A synthesizer where light meets sound.
Elements has 22 automatable parameters exposed to your DAW, plus 5 manual parameters controlled directly from the UI. This page documents all of them.
These parameters define the physical scene — the core of how Elements generates sound.
Material The optical material applied to the geometry. Determines the spectral transmission curve and index of refraction (IOR), which together define which harmonics are produced and how the Fresnel response behaves. See Materials & Geometry for a detailed breakdown of each material’s character.
Geometry The 3D geometry whose surface normals interact with the light. Determines the number of Fresnel sampling points, their distribution, and how rotation affects the timbre. See Materials & Geometry for details on each geometry’s behavior.
Thickness · 0.1 – 2.0 · Default: 0.5
The thickness of the material along the light path, modeled using Beer-Lambert attenuation. Lower values produce a brighter, thinner sound; higher values increase absorption and darken the timbre. Also affects Decay and Release times in Physical Envelope mode.
Rotation X / Y / Z · 0° – 360° · Default: 0°
Rotates the geometry on each axis. Rotation changes the angle at which the light hits each surface normal, modifying the Fresnel response and therefore the harmonic content. The effect of rotation varies significantly between geometries — the Cube produces abrupt timbral jumps, while the Dodecahedron and Torus respond smoothly and continuously.
Elements has three light slots: Key, Fill, and Rim. Each slot has an independent light source selection and intensity control.
Light Enable (Key / Fill / Rim) Activates or deactivates each light slot. All three lights off produces silence.
Light Source (Key / Fill / Rim) Selects the spectral emission type for each light slot. The emission curve of the light must overlap with the transmission curve of the active material to produce sound — no overlap means near-silence.
Note: Light source selection and on/off state are not saved with the project. You will need to reassign them when reopening a session.
Key Intensity / Fill Intensity / Rim Intensity · 0.0 – 1.0 · Default: 0.5
Controls the intensity of each light source. Intensity has a direct bidirectional relationship with pitch: at 0.5 the pitch is neutral, above 0.5 it rises, below 0.5 it falls. This makes light intensity one of the most expressive performance parameters in Elements.
In Physical Envelope mode, Key Intensity also drives the Attack time — higher intensity produces a faster attack.
Envelope Mode Switches between two envelope behaviors.
Physical — Attack, Decay, Sustain, and Release are derived automatically from the optical properties of the active material, its thickness, and the light intensity. The manual ADSR knobs are ignored in this mode.
Attack · 0.001 – 2.0 s · Default: 0.01 s
Rise time from silence to full amplitude. Ignored in Physical mode.
Decay · 0.001 – 2.0 s · Default: 0.1 s
Time to fall from peak to sustain level after the attack phase. Ignored in Physical mode.
Sustain · 0.0 – 1.0 · Default: 0.7
Amplitude level held while a note is held after the decay phase. Ignored in Physical mode.
Release · 0.001 – 2.0 s · Default: 0.3 s
Time to fall from sustain level to silence after a note is released. Ignored in Physical mode.
A global filter applied to the output signal, with its own independent ADSR envelope.
Filter Type
Cutoff · 20 Hz – 20,000 Hz · Default: 2000 Hz
Cutoff frequency of the filter. Scaled logarithmically.
Resonance · 0.5 – 10.0 · Default: 1.0
Emphasis at the cutoff frequency. Higher values produce a more pronounced peak.
Filter Env Amt · 0.0 – 1.0 · Default: 0.0
Depth of the filter envelope modulation over the cutoff frequency. At 0.0 the filter envelope has no effect.
Filter Attack · 0.001 – 2.0 s · Default: 0.01 s
Attack time of the filter envelope.
Filter Decay · 0.001 – 2.0 s · Default: 0.3 s
Decay time of the filter envelope.
Filter Sustain · 0.0 – 1.0 · Default: 0.0
Sustain level of the filter envelope.
Filter Release · 0.001 – 2.0 s · Default: 0.3 s
Release time of the filter envelope.
The Deformer is currently available for the Sphere geometry only. It applies a 3D Simplex Noise field to the surface, affecting both the spectral path and the audio path simultaneously. See the concept page for a full technical explanation.
Deform Amount · 0.0 – 1.0 · Default: 0.0
Controls the intensity of the deformation. At 0.0 the sphere is undeformed and rotation has no timbral effect. As the value increases, the displaced normals introduce Fresnel variation across the surface, timbral drift sets in, and the sinusoidal wavefolder drives increases from 1 to 15 — adding progressively denser harmonic content.
Deform Frequency · 0.5 – 10.0 · Default: 2.0
Spatial frequency of the Simplex Noise field. Lower values produce broad, smooth deformations; higher values produce finer, more detailed surface variation.
Volume · 0.0 – 1.0 · Default: 0.95
Master output volume. A soft clipper (tanh) is applied to the output — if you experience saturation at high polyphony, reduce this value or lower the light intensities.
| Parameter | Automatable | Saved |
|---|---|---|
| Material | No | Yes |
| Geometry | No | Yes |
| Thickness | Yes | Yes |
| Rotation X / Y / Z | Yes | Yes |
| Light Enable (×3) | No | No |
| Light Source (×3) | No | No |
| Key / Fill / Rim Intensity | Yes | Yes |
| Envelope Mode | Yes | Yes |
| Attack / Decay / Sustain / Release | Yes | Yes |
| Filter Type | Yes | Yes |
| Cutoff / Resonance | Yes | Yes |
| Filter Env Amt | Yes | Yes |
| Filter Attack / Decay / Sustain / Release | Yes | Yes |
| Deform Amount | Yes | Yes |
| Deform Frequency | Yes | Yes |
| Volume | No | Yes |