Subtractive
Two oscillators, a sub and noise into two filters of 19 types, from ladder and MS-20 style to vowel and comb.
8 modulators · 5 envelopes a layer
A synthesizer for the Mac
The stage synthesizer for the Mac.
No menu diving. A keyboard's small screen buries every sound in pages of menus. KiMiA puts it all on one big screen, so your mind stays on the music.
- 8engines
- 8layers at once
- 128voice polyphony
- 64Set pads
- 0notes cut on a switch
Under a minute: the grand piano, a grain harp, a tine electric piano, a deep call, a riser into the drop and House Lights. Every sound on this site comes from the app.
The real Play screen, at full screen
Soundcheck
Nothing to fear at nine o'clock.
KiMiA was made by a keyboard player who gigs with it. Reliability came first, then everything else.
- Gig check. One pass over your set and rig before the show: missing pianos, heavy pads, the audio output, your keyboards, unplugged buttons, the battery and Low Power Mode.
- Crackle guard. When the Mac is pushed too hard, KiMiA quietly fades the notes you'd hear least instead of crackling. In the app and the plug-ins.
- Gig mode. The Mac and its display stay awake, the typing keys play no notes, and KiMiA warns you about the battery and Low Power Mode.
- A limiter at the end. A look-ahead limiter at −0.1 dBFS, which you can switch off.
- Your work is kept. A backup at every launch and before every update; damaged files are mended and you're told what changed.
The set
One press per sound. The whole night on 64 pads.
64
Set pads
4 pages of 16. Each pad keeps both patches whole, their mix and the tempo, frozen as you stored them. The number keys 1 to 0 recall the first ten.
0–10 s
Seamless switch
Change pads mid-chord. Held and pedalled notes ring on in their old sound, with its own delay and reverb tails, while the next notes play the new one.
Songs and a setlist
Order pads into songs with their note and tempo. Next steps through the song, then into the next one.
Your hardware
Program Change, footswitches and any MIDI button: 61 actions to teach. Layouts for KeyLab 61 mk3, nanoKONTROL2 and Oxygen Pro 25.
The stage view
The song, the sound, the next pad and the clock, large enough to read from the stool. With a night mode.
Play needs no setup
Every Play control works the moment a sound loads: Cutoff, Attack, Release, Energy, Delay and Reverb, with one Reset. The looper, Hold, Fade, a one-key chord and a click are one press away.
The switch
Change the sound. Keep the note.
Most instruments cut or fade the old sound when you change. KiMiA keeps it until your fingers let go, and the tail rings out.
The orchestra's release rings out, its hall tooNew notes play the new pad: the grand piano
Two hands
8 layers at once. 2 patches of 4.
Patch 1 and Patch 2 play together, stacked or split at one key. Each is a whole sound of up to 4 layers, every layer with any engine, its own two insert effects and sends.
- One-tap split. Patch 1 below the key, Patch 2 from it up.
- Each its own mix. Level, pan, on, and whether it hears the pedal.
- 128 voices shared by every layer and both patches.
The sounds
An engine for every sound.
Each layer picks its engine. Stack a piano on a pad on a grain cloud, all in one patch. Press play on any card.
Wavetable
24 factory tables of 256 frames, five warp modes, and your own tables from a WAV file.
24 tables · import WAVFM
4 operators, 16 algorithms and feedback on each. Bells and electric pianos with a clean top end.
up to 8× oversampling per notePhysical
20 modelled instruments: tines, bars, bells, plucked and bowed strings, steel pan and timpani, played by touch.
20 modelsGrain
Clouds, scans, freezes and pulses of tiny grains, from KiMiA's samples, your own WAV or AIFF, or the looper's loop.
4 modes · 2,048 grainsPiano
A sampled concert grand, streamed whole from memory, with its dampers, pedal noises and sympathetic strings.
Accurate-Salamander GrandOrgan
91 tonewheels and 9 drawbars, percussion, key click, the scanner vibrato and its own rotary speaker.
