UVI Falcon - hybrid instrument - version 3.01 released - rumors, ads, praise, mud wrestling and off-topic inside!

[sircuit]

Mixer page it's damn cool thing. I remember M5 days when did make full ambient track in single plugin patch thru mixer page, very conveniently. The only thing, would be good add ability to resize ie pull out by height for mixer's faders. They a much squeezed by height. It's could be standard freely resizable, or some fixed switching between few heights. Would be good.

I'm not a big fan of layering with the purpose of cramming a track into a synth. Anyway, I can give you a tip on the faders thing. They're also small in Logic. I always place a Gain module last insert on a track (Last on program strip in Falcon's case) and make a careful levels "pre-balance" so the mix sounds already OK with all the faders at zero.
Then I know I'll need no more than +/- 3dB adjustments at the "fine tuning" stage (command-drag for fine increments in Falcon).
Depending on each one's personal OCD, in my case if I have to go over 3dB with the fader then I go back to the gain insert and adjust from there

[sircuit]

I think Falcon is a master at a few different things. The granular sampling is fantastic and I find the modulation system well thought out and comprehensive. One little feature which saves me so much time is when you double click a sample in the browser it replaces the selected keygroup which is Brilliant. In other samplers you have to create a new keygroup and map it or in Halion's method you can right click and select replace sample on the keygroup and it opens an external browser? So in Falcon I can audition samples very quickly directly into the program. I also like the filters and effects.

This is why I am desperately trying to find a middle ground with it. Because I know it's not all trash and bugs. However I still fail miserably at getting along with it. I agree with the gran, I disagree with the modulation (not the system itself but the fact that is simply buggy - I have envelope that after 5 minutes of fiddling CEASE effecting the destination, I have presets that after reopening them in a new sessions do not sound the same because some envelopes do not work anynmore ). The last part with large samples is not a huge part of my workflow - rather mangling one sample at the time. I also like the FX (some of them would benefit for more oversampling though) but then what's the use when everything else before them goes haywire?

[RobGee]

Well, I still envy you, I wish I only had your issue(s). I don't mind hunting for parameters, for factory and UVI packs I consider that the main panel with designer-picked macro knobs nails very good what can be adjusted to a sound (be it filter, ambiance, eq, add/subtract layers etc.)
Instead, what drives me crazy is this "Jack of all trades, master of none" impression that Falcon exhibits. At this point I start to believe that UVI deliberately sabotage this plugin and fail to implement stuff just to use their libraries - which usually work fine, there's no need to tweak anything outside the main panel. But otherwise I'm very confused with this synth at the moment. Every time I do some crazy (yet very logical) stuff something breaks, modulations do not affect the destination anymore, mappers don't work, envelopes that have no connection with the oscillators trigger sounds, and eventually (especially since the new update) it crashes the DAW. Then after a crash, out of 10-15 instances of Falcon in a project, just 2-3 retain their settings, the rest default to empty sessions, or lose the sample from samplers or default to saw waves. Falcon is good. When it works.

Can’t say I’ve ever had that issue of settings not being retained, at least in my host of choice (Cubase). Although I don’t think I’ve ever had over 10 instances loaded in a project.

I do have a habit of saving Multis and all related samples along with my Cubase project files to allow for hassle free reloading of projects without loss of samples in the future.

Have you contacted support? They’ve been pretty good when I’ve used them.

[sircuit]

Settings not being retained when crashing daw. Un-crashed projects work. But I rarely rely on saved patches when I start a new project so eventually I am crashing Falcon.

As for multis, I don't use them, I find easier to send multiple midi tracks to multiple instances (including drum patterns) than cramming more elements to a single midi track or doing channel splits etc.

I will get in touch with the support eventually, but I don't know if they fixed any request (except the mapper thing) so I don't have too much confidence that they will do something, essentially the soft has bugs. Try to find a way around them.

[Sampleconstruct]

However is in need of some fresh Falcon sounds: I just released another library from my Falcon Singles-series, Falcon Scapes Vol3, check it out here.

[RobGee]

Settings not being retained when crashing daw. Un-crashed projects work. But I rarely rely on saved patches when I start a new project so eventually I am crashing Falcon.

As for multis, I don't use them, I find easier to send multiple midi tracks to multiple instances (including drum patterns) than cramming more elements to a single midi track or doing channel splits etc.

I will get in touch with the support eventually, but I don't know if they fixed any request (except the mapper thing) so I don't have too much confidence that they will do something, essentially the soft has bugs. Try to find a way around them.

I've never encountered this issue even once or heard of anyone else experiencing it and I'll only save multis/programs once the project starts becoming large/nearing completion, maybe this problem is something related to your DAW/system.

Support have always been good when I've used them, if they don't know about it then they aren't going to fix it.

[lfo2k]

How do i get a envelope (ADSR) to work on a filter?

I did load the UVI Filter in the "Effects" tab, did rightclick on the cutoff button - Add Modulation - Internal Programm - New AHD.

The envelope does not do annything to the filter. If i route a LFO (with the same way) to the cutoff it works.

What am i missing?

[Sampleconstruct]

How do i get a envelope (ADSR) to work on a filter?

I did load the UVI Filter in the "Effects" tab, did rightclick on the cutoff button - Add Modulation - Internal Programm - New AHD.

The envelope does not do annything to the filter. If i route a LFO (with the same way) to the cutoff it works.

What am i missing?

Insert the filter on keygroup level and insert the envelope on keygroup level, if you're trying to modulate a filter on program or layer level with an ADSR, you'll have to use a special workaround, described here:

http://falcontinuum.com/forums/topic/envelope-follower (scroll down to post no. 6)

[sircuit]

What am i missing?

