Hi,

At ndc Plugs, we've just uploaded the beta version of Buffer Synth 2 (VST, Mac OS X and Windows). It's kind of complex, but you could maybe think of it as a cross between GRM Tools' Freeze and a wavetable synthesizer . You'll need a reasonably flexible host to get the best from it, as it works best with an audio input and MIDI Note On/Off messages (Tracktion's ideal for this ).

Please feel free to post any comments/feature requests/bug reports here, as there's still quite a lot to do before it's properly finished (see the readme for a todo list). The final version's GUI will by done by Tomasz (I think he goes by the name cbit here ), who did the GUI for our The Modulator 2 plugin.

Windows : http://www.niallmoody.com/ndcplugs/downloads/BufferSynth2.zip
Mac : http://www.niallmoody.com/ndcplugs/downloads/BufferSynth2_mac.zip

- Niall at ndc Plugs.

Cool !

There is "classic" mentioned somewhere inside the folder...

-does it mean it that the mac version shoudl work under os9 as well ?

Sounds really interesting!

I look forward to having a play.

R zzer

Sorry , the classic reference is a preset designed to replicate the original ('classic') Buffer Synth. I'm afraid we don't have the resources to compile for Mac OS9.

- Niall.

I've just had a play - very good.

hi niall. This is very cool.. its going to take a while to figure it all out. I just wanted to check, is there currently a way of getting the buffer loop to reset to its start point when a midi note is received?

(and yeah thats me doing the GUI, looking forward to it!)

No, but that's a good idea - it's going in the todo list .

- Niall.

I shouldn't start downloading and THEN read the posts here! I really like Cbit's idea as well, and if you can work that in Niall - that would be AWESOME! But for now, I'll give BufferSynth 2 a whirl.... In hopes of seeing BufferSynth 3 shortly.

Great stuff Niall! Keep up the great work!

OK - I gave it a blast.

Interesting concept, but I really couldn't get much out of it other than randomness. Feeding it a vocal sample, and generally messing about, then feeding the output into a long delay or reverb produces some good soundscapes.

One for sampling I think.

cheers
R zzer

It looks like the final version of Buffer Synth 2 will appear sometime around late May/early June. There may be a few beta updates before then, but nothing major, I don't think.

Sorry you found it a bit underwhelming, Rozzer - any suggestions for improvements?

- Niall.

1) you added 'wavefile' boxes for those of us with logic4! *heart* *heart*

2) sample as modulation source??!! there's brave you are.. you could teach other devs a few things

3) no key tracking to buffer length? or does my setup not work?

4) crashes a lot in synthedit.. first time when i set the buffer 2 dest, then 2 other times after doing hardly anything. but hey.. i'm still stuck on points 1 and 2..

Hi Niall,

A big THANK YOU for this - just been playing about with the one buffer in Cubase SX on OS X - I love this!

I love scrubbing thru the frozen buffer manually

Thanks for making an OS X version

I'll be keeping a close eye on the ndc stuff from now on!

Take Care,
Dave

Niall

Any plans to do an audio unit version?

xoxos - At the moment the only key tracking it does is when 'Use Buffers As Oscillators' is turned on, to get the pitch for the oscillators. I'm thinking of maybe including key tracking as a modulation source kind of thing though, so you could route it where you want. Thanks for letting me know it's crashing in SynthEdit - so far the only host I've tested it in is Tracktion. I'll see what I can do .

yenorom - I'm afraid there's no plans for an Audio Unit version at the moment . I'm based on Windows myself, and have been compiling the mac versions on my flatmate's mac (which is possible thanks to VST being cross-platform compatible). Also, I don't really have the time to learn another plugin API at the moment.

Has nobody got any comments about the 'Use Buffers as Oscillators' parameter I thought it was the most innovative/interesting feature of the plugin, but nobody seems to have been as impressed as I was expecting .

Oh, and thanks for the news article, Ben .

- Niall.

i suppose i haven't investigated the osc possibilities thoroughly yet. i'm more interested in the 'effect' side of it at the moment. (I did get some nice crunchy zippy noises out of the buffer-as-osc option though..)