Chromaphone 3 resources

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Manual

The Chromaphone 3 manual in HTML and PDF format.

FAQ

Answers to some common questions.

What’s up with Chromaphone’s CPU usage? #

Chromaphone 3 can indeed be quite CPU intensive. It’s important to understand that a Chromaphone 3 instance can only run on one core of a multi-core system, so that particular core can be overloaded.

There are internal and external variables that can affect the performance of Chromaphone 3. The internal variables are: unison, number of voices, arpeggiator, resonator quality, decay, and pitch modulation. These vary per preset/program. The external variables include: sample rate, buffer size, CPU model. The external variables can be tweaked but don’t vary per preset/program.

Strategies for better performance

Unison—It literary doubles or quadruples the CPU usage per note, so it’s a good idea to toggle it to see if its contribution is worth the load for your particular situation. For some presets, another possible workaround would be to use a chorus effect instead of the unison.

Number of polyphony voices, decay—With the number of voices set to 16, you can trig up to 16 notes before one is cut out; if that particular preset has a long decay, you end up with a lot of calculation going on in real-time—very high CPU usage. Check if you can use a lower number of voices.

Mode Density—The Mode Density control is located just below the resonator selector and it allows one to adjust the number of modes taken into account in the synthesis and therefore the richness and complexity of the sound. This control has four positions, Low, Medium, High, Full, corresponding to 4, 16, 30 and 70 modes respectively. CPU usage is directly proportional to the number of modes that needs to be calculated. In many cases, the mode density can be reduced without noticeable effect.

Pitch modulation via LFO and enveloppe—All modulations add extra calculations, and so increase the CPU load. If the modulation’s contribution doesn’t add anything to what you want to achieve you should remove it.

Sample rate—Running at 88.2 kHz vs. 44.1 kHz effectively doubles the CPU usage.

Buffer size—Here lies the compromise of CPU load vs playability. You would set it as high as it’s bearable. In our experience, at a sample rate of 44.1 kHz there is no point in increasing the buffer size above 512 samples—there is no increase in performance above that point.

Can Chromaphone 1, 2 and 3 be installed on the same computer? #

Absolutely, they are separate programs/plug-ins.

Will Chromaphone 3 load Chromaphone 2 packs? #

Yes, there are two options: manual and re-installation of the pack.

  1. Manual—Any Chromaphone 2 pack can be converted into a Chromaphone 3 pack by following the steps of § 4.7 Importing Sounds from Previous versions of Chromaphone of the Chromaphone 3 manual.
  2. Re-installation—You can simply visit your Registered Products page to get the latest sound pack installers.

Latest installers

Links and version numbers of the current installers for macOS and Windows

macOS version history

  • Chromaphone 3 v3.1.5 for macOS —LATEST #

    Jan. 18, 2024

    Added in this update

    • Added NKS support to VST3 plug-in.

    Fixed in this update

    • Fixed possible hang when quitting the standalone application.
    • Fixed crash when selecting multiple items in the layer browser.
    • Fixed some modulators were wrongly greyout in edit view.
    • Fixed possible pitch bend problem in Cubase when loading preset.

    Notes

    • This installer can simply be run over your current installation to perform the update.
    • This installer is a full installer so you can use it as a starting point if you need to reinstall from scratch in the future.

    Installer

  • Chromaphone 3 v3.1.4 for macOS #

    June 13, 2023

    Fixed in this update

    • VST3 hosts were not notified of parameter changes when a new preset was loaded.
    • Fixed arpeggiator problem when playing a semitone interval in backward mode.
    • Fixed possible click on preset change when using Guitar Amplifier effect.

    Notes

    • This installer can simply be run over your current installation to perform the update.
    • This installer is a full installer so you can use it as a starting point if you need to reinstall from scratch in the future.

    Installer

  • Chromaphone 3 v3.1.3 for macOS #

    Jan. 18, 2023

    Added in this update

    • Added native Apple Silicon compatibility for AAX plug-in.

    Fixed in this update

    • VST3 could show the wrong version number in the Finder.
    • Fixed audible click when switching between some presets.
    • When working with VST3 parameter automation, some DAWs showed random characters in the parameter value.
    • Scala tuning lists updates automatically when tunings are added to the Scala folder.

    Notes

    • This installer can simply be run over your current installation to perform the update.
    • This installer is a full installer so you can use it as a starting point if you need to reinstall from scratch in the future.

    Installer

  • Chromaphone 3 v3.1.2 for macOS #

    Sept. 28, 2021

    Fixed in this update

    • Home page waveform was disappearing after changing sampling rate.
    • Fixed pitch bend range.
    • Fixed crash when changing layer labels in Bitwig Studio and Presonus Studio One.

    Notes

    • This installer can simply be run over your current installation to perform the update.
    • This installer is a full installer so you can use it as a starting point if you need to reinstall from scratch in the future.

    Installer

  • Chromaphone 3 v3.1.1 for macOS #

    May 20, 2021

    Fixed in this update

    • Fixed possible crash on start with VST3 plug-in.

    Notes

    • This installer can simply be run over your current installation to perform the update.
    • This installer is a full installer so you can use it as a starting point if you need to reinstall from scratch in the future.

