Free Download: 1996 ATC-1 Analogue Synth with SEM Filter, Sampled to Ableton Instrument

For our next Ableton instrument giveaway, I’m sharing my lucky score at a recent vintage market in regional Victoria. Yup, in a stack of busted-up ’90s hifi units, the distinctive colourful face plate of a Studio Electronics ATC-1 analogue synthesiser caught my eye. Fully functional, mint condition. I’m not gonna tell you what I paid for it, but I was a happy chap that day.

These units were interesting as they had the filter circuit contained in a cartridge that plugs into the back of the unit, and you could purchase different filter types – Moog ladder style, ARP 2600 style or Oberheim SEM style.  Teamed with the SEM filter, the synth has a fantastic thick and woolly character that I had to share. Check out the demo track I put together:

I’ve sampled 4-octaves (at 24-bit 48kHz) of one of my patches and mapped them across the keys within an Ableton Sampler instrument. I’ve routed the mod-wheel to an LFO modulating the pitch, aftertouch to slightly increase the pitch and open the filter for expressive playing on controllers like Ableton’s Push, and velocity to to modulate the  volume and filter cut-off. I’ve also added in a matching echo and reverb effect, as well as a stereo widening effect. All in all, I think I’ve put together a nice expressive instrument with bags of vintage character for you.

This is a free download (112mb) that’s packaged as the project file for the demo track above. All we ask in return is you subscribe to our monthly newsletter below, and you’ll be sent a download link. Please note, this is for Ableton Live 10 only. Enjoy!

Edit: this got popular fast – we’ve had to amend the download system to send you a file with a link to Google Drive to prevent you all hugging our site to death. Don’t worry, it’s all legit. (yes, we’re working on a better system.)