The Sound of Nostalgia

Combining vintage keyboards, intimate acoustic instruments and warm lo-fi textures Evolve Velvet is a unique sample-based synthesizer inspired by the smooth and luxurious character of Velvet.

Evolve Velvet combines over 250 sound sources ranging from felt pianos and classic electric keyboards to timeless strings and sought after classic synths from the 70’s and 80’s. The result is a smooth, expressive sound palette that ranges from acoustic and intimate through to lush, rich electric tones that provide a vintage quality into your music.

Blend your sound from four layers, morph between them with the XY pad, and then shape the output using four velvet inspired macro effects: Soften, Warmth, Sway and Haze. Evolve Velvet offers dual filters, endless modulation potential and 16 effects modules to power its 250 presets crafted by Excite Audio’s team of professional sound designers.

Whether you’re sketching soulful jazz chords, building lo-fi house grooves or painting psychedelic pop textures, Evolve Velvet makes cozy, timeless tones that are instantly playable and inspiring.

What Can Evolve Velvet Do?

  • Blend four layers of samples or synths using the powerful quad-engine.

  • Morph sounds in real time with the expressive XY Pad.

  • Get instant creative sparks with one-click randomisation.

  • Import your own samples and build entirely custom patches.

  • Modulate anything with drag-and-drop envelopes, LFOs, and XY controls.

  • Shape and polish your sound with metal-inspired macro effects.

  • Tweak your tone with dual filters and a rearrangeable 3-slot FX chain.

  • Explore 250 genre-spanning presets or create from scratch.

Four Dimensions of Sound

The source of Evolve Velvet’s sounds is its quad-layer engine. Each of the four layers can house either a sample-based instrument from a selection of 250 sources, or a synth oscillator. You can even import your own samples into Evolve Velvet to start a new sound or replace any source of an existing patch.

Sampled sources give you play direction, tone and keytracking parameters to play with, while synth sources get an oscillator shape slider and unison detuning. Control the Pitch and Fine tuning, plus Velocity Sensitivity, Panning and Volume for any sound.

Click the dice of any layer to choose a sample at random or roll the dice in the header to randomise the whole plugin, including sound sources, sound parameters and effects.

Use the XY Pad in "Sounds Mode" to blend between the four sound sources or use it in "FX mode" to modulate any available parameter in the instrument.

Smooth Movement

Modulation has been built into the framework of Evolve Velvet from the start, making sure there’s a comprehensive choice of sources with easy setup and reactive visual feedback. 12 modulation sources include six envelopes (ADSR with Delay and Hold), two LFO sources with retriggering and offset options, Velocity and Keytracking with adjustable curves, and the XY Pad’s X and Y position.

A full modulation matrix awaits advanced sound designers, showing all the assigned modulation routings as a manageable list. Parameters such as modulation curve and polarity allow even deeper customisation.

Effects for Texture and Character

Four main macro effects have been crafted specifically to shape the output of Velvet: Soften reduces the sound’s transient and harsh frequencies, Warmth applies subtle saturation and gentle harmonics, Sway adds Wow and Flutter pitch modulation, Hazy applies a characterful lo-fi hall reverb. These can be routed to run either before or after the FX modules.

Dual filters allow each source (A, B, C, D) to easily be routed as inputs, and can be run in parallel or series by feeding one filter into the other. Both filters have a variety of filter curves, Cutoff and Resonance controls, filter Drive and Mix.

You’ll also find three rearrangeable effects slots, each of which hosts a choice of 16 high-quality effects, each with its own set of parameters. Effects modules include:

  • Saturation

  • Feedback

  • Bitcrush

  • Delay

  • Reverb

  • Compressor

  • Transient

  • Modulation

  • Phaser

  • Auto-Wah

  • Speaker

  • Width

  • Noise

  • EQ

  • Pitch Drift

  • Filter

Features

  • 4 Sound Sources (A, B, C, D)

