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What is Impulse Modeling Synthesis? (IMS)

Impulse Modeling Synthesis (IMS) is far more than a marketing buzzword – it represents a radically new and different approach to synthetic sound generation.
Based on the latest research in psychoacoustics, Tone2 RayBlaster ® unveils a completely new & unique world of sounds and sound creation that is exclusive to Rayblaster and not possible with other synthesizers. 
Offering a new world of high quality sounds and limitless creative potential for all styles of music, IMS goes well beyond traditional forms of synthesis. Conventional synthesizers employ what is known as subtractive synthesis, in which the oscillator source is a looped waveform that is filtered to create a sound. By contrast, RayBlaster utilizes an entirely new and fresh approach to sound generation and creates its distinctive sound from many short bursts of energy, which combine to form a more  complex sound. In fact, this innovative approach to synthesis is very close to what happens within the human inner ear. Because of its radically new method of synthesis, RayBlaster offers a wide range of original sounds, sounds that have never been heard before.

What is the difference between RayBlaster and other synthesizers?

Whether you're a professional producer, synthesizer enthusiast, or a live performing musician, distinctive and high quality sounds are just a key press away with RayBlaster’s revolutionary IMS synthesis engine, its psychoacoustic processing, and its carefully designed signal processing. Rayblaster's synthesis engine produces sounds that are very fat and appealing, sounds louder than conventional synthesizers, and is better at cutting through the mix than previous synths. RayBlaster provides a vast range of sounds that would be unimaginable from other synthesizers and opens up completely new sonic possibilities for you to work with. IMS is both powerful and flexible and allows 
free manipulation of pitch, time and timbre in real-time. This enables you to create complex compositions that don’t make the mix ‘muddy'. Especially when played at lower frequencies, the sounds produced by IMS have more detail and character than those produced by other synthesis methods. As a result, you get better sound quality even on lower quality playback systems or within difficult acoustic environments.

Why does RayBlaster need no filter section?

RayBlaster has no need for a separate filter section because its oscillators themselves can authentically simulate the sound of any existing filter! The sound of any other synthesizer’s filter can be 'sampled' and the characteristics of up to 4 filters can be imported directly into the oscillators of RayBlaster. But RayBlaster does not only mimic the sound of existing filters – It is possible to create completely new and experimental filter sounds which are not possible with any other synthesizer. RayBlaster ships with over 100 different filter types and impulse responses.

Resynthesis

But it's not only possible to import filters to RayBlaster’s oscillators. RayBlaster can resynthesize any sample such as a drumloop or a short vocal phrase. There are many possibilities to synchronize the imported sounds to BPM and you got independent control for pitch, timing and timbre in real time

Why does RayBlaster’s sound possess more detail than other synthesizers?

Most conventional synthesizers such as additive or subtractive synthesizers assume that our brains perceive music as a sum of sine frequencies, similar to what you can see in a spectrum analyzer. However, this is only a rough approximation of what our ear is capable of hearing. Recent scientific research has proven that our brain not only perceives the power of frequencies, it also compares the timing of the impulses that are created by nerves. This means that we can also hear the phase of partials if a sound is played at a low bass frequency - a fact which is neglected by conventional synthesizers.
RayBlaster’s advantage in sound quality over conventional synthesizers is most audible with sounds that have a very low bass frequency and a dense spectrum. RayBlaster’s oscillators are rendered with high-end precision. They support 65536x oversampling and can play down to a subsonic frequency of 0.25 Hz without any loss in the treble range. RayBlaster's IMS models the short-time energy distribution of the signal in an extremely detailed way. As a result, the nerves in our inner ear become excited in a precisely timed manner. This is how RayBlaster unveils access to a completely new sonic dimension, why it sounds more present, and how it cuts through the mix so well. Conventional synthesizers do not provide any control over the timing of short-time energy distribution at low frequencies. This is why most of them suffer from a smeared, muffled, and muddy sound that lacks detail.

The following audio example proves that our ear can also hear the phase of signals and is very sensitive to the effects of short-time energy distribution. All three sounds have the same spectrum, which is identical to that of a sawtooth wave, but they sound different.

Audio expample

Psychoacoustic processing

An additional psychoacoustic master section offers several boost modes which equalize the non-linearities of the human ear. In addition to this, the volume that is perceived by the listener is raised without raising the actual volume level very much. Carefully designed digital signal processing with professional sound quality and psychoacoustic processing are among the reasons that RayBlaster sounds more fat and appealing than other synthesizers.

Why does RayBlaster sound louder than other synthesizers?

The oscillators of conventional synthesizers output a static waveform with a constant amount of energy. As a result, the nerves within our inner ear are relentlessly excited at the same level. The sound generation of RayBlaster is very different: It uses short burst of energy followed by silence. Scientific research has proven that the nerves within our inner ear fire more intensely if they get a short period for relaxation. That's why our brain perceives RayBlaster's short energy pulses followed by silence as a louder signal than the oscillators of a conventional synthesizer. This makes RayBlaster an excellent lead synthesizer which always 'cuts through the mix'. Mixes that use RayBlaster are never perceived as muddy because they suffer from less frequency overlap. RayBlaster especially excels at low-frequency sounds because low-frequency sounds created with IMS have more detail and character than other synthesis methods are capable of providing. With RayBlaster you can create far more complex compositions and also achieve better sound quality on bad or older playback systems and in difficult acoustic environments.