A sample instrument where repetition becomes pitch
Astra repeats a sample at a musical division, faster and faster, until the repeats fuse into a tone at the note you played. You can lock that tone and play it across the keyboard, in Mono or in Poly up to eight voices.
Also in Nebula Complete and All Access.
Highlights
What sets it apart
Rolls that land on the note
A hit repeats on the grid and speeds up along a journey you shape, from 4 bars down to 1/128, until it becomes a tone at the played note or a fixed note.
Lock the tone
At arrival Astra captures the cycle as a band-limited oscillator, so the timbre stays the same across the keyboard. Keep Tone holds it after release, saved with the song.
Levels kept in check
Level Match holds the journey within ±2 LU of the single hit, so a dense roll does not jump in loudness.
Features
Everything in Nebula Astra
Source
- Load WAV, AIFF, FLAC, MP3 or M4A by drag and drop
- Draggable Start and End, and Tone Position for where the tone comes from
- Sample stored inside the session as lossless FLAC, up to 30 s
- Find Clearest moves Tone Position to the clearest slice
Motion
- Spin sets how far the journey travels; 0 is a plain one-shot
- Motion: Manual, Journey or LFO
- Journey curves: Linear, Exponential, Logarithmic, S or Custom
- LFO shapes: Sine, Triangle, Ramp Up, Ramp Down, Square, Smooth Random, S&H
- Mod wheel adds Spin by default
Playing
- Journey per Note, Legato Journey or Tone Only
- Destination from MIDI or a Fixed Note with LEARN
- Mono, or Poly from 2 to 8 voices
- Bend, glide and aftertouch vibrato that leave the rhythm on the grid
Measured
What the tests show
- At 0.4.0: core suite 284 checks, plug-in suite 80 checks, 0 failures
- auval -strict native and x86_64 under Rosetta, and pluginval at strictness 10, all green in the Phase 3 to 5 gates
- rt-check passes, proved with a planted violation
- 42 of 43 factory presets within ±0.1 LU of -16 LUFS, peaks held under -1 dBFS; Per Note Claps sits 1.3 LU under
- In Poly, each note of a chord arrives at its own pitch within 0.05 cent
- CPU at 48 kHz: one voice on a journey into a locked tone 0.24% of a core; eight notes 2.4%
Questions
Nebula Astra FAQ
Is it a granular synth or a time-stretcher?
No. While it is rhythmic every repeat plays the sample at normal speed from its start. Only when the repeats get faster than about 40 per second does it become a tone.
Can I play chords?
Yes. Poly runs 2 to 8 voices, and each note of a chord follows its own journey to its own pitch.
What happens to the sample when I save?
The sample is stored in the session as lossless FLAC, up to 30 seconds, so the song opens and bounces the same.
Is there a VST3?
Not yet. It is built as an Audio Unit for Logic and Nebula DAW; VST3 is planned after the owner signs off on the sound.
What does it need?
macOS 11 or later, on Apple silicon or Intel. It loads as AU or VST3 in Logic, Ableton Live, Bitwig, Cubase, FL Studio, Reaper and Nebula DAW.
Try Nebula Astra free for 30 days
Download, install, and every product runs fully for 30 days. No account and no card needed. Buy the ones you keep.