MemoryTone by XILS-Lab

video upload by xilslab

"MemoryTone by XILS-lab unleashes a colossal three-oscillator-per-voice analog architecture—with 16-voice polyphony and up to 18 oscillators in unison—then propels it beyond its 1982 inspiration with expanded modulation, MPE, advanced arpeggiation, integrated effects, and modern sound-design capabilities."

via XILS-Lab

MEMORYTONE: THEY CALLED IT MAGIC.

MemoryTone is XILS-lab’s exploration of one of analogue synthesis’s most ambitious instruments — a sixteen-voice polyphonic architecture built around three oscillators per voice and a 24 dB/octave self-oscillating ladder filter.

With eighteen oscillators across sixteen voices, combinable waveforms, oscillator sync, pulse-width control and a deeply interactive signal path, its character begins long before effects enter the picture. Oscillators interact. Levels influence behaviour. Voices move. The filter responds to everything that came before it.

MemoryTone takes that architecture further with expanded modulation, MPE, an advanced arpeggiator and a flexible effects environment, opening the instrument to sounds and ways of playing that extend far beyond its original era.

THEY CALLED IT MAGIC. WE WANTED TO KNOW WHY.

INTERESTING FACTS

Introduced in 1982, the original Memorymoog brought together six independent analogue voices, three oscillators per voice and a 24 dB/octave filter for each voice — 18 oscillators in total.

Notable artists including Jan Hammer, Geoff Downes, Jon Lord and David Bryan brought its unmistakable character into electronic music, progressive rock and some of the defining productions of the 1980s.

Its original factory programming involved pioneering synthesizer figures including Wendy Carlos, Herbert Deutsch and Jan Hammer.

MemoryTone goes beyond recreating the original architecture, modelling the subtle interactions between oscillators, voices, levels and filter behaviour that give the instrument its analogue character.

Expanded modulation, MPE, an advanced arpeggiator and a flexible effects architecture take that character far beyond what was possible in 1982.

HIGHLIGHTS

18 OSCILLATORS. SIXTEEN VOICES. ONE EXTRAORDINARY INSTRUMENT.

Three oscillators for every voice. Eighteen when all sixteen are sounding.
One of the most ambitious analogue architectures of its era.
MemoryTone brings that scale back.

THE ORIGINAL FACTORY SOUNDS. BACK IN THEIR ELEMENT.

The sounds created to reveal what this extraordinary architecture could do are part of MemoryTone too.
Brass. Strings. Basses. Leads. Keys. The sounds that introduced a generation to the instrument.
Not samples of the past. The sounds, alive inside the instrument again.

IMPERFECTION DOESN’T NEED TO SHOUT.

Analogue is often recreated by making everything drift.
The real instrument told a subtler story.
The variations XILS-lab encountered were often remarkably restrained — tiny differences between oscillators and voices that created movement without announcing themselves as an effect.
Sometimes accuracy means doing less.

BUILT IN 1982. READY FOR SOUNDS 1982 NEVER HEARD.

The architecture became famous for enormous brass, strings, basses and pads.
But eighteen oscillators, sync, audio-rate modulation and the possibilities MemoryTone opens can take it somewhere else entirely.
Metallic textures. Percussion. Unstable harmonics. Cinematic movement. Modern electronic sounds.
Built in another era. Not confined to it.

Update: Press release follows:


XILS-lab launches MemoryTone, making one of the most ambitious analogue polyphonic architectures of the early Eighties fit for modern music production

GRENOBLE, FRANCE: XILS-lab is proud to launch MemoryTone — making one of the most ambitious analogue architectures of the early Eighties fit for modern music production with 16-voice polyphony and up to 18 oscillators sounding in unison, ultimately taking it above and beyond its impressive three-oscillators-per-voice hardware origins with advanced arpeggiation, expanded modulation, integrated effects, and MPE (MIDI Polyphonic Expression) support, allowing all manner of contemporary sound design capabilities to shine through this, the latest entry in the software synthesizer specialist’s lengthening lineup recreating some of the most revered electronic instruments of all time (including last year’s well-received The Eighty, effectively acting as a ‘virtual Vangelis’ soundalike homage to an iconic Seventies-vintage synth classic that the Academy Award-winning Greek musician, composer, and producer of electronic, progressive, ambient, and classical orchestral music made into his signature sound) — as of September 10…

Names need not necessarily be revealed for those in the know to recognise that MemoryTone takes its virtual design cues from what ended up being the last electronic instrument — a six-voice polyphonic analogue affair featuring three oscillators per voice, no less — to be manufactured by a well-known American synthesizer company (between 1982 and 1985) before it filed for bankruptcy in 1987. Needless to say, MemoryTone captures not only the extraordinary architecture of the original instrument, but also the subtle interaction between the oscillators, voices, levels, and 24dB/octave self-oscillating ladder filter that contributed to its unmistakable character.

