New Evolution guitar updates released!

[Gregjazz]

We just released new updates for Evolution Strawberry, Evolution Steel Strings, Evolution Modern Nylon, and Evolution Dracus. Here's what's new:

- Added four new reverb stompbox options.
- Fixed "lock mapping" bug from not preserving custom changes.
- Fixed chord detection delay to allow strumming pattern keys and strum keys to be played at the same time as the chords.
- Fix a bug with the scroll bar not appearing in custom chords when switching back and forth between chord modes.
- Increased legato and bend range to 24 semitones instead of 12 semitones.
- Keyswitches now default to nearest unmapped key.

You can download the new engine files from the downloads section of your account. Enjoy!

[evesira]

- Fixed chord detection delay to allow strumming pattern keys and strum keys to be played at the same time as the chords.

Greg,

I don't believe this has been fixed. I had to stop using the Evolution guitar a while ago because of this very reason. The strum keys don't work with "quickly" changing chords.

Observe the problem still happening in this clip:

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

When I take the strum keys out, you hear what it's supposed to sound like. I couldn't get it to recognize the chords in the right rhythm. You can see all the things I tried in the video. It's even ceasing to play notes in some cases

Here's the thing... this used to work just fine before the new interface came out. I did an old song called Set for the Spark using the strum keys (I think I actually emailed it to you and you posted it on the Facebook page or something).

Just now I opened up that old project. Somehow the Kontakt plugin saved the old Strawberry engine in it, even though it's no longer on my system. And it sounds like it always did! With correct strumming! But I tried replacing it with the new engine, and the problem occurs. Observe:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KhesANpUFmk

(Note: I did supplement it with Shreddage since Strawberry lacks good powerful "chug" sounds)
(Another note: At 0:44 you hear that note that pops out when the strum keys aren't on the right MIDI note and aren't being activated? Inconsistent note popping out didn't happen in the old engine when the strum keys weren't being used. What's up with that)

What's going on there? As soon as I replace it with the new engine, it sounds terrible. Playing the wrong chords, and even straight up dropping notes.

I love all the other changes you made when you put out the new engine, but this problem needs to be fixed.

[rrichard63]

Is it possible that evesira's problem is related to processor cores and/or processor speed and/or hard drive speeds and/or memory limitations?

[rrichard63]

Greg,

Is the new version of Evolution Stratosphere still in the pipeline?

Thanks,
Bob Richard

[evesira]

Is it possible that evesira's problem is related to processor cores and/or processor speed and/or hard drive speeds and/or memory limitations?

My system specs from copied my website:

Code: Select all

FL Studio 12 64 bit
Windows 7 Pro 64bit
Intel i7-4790K 4.0GHz
16 gb ram
ASUS Xonar Essence STX
(2) raided 1 tb SSDs for OS
(1) 1 tb SSD for samples
(2)x(2) raided 500 gb SSDs for EWQL libraries
2 tb external storage, backed up remotely
(2) Radeon HD 6850s, CrossFire'd
(2) 24' LCDs

All SSDs, modern and very fast CPU, plenty of ram. But regardless, the Evolution library isn't streamed from the hard drive as far as I know. It's all loaded into memory.

Other people really don't have this problem? It seems very clear that it's a timing thing within the engine. It doesn't seem to be struggling to load or render the notes. No crackling or popping. It seems to be a programmatic error in deciding what samples to play based on the MIDI notes triggered.

In fact, another problem..... Normally I split up sustain and mutes over the velocity. But this time I tried assigning them to keyswitches. You have to hold down the keyswitches. As far as I know there's no option to allow just pressing them once to set the articulation, like most plugins work. A bit frustrating and should probably be added. But anyway... the engine will also not play the first chord if the keyswitch note starts at the same timing position! It works fine if you start the keyswitch note just a hair before the real notes.

Can you try to repeat what I did in my videos roughly and see if the same problem happens for you?

