Xhip vs Analog Hardware

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Xhip Synthesizer

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https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-Dpz_eRlSA0

Traditionally Xhip + ReaEQ on L channel, hardware on R channel - both summed to mono before rendering, because the OB-8 voices were set for very wide stereo spread and i didn't want big volume fluctuations.
I used a small room reverb with same settings on both channels and a limiter on the master, also JB Ferox on L - mainly to add some noise that i could hear on R.
https://app.box.com/s/yoq49e01ysm9aq19z67n95lrmurffo2q
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Ay caramba !

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Played for a bit with the newest 32 bit version and everything seems to work in H. Seib VSThost (for some reason REAPER couldnt find it, maybe some plugin ID number conflict with one of the previous versions).
One question though, are the different displayed value scale on Unison/Detune knob and no Unison/Spread knob intentional ?
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Detune is displayed in cents now and the distribution knob will be replaced with stereo width as described on the alpha page.

I've updated the "fixed or new features" to include the detune change on the alpha page.

It seems there is still some issue with unison stereo width (when enabled) and parameter routing. Likely related to the "fighting" issues I mentioned.

https://soundcloud.com/xhip/schubert-si ... moderato-1

I think you can hear this effect with the sudden volume spikes :) Sounds interesting but not what was supposed to happen.
Free plug-ins for Windows, MacOS and Linux. Xhip Synthesizer v8.0 and Xhip Effects Bundle v6.7.
The coder's credo: We believe our work is neither clever nor difficult; it is done because we thought it would be easy.
Work less; get more done.

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GUI size options gone,no double click reset knobs ,no .dll file - (very handy to have portable synths when on the move) ,aciddose you've killed some of the ease of use of xhip

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ere2learn which Xhip version are you talking about ?
I just checked the 684 "velo-city" (which afaik is the latest alpha) and there are right click on the logo to resize and doubleclick to reset to default knob value - both working properly.

And the dll file you can extract from the 7z package.

http://xhip.net/alpha/
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Ay caramba !

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7d 64x,I thought that was the latest build?

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Few days ago i had some fun with the famous Tom Sawyer high resonance sweep:
https://app.box.com/s/vm66a9255jhx2s6cgkwo8svj1xtez8cw
First a single voice, then 8 voices unison dry, then the same but with delay and reverb, then the original.

The Real MC from Muffwiggler forum steered me in the right direction:
Patches I dialed up: like every other polysynth, it misses out on the "Tom Sawyer" rezz unique to the OB-X because the OB-6 doesn't emulate the imperfect unison multi-voice VCF tracking that is a key to that sound.
Most polysynths are "perfect". The OB-X lacks temperature compensation in the VCF tracking circuit. You could calibrate the VCF cutoffs to match between all the voicecards but as soon as you close the hood they will drift. The NPN/PNP cheap V/I converter isn't matched between voicecards - the more EG modulation depth you add, the more mismatched the cutoffs will be. The timing caps for the CEM3310 EGs also drift, so the ADR rates vary between voicecards too. This is one of the "imperfections" of the OB-X that happens to be the little known secrets of the "Tom Sawyer" rezz.
I used Xhips excellent S/H LFO fully stopped, to emulate differences in filter frequency between voices in unison.
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Ay caramba !

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I wonder if I could implement a "random on keypress" or "random per voice" source for the route panel that you could use to modify the keytracking. That would be the most accurate way. I just don't know how difficult it might be... I've planned to add all sorts of things like that but haven't yet. That would actually entirely solve the unison randomization feature too, so it could be removed and replaced with something else.

You can also use the pulse wave set to width 0 or 100 and apply the delay as an envelope, attack or decay. A lot of people don't realize that sort of thing. I use that in the "auto pitchbend" preset. Lately I've been wishing I made attack/release parameters available for the amp gate mode. They exist, they're just not on the GUI or presets. A lot of the time you want to produce attack/release for the amp, but no decay. In those cases if I'd made the parameters available you'd have two free envelopes to use for modulation and in combination with the modulators used as triggers or delay sources you'd have a lot of flexibility for double cutoff envelopes to create those "waaaouhWAAB" patterns and such. As it is now when I want that I have to automate the cutoff manually :)

https://soundcloud.com/xhip/bbqsong-04
ere2learn wrote:GUI size options gone,no double click reset knobs ,no .dll file - (very handy to have portable synths when on the move) ,aciddose you've killed some of the ease of use of xhip
Back in 2008 when I was working on 6.0 and 7.0 (7 is a minor upgrade of 6, mostly GUI graphics changes) and all previous versions it used ctrl-click for reset and re-sizing the GUI was well... 100% insane.

What do you mean "no dll file". This just doesn't make any sense at all. I assume you're referring to the fact that the 7.0 version stored GUI assets in the appdata folder to allow you to modify the skin, although nobody ever did or if so bothered to send me any custom skins. This is actually a feature that has been removed in the alpha since nobody uses it, although I'll re-implement it in a slightly different way for version 9.0.

Are you complaining that I haven't used my FG#8 "Phone Microwave" to send a text message back in time and land us on a timeline where double click to reset had been a feature in those versions?

