My love affair with Alchemy continues. I spent a lot of time digging deep into granular synthesis with it this summer in preparation for my Electro-Music 2012 Festival talk in a New York a few weeks back. The deeper I go the more I like it and the more it gets used in my work and performances.
When I got back from EM, I loaded up the 1.5 beta and now I'm happy to report that Camel Audio has officially released this update which they’ve been working on for quite some time. I’ll offer some notes on what’s new then include Camel Audio’s official video and press release at the end of the post.
On Sale
First off, Alchemy is $50 off till Oct. 15th making it $199. If you’ve been waiting for a price drop now is your chance to get a great deal. FYI I don’t benefit financially if you buy copy of Alchemy, I’m just a big fan.
New Preset Browser
As you can see from the screen shot above, there is a brand new preset browser that not only helps you find and discover sounds for your projects, but also allows you to create user tags and post comments and notes on patches for future reference. Simply hit the “Edit” button to open a window that lets you change and set attributes, add user tags, and comments.
Polyphonic Pitch Bend FTW
Probably the coolest new integration feature with mobile app is the computer version of Alchemy now responds to polyphonic pitchbend!!! It’s fantastic.
Official Video
Official Announcement
We're proud to announce Alchemy v1.5, a major update to our popular sample manipulation synthesizer. Alchemy v1.5 is designed to keep inspiration flowing with a fully-featured preset browser, over 1000* presets, faster loading times, improved remote control from the Alchemy iOS app, and many more enhancements. To celebrate the release, we're offering 20% off Alchemy till 15th October and even better value bundles.
Powerful New Browser
The new browser is probably the most fully-featured sound browser available anywhere, allowing users to find all their slow attack strings, glitchy dubstep basses, tempo-synched warm pads, or whatever they need in a matter of seconds. Over 4,000 previously-released Camel Audio presets have been carefully tagged by category, subcategory, genre, sound library, sound designer, articulation, and timbre. Finding favourites is a breeze — simply rate presets with a single click and then sort by rating. Users can add tags to make it easy to call up presets associated with a particular project or live set, and can also add comments to presets with playing tips or other notes. Track down the perfect sound in a host of different ways with this powerful browser.
Dedicated iOS Remote
Alchemy v1.5 with the latest update to Alchemy on iOS offers even smoother and more expressive remote control. Change preset, move the remix pad, and access performance controls — all without leaving the comfort of your controller keyboard. Previously the domain of multi-thousand dollar devices, polyphonic pitch bend is new to this update, and offers an amazingly expressive way of playing instruments — especially when combined with polyphonic aftertouch. Also users can now save desktop presets and all referenced WAVs in a single .CamelSounds file, making it easier to move sounds to the mobile version, or another PC.
Bigger and Better Bundles and 20% Off Alchemy
Alchemy Complete comprises Alchemy with all 24 sound libraries installed, including the newly-released Shlomo Beatbox. It now features over 14GB of samples and 4,000-plus presets, including 32,000 hand-crafted variations, all fully tagged for the new browser. Whether writing soundtracks, electronica, or dance music, users now have all the sounds they need at their fingertips for a newly-reduced price of $785.00 USD/€649.00 EURO/£529.00 GBP — a 50% saving on buying the products separately. The Alchemy Atmospheric and Electronic bundles have also been generously increased in size, each now offering 1,900 presets and over 6GB of samples for $399.00/€329.00/£269.00.
Alchemy itself is now bundled with 1,000 presets including a free sound library of choice, totalling a massive 5GB of exclusive samples. The v1.5 update is free to all existing users. New users can purchase Alchemy at 20% off till 15th October – just $199.00/€159.00/£143.00.
*Alchemy comes with 1,000 presets inclusive of 'Taste of Camel' and buyers choice of Sound Library.
Links
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Official Camel Audio Site (login and go to “Product Downloads” page to get the update)
Electronic Musician, Boulder CO
http://www.ModulateThis.com
www.MarkMosherMusic.com
Mark Mosher 
12 responses to “Camel Audio Alchemy 1.5 Update Offers New Browser, Polyphonic Pitch Bend, and More + $50 Bucks Off Till Oct 15”
Since my discover, I was told that case #1 (parameter jumping after path change) happens for AU but not for VST plugins. I am using Logic at the moment and so it’s affecting me how to convert mpg to mov
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Test
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I’m not affiliated with Camel Audio so I have no discount codes. Cameleon 5000 was replaced by Alchemy. You can load Cameleon presets into Alchemy http://www.camelaudio.com/alchemymanual/title-bar/#load-save-presets. They’ve also re-worked some presets to sound awesome in Alchemy http://www.camelaudio.com/Cameleon-Sound-Library.php
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Happy to stumble upon an article concerning Camel Audio products. Can you give me a discount link for Cameleon 5000? Is it worth the money because some people tend to use U-he Zebras and Alchemy in terms of additive synthesis and incredible sound – building precision.
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Oh, you are right – I do see that now. Well at least the Camel Audio crew is on it :^)
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Thanks for checking though!
Cheers
Avi
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The wrong snapping of parameters after a program change doesn’t seem to be there for VST. It’s incorrect for AU. But if you make a change to the remix pad and then try to adjust one of the 8 performance controls, from the controller, then the value snaps to whatever last value Automap has stored for that controller, rather than snap to the value in the plugin. This was confirmed by Camel Audio and at least one other user. It’s interesting that you don’t have this problem but…good for you 🙂
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Hi Avi,
I tested on windows with VST with Remote SL and I’m things seem to be working properly for me.
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Too many typos 😦
Most importantly – not “path change” but rather “patch change”
Avi
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Hi Mark,
Thanks for your comments. Since my discover, I was told that case #1 (parameter jumping after path change) happens for AU but not for VST plugins. I am using Logic at the moment and so it’s affecting me. I tested the VST version of Alchemy today in Live (first time I even invoke it but it came with my Impulse) and indeed this problem is not there. However, problem #2 is still there and confirmed by Camel Audio support. I’m not sure where this is taking me but at least I am becoming aware of the fine points of a general purpose controller trying to work with various pieces of software in various hosts… No matter – I’ll be curious to see if you see the same thing. Most importantly I’m curious as to how you use the Alchemy controls in live performances. Maybe you use the iPad app instead of the SL knobs?
Thanks
Avi
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Hi Avi,
I use Automap as a protocol only and use Live “device mapping” to and midi mapping to map my Remote SL. This video explains it http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QDpSQP-7JNQ (ignore the bits about APC40). I can test pure automap tonight and see if I can reproduce or come up with a workaround.
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Hi Mark. This is indeed a nice update. Thanks for promoting a great product and company!
I wonder if you could comment on your experience controlling Alchemy with Novation Automap. I’m trying to use an Impulse controller and discovered an incompatibility between Alchemy and Automap. You can read my posting, and the confirmation from Camel Audio on this thread http://www.kvraudio.com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=361078
Basically the Alchemy parameter jumps to match the last Automap position whenever you try to turn the mapped knob right after 1) a patch change or 2) a change in the Remix pads. Other times Automap will correctly match the position of the knobs in Alchemy and follow it.
From reading your blog I see that you use a Novation keyboard so maybe you have come across this already? Or maybe you have a workaround? This makes live work close to impossible, if you want to make changes on the fly as I described.
Thanks for a great blog
Avi
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