sound + texture engine
the engine is where everything in luma begins. this section handles source selection, playback behaviour, and blending the sound and texture together.
sound
select your sound source here. you can pick from 238 sounds, split into 5 categories:
analog:
warm synths, tape machines, and vintage gear
digital:
FM, granular, and wavetable synths
acoustic:
real instruments and recorded objects
hybrid:
somewhere between organic and synthetic
textured:
processed and character-driven with built-in movement
texture
select your texture layer here. you can pick from 224 textures, split into 5 categories:
noise:
vhs hiss, radio static, clocks ticking, etc.
natural:
reverbs, mic responses, physical spaces, etc.
industrial:
springs, electrical hums, worn-out gear, etc.
synthetic:
generated sweeps, glimmers, bitcrushed tones, etc.
foley:
field recordings, environments, and subtle real-world layers
in addition to these categories, textures come in 4 distinct forms:
impulse:
reverbs, filters, and crazy effects, captured in short impulse responses
noise:
non-tonal, sustained textural layers (following the volume envelope)
tonal:
tonal one-shots to layer on top of your primary sound
foley:
long ambient or environmental recordings (fading in and out according to what is played)
xy pad
the most expressive control in the plugin. this is the primary method of blending the sound and texture to really explore the instrument you've created
x-axis:
controls the timbre of the sound. left typically means more filtered and right typically brighter. in addition, left plays the sound at its transient (or fade-out point if reversed) and right plays it at the loop point.
y-axis:
the dry-wet control for the texture. top is 100% wet, and bottom is completely dry.
play direction
this controls the play direction of the sound and texture (aside from impulse textures).
looping
this determines whether your sound source plays out in its entirety or if it loops at its intrinsic loop points.
voicing
simple control that switches between monophonic and polyphonic control.
glide
monophonic and polyphonic portamento glide control.
volume envelope
the volume envelope controls amplitude over time and is primarily a traditional adsr envelope, with a quirk or two.
adsr
the adsr follows traditional usage.
attack:
controls how long it takes the sound to reach full volume after a note is pressed.
decay:
sets the time it takes for the volume to fall from its peak to the sustain level.
sustain:
determines the constant volume level held while the note is sustained.
release:
defines how long the sound takes to fade out after the note is released.
envelope squeeze
this control flattens the dynamics of the sound after the envelope shapes it, allowing for unpredictable bursts of texture.
velocity sensitivity
this adjusts the volume of each note based on how hard you play it, making your performance more expressive and dynamic.
movement
the movement section adds a human touch to luma. its two controls do an incredible job of adding life and unpredictability to the instrument you're creating and using.
variance
this control introduces small changes to each note you play across pitch, panning, adsr, and timbre. it helps your sound feel more human and less repetitive. the more you dial up the variance, the more each note played will differ.
pitch:
slightly detunes each note- great for making analog sounds feel more vintage.
panning:
nudges notes left or right to create a wider, more natural stereo image.
adsr:
adds small shifts to the volume envelope- pay attention particularly to the attack.
timbre:
alters the tone slightly with each trigger, effectively adding dispersion to the x-axis control without the brightness shift.
disturbance
inspired by crazy pitch-shifting pedals and granular effects, disturbance adds layers of chopped-up fragments from the sound you're playing. the more you increase it, the more intense and unpredictable it becomes.
tempo sync:
locks the disturbance's glitches to your project’s tempo.
glitch direction:
lets you choose whether the fragments play forward, in reverse, or back-and-forth.
filters
the filters section smooths and degrades the final tone of your sound. the two effects can work both solo and in tandem, letting you remove or smear all combinations of frequencies.
sample rate
this control lowers the resolution of the sound, creating the familiar "underwater" feeling that so many producers know and love. use the main cutoff control to adjust how dramatic this effect it, then use the subsidiary controls to add movement and texture.
degradation:
adds digital crunch and harshness, making the downsampling effect more obvious.
drift:
gently moves the sample rate over time.
spectral gate
this removes parts of the frequency spectrum to create a smeared and distant sound, reminiscent of mp3 lossy compression. the main control focuses on the amount of gating, and the secondary controls manipulate the effect further.
speed:
controls the rate at which the spectral gate works. at high speeds, the effect is almost like bad cell reception and at low speeds it sounds ghostly.
corruption:
this is the spectral gate's own distortion. it mangles the sound and makes it less intelligible .
generate
the generate button creates a complete new preset with a carefully tuned algorithm that blends sound, texture, and parameters to produce an incredible result each time. it also gives your preset a unique name, ready to be saved straight into your user folder with save as new.
preset browser
here you can browse through all available preset banks and explore the curated sounds inside each one. just click a bank on the left to reveal its presets, then load any preset instantly with a single click. you can also scroll through presets using the arrow buttons either side of the selected preset's name in the top bar. to open it or close it, simply press the selected preset's name in the top bar.
viewport
the viewport is the main display area within luma where all detailed views appear. it is the detail area for adjusting the engine, envelope, movement and filters, and browsing the menu or presets. it’s designed so nothing ever overlaps or hides the main controls, keeping your workflow focused and consistent.
volume control
there's really not much more to say about this…
if you want any more guidance using luma, make sure to check out the support centre here.