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=36UIwONutmY

As for GUI re-size widespread support in hosts didn't exist until about 2010 and even then I was hesitant to support it. Neither my code nor the VST interface implementation of most hosts could accomplish it at the time in any reliable way. Most modern hosts now (finally!) support it although there are still some that do weird/buggy things, so I've implemented it in the alpha back in November 2015.
Free plug-ins for Windows, MacOS and Linux. Xhip Synthesizer v8.0 and Xhip Effects Bundle v6.7.
The coder's credo: We believe our work is neither clever nor difficult; it is done because we thought it would be easy.
Work less; get more done.

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aciddose wrote:You can also use the pulse wave set to width 0 or 100 and apply the delay as an envelope, attack or decay.
And even use the ADSR as LFO if you set it to anything other than "gate", kind of like envelopes on Moog Sub37. :)
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Ay caramba !

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The latest alpha saves Route page parameters !
And it looks like all my presets from the previous alphas still work. :)
I just need to resave all the presets that used the route page, with the correct route settings which were previously saved only in my brain.
So happy. :D

Now that promised long time ago envelope curve shape (102% asymptote vs linear) switch would be nice, because straight attack kinda breaks my Van Halen 1984 and few other presets. :)
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Ay caramba !

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That requires preset format modifications... it could be added but it's really a back-panel type of control. I think that I won't want to add such things until after the next version is released.

The PCM chunk is really going to be nice also. In the next version I'd like to include the menu to replace the buttons as well. This will enable a "save state" option and load/save for the init/clear preset and "reset" preset where the values come from when using middle click (mousewheel), control-click and double-click to reset a parameter.

https://soundcloud.com/xhip/antialiasfilter

I could then add "state + preset" as well as "state + bank" and the "hold/override" switches in the master/route/layer/effect pages. This switch would have two settings, one for "use settings from preset" and one for "override". I'll probably need to have a new state preset for that with a override + individual preset states stored in the "synth/matrix" object.

From there it would become easy to store these chunks in presets and I could also add a right-click menu to copy between or replace/merge.

That'll be a major improvement and will leave very few things left before the next release.

https://soundcloud.com/xhip/cuban
Free plug-ins for Windows, MacOS and Linux. Xhip Synthesizer v8.0 and Xhip Effects Bundle v6.7.
The coder's credo: We believe our work is neither clever nor difficult; it is done because we thought it would be easy.
Work less; get more done.

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Mutant wrote:And it looks like all my presets from the previous alphas still work. :)
They should always "look like" they work :) Just that in reality there could be unexpected changes like different ranges for some parameters. That'll definitely happen in the upcoming versions!
Free plug-ins for Windows, MacOS and Linux. Xhip Synthesizer v8.0 and Xhip Effects Bundle v6.7.
The coder's credo: We believe our work is neither clever nor difficult; it is done because we thought it would be easy.
Work less; get more done.

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Hey guys I really really love Xhip I think it's totally awesome!

I am confused because I want the latest and greatest and the Alphas seems to work well for me but it keeps changing all the time and with all the warnings that one version might not work with another is putting me off.

I tried the regular version but I am not sure if the code and filter algos are the best compared to the alphas. Also with the regular version I was having big issues but saving presets it's unusable (the alphas were fine).

So here I am not knowing what to do but I really like it I think it's one of the best out there but I am afraid to use it..

Any suggestions?

Thanks,

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yul wrote:Hey guys I really really love Xhip I think it's totally awesome!

I am confused because I want the latest and greatest and the Alphas seems to work well for me but it keeps changing all the time and with all the warnings that one version might not work with another is putting me off.

I tried the regular version but I am not sure if the code and filter algos are the best compared to the alphas. Also with the regular version I was having big issues but saving presets it's unusable (the alphas were fine).

So here I am not knowing what to do but I really like it I think it's one of the best out there but I am afraid to use it..

Any suggestions?

Thanks,
My way to deal with this is:
Keep all the old versions i downloaded and used in projects.
Treat individual versions as separate instruments.
If i REALLY want to use a preset i created in some old version, it is fairly easy to translate it manually, thx to knob value display.
(i use 2 alphas - 1 with a customized attack shape and 2 the latest one with Route parameters saving)

BTW i had a small feature request.
In Route section, key to volume works nicely for polyphonic sounds.
But recently i tried (with pretty good results) to replicate a sound from the new Minimoog Model D and the imbalance of volume between low and high notes was quite big.
So i decided to use the Route section to emulate that effect, but for a monophonic portamento sound, the difference in volumes resulted in clicks between notes that were far apart in pitch.
So a new type of key to volume would be great, where it obeyed the glide knob value to avoid the clicks.
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Ay caramba !

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Here is that Model D sound i mentioned above.
https://app.box.com/s/l24wl5a6iigdczteugxbbl8tkgnxt3z0
First the original, then Xhip (obviously :) ).
It is not identical of course (would have to have at least a Moog emulation, or at best the same hardware), but has plenty of the same indescribable qualities of the sound that made me like the sound enough to want to copy it.

And the video i extracted it from @0:39.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QmKmkhAkOgs

3 Xhips (1 for each oscillator), plus Nick Crow Tube Driver, plus VOS FerricTDS, plus some reaEQ only on the highest pitched oscillator.
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Ay caramba !

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