Nikolator is Hügelton Instruments' physical modeling synth that simulates a musical Tesla coil, with voltage, current, arc, and discharge controls, a valve filter, and a 4 by 6 modulation matrix.
Plugin comparison
Nikolator vs Vital
Specs, price and the Dubspot Score, side by side — with our verdict on which synth to buy.
Independent score / workflow fit / buying signal
Contenders
The side-by-side
9.0Essential
Vital is a spectral warping wavetable synthesizer by Matt Tytel for Windows, macOS, and Linux.
Technical matrix
Specs compared
| Signal | Nikolator | Vital |
|---|---|---|
| Price | Pay what you want, from $1 | $25 |
| Dubspot Score | — | 9.0 |
| Formats | VST3, AU, Standalone | VST, VST3, AU (Audio Units), LV2, Standalone |
| Type | Physical modeling synthesizer (musical Tesla coil) | — |
| Sound source | Modeled resonant circuit, discharge, and air behavior | — |
| Voices | Monophonic and polyphonic modes | — |
| Filter | Paraphonic valve low-pass filter | — |
| Modulation | Drive envelope, 4 by 6 modulation matrix, assignable MIDI routing | LFOs, envelopes and randomized sources with stereo modulation, remappable curves, audio-rate modulation, and keytracked LFOs |
| Presets | 22 factory, plus user presets | — |
| Formats | Standalone, AU, VST3 (macOS); VST3 (Windows) | — |
| Synthesis type | — | Spectral warping wavetable synthesis |
| Operating systems | — | Windows 10+, macOS 10.15+ (Intel or Apple Silicon), Ubuntu Linux 18.04+; 64-bit only, OpenGL 3+ |
| Wavetable tools | — | Pitch-splice and vocode wavetable converters, plus text-to-wavetable generation |
| Tuning and MPE | — | Microtonal support (.tun, .scl, .kbd files) and full MPE support |
| Included content | — | Basic: 75 presets / 25 wavetables; Plus: 250 / 70; Pro: 400+ / 150 |
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