Impactor by Rawton Forge
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SYNTHESIZE THE HIT. IN STEREO.
Impactor by RawtonForge is a monophonic percussion synthesizer for Ableton Live. It doesn't reshape samples, it builds every kick, bass drum, tom, and tonal one-shot from the ground up through additive synthesis. Two things set it apart from anything sample-based: a stereo image generated at the source rather than widened after the fact, and a reverb that lets the body ring out while leaving the transient bone-dry.
- Additive Synthesis Engine: up to 12 harmonics with adjustable count and continuous inharmonicity
- Deterministic & Phase-Locked: every hit is repeatable down to the sample, with full phase control over the tail
- Eight Envelopes: pitch, amplitude, and one per modifier, each with its own fully shapeable curve
- Quadrature Stereo Width: a true stereo kick built into the synthesis itself, and fully mono-compatible
- Transient-Split Reverb: an FDN reverb that tails the body without smearing the attack into a wash
- Noise & FM: analog, digital, and stereo noise plus a second oscillator for vibrato, FM, or stereo modulation
- Velocity & Random Matrix: patch dynamics or randomness to any parameter by dragging a cable
- Max for Live: full automation and mapping, Push standalone compatible
Impactor by Rawton Forge
BUILD YOUR BUNDLE: Add any three or more Rawton Forge products to your cart and save 20% automatically at checkout.
SYNTHESIZE THE HIT. IN STEREO.
Impactor by RawtonForge is a monophonic percussion synthesizer for Ableton Live. It doesn't reshape samples, it builds every kick, bass drum, tom, and tonal one-shot from the ground up through additive synthesis. Two things set it apart from anything sample-based: a stereo image generated at the source rather than widened after the fact, and a reverb that lets the body ring out while leaving the transient bone-dry.
- Additive Synthesis Engine: up to 12 harmonics with adjustable count and continuous inharmonicity
- Deterministic & Phase-Locked: every hit is repeatable down to the sample, with full phase control over the tail
- Eight Envelopes: pitch, amplitude, and one per modifier, each with its own fully shapeable curve
- Quadrature Stereo Width: a true stereo kick built into the synthesis itself, and fully mono-compatible
- Transient-Split Reverb: an FDN reverb that tails the body without smearing the attack into a wash
- Noise & FM: analog, digital, and stereo noise plus a second oscillator for vibrato, FM, or stereo modulation
- Velocity & Random Matrix: patch dynamics or randomness to any parameter by dragging a cable
- Max for Live: full automation and mapping, Push standalone compatible
Product reviews
5 out of 5
11 reviews
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August 25, 2026
This reviewer bought this product from our store.
Very good device!
I can make everything about sub base, kick, and overtones in my groove!
The sound in this device is fantastic!
I recommend this product
August 24, 2026
This reviewer bought this product from our store.
Impactor is a fantastic tool, it sounds great and is incredibly easy to work with. I can get punchy , powerfull and interesting kicks very quickly, without getting lost in endless parameters. I actually prefer it to much more complex tools. Sometimes a focused, well-designed tool simply gets the job done better. Highly recommended!
I recommend this product
August 23, 2026
This reviewer bought this product from our store.
Great BD designer, i really like it
I recommend this product
August 20, 2026
This reviewer bought this product from our store.
flexible, fast and versatile.
flexible, fast and versatile sound generator. a joy to use and sounds excellent. don’t sleep on this one.
I recommend this product
August 13, 2026
This reviewer bought this product from our store.
Literally perfect, normally I do essentially the same thing on my eurorack, great to finally have a clean, simple, great sounding in-the-box solution!
I recommend this product
Impactor by Rawton Forge
Most percussion tools hand you a sample and tell you to make it work. Impactor does something different. Built by Rawton Forge and powered by Max for Live, it isn’t a processor, it’s a synthesizer: there is no input sample, only a sound engine that builds each hit from its harmonic content up. What you hear is generated, not processed, which is exactly what gives you control over the parts of a percussive sound that samples lock in place.
Whether you’re engineering the perfect kick for a techno floor, a stereo bass drum for a bass music drop, a tuned tom for a live kit, or a percussive pluck for an experimental record, Impactor turns a sound into something you designed rather than something you found.
What Makes Impactor Different
Because the sound is synthesized rather than sampled, it is fully deterministic: its phase is known at every instant, and controllable. Everything past the pitch decay has a fixed phase, set by the Phase control, so you can reshape the pitch and impact without shifting the tail at all. Align your kick and bass once, then keep tweaking the attack without ever breaking that alignment, something no sample and few synths allow.
That same engine makes the kick perfectly repeatable: trigger it a thousand times and it sounds identical, down to the sample. Or bring it to life through the modulation matrix, where Velocity and Random patch to any parameter by dragging a cable. Map Length and pitch to velocity and a soft tap gives a duller, shorter kick while a hard hit gives a sharper, longer one, all from the same device.
