Fathom Synth Development Thread

[Tj Shredder]

I have some general questions about the architecture of the synth. How is polyphony structured. If I place a reverb, or a distortion into the signal path, I would want them to be fed by all voices, and there should be only one instance of it. Whereas oscilators and filters I usually want as polyphonic multiple instances. Are all components in the effect section monophonic, and all filters and oscillators polyphonic? But what happens if I place a phaser between an oscillator and a filter?
I also recognized, that feedback is not possible. I would love to see it. I know it would require to put a one block size delay between it, but that is still better than no feedback. I also know, that feedback is dangerous...
What plans are there for more components? What I would like to see is a VCA kind of component for simplifying some patches. If I mix 3 oscillators, I would need now 3 modulators to give them the same envelope, in that case a simple mixpoint like a VCA would simplify the patch. I also would like a comb filter. Maybe a API for opening Fathom for other programmers who could add weird components you would never think of? -- I am just dreaming... It is already a damn full featured modular synth...

[FathomSynth]

Tj Shredder, Here’s how the Fathom voice architecture works.

Voices within each oscillator are two dimensional. Polyphonic voices are created and processed separately and each detune voice within each poly voice are kept separate through the AM FM, noise and distortion section inside the oscillator.

Once a voice leaves the oscillator the detune voices are mixed into one polyphonic voice, but polyphonic voices are kept separate into the next component.

Polyphonice voices are kept separate through all filter and effects components, except the Reverb and Digital Delay effects, which are strereo, not polyphonic.

For instance an oscillator connected through two filters, then through a chorus and phasor, and finally a 12 band EQ keeps all the polyphonic voices separate through the entire chain, until they reach either the output or a reverb or delay.

If you put a phaser between an oscillator and a filter the poly voices stay separate.

The next planned components are, Mixing Utility component for branching and polyphonic voice levels and routing, a good Compressor Limiter, Saturator, A simplified ping pong beat delay, Comb Filter and Drawable FIR filter. After that (or maybe before) a Sampler and Arpeggiator.

Frostline, audio object copies do not yet contain the modulations from the copied object so there will be no range indicator on dials in copied objects (yet).

[FathomSynth]

People this is a Windows 64 BETA of 2.9.1.

http://www.mediafire.com/file/8584wr8oz ... 1_BETA.zip

Anyone having stability or CPU issues recently please try the beta and report back here with results.

Bugs fixed so far in 2.9.1 are:

Fixed Bug 0098 Signal flow objects mode can not be changed in Mac Sierra
Fixed Bug 0099 Detune save default not being loaded for new plugin track
Fixed Bug 0099 LFO ADSR Release phase frequency not modulating
Fixed Bug 0103 Solidtrax Preset button stops working after select a modulation
Fixed Bug 0130 Noise volume does not follow note velocity
Fixed Bug 0132 Mulab CPU goes up after last note if master EQ enabled
Fixed Bug 0133 Reverb sounds different after preset loaded if decay set to zero
Fixed Bug 0134 RSH cycle period is off by one when applied to wave index
Fixed Bug 0135 Added channel pressure as modulator along side after touch
Fixed Bug 0127 Highlight modulation slat when mouse is over target dial
Fixed Bug 0129 Modulator list should show if each is used or not used

The full release including Mac OSX will be in a day or two.

Scrubbing Monkeys, at the top of this thread page 115 you talked about some CPU issues.
First after a key up and three second delay CPU would spike.
Second multiple tracks of Fathom would bring the host to a halt due to CPU overload.

Could you try the BETA and tell me what the effect is on these problems.

[RichardSemper]

People this is a Windows 64 BETA of 2.9.1.

http://www.mediafire.com/file/8584wr8oz ... 1_BETA.zip

Anyone having stability or CPU issues recently please try the beta and report back here with results.

Bugs fixed so far in 2.9.1 are:

Fixed Bug 0098 Signal flow objects mode can not be changed in Mac Sierra
Fixed Bug 0099 Detune save default not being loaded for new plugin track
Fixed Bug 0099 LFO ADSR Release phase frequency not modulating
Fixed Bug 0103 Solidtrax Preset button stops working after select a modulation
Fixed Bug 0130 Noise volume does not follow note velocity
Fixed Bug 0132 Mulab CPU goes up after last note if master EQ enabled
Fixed Bug 0133 Reverb sounds different after preset loaded if decay set to zero
Fixed Bug 0134 RSH cycle period is off by one when applied to wave index
Fixed Bug 0135 Added channel pressure as modulator along side after touch
Fixed Bug 0127 Highlight modulation slat when mouse is over target dial
Fixed Bug 0129 Modulator list should show if each is used or not used

The full release including Mac OSX will be in a day or two.

