCH - Pitch bend. Its range is set by BEND in the MASTER view.
  • MOD - Mod wheel. Route WHEEL to a control to use it.
  • PANIC - Stops all notes.
  • HOLD - Holds notes after they are released, like a sustain pedal.
• Keyboard settings - Tap the settings icon on the keyboard. The settings are saved with the patch.
• • ROOT - The note the scale starts from.
  • SCALE - The scale the keyboard lays out, so notes outside it can't be played by accident.
  • Custom scale - Tap notes to include or exclude them and build a scale of your own.

Patches

The patch browser is divided in three columns: Bank, Name and Filter. The following banks are available:

• Factory - The presets included by default in COLAPSO.
• Local - The presets you saved on this machine.
• Favorites - Presets you marked as favorite.

Banks you import also appear here.

• Patches - The patches in the selected bank. Touch a patch to select it, and sort or search the list by name.
• Filter - Filters the listed patches by tag.
• Import / Export (under the Bank column) - IMPORT opens a bank file and adds it under a name you choose. EXPORT saves the selected bank to a file, for banks you can edit.
• Import (under the patch list, on the right) - Opens a patch file and adds it to the selected bank under a name you choose, for banks you can edit.

In a bank you can edit, such as Local, each patch row has four buttons. Factory patches have only the star.

• Rename (pencil) - Renames the patch.
• Export (share) - Saves the patch to a file.
• Favorite (star) - Adds the patch to Favorites, or takes it out.
• Delete (bin) - Deletes the patch, after you confirm.

Saving a patch

To save the synth's current state, click the save patch (disk) icon on the status bar. The save dialog opens:

• Name - The patch name. A factory patch starts as "My" followed by its name.
• Bank - The destination bank. Only banks you can write to are listed, so a factory patch is saved to Local.
• Tags - The tags used by the browser's Filter column.
• Cancel - Closes the dialog without saving.
• Save as - Saves a new patch with the given name and bank.
• Save - Overwrites the current patch, after asking you to confirm. It is only available when the patch is in a bank you can write to and has been modified.

Settings

Window Scale

Scales the whole COLAPSO window up or down, from 75% to 200%.

Audio Driver

Select the audio driver: ASIO or WASAPI (only available on the Windows standalone version).

Audio Device

Select the output audio device (only available on desktop standalone version).

Sample Rate

Select the sample rate (only available on the standalone version).

Buffer Size

Select the buffer size (only available on the standalone version).

MIDI Clock

Send clock out sends MIDI clock messages through the available MIDI outputs. To sync COLAPSO to an external clock, set Clock Source on the status bar to Midi Clock.

Tuning Frequency

The reference frequency for A4, from 400 to 460 Hz. Change it to play in tune with instruments tuned to a different reference.

Midi Thru

When enabled, incoming MIDI is passed on to the MIDI output.

MIDI In Channel

Sets the MIDI channel(s) accepted as input. You can filter the MIDI input channels individually by ticking the boxes numbered from 1 to 16. When a channel is off, its input is ignored. Use the clear all and select all options to turn all the channels off or on.

MIDI Out Channel

Sets the MIDI channel(s) used for MIDI output. By default this value is set to 1.

Voices

Voices defines the total polyphony of COLAPSO, that is, the number of notes that can be played simultaneously, from 1 to 8. The default is 8, which is also the maximum. Every voice runs three oscillators, each summing up to 16 partials, so more polyphony means a higher CPU load. If you experience audio dropouts while playing COLAPSO, try decreasing the number of voices.

Knobs Sensitivity

This setting controls how far you have to slide your finger or mouse to turn a knob from its minimum value to its maximum, in five steps from very rough to very sensitive. You might want a lower sensitivity on a phone and a higher one on a tablet.

Performance Panel

Shows or hides the performance strip at the bottom of the window. When it is hidden, the switch view button disappears from the menu bar.

Troubleshooting

The sound gets quieter when I turn up GLUE.

That's expected. Glue lowers the compressor's threshold and doesn't add the gain back. Turn LEVEL up in the MASTER view to make up the difference.

The OUT meter turns orange.

The output is above full scale. LEVEL is the last thing in the chain, and nothing limits the signal after it, so turn LEVEL down. High Resonance, a high Delay Feedback and several oscillators at full level can all push the output over.

WIDTH does nothing.

Width needs uncertainty to work with. With PLANCK at 0 the sound is mono whatever Width is set to, and with Observation all the way toward the pure tone it is nearly mono. Turn Observation down a little or Planck up. Or turn up FIELD in the Plasma group: Width spreads Field's split lines even on a pure tone.

The send effects do nothing.

Each oscillator's SEND knob starts at off. Turn it up in the General group, and check that the send slot is switched on and its RETURN is turned up. A muted oscillator sends nothing.

Lifetime, Cascade, Emitters, Decohere and Spread do nothing.

These controls need EVOLVE switched on in the Evolution group. It is off in the Default patch. Lifetime, Cascade, Decohere and Spread are also read only when a note starts, so play a new note to hear a change.

A note sounds like a thump instead of a pitch.

The grains are shorter than one cycle of the note. Raise TONE in the Uncertainty group, or turn Observation up.

FIELD makes the sound atonal or quieter.

At the default ANGLE of 0°, the line at the original pitch fades out and you hear only the pair FIELD creates. Unless FIELD is a whole number of semitones, the pair sits between the notes of the scale, so the note can sound out of tune. On very low notes, lower lines that would fall below hearing fade out too, and at 0° nothing is left in their place, so the bass thins and the level drops. Turn ANGLE toward 90° to bring back the line at the original pitch, or switch on Q to snap FIELD to whole semitones.

The top of PARTIALS changes nothing on some elements.

Hydrogen, helium, lithium, sodium, caesium and gold have fewer than 16 measured spectral lines, so on those the top of the range adds nothing more.

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Updated on: 08/10/2026