To truly understand the character of the instrument in question, the musical journey has to begin before the VOLTAGE CONTROLLED FILTER, with no less than 18 OSCILLATORS interacting across 16 independent voices! Virtually speaking, those three OSCILLATORS per voice create an extraordinary harmonic foundation, but recreating the architecture was only the beginning. During development of MemoryTone, XILS-lab studied how those oscillators behaved both individually and together, how small variations accumulated between voices, and how level changes affected the signal before it reached the filter. It is fair to say that the MIXER itself is part of that behaviour — push its levels and the signal starts to saturate, changing not only its volume but also its harmonic character. Clearly, the same attention to detail was also applied to analogue variation; rather than exaggerating instability for effect, MemoryTone preserves the restrained movement that gives individual voices life while allowing the instrument itself to remain playable, precise, and, most importantly, musical. As a result, MemoryTone is not simply a recreation of what its inspirational analogue ‘ancestor’ was designed to do, but rather an exploration of how it actually behaved and why musicians responded to it in the first place.

Some serious musicians made the Memorymoog — to finally name the iconic instrument inspiring XILS-lab to make MemoryTone — their own, including Geoff Downs (Asia), Jon Lord (Deep Purple), and Jan Hammer (Mahavishnu Orchestra); the latter effectively showcased its capabilities on his memorable music scores to the Eighties-dominating American crime drama series Miami Vice — to which he credited executive producer Michael Mann with allowing him great creative freedom — while also programming some of its original factory presets. Put it this way: with MemoryTone, those sounds that were originally created to reveal what that extraordinary architecture could do are available again — from huge brass, strings, and basses to evolving pads, and metallic textures, together with more contemporary electronic sounds, MemoryTone creatively combines the character of an iconic analogue design with the flexibility expected from a modern software synthesizer from XILS-lab. It is ready for sounds that were never heard in 1982. After all, the Memorymoog might have been built in another era, but MemoryTone is not confined to it.

Indeed, to get a flavour for MemoryTone’s flexible features, it is worth breaking them down into more digestible areas, as follows: synthesis — three oscillators per voice with freely-combinable pulse, sawtooth, and triangle waveforms, variable pulse width, oscillator hard sync (2 TO 1), independent oscillator 2 and 3 detuning, oscillator 3 LOW frequency mode, NOISE generator, MIXER with LEVEL-dependent drive and saturation, 24dB/octave self-oscillating ladder filter with KEYBOARD FOLLOW, dual ADSR (ATTACK, DECAY, SUSTAIN, RELEASE) envelope generators with advanced contour behaviour, meticulously modelled analogue DRIFT and VCE (voice-to-voice) DETUNE variations, mono, polyphonic and circular polyphonic (POLY cir) PLAYING MODE, UNISON, and mono and polyphonic GLIDE; modulation and expression — LFO (Low Frequency Oscillator) with 0.1-10 Hz RATE, triangle, saw up, saw down, square, and sample & hold, multiple oscillator (01 FM and 02 FM), pulse width (PW1 and PW2), and FILTER destinations, polyphonic voice modulation, OSC 3 as modulation source, FILTER CONTOUR MODULATION, six freely-assignable MODULATION SLOTS, VELOCITY AMT (amount), aftertouch, expression, and MPE support, MIDI (Musical Instrument Digital Interface) learn, and advanced arpeggiator and programmable sequencer; effects — EQ, three-band resonator (RESO), CHORUS, DELAY, PHASER, and REVERB with flexible routing.

Reality dictates, then, that by making MemoryTone what it is, XILS-lab succeeded in finding out what it was that made the Memorymoog magic. MemoryTone is, indeed, fit for modern music production. PRESET management makes those distinctive sounds — originals from pioneering synthesizer figures like Wendy Carlos, Herbert Deutsch, and Jan Hammer himself readily recreated alongside contemporarily created tones — easily accessible to all as they can quickly be filtered and combined by BANK, TYPE, AUTHOR, FEELING, STYLE, and PROJECT. Punching above and beyond its diminutive download size, MemoryTone really represents so much more than taking a nostalgic musical trip back to 1982.

MemoryTone is available to purchase as an iLok-protected virtual instrument plug-in (including computer-based authorisation), priced at a time-limited introductory promo price of only €79.00 EUR — rising thereafter to its regular price of €199.00 EUR — directly from XILS-lab here: https://www.xils-lab.com/store/memorytone/

MemoryTone is downloadable in 64-bit AAX (native)-, AU-, VST2.4-, and VST3-compatible formats for macOS (10.13+) and 64-bit AAX (native)-, VST2.4-, and VST3-compatible formats for Windows (7/8/10/11) from here: https://www.xils-lab.com/store/resources/#memorytone

A time-limited full version of MemoryTone can be requested for pre-purchase evaluation purposes here: https://www.xils-lab.com/store/memorytone/#xils-download-id-3"