    Installer

  • Chromaphone 3 v3.1.0 for macOS #

    March 30, 2021

    Added in this update

    • Apple Silicon (M1) compatibility.
    • Dropped support for Windows 7.
    • Dropped support for macOS 10.7, 10.8, 10.9 and 10.10.
    • Improved behaviour of Windows installer.

    Fixed in this update

    • Fixed possible crash in Logic Pro when removing plug-in from track.
    • The Scala file name wasn't always properly shown in the settings panel.
    • The master tuning frequency could fail to load properly in some DAWs.
    • When a project was loaded in a DAW, the current preset was always shown as "Edited" even if it was not.
    • When resizing the window, vertical alignment of text could be wrong.

    Notes

    • This installer can simply be run over your current installation to perform the update.
    • This installer is a full installer so you can use it as a starting point if you need to reinstall from scratch in the future.

    Installer

  • Chromaphone 3 v3.0.0 for macOS #

    Oct. 27, 2020

    Added in this update

    • Initial release.

    Notes

    • This installer can simply be run over your current installation to perform the update.
    • This installer is a full installer so you can use it as a starting point if you need to reinstall from scratch in the future.

    Installer

Windows version history

  • Chromaphone 3 v3.1.5 for Windows—LATEST #

    Jan. 18, 2024

    Added in this update

    • Added NKS support to VST3 plug-in.

    Fixed in this update

    • Fixed possible hang when quitting the standalone application.
    • Fixed crash when selecting multiple items in the layer browser.
    • Fixed some modulators were wrongly greyout in edit view.
    • Fixed possible pitch bend problem in Cubase when loading preset.

    Notes

    • This installer can simply be run over your current installation to perform the update.
    • This installer is a full installer so you can use it as a starting point if you need to reinstall from scratch in the future.

    ◆ Chromaphone 3 v3.1.5 for Windows 106.3 MB

  • Chromaphone 3 v3.1.4 for Windows #

    June 13, 2023

    Fixed in this update

    • Improved startup time.
    • Fixed occasional GUI scaling problem on Windows in Reaper and possibly other DAWs.
    • VST3 hosts were not notified of parameter changes when a new preset was loaded.
    • Fixed arpeggiator problem when playing a semitone interval in backward mode.
    • Fixed possible click on preset change when using Guitar Amplifier effect.

    Notes

    • This installer can simply be run over your current installation to perform the update.
    • This installer is a full installer so you can use it as a starting point if you need to reinstall from scratch in the future.

    ◆ Chromaphone 3 v3.1.4 for Windows 115.3 MB

  • Chromaphone 3 v3.1.3 for Windows #

    Jan. 18, 2023

    Fixed in this update

    • Fixed audible click when switching between some presets.
    • When working with VST3 parameter automation, some DAWs showed random characters in the parameter value.
    • Scala tuning lists updates automatically when tunings are added to the Scala folder.

    Notes

    • This installer can simply be run over your current installation to perform the update.
    • This installer is a full installer so you can use it as a starting point if you need to reinstall from scratch in the future.

    ◆ Chromaphone 3 v3.1.3 for Windows 115.2 MB

  • Chromaphone 3 v3.1.2 for Windows #

    Sept. 28, 2021

    Fixed in this update

    • Home page waveform was disappearing after changing sampling rate.
    • Fixed pitch bend range.
    • Fixed crash when changing layer labels in Bitwig Studio and Presonus Studio One.
    • Fixed VST3 plug-in editor resize in Acoustica Mixcraft.

    Notes

    • This installer can simply be run over your current installation to perform the update.
    • This installer is a full installer so you can use it as a starting point if you need to reinstall from scratch in the future.

    ◆ Chromaphone 3 v3.1.2 for Windows 115.3 MB

  • Chromaphone 3 v3.1.1 for Windows #

    May 20, 2021

    Fixed in this update

    • Fixed possible crash on start with VST3 plug-in.
    • Fixed problems when running in Cakewalk.

    Notes

    • This installer can simply be run over your current installation to perform the update.
    • This installer is a full installer so you can use it as a starting point if you need to reinstall from scratch in the future.

    ◆ Chromaphone 3 v3.1.1 for Windows 115.3 MB

  • Chromaphone 3 v3.1.0 for Windows #

    March 30, 2021

    Added in this update

    • Apple Silicon (M1) compatibility.
    • Dropped support for Windows 7.
    • Dropped support for macOS 10.7, 10.8, 10.9 and 10.10.
    • Improved behaviour of Windows installer.

    Fixed in this update

    • Fixed possible crash in Logic Pro when removing plug-in from track.
    • The Scala file name wasn't always properly shown in the settings panel.
    • The master tuning frequency could fail to load properly in some DAWs.
    • When a project was loaded in a DAW, the current preset was always shown as "Edited" even if it was not.
    • When resizing the window, vertical alignment of text could be wrong.

    Notes

    • This installer can simply be run over your current installation to perform the update.
    • This installer is a full installer so you can use it as a starting point if you need to reinstall from scratch in the future.

    ◆ Chromaphone 3 v3.1.0 for Windows 115.3 MB

  • Chromaphone 3 v3.0.0 for Windows #

    Oct. 27, 2020

    Added in this update

    • Initial release.

    Notes

    • This installer can simply be run over your current installation to perform the update.
    • This installer is a full installer so you can use it as a starting point if you need to reinstall from scratch in the future.

    ◆ Chromaphone 3 v3.0.0 for Windows 117.6 MB

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