  • Sample and Synth OSC engines

  • XY Pad with Sounds and FX modes

  • 250 Sound Sources - Acoustic, Chords, Multisample, Synth, Textures, Transients

  • User Sample Import

  • Randomise Sounds, Parameters and Effects

  • 4 Macros: Soften, Warmth, Sway, Haze

Sample Engine Parameters

  • Sounds Browser

  • Pitch, Fine, Tone

  • Pan, Velocity Sensitivity, Volume

  • Forward / Backward Playback Direction

  • Keytracking On/Off

Synth Engine Parameters

  • Oscillator Shape Slider: Sine, Triangle, Saw, Square, Pulse

  • Pitch, Fine, Unison, Detune

  • Pan, Velocity Sensitivity, Volume

Effects Parameters

  • Dual-Filter Modes: HPF, LPF, BP, Peak

  • Dual-Filter Parameters: Filter Drive, Mix, Frequency, Resonance

  • Dual-Filter Inputs: A, B, C, D, Filter 1/Filter 2

  • Saturation Modes: Tape / Tube / Fuzz

  • Satauration Parameters: Drive, Tone, Mix

  • Feedback Parameters: Amount, Frequency, Mix

  • Bitcrush Parameters: Bit Depth, Sample Rate, Mix

  • Delay Modes: Ping-Pong / Stereo

  • Delay Parameters: Delay L Time, Delay R Time, Sync, Feedback, Mix

  • Reverb Modes: Hall / Plate / Spring

  • Reverb Parameters: Length, Size, Damping, Mix

  • Compressor Parameters: Threshold, Attack, Release, Mix

  • Transient Parameters: Attack, Release, Gate, Mix

  • Modulation Modes: Chorus / Vibrato / Flanger

  • Modulation Parameters: Depth, Rate, Sync, Feedback, Mix

  • Phaser Modes: 1 Notch / 2 Notch / 3 Notch Modes

  • Phaser Parameters: Amount, Rate, Sync, Feedback, Mix

  • Auto-Wah Parameters: Amount, Rate, Mix

  • Speaker Modes: Device / Cabinet / Hi-Fi / No Speaker

  • Speaker Parameters: Size, Age, Depth, Mix

  • Width Modes: Haas / Mid-Side / Detune Modes,

  • Width Parameters: Width, Pan, Mix

  • Noise Sources: Amp Hiss, Amp Hum, Beach, Campire, Cassette Static, Crowd, Interferance, Mechanical, Metalic and more...

  • Noise Parameters: Threshold, Release, Level

  • EQ Parameters: Lo, Mid, Hi

  • Pitch Drift Modes: Sine / Tri Up / Tri Down / Random Modes

  • Pitch Drift Parameters: Wow Rate, Wow Depth, Flutter Rate, Flutter Depth

  • Filter Modes: LPF / HPF / Peak Modes

  • Filter Parameters: Frequency, Gain/Slope, Resonance

12 Modulation Sources

  • Velocity & Key Tracking Parameters: Amount, Lo, Hi, Curve

  • ADSR (A/B/C/D) Parameters: Delay, Attack, Hold, Decay, Sustain, Release, Link

  • LFO (1/2) Parameters: Amount, Rate, Sync, Free/Retrigger Modes, Smooth, Offset, Grid

  • LFO (1/2) Shapes: Sine, Saw Up, Saw Down, Triangle, Seq 1, Seq 2, Exponential, Build Up

  • Envelope (1/2) Parameters: Delay, Attack, Hold, Decay, Sustain, Release, Link

  • FX XY Pad (X-Axis/Y-Axis)

  • Pitch Wheel + Modwheel Mapping

Settings Page

  • Number of Voices: 1-32

  • Legato On/Off

  • Glide Time: 0-5000ms

  • Pitch Bend: 1-12 Semitones

  • Global Pitch: +/-100 cents

  • Macro Routing: Pre/Post FX

  • Eco Mode: On/Off

  • Tooltips: On/Off

System Requirements

macOS

  • macOS 10.15 or higher (Intel / Native Apple Silicon supported)

  • Plugin Formats: VST, VST3, AU, AAX, Standalone

  • DAW's Supported: Ableton Live, Pro Tools, Logic Pro, FL Studio, Cubase, Nuendo, Reaper, Reason + more.

  • Compatibility: 64-bit compatible only

Windows

  • Windows 7 or higher

  • Plugin formats: VST, VST3, AAX, Standalone

  • DAWs supported: Ableton Live, Pro Tools, Logic Pro, FL Studio, Cubase, Nuendo, Reaper, Reason + more.

  • Compatibility: 64-bit compatible only

Evolve Velvet - User Manual