Seer Systems Announces SurReal Software Synth
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February 6, 1999SurReal is Seer Systems' powerful, user friendly software application for Pentium®
PCs that brings the audio quality of professional music synthesizers and samplers
to the personal computer. Now, for just $129 (suggested retail price) you can
add quality piano, brass, percussion, guitar, bass, classic synth, techno, ambient
and many other musical instruments and sounds to your computer, getting the
most out of the audio power offered by today's Pentium processors and sound
cards. Plus SurReal now gives you an easy way to load SoundFonts files and play
General MIDI files.
SurReal takes the most popular synthesis formats and lets you access the power
of each. These formats are Sampling, FM, Physical Modeling, classic Analog and
Modal synthesis. Play sixteen-part arrangements with a total of up to 64 notes
at one time. Thousands of sounds are available, both from standard Reality banks
and through the use of SoundFonts, a sampler format popularized by E-mu.
One
of SurReal's most useful features is the simple front panel, which shows all
16 of the voices you have loaded with their settings for volume, pan, effects,
and even mute and solo. An innovative knob called "Vari" uses powerful computing
and clever programming to make musical changes to the sound. The alteration,
from subtle to extreme, is totally at your control. The synthesizer responds
in real-time, allowing you to instantly hear changes as you make them or to
play along with sequences as they are playing.
SurReal
works with the most popular sequencers such as Cakewalk, Cubase, Logic and others.
SurReal can also play back sequences using its built-in Sequence Playback feature.
The main screen has a basic recorder-style play control with timer that allows
sequences to be loaded and played. You can easily re-voice a sequence and save
it to disk along with whatever patches it uses.
The master
portion of the main screen also features Effects control, letting you select
effects such as reverb, chorus, flanging, delay, echo and others. Finally, SurReal
includes authoring support for SeerMusic, for listening to music on the web
without long download times and audio compression that can alter the way you
intend your music to sound. You can also translate a MIDI file composed for
General MIDI into a SeerMusic file in just two mouse clicks.
SurReal works with most consumer and professional soundcards available, from
Event, E-mu, Terratech, Hoontech, Turtle Beach, Creative Labs, MIDIMan, ESS,
Crystal and more.
Feature Set:
- Polyphony: 64-note maximum
- Simultaneous patches: Up to 16
- Synthesis engines: Sample playback, FM, Physical Modeling, Analog, Modal
- Effects: Reverb, Chorus, Flanging, Delay, Doubling
- Sequence playback: Play, back to start, pause, slider for locating segments,
minute/second timer, file commands
- Computer requirements: Pentium® PC with appropriate soundcard. (133
MHz required, 200 MHz recommended, 32 MB RAM minimum, Windows 95/98)
- Samples can be loaded using SoundFonts, with no 32 megabyte limitation
- limited only by computer's RAM
For more information, visit Seer Systems' web site at www.seersystems.com. |
