Pitchshifter - Sounds great, but no automation! *gasp*

[daxliniere]

Hey Robyn,
How are you?

I'm really enjoying your Pitchshifter plugin, infact, it saved the bacon of some tracks that I had been given to mix.

My only problem with it is that there are no automation parameters published to the host.

It may sound strange, but yes, there are plenty of times I've needed to automate Pitchshifter.

1) I wanted to automate the wet/dry control

2) I wanted to slowly detune a track (with wet/dry set to 50%) to create a creepy, increasingly dissonant tension.


Do you think you could add automation parameters to this plugin, please?


All the best,
Dax.

[Music Engineer]

Hi Dax,

happy to hear that you like the PitchShifter. automation is actually possible, but only via MIDI control-changes. with a right-click on the to-be-automated parameter, a menu pops up where you have some midi-learn and automation-range options.

hope that helps, robin

[daxliniere]

Hi Robyn,

Yes it helps a little, but isn't the best solution. In this day & age, all VST plugins really should publish automation labels to the host.

[Music Engineer]

O.K. i see your point. i avoided the automation mechanism because i was a bit wary of potentially conflicting automation streams from MIDI-CC and VST-automation. however - this automation thing seems to be a true FAQ for all my plugins, so i'll look into a solution when time permits.

...its a somewhat general infrastructural thing within my plugin framework, so the implementation details may become a bit messy, so i can't really give any timeline for it right now

[loquat]

Again not meaning to sound ungrateful, but I'm going to second what Dax said. You put a lot of work into these VSTs and they sound wonderful. I love Straightliner. It is honestly one of the best sounding VSTs I have heard. If I could use it natively in my DAW I would purchase a copy fairly quickly. That's not a complaint. It's not a request. It's just my honest opinion. I know it's easier said than done, but if somewhere down the line you can work that functionality in I'm sure you'll make a lot of people very happy.

[Music Engineer]

Again not meaning to sound ungrateful, but I'm going to second what Dax said.

don't worry. constructive criticism is always welcome

You put a lot of work into these VSTs and they sound wonderful. I love Straightliner. It is honestly one of the best sounding VSTs I have heard.

but of course, i also love to hear such things - so thank you for the kind words.

If I could use it natively in my DAW I would purchase a copy fairly quickly.

you mean, if parameters were available for automation? aside from that, it should be possible to use it in any host. personally, whenever i feel the desire to tweak some parameter in realtime (say filter-cutoff ), i just do the midi-learn thing (with CC74 usually). i never felt the desire to use VST automation as opposed to MIDI automation - they both accomplish more or less the same task, just that midi controllers are directly linked to my hardware keyboard (-> instant tweaking fun).

yes i know, VST automation has higher resolution for the values. on the bright side however, midi-timing is sample accurate which is not true for VST automation (well - i think so at least, someone please correct me if this is wrong)

That's not a complaint. It's not a request. It's just my honest opinion. I know it's easier said than done

indeed will i have to think about it a bit how to do it. but i will look into it.

[daxliniere]

Hi Robyn,

How are you going with adding VST-automation to your wonderful sounding pitchshifter?

Hope you are well,
Dax.

[Music Engineer]

Hi Robyn,

How are you going with adding VST-automation to your wonderful sounding pitchshifter?

Hope you are well,
Dax.

hi Dax,

aheemm...sorry, but no news to report about that. working on too many other things currently. for example this:

http://www.kvraudio.com/forum/viewtopic ... 29&start=0

..which may probably not really relevant in this context. just to explain what i'm doing

[daxliniere]

Hi Robyn,
Yes, not terribly relevant to me, but I'm sure you'll make many others happy.
I appreciate you taking the time to let me know what's going on.

All the best,
Dax.

[Music Engineer]

Hi Robyn,
Yes, not terribly relevant to me, but I'm sure you'll make many others happy.

ah - so the midi solution works out acceptably for you, then? or are you just not using automation all that much?

[daxliniere]

>ah - so the midi solution works out acceptably for you

No, I'm not sure where you got that idea.
MIDI automation is not very accurate, in resolution or timing. It's very 1980s; automation on the VST level is the present.

>or are you just not using automation all that much?

No, I use automation a lot. Lots.

[Music Engineer]

>ah - so the midi solution works out acceptably for you?

No, I'm not sure where you got that idea.

because you said, it's not terribly relevant for you. so the conclusion was that either the proposed workaround is acceptable, or else you don't need it all that much

MIDI automation is not very accurate, in resolution...

true. 128 steps is hardly enough resolution in this day and age. note, however, that you can use all 128 steps for the range that you actually desire by setting up the lower and upper limit for the controller (right-click menu -> use current value as lower/upper limit)

...or timing.

no, this is not true. midi-events under VST are transmitted with sample accuracy. so, if the plugin supports it (mine do), automation via midi is sample-accurate ...unless the host messes this up, of course. VST automation, on the other hand, must either be based on passing the events in another thread (implying a kind of random timing error), or else can only be block-accurate.

It's very 1980s; automation on the VST level is the present.

it is 80's, but the timing advantage stands nonetheless

[andylindsay]

So, which MIDI CC goes to which PitchShifter parameter? I tried a few with no luck.

[Music Engineer]

So, which MIDI CC goes to which PitchShifter parameter? I tried a few with no luck.

you need to right-click on the slider and choose midi-learn. then move your controller and the plugin will recognize it and store the mapping - the mapping will then become part of the preset and/or the DAW-saved state. this way, you can also assign a single controller to more than one parameters, thereby creating 'meta-parameters' (although that might not be too interesting for such a simple plugin)

[Lying Low]

I will also +1 on the vst automation for your plugins.

My host (AudioMulch) has no CC automation but it makes great use out of the VST automation.

It seems pretty standard, yours may be the first plugins I've seen that don't give the host vst automation parameters.

Will enjoy using them regardless