Scrubbing Monkeys, at the top of this thread page 115 you talked about some CPU issues.
First after a key up and three second delay CPU would spike.
Second multiple tracks of Fathom would bring the host to a halt due to CPU overload.

Could you try the BETA and tell me what the effect is on these problems.

I have checked the highlighted in both Cubase 7.5 and Mulab on Windows 7 64bit and all seems well

[Scrubbing Monkeys]

People this is a Windows 64 BETA of 2.9.1.

http://www.mediafire.com/file/8584wr8oz ... 1_BETA.zip

Anyone having stability or CPU issues recently please try the beta and report back here with results.

Bugs fixed so far in 2.9.1 are:

Fixed Bug 0098 Signal flow objects mode can not be changed in Mac Sierra
Fixed Bug 0099 Detune save default not being loaded for new plugin track
Fixed Bug 0099 LFO ADSR Release phase frequency not modulating
Fixed Bug 0103 Solidtrax Preset button stops working after select a modulation
Fixed Bug 0130 Noise volume does not follow note velocity
Fixed Bug 0132 Mulab CPU goes up after last note if master EQ enabled
Fixed Bug 0133 Reverb sounds different after preset loaded if decay set to zero
Fixed Bug 0134 RSH cycle period is off by one when applied to wave index
Fixed Bug 0135 Added channel pressure as modulator along side after touch
Fixed Bug 0127 Highlight modulation slat when mouse is over target dial
Fixed Bug 0129 Modulator list should show if each is used or not used

The full release including Mac OSX will be in a day or two.

Scrubbing Monkeys, at the top of this thread page 115 you talked about some CPU issues.
First after a key up and three second delay CPU would spike.
Second multiple tracks of Fathom would bring the host to a halt due to CPU overload.

Could you try the BETA and tell me what the effect is on these problems.

Confirmed....eq/cpu anomaly is gone in the beta.

[Frostline]

People this is a Windows 64 BETA of 2.9.1.

Fixed Bug 0133 Reverb sounds different after preset loaded if decay set to zero

Well it might be "fixed" but I can no longer get the same sound I could when it was broken.
Below is a comparison of the same patch and same midi item.
Top waveform is 2.91 BETA output.
Bottom waveform is 2.80 output after loading patch and moving reverb decay off of zero and then back to zero before playing.
The moving of reverb decay off of zero and then back was tried on 2.91 to no noticeable effect. It always gives the echo, where 2.80 does not.

Looking at the waveforms it seems as if 2.8 and 2.91 are making the same sound, just that in 2.8 they are much closer together so it sounds like one drum hit instead of two.

[FathomSynth]

Frostline, Yes that's correct, I removed that, it was switching off the delay line completely if the decay values was zero which is incorrect. A real room does not behave that way.

However, you can get the same sound as before (correctly) by setting Predelay to zero and moving the Distance dial down closer to zero.

[Frostline]

However, you can get the same sound as before (correctly) by setting Predelay to zero and moving the Distance dial down closer to zero.

I disagree.
Same waveforms as before with the addition of moving distance down to zero in the top waveform. Predelay was already set at zero on the previous waveforms.
Screenshot shows the reverb settings used for the top (green) waveform.

The top waveform while closer to the bottom one in distance between initial hit and the echo compared to having the original distance in the patch still produces a distinct echo sound.

[Frostline]

With further testing it seems shape is also involved with the delayed echo in the reverb.
New patch simple sine osc with noise harmonic one octave up, quick envelope on both. Notes played each 1/4 note.

The added decay in the top waveform just flattens the off-beat echo created by the shape and distance but there is a continuous sound between each note.
Could be working as intended and that is fine.
I do like the sound of the reverb.
I just wish I could move the echo just a bit closer to the initial note like how it was possible in the previous version. But if not it is no big deal. I can always load up 2.8 if I really really want that effect.

[FathomSynth]

Fathom 2.9.2 BETA for Win 64 and Mac OSX Sierra 64

http://www.mediafire.com/file/r6oyj4hce ... 2_BETA.zip

Bugs fixed so far in 2.9.2

Fixed Bug 0098 Signal flow object mode can not be changed in Mac Sierra
Fixed Bug 0099 Detune save default not being loaded for new plugin track
Fixed Bug 0099 LFO ADSR Release phase frequency not modulating
Fixed Bug 0103 Solidtrax Preset button stops working after select a modulation
Fixed Bug 0130 Noise volume does not follow note velocity
Fixed Bug 0132 Mulab CPU goes up after last note if master EQ enabled
Fixed Bug 0133 Reverb sounds different after preset loaded if decay set to zero
Fixed Bug 0134 RSH cycle period is off by one when applied to wave index
Fixed Bug 0135 Added channel pressure as modulator along side after touch
Fixed Bug 0126 Timing is off at note start if modulate LFO Period with Envelope
Fixed Bug 0127 Highlight modulation slat when mouse is over target dial
Fixed Bug 0129 Modulator list should show if each is used or not used
Fixed Bug 0137 Noise volume is zero for oscillator copied with ADSR on noise
Fixed Bug 0138 Envelope is not aligned to song if Period is host automated
Fixed Bug 0139 Improved realism of Reverb at low values of Distance and Decay

Frostline, please try the attached preset which is a noise hit with short reverb.

