8.4Great
Chromaphone 3 is a two-voice acoustic object synthesizer using physically modeled acoustic resonators by Applied Acoustics Systems.
Plugin comparison
Chromaphone 3 vs FM8
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
8.4Great
FM8 is Native Instruments' digital FM synthesizer with eight operators and a modern interface, the successor to FM7.
Technical matrix
Specs compared
| Signal | Chromaphone 3 | FM8 |
|---|---|---|
| Price | $199 | $99.00 |
| Dubspot Score | 8.4 | 8.4 |
| Formats | VST2, VST3, AU, AAX Native, NKS, Standalone | Standalone, VST, VST3, AU (macOS only), AAX |
| Synthesis | Two-voice multitimbral, based on physically modeled acoustic resonators | FM (frequency modulation) synthesis |
| Resonator types | Eight: beam, marimba, open tubes, closed tubes, string, drumhead, plate, membrane | — |
| Factory library | 1,090+ presets (421 new plus 676 remastered Chromaphone 2 sounds) | — |
| Effects | Reverb, delay, distortion, phaser, chorus, flanger, filters, equalizer, compressor, guitar amplifier, tremolo across three independent racks | 12 built-in high-quality effects |
| Tuning | Supports Scala scale file format and reference note frequency tuning for microtonal music | — |
| RAM | Less than 256 MB per instance | — |
| Operators | — | 8 operators, freely combinable in algorithms |
| Presets | — | Over 1,200 presets |
| Platforms | — | Windows (64-bit) and macOS (64-bit) |
| Plugin formats | — | VST, VST3, AAX (Win); VST, VST3, AU, AAX (Mac) |
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