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PHOBOS - USER MANUAL
W E L C O M E
Together with Spitfire, BT has combined over 20GB of his own
personal bespoke new libraries (following on from Breaks from
the Nu Skool and Twisted Textures) into a convolution synthesis
engine that allows you to sculpt, filter, rhythmically cut and pulse
impulse responses that are tonal, melodic and harmonic. Most
importantly you can play them polyphonically.
This synthesizer, sound engine and bespoke library package rep-
resents years of diligent searching for new awe-inspiring sounds
and sound design techniques. If you, like BT, are looking for a
new wave of inspiration for your compositions that is evocative,
emotional, expressive and truly new, you owe it to yourself to
check out Phobos. It is a well of endless inspiration.
One of the greatest solutions Phobos provides is for compos-
ers wanting to engage their audiences for extended sequences
and cues without things sounding repetitive or ‘loopy’. Phobos
allows for an all new real-time interface interaction that allows
the user to evolve, warp and transform their molecular patterns
according to nuanced changes within a scene.
What is Phobos?
One of Mars’ moons? A synthesizer? A tool for creating mas-
sive cinematic and electronic rhythms? An engine for endless
spectral combinations of wide, lush pads and ambiences with
propulsive rhythmic figures? Is it a sound library of bespoke per
-
cussion, beats, micro rhythms, field recordings, live acoustic and
orchestral treatments, textures and a massive vintage synthesiz-
er collection? That is just scratching the surface.
At its core, Phobos is a synthesizer based on the unexplored
precept of polyconvolution as a synthesis engine. BT came up
with this idea many years ago doing sound design.
What does that mean exactly? Polyconvolution as a synthesizer?
Well, it means instead of using convolution for reverb or mod-
eling an amplifier’s distortion circuit, why not make a “reverb”
impulse response tonal?
Combining something rhythmic with something tonal (as an im-
pulse response) yielded some of the most modern, liquid and
percolating ambiences and textures BT had ever heard. These
are the kinds of sounds he has been searching for whilst scoring;
those elusive sounds where the director asks for “movement
and a feeling of drive, yet subtly”. That’s not to say that Phobos
only excels at subtlety - it can sound massive, driving and aggres-
sive, like an army of monsters in its scope and power.
ABOUT BT
BT is the earliest of early adopters and widely accredited as a
maven of modern sound techniques. “There is a very specific
lineage of great composers who blazed a new path in music be-
cause they weren’t afraid to experiment with new sounds, new
techniques and new technologies. These progenitors – Cage,
Stockhausen, Xenakis – are the people who set the foundation.
Let’s not forget that the piano was a radical new technology in
its time. I had a music theory teacher as a boy who once said
to me, ‘Nothing new will ever happen in the arts again. It’s all
about studying what’s already been done and how you combine
things.’ I don’t think I slept for weeks after that. I knew that was
an incomplete idea and set out to prove it wrong ever since.”
An avid lover of both mathematics and physics, BT looks for in-
spiration by experiencing natural phenomena, frequently discov-
ering complex mathematical patterns and structural relation-
ships in everyday objects and environments that are often taken
for granted. “I find things in the natural world that resonate with
me on a very humanist level, those things are typically the core
drive for the creation process. My music is an expression of that
awe and admiration of the natural world”, he explains. “Quite
simply, music is applied mathematics. It is aesthetically beautiful
as well as practically beautiful. Rhythm, harmony and structure
are all mathematical and math, quite simply, is beautiful.”
Connection
“I am looking for the symmetry between patterns that are em
-
bedded in the natural world and emotions, feeling states and
the human condition. I think my life’s work is about dissecting,
studying and defining that overlap. Music and mathematics are
two sides of the same thing. I am constantly looking for a meet-
ing point of these two ideas,” BT clarifies. “I am looking for the
symmetry between patterns that are embedded in the natural
world and emotions, feeling states and the human condition. I
think my life’s work is about dissecting, studying and defining
that overlap.”
“My ultimate goal is to keep the emotional counterpoint and
the integrity of the song intact, even when pushing the envelope
with style and technique. The faster things get, the less people
are willing to take in a body of creative work. How many people
can stand in front of a painting and deeply take it in? There are
so few things now that will engage us. The intent of consuming
music is usually to have an awareness or a feeling, to have an
truly, empathic connection to others. Whatever it is that you’re
going through, music makes you feel less alone. You feel a pri-
mordial connection to people and the natural world. My hope
is to create something that makes people feel that they have
consumed something that completes a void. I want to create
something lasting.”
FEATURES
Revolutionary polyconvolution synthesizer, across 3 separate
convolvers.
Contains 2381 unique sounds, created by BT, that can be used
both as a source or as an impulse response.
716 presets showcasing the possibilities of Phobos.
Plugin that loads directly into any DAW that supports VST /
VST3 / AU / AAX.