I think you're going to like what I did with the easy reverb.
I spent a few hours today tuning the algorithm at low values of Distance and Decay.

I was not happy with how the echo was cut with Decay set to zero in the last release.
I know this is how you liked it before, but there was a problem.

The Decay dial is very useful for spreading out the sound and creating a softer reverb and if it has to be set to zero to cut the predelay then it makes it impossible to cut the predelay and also have a soft decay.

The correct way to do it is to use the Distance dial which is what I did.
I also added tuning to the main filter bank so that the delay times are slightly shorter as the Distance dial gets close to zero.

The overall effect, at least to my ears, is to truly pull the walls of the room in toward the listener as the Distance dial approaches zero, rather than cutting anything suddenly as before.

The attached preset shows how the new settings can be used to eliminate the slap but also have a nice gradual decay which, to my ears, sounds really realistic.

Load it into the 2.9.2 beta and let me know if it is getting close to what you need for your small room drum hit.

[Frostline]

Load it into the 2.9.2 beta and let me know if it is getting close to what you need for your small room drum hit.

Very very nice.
Now it is possible to dial the echo into the initial sound to thicken it instead of echo.

BTW where did the burgundy modulator menu go? I liked it.

Thank you for the great work. I really like the highlighting mod slats on mouse-over, very helpful. So far all the other previous issues seem fixed, but still need to check one or two more.
Then I can move on to my feature request list.

[RPH]

Fixed Bug 0137 Noise volume is zero for oscillator copied with ADSR on noise

Checked, indeed fixed. Tnx!

[Frostline]

While setting up a project to show one bug (a project killing bug) I also discovered a second.

https://youtu.be/lOOBBck_49k

No need to watch past 3:40, it doesn't really improve. I finally had to kill Reaper with task manager. According to the Reaper display project was peaking over 300% RT CPU

[FathomSynth]

OK, I'll take a look.

Edit: Oh man, I was hoping no one would ever try that.

But I guess it was only a matter of time.

As I suspected it is trying to recalculate all the modulation buffers when the BPM changes, doh, but every modulator has a real time mode used when the period is modulated so I just have to switch the modulators to that mode if the BPM is changing, should not be too difficult. Will try to get that into 2.9.3.

[FathomSynth]

Version 2.9.3 BETA

http://www.mediafire.com/file/6x8p812x8 ... 3_BETA.zip

Version 2.9.3 BETA with Mac OSX Universal Binary

http://www.mediafire.com/file/vsn86trb4 ... 3_BETA.zip

Fixed Bug 0098 Signal flow object mode can not be changed in Mac Sierra.
Fixed Bug 0099 Detune save default not being loaded for new plugin track.
Fixed Bug 0099 LFO ADSR Release phase frequency not modulating.
Fixed Bug 0103 Solidtrax Preset button stops working after select a modulation.
Fixed Bug 0130 Noise volume does not follow note velocity.
Fixed Bug 0132 Mulab CPU goes up after last note if master EQ enabled.
Fixed Bug 0133 Reverb sounds different after preset loaded if decay set to zero.
Fixed Bug 0134 RSH cycle period is off by one when applied to wave index.
Fixed Bug 0135 Added channel pressure as modulator along side after touch.
Fixed Bug 0126 Timing is off at note start if modulate LFO Period with Envelope.
Fixed Bug 0127 Highlight modulation slat when mouse is over target dial.
Fixed Bug 0129 Modulator list should show if each is used or not used.
Fixed Bug 0137 Noise volume is zero for oscillator copied with ADSR on noise.
Fixed Bug 0138 Envelope is not aligned to song if Period is host automated.
Fixed Bug 0139 Improved realism of Reverb at low values of Distance and Decay.
Fixed Bug 0140 Wave tables can not be loaded in Mac Sierra.
Fixed Bug 0141 Added Visual Studio build ID to the GUI version string.
Fixed Bug 0143 Envelope segment type can not be changed in Mac OSX.
Fixed Bug 0144 Browser preset path not being saved in Mac OSX.