Atomika is an emulation of the Soviet Polivoks synthesizer, manufactured at the Formanta Radio Factory between 1982 and 1990, and designed by Vladimir Kuzmin. At first glance, it appears to be a typical compact analog synthesizer (albeit, with cold-war radio design cues, courtesy of Mr. Kuzmin's wife Olimpiada), but it includes a number of unique features that have made it highly desirable amongst synthesizer cognoscenti.
First and foremost is Polivoks's unique filter. Instead of the likely-unavailable-in-the-Soviet-Union transconductance amplifiers seen in 12 dB/octave state-variable filter designs of the era, Kuzmin figured out a way to completely misuse programmable op-amps that were never intended for use in audio filter circuits to perform the same function, somewhat accidentally resulting in a rich and raunchy filter tonality. This was in the same ballpark as the (in)famous Korg MS-series filter, but with a sonic signature all its own. Up to this point, we've never seen a virtual instrument that could properly reproduce the Polivoks filter tone, but our frequent collaborator Mark Barton (MRB) was able to nail it through a combination of analysis, breadboarding, and coding wizardry! Along the way, Mark discovered other methods to expand upon the unique Polivoks filter circuit, by adding unique Starve, Filter Drive, and Amp Drive controls that further extend its twisted palette, often in radical ways.
The original instrument also included a duophonic mode, similar to those seen in ARP synthesizers of the era, where the lowest and highest played notes would be assigned to each oscillator. Frankly, these worked pretty inconsistently, so Atomika trades this for a proper poly keyboard mode with up to 16-voice polyphony, as well as a mono mode with unison and detune for superior flexibility.
We also took the liberty of adding an arpeggiator and effects page, including a full-function arpeggiator and phasor, flange/chorus, echo, and reverb effects, plus a bonus FX Modulator LFO. In the spirit of Polivoks's bold and eccentric character, the FX Modulator enables radical (and synchronized) modulation of key effects parameters for radical and deranged sound transformations.
We hope you'll enjoy exploring Atomika's vast, madcap sonic landscape!
Manual Layout
This manual will detail each section of Atomika; the order of the chapters follows the signal flow (as opposed to the physical layout of the front panel).
Hey, I just fired up Atomika in standalone mode and it doesn't work! What the hey?!?
If you just launched the standalone app version of Atomika (i.e., not a plugin running in DAW software) and nothing is happening when you play keys on your MIDI/USB controller, it's almost certainly because Atomika doesn't know what controller you're using. This is super easy to fix:
Click the Settings gear icon in the purple menu strip at the top of the screen.
Click the Audio/MIDI tab at the top. Now look for the name of your MIDI/USB controller next to Active MIDI inputs and check the box next to it. If you don't see the name of your controller here,
maybe this playing with synthesizers thing just isn't for you...check that the controller is properly plugged in and powered up. If that doesn't work feel free to contact our support below.
Technical Assistance
Cherry Audio's unique online store and automatic updating should make operation a smooth experience, but if you run into any issues or have questions, you can discuss issues online at the Cherry Audio forums at:
https://forums.cherryaudio.com/
... or you can open a support ticket with our friendly tech support staff at:
https://cherryaudio.kayako.com/
Acknowledgements
We'd like to extend a huge thank you to Andrew Ru for invaluable assistance with the front panel native panel translation.