The fact that only the Keygroup level captures the pressed midi keys. The upper levels (Layer, Program) are not.

Now, if you want to place a filter, you can do it at Keygroup level and add the envelope at that level and it works as you may expect.

For the same effect but at the upper levels, there is a workaround, read carefully:
- place the filter at Progam level
- place a Gain module at Keygroup level and deactivate it
- add modulation (new analog ADSR) for the Gain module AT PROGRAM LEVEL and change the trigger mode to Legator
- finally, modulate the Filter at Program level witht the new ADSR you created at the same Program level

Explanation: the envelope gets triggered because it is associated to a parameter in Keygroup level and it further triggers any other destinations (in this case the cutoff)

[lfo2k]

Thank you both : )

I will try it then from the keygroup. It takes quite a time to learn Falcon. At least compared to normal sample players.

Thanks again : )

[sircuit]

Thank you both : )

I will try it then from the keygroup. It takes quite a time to learn Falcon. At least compared to normal sample players.

Thanks again : )

I will encourage you to watch the videos between 3 and 11 in this playlist (UVI official). Not only you will understand Falcon better but you will also learn new techniques in working with it, Dan Worrall is the best tutor out there (I wanted to say one of the best but it really is the best in my opinion):

click, the link, it's an entire playlist, the board here previews the first video only. --> https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Y5zqgQo ... fw&index=3

[MarlaPodolski]

I just wanted to say that I have decided to move in from Falcon. Don’t get me wrong, I really really liked it, but there’s just too much going on in the interface and I end up twiddling knobs instead of getting on with making music.

For instance, say I find a great preset from one of their fantastic expansions and simply want to automate a filter. Every single time, I have to hunt and peck through the patch to find the right knob. I know there was some disscussion about having standardized macro knobs or something, that would surely help a lot.

I still think Falcon is amazing, but the overall sameness of the GUI (a little color would help distinguish modules, etc) and a little more work on making the visual hierarchy a little more self evident would go a long way toward making it a little easier to use.

Falcon is a joke. Better than any other instrument or effect plugin, Falcon demonstrates perfectly what is going horribly wrong with music creation in digital today. And it is certainly not the only example, but considering how much work went into designing this silly beast, it is head and shoulders above the handful of others. What's more, the irony is impossible to ignore -- all that extra effort that went into making Falcon the near-unlimited super-everything instrument is precisely what also ruins it. Old criticisms of SynthMaster or any other popular VSTi being too complicated, 'too much synth' or 'over the top' are laughable after spending any time with Falcon.

I'm not totally sure what dangayle means by writing "moving in" on Falcon -- perhaps it was meant to say "moving on"? But what else we read here pretty well sums up the problem:

"... too much going on in the interface ..."
"... I end up twiddling knobs instead of getting on with making music."
"Every single time, I have to hunt and peck through ..."
"... the overall sameness of the GUI ..."

Making music is usually some degree of challenging and can be hard work at times. But there was a time not so long ago when it was usually also a lot of fun. Spending more of my effort clicking, filing, searching, adding and opening little windows, dragging and dropping, and all the rest in Falcon, up to 4 times more than time spent actually making musical sounds, isn't FUN. It really isn't even musical. It is much closer to staring at an office computer, working a 9 to 5 in a cubicle somewhere.

Somewhere along the way, I suppose in between all those brilliant design moments of what more could be added to this disaster of a synth, somebody forgot what creating art -- here, music -- is really all about. It's not playing a video game, computer file upkeep, or staring and fiddling with a smartphone all day long. You see, because THAT'S what fooling with Falcon has become, whether intended or not.

The guilty party is not solely Falcon's devs. It's us, for tolerating this growing trend. And Falcon isn't the only bad actor. Amid this recent wealth of new and incredible music and production software, we are seeing many of our favorite recording tools and plugins become filled with bloat and grow needlessly over-complicated. We don't even frown anymore over manuals that run into the many hundreds of pages.

So, Falcon isn't alone in this but perhaps the poster boy of what has gone terribly wrong. It may be too much to ask these days that we only need hit the On switch before creating and playing music, but a lot of what we experience today, in just the last couple of years, is just plain wrong. I hope to see this trend go away ... before what fun remains goes too, and modern music creation morphs totally into the realm of geeks, computer key clickers and full-time forum posters.

[whyterabbyt]

blah.

Please note : do not feed the trolling sockpuppet.

[sircuit]

Making music is usually some degree of challenging and can be hard work at times. But there was a time not so long ago when it was usually also a lot of fun. Spending more of my effort clicking, filing, searching, adding and opening little windows, dragging and dropping, and all the rest in Falcon, up to 4 times more than time spent actually making musical sounds, isn't FUN. It really isn't even musical. It is much closer to staring at an office computer, working a 9 to 5 in a cubicle somewhere.

Yeah... They should rename Falcon to UVI Modular so people would understand once and for all what is this product. Yes, I am defending it while criticizing it at the same time because I know it cane be a very useful tool. That is, when it works.

[Charlie Firpo]

While creating the initial transient for drum sounds (sine osc, pitch modulated full by mseg. Just a decay line downwards) i cannot get consistent "tick" sounds during playback. Rather It goes like this: tick tick tick TACK. I've checked that nothing is freerunning by modulation. And more strange is that it seems like it happens only while playback in the host. (renoise & studio one). Playing notes on the midi keyboard seems to work as it should. I think it has something to do with the ultrafast pitch modulation, cause the osc phase restart works as it should. Any ideas? I've tried different release times and decay on the amp.