I was gonna put this up at the beginning of October when i first got the beta, but i wasnt allowed, so i've put it up now. Its only a 2 minute demo of some of the Crystal sounds and a little bit of drums programmed in OPlat. there are 6 Crystals grinding away in this aural intrusion

http://kriminal.phreque.com/insekt.mp3

Thanx to Glenn for letting me test the V2

Hehe, stadium rock!!!

Is that the little riff from 'close encounters'?

Nice one.

ohmigod! ohmigod! ohmigod! ohmigod! ohmigod! ohmigod! ohmigod! ohmigod! ohmigod! ohmigod! ohmigod! ohmigod! ohmigod! ohmigod!

This is making the wait for my copy of CM to arrive a torture!!!!!!

Damn you Krim, you evil bastard! Fantastic sounds, fantastic tune (sounds more Gary Numan than Close Encounters to me). Man, that sequence pulsing along is exactly the kind of thing I dig...

Damn you Donk, i knew as soon as you said "stadium rock" all the p**g r**kers would be in here

Well, i've had it for weeks now, about 8 i think. Dont suppose youll get it till after xmas now Scot

http://kriminal.phreque.com/v2demo.zip

If you have Orion Platinum and Crystal V2 you can have the .sfs to mess about with if you so desire

Why, yes, the .sfs would indeed be most cool...Fortunately, I have a subsctription to CM, so I won't have to wait TOO long. It's usually just a week or two behind. But it will be a LONG week or two

Krim,

I count for one in the two billion hits on your site this month.

Your track is great.

I am a subscriber to CM but the postman knows about Crystal....
he might steel it.
OK I will ask the genitor to get it back from the postman by brutal force,
but she also knows about Crystal, ....
damn.

Cheers

PA

Thanx PA, happy to entertain you

Scot Solida wrote:

Man, that sequence pulsing along is exactly the kind of thing I dig...

You've got a Wavestation, don't you? If so, you might get the subtle reference: that Crystal patch is called "Mirage in Motion".

Kriminal, I've taken the liberty of putting a link to your mp3 on the Crystal web site, along with some brief descriptions of the new features in 2.0 ( http://www.greenoak.com/crystal ).

- GlennO

GlennO wrote:

Kriminal, I've taken the liberty of putting a link to your mp3 on the Crystal web site, along with some brief descriptions of the new features in 2.0 ( http://www.greenoak.com/crystal ). - GlennO

Oh, so i do a track, and you start takin fuckin liberties, wot is the world comin to, i ask ya...

Its a pleasure Glenn, actually, i get a lot of hits from referals at Green Oak, so cheers.

Thinking about it, i should get a job doing demos for VST's. I've done Crystal 1 & 2, GRunT, Bones Killers, a few other SynthEdit ones, as well as Orion Stuff, and they all seem to go down well and create a stir.....mmmmm

Yup, I am the proud owner of a Wavestation EX...But I am embarrassed to say that I don't know the reference. My Wavestation has few of the factory sounds, only those in ROM1 and 2. I'm afraid that I wiped the rest as soon as I got it, feeling that they were too "identifiable". Glenn, I must thank you for adding wavesequencing to Crystal's already formidable feature set. This is a function we don't see enough today, and to combine it with Crystal's powerful sound...Whew! I can't wait to check it out.

Hey Kriminal,

nice tune, I like it! Good sounds, wavesequencing is cool.

Excellent tune, krim. I like it, and the sounds...

Wow Krim, that is an excellent tune! Can't wait to get my issue of cm!
Great job.

bluedad

Beautiful piece, congrats (And to the Crystal folks too, this sounds wonderful).

Yes very cool indeed!!! Hmmmm why is this Synth Free?

Good work me thinks on it Glenn..... now I need to wait 6 months before I get the CM that has it

Scot Solida wrote:

Why, yes, the .sfs would indeed be most cool...Fortunately, I have a subsctription to CM, so I won't have to wait TOO long. It's usually just a week or two behind. But it will be a LONG week or two

Spare a thought for those poor people who live outside UK and don't have a subscription. Australia only got issue 51 about two weeks ago

Methinks I've got a very long wait until I can get my hands on Crystal 2

(Not that I've got around to learning how to use Crystal 1.5 yet, but the presets alone are awesome enough for me to count this as one of my favourite synths )

I just subscribed. I hope issue 54 is the first issue that arrives. (cross fingers).

I'm tired of looking around for the latest issue etc.

The subscription ends up costing me the same per issue that I'm paying anyway so I might as well subscribe.

EDIT: PS Kriminal...cool track.

While I'm waiting for CM54, I'd like to hear about the new features in 2.0. Can anybody who has used it comment on the new things in 2.0?

