Intellijel shared this demo of Plonk, a physical modeling synthesis module for Eurorack modular synthesizers.

Plonk was developed in cooperation with Montreal-based Applied Acoustics Systems — creators of Tassman, Lounge Lizard, String Studio, Ultra Analog, Chromaphone and numerous other plugins. 

The Plonk module focused primarily on creating percussive sounds — both pitched and un-pitched; natural and unnatural; acoustic-sounding or totally electronic. Plonk does this by breaking sound creation into two distinct elements — the exciter and the resonator.

• The exciter is a mathematical model of the device used to strike a particular surface. Plonk, because its percussion oriented, has two types of exciters: one modeled on a mallet, and the other providing a noise source.
• The resonator is a virtualization of the object being struck, which vibrates, resonates and creates the body of a sound. Plonk offers several types of resonators: beam; marimba; drumhead; membrane; plate; and string.

Plonk provides numerous parameters that let you customizre both the exciter and the resonator, enabling you to synthesize the sound of striking or scraping almost any type of object. In this way, Plonk can accurately model the sounds of kicks, snares, toms, cymbals, claps, tablas, congas and all manner of traditional percussion instruments.

It can also model pitched percussive instruments, like vibes, marimbas, bass or guitar-like tones and instruments that never existed.

Any sound you design can respond dynamically to velocity, as well as four different modulation inputs. This means the sound of Plonk can change completely from note-to-note (or strike-to-strike).

Plonk stores up to 128 patches in its internal memory, and ships with many presets programmed.

Features:

• Resonator section models strings, beams, marimbas, drumheads, membranes, and plates.
• Exciter section comprises a realistic mallet model and flexible noise source.
• Two Voice Polyphonic at full resolution (16-bit 44.1Khz).
• Pseudo multi-timbrality possible via CV selectable presets recalled on each new trigger/gate.
• Full parameter randomization and morphing via CV/trigger.
• All synthesis parameters can be assigned to the X, Y and MOD controls.
• 128 user preset slots with import/export via USB and come filled with factory presets designed Richard Devine and AAS.
• Laser Mammoth compatible preset management

Pricing and Availability

The Plonk is available now for US $349.00.