The Sound Engine
At its core, up to twelve harmonics with adjustable inharmonicity form the body of the hit, from a clean sine fundamental to dense, metallic spectra. A pitch envelope drives the signature kick drop, an amplitude envelope with a draggable control point shapes the swell and decay, and a dedicated Click sharpens the attack. Each of the six modifiers carries its own envelope too, shaped by a single bipolar Curve that bends from linear ramps through concave and convex contours to a steady plateau: eight moving shapes in total.
The Modifiers
- Noise: analog, digital, and stereo modes with a continuous color control, blended into the oscillator or switched to FM mode to modulate it
- Partials: up to twelve harmonics with adjustable count and continuous inharmonicity, from a clean sine fundamental to dense, metallic, bell-like spectra
- Drive: tanh-based saturation with a soft-to-hard knee, from gentle warmth to aggressive distortion
- FM: a second oscillator with its own ratio and envelope. A low ratio gives a shapeable vibrato, a ratio of 1 folds into a true FM waveform, and routing it to Width drives a soft, musical audio-rate stereo modulation
- Width: generates the kick in stereo from the start, offsetting each harmonic’s phase in quadrature with a counter-rotating fundamental, so the image is baked into the synthesis and stays fully mono-compatible
- Space: an FDN reverb fed by a transient splitter, so only the sustain enters the tail and the attack stays dry, a kick that sits in a real space without the reverb smearing its transient into a wash
Impactor is monophonic and built around one-shots by design: it’s a percussion voice, not a pad machine. A Hermite retriggering stage smoothly joins fast consecutive hits, so rapid patterns stay click-free.
Who Is Impactor For?
If you produce techno, house, trance, bass music, drum and bass, trap, industrial, or hip-hop, any genre where the kick makes or breaks the track, Impactor becomes an essential part of your workflow. Sound designers working in film, games, and experimental music will find it equally powerful, with toms, harmonic plucks, and tonal one-shots all within reach.
RawtonForge builds tools that respect the intelligence of producers, putting serious DSP behind a clean, immediate interface. Impactor is no exception. Open it, trigger a note, and start shaping.
Technical Details
Impactor by RawtonForge requires Ableton Live 11 Suite or higher, or Ableton Live 11 Standard with the Max for Live add-on. Compatible with Mac and Windows. As a Max for Live device it installs directly into your Live browser and is ready to use immediately, with no additional plugins, drivers, or external software required. Push standalone compatible.
Explore More from RawtonForge
Discover the full range of tools from Rawton Forge at Isotonik Studios — innovative Max for Live devices built for producers who demand more from their workflow.
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Frequently Asked Questions
A: Impactor is a Max for Live percussion synthesizer for Ableton Live. It doesn’t process or reshape samples, it generates sound from scratch through additive synthesis, building kicks, bass drums, toms, and tonal one-shots harmonic by harmonic. You shape the raw tone with dedicated pitch and amplitude envelopes, then color it with six modifiers (Noise, Partials, Drive, FM, Width, and Space), each with its own envelope.
A: Neither. Impactor is a synthesizer. It doesn’t play back or reshape existing samples, and it takes no audio input, it generates every sound from scratch through additive synthesis. You build kicks, bass drums, toms, and tonal one-shots harmonic by harmonic, then shape them with dedicated envelopes and six modifiers. Think of it as an instrument that creates percussion, not a processor that treats it.
A: You need Ableton Live 11 or higher with Max for Live. This is included in Ableton Live Suite, or can be added as an optional add-on to Ableton Live Standard.
A: Yes, Impactor is compatible with Ableton Live 11 and Ableton Live 12, on both Mac and Windows.
A: Yes — as a Max for Live device, all of Impactor’s parameters are fully automatable in both Ableton Live’s Session View and Arrangement View, and can also be mapped to MIDI controllers for live performance.
A: Impactor is particularly powerful for techno, industrial, drum and bass, and any genre where percussion punch matters. It’s also excellent for cinematic sound design, film scoring, and game audio — anywhere you need precise, expressive impact shaping.
A: Impactor installs as a Max for Live device directly into your Ableton Live browser. Once downloaded, drag the device file into your User Library or a designated folder, and it will appear ready to use — no additional software or drivers required.
A: Impactor is developed by Rawton Forge, an independent Max for Live developer creating precision-built tools for producers. You can explore all of their products at Isotonik Studios.
Important Information
v1.0.0 – Initial Release
Our Products are generally provided as Zip file downloads which in all cases will need to be extracted before use. For Max for Live Devices please place the extracted device in your User Library. For Ableton Live Packs please double click the extracted .alp file to install. For Ableton Live Projects please place in your projects folder.
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