You want some feedback on the Crystal 2? Try this:

It just keeps getting better and better! Wavesequencing is sooo cool, and easy to use as well. Very practical for some instant ambience. I predict we will begin to hear more and more crystal on tv 'Alias'-like shows. The new sampled waveforms help to give the wavesequences more life. The sample import function (soundfonts only) is also a m a z i n g. I downloaded a good Oberheim soundfont from Hammersound (http://www.hammersound.net/) and it worked flawlessly. The only thing missing from the wavesequencing part is the ability to tune each waveform, like in the Korg. The program morph is also great for making a lead solo come alive, but I haven't explored it as much. Program randomize is great for lazy programmers (like meself ), but can lead to some dangerous FEEDback, so be warned...

Big applause for Glenn

summer wrote:

While I'm waiting for CM54, I'd like to hear about the new features in 2.0. Can anybody who has used it comment on the new things in 2.0?

Well... you have to be prepared, first of all, that it's NOT a brand new synth, but an expanded version of an already existing one. The reason I have to emphasize this is because most people tend to go to the new features and test them exclusively, instead of taking in the whole 'gestalt'...

In other words, what's important is not (merely) the new features, but how they influence the whole as more than the sum of its parts. One, for example, is the capability to load soundfonts as waveforms: it doesn't make Crystal a soundfont player - in fact, it's pretty basic - but it's flawless and easy. But take a deep Oohctave Pad soundfont, combine it with a Noise and a Swirl, program a sweep with them, and you get a Gregorian-Ambient chant pulsing with the waves of the Pacific Ocean that never stops...

Then there is wave sequencing. Imagine setting the two mod envelopes (each with different shapes) both to control wave sequencing for three different oscillators, but in different order... with Poly and Loop on for everything...

Crystal 2 has one major problem: it's addictive. Once you start messing around with it, you can forget about getting any tracks done - you'll be busy tweaking and experimenting into the wee hours of the morning.

A cautionary note, though: no matter how much you might hate it, take the time and read carefully the manual, especially concerning the new features. If you leave out a step or two (e.g. manually setting your oscillators to the first wave in the sequence), you might not notice any effect, and think 'hell, it doesn't work'. It DOES, but you have to pay attention to what you're doing...

The bookstores only just received issue 53 here in Montreal. Computer Musys is pretty good. There is a great article on progrming Crystal 1.5. THis should keep a programing moron like me busy for while at least until issue 54 arrives - around Xmas time.

Crystal is one of my favorite synths. I still can't belive it's free. I have a whole bunch of commercial synths and I still find myself using Crystal when I'm not using Sonic Synth. Crystal is specally useful for the otherworldly pad sounds I am trying get these days.

Thanks Glenn.

Seeing as the secret's out on Crystal, I can say I've been playing around on the beta version, and I have a Wavestation too (only the original version I'm afraid - would have liked the A/D, but that's another story).
And nobody will be surprised to hear that Crystal beats the pants off the Wavestation in sonic capability and it takes half the time to programme it too. It doesn't have as many waveforms as the WS, but as you can use *********s, that really doesn't matter.

Imagine what a Wavestation could do with Crystal's massive envelopes and a nice choice of truly resonant filters. My Wavestation has now been collecting dust and is used purely as a controller keyboard! You will wet yourselves when you get into a bit of deep programming with the all new singing & dancing Crystal.

I've recently started a bit of a trippy ambient tune, and can see myself completing the whole thing with only Crystal and some drums. Pads that evolve for half of the song - wonderful. And I don't know if it's just me imagining it, but Crystal has got indescribably more powerful, but seems to use less CPU! I used a 2-voice sound with 3-note chords and it only used 20% of my CPU.

I was sat there nodding off to trance-inducing delights from Glenn's little beauty, and I was thinking to myself that even if I spent a few thousand $$$s on a top of the range sampler - it still couldn't make these sounds.

Oh we are all such spoilt children (soon anyway)

Man, this is cool cool cool cool stuff.

We tend to get CM here fairly regularly at the local Barnes and Noble. You bet I will be visiting.

Way to go Glenn. I still can't believe Crystal is free. Worth at least $150.

prog

Ned Bouhalassa wrote:

The only thing missing from the wavesequencing part is the ability to tune each waveform, like in the Korg.

Uh oh. That was a screw up on my part. It was working in an early beta, but I must have broken it at the last minute. Oh well, consider it a feature that will be added in 2.1.

- Glenn

progfusion74 wrote:

We tend to get CM here fairly regularly at the local Barnes and Noble. You bet I will be visiting.

If it's the one in Encinitas, I might be looking for it there myself.

I am a little further south . So you live in my neck of the woods .. cool

I checked the store but the bastards only had the old cm
have to check another store
this sounds like a must have it to me

why did you call this track insect ?
it reminds me of a huge shunting-yard
the epiano makes it sweet and harmonic
it is a bit repetitive ... please change that
it doesn't sound like an insect to me
but it is one of your better things for sure !

I was paging through your tracks when I heard your piece
with bluedad on guitar again .... that is the most
fantastic track I ever heard of you
I have always been a great fan of morcheeba and portishead and
electronic groups like leftfield your bluedad piece reminded me of portishead

back to this tune ... it reminds me of the orb
(which is a compliment kriminal)

thank you, Innocent is one of my favourites too, nice and relaxing tune

Nice track indeed. You say you have 6 crystals running at the same time? It must not be too demanding on CPU. Cant wait to get my copy of CM...although where I live that wont be till next year.

