WMD's Crucible follows in the footsteps of their Chimera and Fracture, this time providing an endlessly flexible digital engine for creating the sounds of cymbals and other curved metal surfaces. Unlike the granular/sample-based Chimera and Fracture, though, the Crucible's sounds are entirely synthesized—it employs a network of digital delay lines and filters to create everything from strikingly realistic cymbals and cowbells to outrageous, impossible gongs that change shape and size in real time.
Crucible offers three modes of operation: cymbal, cracked cymbal, and curved plate. Its Excite parameter and CV control allow continuous redefinition of the makeup of the virtual exciter, allowing a range of effects—and additionally, using a combination of two inputs, one can vary where on the surface the exciter strikes: edge, middle, or bell. It also features a velocity input and dedicated Choke input, enabling dynamic playing and muting inconceivable in typical analog or sample-based cymbal emulations.
Crucible also offers CV-controllable "deform" and an audio input for sonic experimentation. It can produce an endless range of metallic sounds, and CV inputs for each parameter provide the potential to create an ever-changing array of percussive sounds from even just the Crucible alone.