I can try editing the wrapper settings for the plugin in FL studio, as shown below, but I've never had a problem with any Kontakt instrument regarding that type of stuff. I'll report back on if it changes anything.

https://www.image-line.com/support/FLHe ... insettings

[Gregjazz]

Based on your videos, you're using the old non-Kontakt Player edition of Evolution Strawberry, which is still on an earlier version of the Evolution guitar engine.

A few months back we released Kontakt Player editions of Evolution Strawberry and Evolution Steel Strings, replacing the old non-Kontakt Player ones. Usually we prefer to keep updates free, but due to the cost of licensing the Kontakt Player, we opted for an upgrade fee instead ($20 USD, which you can apply discounts such as the current group buy discount to). While the old version works in Kontakt 4.2+, the Kontakt Player version uses the Kontakt Player 5, and also NKS integration. The nice part is we were able to use Kontakt 5's new features, such as snapshot presets for the factory presets. The downside is that it makes trying to keep both editions updated logistically difficult. Especially since the snapshot preset system really requires Kontakt Player licensing. (non-Player libraries can't utilize a factory snapshot folder)

The benefit of the snapshot preset system in Kontakt 5 is that snapshots can be loaded directly, as if they are their own patches. You can also save your user presets, which are shown right next to the factory presets in a "user" submenu, so that's nice. And unlike the old built-in presets, your user preset names are visible.

So while we would have loved to continue supporting the old non-Player edition of the library, lots of factors like that made it too difficult. The last two updates and future updates will apply to the Kontakt Player editions of Evolution Strawberry and Evolution Steel String only.

If you have any questions about this, or some of the improvements made in the Kontakt Player editions, NKS integration, etc., just let me know.

[evesira]

Greg, thank you for your help.

I wasn't aware that you guys had released a new version that required an upgrade purchase. The update "a few months ago"... are you referring to this post? If so, the original post above didn't mention an upgrade purchase, it said the new files are available in your download section. So before posting about my issues, I made sure to download all the new files that were available to my account first.

Now, when I go to the products page, I do see the Strawberry available for purchase for $20. It doesn't say that it's for an update or give any explanation. Maybe you sent out an email or posted about the $20 upgrade somewhere, but I don't believe I saw it in any obvious place.

Perhaps it would be good to add a link to the upgraded versions on the account downloads page, and also put a small note under the product on the product page with a link to a blog post about the update. It'd also be cool to put those free downloads (which I just found out about now) from your blog into the account downloads page. You know, one single place where you can download every product, update, upgrade, fix, freebie that you have access to. Finally, it might be good to have a version number on each individual product download page, as well as a change log. Right now I actually don't think I have a way to see if I have the latest version of each product, other than searching the internet for update posts such as this one.

Just some things to think about.

Anyway I'm perfectly fine with paying for the upgrade, because I've heard how expensive the license is for developing a library to work with the free Kontakt Player.

I'll get the updates and I assume that will fix the problem. If it doesn't, I'll let you know back here.

Thanks!

[Gregjazz]

We released the Kontakt Player versions at the end of last year, and then another update after that. We did send out an email to newsletter subscribers as well as posting this thread here (which is still at the top of this forum as an announcement) and on social media. That being said, we're still adding details on the website to help clarify things, so it's an ongoing process.

For example, we're nearly done with an automatic bundle upgrade system which works the same way--as long as you're logged in, you can see a special price for the bundles. If we add a new library to a bundle, you can upgrade for a better discount, or if you own most of the libraries in a bundle, you can purchase the entire bundle at a discount as well (depending on how many libraries in the bundle you own). We'll work on labeling them to indicate it's an upgrade / crossgrade price.

[evesira]

Very cool. I'm glad to see you're on it.

Just so you know, I greatly appreciate the ability to have a direct conversation with you about this stuff, and I know others appreciate it too. You guys, and a handful of other small companies like Embertone, are always the best to work with in terms of support. Trying to get good detailed help from a larger company (or even any response at all) is often impossible. I'm also always surprised by how good sounding your products are, and how simple, organized, and easy to use they are, especially given the size of your company.

Thank you Greg!