One of the most underrated features in Logic Pro X is arguably its own audio plugin called Alchemy. It’s a super versatile sample manipulation synth with an extensive preset library. It’s also an excellent tool for sampling music, and has a lot of realtime performance controls that you can use to play around with the sound in your own way.

To get started, you’ll want to open up a new project in Logic Pro and select the “Alchemy” plugin from the Instruments list. From there, you can start exploring the different effects available in each of the transform pads. Whenever you move a snapshot on the transform pad, the corresponding effects will update and change the way that your preset sounds. To learn more about the specifics of each effect, you can click on the icon that corresponds to it and read the description for the different settings.

Once you’ve got a good handle on the effects, you can move onto playing around with the various different synthesis methods that are available. In addition to the standard wavetable synthesis that you’ll find in other instruments (which is a pretty impressive set, by the way), Alchemy has more unusual synthesis types like additive, spectral and granular synthesis. And while these engines might seem a little intimidating, once you get the hang of how they work, you’ll be able to create some incredible sounds.

Another important aspect of Alchemy is its modulation system. It has a ridiculous amount of knobs and dials that you can use to alter the sounds in each of the aforementioned synthesis techniques. You can even use the ModWheel pop-up menu to assign your keyboard’s modulation wheel to a particular performance control, which is saved between presets.

Alchemy also has a number of other features that you might not expect from a sample-manipulation synth, including an extremely flexible MIDI filter, two separate oscillators with something like 24 different waveforms each, two filters with dozens of different modes and shapes, and a whole bunch of other tools. The best part of all is that this is a completely free add-on to Logic Pro, and that it works very well alongside the stock Logic Media Browser.

How does Analog Alchemy work?

The first thing to remember is that Alchemy is a software instrument, so it is installed on its own track in the same way as any other plugin (or stock Logic channel strip). The difference is that when you load an Alchemy preset, it is loaded as a full-featured synthesizer rather than a simple AU instrument plug-in. This means you can use a MIDI keyboard to control it (although Logic Pro’s built-in Musical Typing is also available) and otherwise convert video tapes.

When you click on the track, it expands and shows its various parameters. You can see the four sources (Source A, Source B, Source C and Source D) on the left hand side of the screen. Each of these has its own synthesis engine.

Each of these engines has a bunch of different wave-shapes to choose from, plus all the usual virtual analog type oscillators. It can also use multiple synthesis methods (adding/spectral and multisampling) simultaneously in each of its four sources. It can even load images and convert them into an audible version using spectral synthesis.

On the right-hand side of the screen you have a lot of controls that let you modify your sound. Most of the knobs have blue circles around them. These are the settings that stay fixed across all snapshots. The ones with orange circles are settings that change when you move a snapshot.

The main page also contains a couple of other settings: the global filter, which is a very high quality reissue of the famous Boss BD-2 EQ, and the master volume control. You can also select the quality of your source. The quality setting changes the sample size that is converted to an audio clip when you play it.

You can enable/disable individual Sources from this page, as well as apply effects to the whole preset. There are a lot of effects, including some very cool reverbs that use a variety of different sampled spaces as the source. There’s also a pretty cool-sounding distortion, and a granular sampling engine. A small but useful effect is the IR Reverb, which uses a set of very familiar sounding “room” IR files (which you can get for free from various sources online). Finally, there’s a modulation system with some great effects like chorus, flanger and phaser.

What are the benefits of Analog Alchemy?

For many tasks, hardware still rules the music roost. But for a few things, software is the way to go – especially when it comes to synths. Alchemy is one such synth which has gained a tonne of acclaim since its addition into Logic Pro, being hailed as an extremely powerful manipulation synthesiser. The instrument utilises additive, spectral and granular synthesis (& resynthesis) as well as sampling and virtual analog engines to deliver an impressively comprehensive set of sound design tools.

In terms of a workflow, each patch in Alchemy uses four separate audio sources and then runs these through one or more of the above synthesis methods. Each of these engines also has a wide variety of global filters and modulation parameters as well as advanced morphing capabilities.

There’s no shortage of sounds to create using this synth – with every preset offering a wealth of different options. Thankfully, you don’t have to be a master sound designer to get the most out of it. In fact, you can simply load up a preset and tweak the settings or use Alchemy’s Performance Controls section to assign a custom set of controls that modify key parameters.

This is a great feature that helps to make this synth super easy to use. Alternatively, you can also use the ModWheel pop-up to select a target performance control and then assign your keyboard’s modulation wheel to this. Each performance control also offers an inverted option which is useful for many of the envelopes and pads within the plugin.

The Performance Controls section is a really neat part of this plugin that’s worth exploring in a little more detail. It allows you to map a keyboard or MIDI controller control to a specific parameter and then change the values of this control with real-time performance. The plugin automatically recognises and selects the most relevant parameters to offer this feature, though you can reassign parameters to a different target if you wish.

What are the risks of Analog Alchemy?

Trying to bypass the Law of Equivalent Exchange in transmutation risks not only failure and cessation of activity, but also unpredictable and catastrophic consequences. Alchemical forces thrown out of balance fluctuate wildly of their own accord to attempt to stabilize themselves, taking more than they give, or giving less than what was intended.

Many paper-analog players feel that adding a digital “side gig” takes away development resources from products they want to see, such as flashback drafts and support for older formats like Pioneer. Additionally, some that do not play the digital format find themselves being funneled into it with NPE decks, which can be a frustrating experience.