HERCs Music
When was HERCs music started, and what made you start it? We started 'HERCs Music Systems' as a business in 2007. However, it was owned and operated for some time before that as 'HERCs Synths', during which time Robert developed a VA instrument pack upon which Abakos was based.
Viktor is a 4 oscillator vector synth based on instruments like the Prophet VS. It has been in development for a long time...certainly longer than we expected, due to life interruptions and various programming challenges to overcome. We hope to release it officially, very soon. Like most of the instruments we make, it seems quite simple on the >> surface, but it is capable of a wide variety of sounds when manipulated in subtle ways. I find it excellent for really weird pads and drones, but it can do bread and butter sounds just as easily. The real heart of this beast is the vector pad. It is possible to move the cursor anywhere between each of the 4 oscillators to create some pretty dynamic soundscapes. When this is combined with the myriad of waveforms available, it turns out to be a pretty deep programming experience, yet remains quite easy for the beginner to manipulate. This is always the > >
Wusik Magazine
The core of HERCs has always been the massive synthesis engine that Robert has coded and revised over many years and we wanted to bring some of that power to people using the VST specification. If we were going to pack the whole of the engine into a single VST it would bring most computers to their virtual knees, so we decided to reveal a little bit at a time! The HERCs synth core was really designed from the ground up as an efficient hardware operating system, so it is quite challenging to port that into a VST format sometimes. The VST spec is really quite limited compared to what the full version of the HERCs synthesis engine can achieve when completely opened up.
Viktor is your latest project. Could you tell us a little bit about that?
#018 October 2007
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