gmpf...i feel a bit ignored in the GUI-Discussion ...

may sound a bit stupid but i have been using crystal for half a year now but a few days ago i realized for the first time a function named KETRACK in the modulation matrix

what is this one good for ? i could not find anything about it in the users guides...

and another thing : the waveshape-sequencing seems to be limited to the included waveforms ... is itpossible to expand those ones ? or might you do that in a future update, glenn ? wbg

My guess is "keyboard tracking", function found on some synths... used to control for example filter behaviour when playing higher notes.

The above could also be complete baboon poo, but like Crystal, completely free of charge and with honest intentions.

Do you mean key track in the source section?

I love this synth precisely for this reason.
Bits just keep popping up that you've not seen before. Or seen but forgotten about.

I've been using it ages as well, and know I've still not unlocked its full potential.

Not sure what the key track function does - I'll check it out later.
And watch this topic for any tips as well.

pakana wrote:

My guess is "keyboard tracking", function found on some synths... used to control for example filter behaviour when playing higher notes. The above could also be complete baboon poo, but like Crystal, completely free of charge and with honest intentions.

i beleive you are right

you can attach keyboard tracking to various functions through the matrix

Yep...Key tracking generally does something like shorten the envelope times progressively as you play up the keyboard (supposed to imitate real instruments to some degree). Often also brightens the filter as you go up the keyboard. But of course with something like Crystal you can apply different things to it and also the opposite way. So you can do something like have an inverse resonance tracking - i.e. the resonance decreases progressively as you go up the keyboard.....or more esoteric things like applying an envelope to keytracking -> if you apply the same envelope that you're using to control the wavesequencing, then as you play up the keyboard, the part of the oscillator that the patch starts with will move through the wavesequence.

Somewhat more clear..... If you have an envelope that wavesequences from a violin into a trumpet, then into a synth pad......if you apply keytracking with the same envelope....at the bottom of the keyboard your patch will start with the violin; at the middle of the keyboard it will start with the trumpet, and at the top it will start with the synth pad. If you have a minus modulation amount then it will do the exact opposite.

Good, eh?

This is something that many VSTi curiously missed out, yet it used to be almost a standard feature on any h/w synth.

Quote:

and another thing : the waveshape-sequencing seems to be limited to the included waveforms ... is itpossible to expand those ones ? or might you do that in a future update, glenn ? wbg

You can load your own Soundfonts into the CrystalSoundfonts folder. Loads of people seem to have missed the point of that. As long as they are SF2, Crystal will play anything. So if you want, you can load in drum SF2s and make Crystal into a hugely flexible drum machine of sorts. It will play literally any SF2s you put into it, but they have to go into the right folder. So, it's also a very well featured sampler. Even though it's not one of those multi-out type VSTi, you can use it as a sampler with 3 banks. What you'd do is to have different SF2s in each of the 3 voices and set up keyboard zones. As you can route each voice to their own filters and FX (and even mix them up) it's effectively a 3-out sampler that just happens to have 1 set of outs.

There are heaps of SF2s available on the net. A good site is:

www.SF2midi.com


Glenn wrote a pretty comprehensive manual for Crystal...you really should read it sometime. You will be pleasantly surprised at the number of things it can do that aren't immediately obvious...and he has some step by step programming tips too.


And if you get an app that transfers between formats, you can make your own SF2s from any other type of .wav or Akai sample format or whatever.


When you really get inside Crystal you soon realise how incredibly flexible and useful it is...yet I doubt that many people use it as a sampler. I have some nicely recorded violin SF2s (which unfortunately only have a 2-octave range) but nevertheless sound beautiful... not the usual bog-standard violin pads. I put them through Crystal and it did some incredible things for my mix with them. I've likewise put drumloops through Crystal and it can get some sounds that I find it difficult to do with standard VSTFX plugins - such as controlling the phasing with a mod wheel and also controlling all the aspects of a filter as the phaser sweeps down. And then when you start to mess with wavesequencing drumloops...well, need I say more?

thanks to everyone ...your answers concerning the keytrack-function help me a lot...

concerning the waveshapes :

i knew that soundfonts could be added ( I did it and i consider it G R E A T !!!) , but my question is whether you could "morph" between those like you could do with the original waveforms by using the modmatrix/envelope...??? i tried,but it didnt work, but maybe i missed something important like copying it into a special folder or sth like this...

No can't wavesequence sf2s unfortunately. It would be lovely if you could.

The only thing I can think of off the top of my head is to load one soundfont in osc 1 and another in osc 2 and use mod envelopes to control the level of each oscillator - like a crossfade.

OK - not the same thing but at least you can start with one sound and end with another.

Caleb

kritikon wrote:

This is something that many VSTi curiously missed out, yet it used to be almost a standard feature on any h/w synth. [....] ...well, need I say more?

Rhino


well, need I say more?