sonicLAB introduces Oceanic, a unique software bundle that captures the essence of the ocean’s waves and transforms them into a symphony of additive sound synthesis.
The bundle is available as a combination of VST3, AU and standalone apps.
designed & programmed by Sinan Bokesoy
first release 09/2023
In the vast realm of sound synthesis, nature has always been our muse. Its rhythmic raindrops, harmonious bird songs, and the mesmerizing dance of leaves in the wind have all inspired countless sonic creations. Yet, there’s one natural wonder that stands out in its grandeur and intricacy: the ocean.
With the “Oceanic” bundle of software, sonicLAB brings a unique sound design tool to your fingertips. Oceanic offers an innovative auditory experience with its heart lying on the ingenious application of Gerstner’s wave solutions, a mathematical representation of sea waves.
Oceanic invites you to set sail for a sonic journey on waves.
Oceanic’s foundation, the Gerstner’s trochoidal wave solution, still relevant today, captures the nuanced movements of wave surfaces, both vertically and horizontally. By utilizing five periodic trochoidal waves and their superposition, Oceanic crafts a fluid sea surface motion, rich in variations and fully controllable.
By simulating the intricate patterns and shapes of sea waves, Oceanic can extract wave data from this dynamic system. It drives the wavetable oscillators and calculates complex modulation addressing synthesis parameters by only using the organic motion of sea waves.
The Oceanic bundle is an invitation to embark on a sonic voyage, riding the waves of sound and exploring the depths of auditory possibilities.
The Oceanic bundle comes with 4 applications. The standalone app “Oceanic” and the plugins “WaveBot” , “WaveCC” and “FlangerBot”.
Oceanic app A sea-wave simulation powerhouse that generates intricate wave shapes, providing the foundation for the entire bundle.
The scanned sea-waves surface at selected probe points are being used to calculate the wavetables ( micro scale ), the modulation waveforms for synthesis parameters ( meso scale ) and macro scale variations of these waves.
WaveBot A wavetable synthesizer in plugin format that sources its wave data and modulation from the evolving sea-wave simulations. It’s the heart and soul of the oceanic sound, producing the authentic resonance of sea waves without relying on artificial wavetables or sources. Everything comes from the sea-waves simulation.
WaveCC A MIDI CC generator that derives its modulation data from Oceanic, ensuring seamless integration and real-time communication. Now it can also generate 14bit PitchBend messages.
FlangerBot is an audio effect processor; taking the traditional flanger effect to another level by using the sea waves simulation of the Oceanic app as mod. resource.
The Oceanic app does communicate with the WaveBot, WaveCC and FlangerBot plugins and sends its parameter state to them in real time.
The new version of the Oceanic can do this tasks on a remoter computer or on the iPAD as well. All you need is to enter the IP address of the computer running the bundle plugins in your local area network.
There can be multiple WaveBot instances ( total 4 instances, each on a instrument track of the DAW ), 4 WaveCC instances and 2 FlangerBot instances communicating with the Oceanic app. Building on our legacy with the Bot plugins, the Oceanic bundle elevates the experience.
Multiple WaveBot instances can interpret the same Oceanic parameter space differently, offering a plethora of sonic possibilities. With up to four WaveBot and WaveCC instances communicating with the Oceanic app, the potential for sound design is vast and varied.
On the left, you can watch an interesting demonstration, where multiple WaveBot’s are post processed on the DAW, and the processing is being modulated by a WaveCC instance.
Oceanic uses 5 periodic trochoidal waves and the superposition of them to create a basic fluid motion of a sea surface, fully controllable with parameters delivering rich variations.
We do use 5 arbitrary probes, “surface points”, to measure the surface height changes.
At these points we do scan the surface wave shape horizontally and vertically as well, to create a 2D waveform data.
We can also insert clone points around these probes to use their data as well. These clones will capture the relevant surface data around the surroundings of the center probe.
We can randomize the direction and strength of the surface waves to introduce some wheather like phenomena in a continuous change.
The 2D waveform data is being translated to wavetables to drive 65 oscillators which are being modulated through different synthesis parameters and modulation data captured by the probes.
Oceanic bundle is available for OSX , Windows as VST, AU, standalone formats. The Oceanic is also avaiable on the iPAD.
All sonicLAB products are 64bit only.
Recommended system : OSX Monterey or higher , Windows10 or higher.
Apple Silicon M1 1st gen. equivalent or better.