Fuck me!

I can't believe I waited so long to actually try and get into this synth.

After the CM tutorial on pads, I decided to get a little creative myself and WHOA!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

I've lost the "fear factor" now and realise that this isn't as complicated as I thought it was and the sounds you can produce! OMG!!!

I just programmed a patch that sounds like it's come out of a nightmare.....and I love it!!!!

That I've left it this late is kriminal (sorry - had to), but it's not a mistake I will be making in future. Crystal has now become one of my essential noise makers.

I don't know if I can even imagine how much better it's going to get with version 2.

OMG! I can't wait!

Glad you like it. I hope you have as much fun using it as I had making it! Just a reminder to everybody, I'm always looking for patch contributions to be included in user banks. So, if anybody has any patches they'd like to share, send them along to me and I'd be glad to put them on the crystal web site.

- Glenn
glenn@greenoak.com

tried 4 stores already
did you manage to find it in the store crimson warlock ? (or some other folk from the netherlands)
i did buy this mag once in a store that doesn`t keep it in rack anymore

Caleb wrote:

Fuck me! I can't believe I waited so long to actually try and get into this synth. After the CM tutorial on pads, I decided to get a little creative myself and WHOA!!!!!!!!!!!!!! I've lost the "fear factor" now and realise that this isn't as complicated as I thought it was and the sounds you can produce! OMG!!!...

Welcome, Brother, to our family sect of the True Converted Believers in Crystal, or TCBC(TM). Please proceed to the right to sign over all your earthly possessions (particularly cash, credit cards, and other negotiable items) to Me; you can be sure I'll pass them on to High Priest Glenn.

To the left, you'll find our spanking brand-new work benches. There you can perform your religious duties by coding new, innovative VSTi's for the masses 22 hours a day, 7 days a week (tomorrow is a break day... tomorrow...), without being threatened by ANY form of dirty earthly financial compensation, but with the cherished opportunity to fast all day and night...

All hail TCBC(TM)!

A couple of people have suggested that I start a Crystal list at groups.yahoo.com. It would be a place to ask questions, share ideas, and discuss Crystal.

I'd be glad to start the list and actively participate, but I'd like to first gauge the amount of interest. It would be lonely if I was the only on the list . Does this sound like something that would be worthwhile?

- Glenn

Sign me up for that one

Glenn,

I think it's an excellent idea, but I'm worried about the long-term viability of it as well...?

I mean, I started with the Orion Yahoo group when I bought the software, and have been downloading it ever since into my e-mail, but I did notice a significant drop in its traffic since Peter's website took over - and also since more and more of us discovered K-v-R... Which means that websites, even if they're new and up against an established competitor, seem to present a greater influence and attraction than ad-ridden, monofocal commercial newsgroup services...

...and from this point of view, you could perhaps set up a home at K-v-R...? A huge chunk of your customers are here already, and I sure as hell watch every thread that mentions Crystal...

I understand that an official Tech Support Forum is a much bigger responsibility than a newsgroup, but users could support each other anyway. Besides, seeing as Crystal is pure freeware, I'm sure you wouldn't be expected to provide answers in a 24 hour turnround, or offer a handkerchief to every single cough...

UNLESS, of course, Ben wouldn't be able to accommodate your request, OR you feel like at this point in its development Crystal demands a little bit more developer-test-user privacy.

Using kvr as the way to keep in touch would be fine with me. I just didn't want to impose on Ben's hospitality, but if there's sufficient interest, I'll check with him about setting up a Crystal group. So, if anyone thinks that's a worthwhile thing, let me know.

As far as the responsibility for me that would be involved, that's ok. I'd like the perception of Crystal's quality to be right up there with the best commercial synths, and support is an important part of that perception.

- Glenn

GlennO wrote:

Using kvr as the way to keep in touch would be fine with me. I just didn't want to impose on Ben's hospitality. I'll check with him about setting up a Crystal group. As far as the responsibility for me that would be involved, that's ok. I'd like the perception of Crystal's quality to be right up there with the best commercial synths, and support is an important part of that perception. - Glenn

Well you're not going to have to do anything to convince me this is a professional synth up with the best.

Crystal has now been immortalised in my "synths I can't do without" list. It competes very well with my snazzy Scope synths and if you've ever played with those, you'll know that's a compliment.

I've got my Vectron, Prisma, Avalon, Saturn, Tau Pro, Angelina, Pentagon I, VAZ2010, SR202, SampleTank, VSampler/DS404 and Crystal. Why the hell haven't I got an album out by now? Could it be that I hang around here all the time and never write any music?

Caleb wrote:

... Why the hell haven't I got an album out by now? Could it be that I hang around here all the time and never write any music?

I definitely know what you're talking about.