- Product: Ghost
- Developer: Exacoustics
- Version: 1.1.18
- Format: Standalone, APP, VST3, AU, CLAP
- Requirements: Windows 8 or later, macOS 10.12 or later
- Source: exacoustics.com
Ghost is an FM synthesizer, but it’s way more than that. Way more than just eight operators and some effects. It’s also a wavetable synthesizer: eight oscillators, and you can drop your own wavetables straight into it. Each oscillator gets its own filter and distortion, with a lot of different types on offer, and you can manipulate the waveforms directly too. You can effectively ignore the modulation matrix entirely and route everything straight to the effects section if you want. Each oscillator has its own direct out, so the effects chain is completely optional if that’s not your thing.
Every oscillator starts out as a basic triangle shape, but you can draw your own curves in. The LFOs work the same way, as curves you draw yourself, which can be a little fiddly since it doesn’t snap to a grid. There are frequency mod tools that are excellent for drum synthesis, and randomization modules you can drop onto basically anything, with control over rate and what gets randomized.
The effects section covers the basics and then some. You’re not limited to one of each effect, so you can stack multiple filters back to back if you want. There’s a multiband compressor in there too (OTT-style, with a clipper on each band), plus EQ, distortion, a regular compressor, chorus, and reverb. Four macros, pitch bend, all the usual expected controls are present. What really makes this synth special is the FM matrix combined with the ability to drop in wavetables, and having filter and distortion per oscillator.
Within each oscillator you start from a basic waveform, then can dial in the ratio alongside regular tuning and fine-tuning. Each one has unison, with the option to retrigger or not, and a morph control that blends between wavetables or shapes. It doesn’t take long to get into wild territory: routing one oscillator’s sine wave into another, adding a filter with an LFO on it, layering in an envelope, and things escalate fast from there. The mod matrix makes it much easier to keep track of and adjust everything once you’re a few layers deep.
The frequency modulation tools are particularly strong for drum synthesis specifically. The snare sounds achievable through this are a good showcase of that, and if drum synthesis is something you’re into, this is a genuinely strong tool for it. For anyone less familiar with FM in general, feeding one oscillator into another starts shifting the waveform from a sine into other shapes, and layering filters and distortion on top from there opens things up considerably.
There’s a large batch of self-made presets included. Some made it into the factory set, but there are plenty more beyond that from early experimentation with the synth. Some are straightforwardly useful (stabs, subs for drum and bass), and others are more ambient or just experimental. A few standouts: a dynamic ambient pad and a couple of others that would suit cinematic scoring for games or film; a basic jungle sub; one patch made just messing around that ended up sounding vaguely like Muse; a reverb-drenched ambient patch; a trance-style supersaw built entirely through FM rather than a traditional saw stack, with a genuinely complex matrix behind it; a couple of effect-focused patches with multiple variations; and more ambient material that would also suit game soundtrack work.
On price: there have been comments calling this overpriced, and that’s a disagreement worth addressing directly. This was built by one person, which is notable on its own, and while competitors like Serum, Phase Plant, and Pigments sit in a similar price range, Ghost offers a different set of capabilities that those tools don’t have. It’s not that it’s cheap. It is expensive, and a monthly payment option spread over a year would be a welcome addition. But the sound design features on offer here aren’t really available elsewhere, at least not that come to mind.
Personally, FM synthesis has never fully clicked, despite plenty of attempts over the years with different tools. None of the FM synths tried previously really grabbed hold the way this one has. The last FM synth purchased before this was messy enough in its UI that, even after eventually getting a handle on it, it just felt like a bit much. Native Instruments’ FM8 was similarly overwhelming back when first starting out with synthesis, though it’s been years since revisiting that one. Ghost, by contrast, has a clean and easy-to-use interface. Everything sits on one page, a lot of it maps onto conventions recognizable from other synths, and it all just makes sense quickly.
It’s out now, and it comes highly recommended. This is going to see a lot of use going forward. Sound design workflow currently leans on a couple of other synths for different jobs: Phase Plant when more involved sound design is needed, Serum occasionally though less than it used to be. But Ghost is the one that’ll get reached for specifically for FM-driven sound design and different creative starting points.