9 drawbars · Leslie-style rotaryStack them
Four layers a patch, each on its own engine with its own key range, level and effects. Here, the grand with a string section behind it.
4 layers a patch · 8 at once
Under the hood
Deep sound design, on one page.
Edit holds everything for a sound in one place, with pictures that answer as you turn. Nothing shows that does nothing for the engine you chose, and a dimmed control tells you why.
The sound path
Every layer drawn from source to output: what plays, in which order, through which effects, and what moves it.
Oscillators and filters
Classic waves, supersaw, additive, formant and speech modes, wavetables; then two filters of 19 types, in series or parallel.
Envelopes and modulators
Five envelopes with delay, hold and curves; 8 modulators with shapes you draw, random and drift, free or in time.
Macros and the Super Knob
8 stage macros a sound, each moving many settings along its own curve, and the Super Knob across both patches. The Matrix, 16 routes a layer, is one tab away.
Make it yours
9 themes for the stage and the studio.
Play it here
Try KiMiA on this page.
Real KiMiA notes, recorded from the engine. Play with the mouse, your fingers, the computer keys (A to K), or plug in a MIDI keyboard. Switch sounds while you hold notes: they keep their sound, just like on stage.
Sound quality
Clean to the very top.
High notes are where cheap synths turn harsh. KiMiA picks, note by note, how much oversampling each one needs to stay clean, up to 8×, and spends nothing on notes that don't need it.
- Band-limited oscillators, wavetables and grains.
- The saturating filters at twice the rate on high notes.
- Smooth controls: no zipper noise when you turn a knob.
A plain digital sawKiMiA
A saw at C7 (2,093 Hz) at 44.1 kHz: its harmonics, and the mirror tones a plain digital saw folds back below 22 kHz.
In your DAW
The same sounds, in the studio.
An Audio Unit for Logic Pro and MainStage, and a VST3 for Ableton Live and Cubase, with the same engine as the app. Both patches and their mix are saved with your project.
Works in
- Logic Pro (AU)
- MainStage 4.3.1 (AU)
- Ableton Live 12.4.6 (VST3)
- Cubase AI 15 (VST3)
On stage
Played live on Opac's songs.
KiMiA on stage with the artist Opac, starting with "Sabotor". What he said afterwards:
"That synth sounds just like the missing piece I never thought about even having until I heard it."
"The level of energy that synthesizer gave me, it was insane."
"I want that sound in my music, 100%."
Sound banks
More sounds, ready for the stage.
Grain voices, worship pads, arps, cinematic strings and more, with their macros set up. Hear one-minute demos of each.
Hear the banks Sound Design CourseLearn sound design by ear, with KiMiA.
20 modules, from the overtones you already play to stage-ready sound design. Every example is heard and drawn by KiMiA's own engine. Four modules are free.
See the course
Specs at a glance
The numbers.
8engines
128voices
2 × 4patches × layers
64Set pads
430factory sounds
18insert effects
19filter types
8×oversampling, per note
Download
Download KiMiA.
The download opens the day KiMiA is out, with a free trial of everything. Leave your email and the link comes to you first.
Apple silicon MacmacOS 14 or newerStandalone, AU and VST3
Questions
Which Macs does KiMiA run on?
Apple silicon Macs (M1 and later) with macOS 14 or newer. There are no Intel, Windows or Linux versions planned.
Do I need a MIDI keyboard?
For playing, yes: any USB or MIDI keyboard works, with channel and poly aftertouch. You can also play from the Mac's keys and the on-screen keyboard.
Does it support MPE?
Not yet. KiMiA reads velocity, channel and poly aftertouch, the wheels, the sustain and expression pedals, and any MIDI controller you teach it.
Does it need the internet?
No. KiMiA plays fully offline. It goes online only when you download a piano voicing or check for updates.
What will it cost?
The price is announced at launch, with a free trial of everything. Leave your email above to hear first.