Is Zyn 3/fusion (VST) discarded?

[Marginal Ray]

Hi,

As old Zyn user (my favorite synth among many others free or commercials), I was very happy about the announcement of a new version, totally integrated in Windows 64 bit, with a modern and clear interface. The disappointment was up to my exceptions: The GUI is very nice, nothing to say, but selling an unfinished heavy buggy beta, and not for a cheap price in relation of the price of some commercial synths and the fact that the original Zyn is free, leaves a feeling of unease.

Fortunately, I just downloaded the demo, but I don’t understand how the $59 paid version is still available, at least as VST for Windows (May the Linux version work). A beta is always free!

As other users, I reported several bugs, and an unacceptable problem for old ZynAddSubFx users, who work, like me, on dozen projects using this marvelous synthesizer: The impossibility to load simultaneous the new and the old Zyn, without losing all settings. The only workaround could be to rename the new dll, but It doesn’t work. Of course, the perfect solution would be a bugg free new zyn, simply replacing the old one, without any loose of settings.

Fundamental (the developer) explained it’s not his faute, and asked for a solution another developer (I thing Jackoo) who transposed the original Linux version to VST. I don’t know if Jackoo can help him, but the fact is that the 3.1 version still not works. What a pity!

Now, it would be nice, or simply normal, to inform us about the future of the project. Is it discarded?

Is there any hope to see in 2017 a working Zyn 3 as VST, working simultaneous with the old Zyn, or capable of replacing it through maintaining the instrument settings?

Thanks for Answer

Ray

[fundamental]

Now, it would be nice, or simply normal, to inform us about the future of the project. Is it discarded?

It is on hold while I finish off my PhD dissertation. There's only so many hours in a day and the final stretch of my academic research has been consuming approximately *all* productive hours of the day.

Is there any hope to see in 2017 a working Zyn 3 as VST, working simultaneous with the old Zyn, or capable of replacing it through maintaining the instrument settings?

Yes. Jackoo sent me a renoise project with the old and new plugins and I should be able to address this for the next update which should be out in the coming months. Fixing the VST incompatibility is one of the next tasks on the TODO list with regards to zyn development. Roughly I'm looking at:

1. Committing and documenting minor changes already implemented in the working copies of zyn-fusion, but not committed (moderate impact, extremely little time to do) (this includes a long since done file browser logic rewrite/some major optimizations/code documentation additions/very minor bug fixes)
2. Fixing up microtonal omissions (basically just checking two file selector issues) (modest impact, very little time to do) (anything beyond the bare minimum here will likely be deferred later into the list)
3. Fix the VST serialization issue (modest impact, moderate time)
4. Add proper MIDI learn parameter exposure to VST/LV2 hosts (very high impact, high time)
5. More realtime automation (unfa has made note of this several times. It's relatively easy to do and it will complement MIDI-learn/host-automation well) (moderate-high impact, low-high time (depending upon scope))
6. The issue trackers will then be used to gather up more tasks (polyphonic after touch has a nice bug report regarding volume issues, there's plenty of misc layout issues to take care of, connecting to remote machines with the UI needs to be properly tested, hopefully default values will be in the OSC metadata at this point and they can be exposed to the UI, etc, etc, etc)

[Marginal Ray]

Thanks for explanations.

[fundamental]

As of https://github.com/zynaddsubfx/zynaddsu ... 8a4d656b8e loading save files from jackoo's VST builds seems to work fine (this will be in the next -rc). Thanks again to jackoo for supplying testing files.

[Marginal Ray]

Hi,

I'm always waiting for a full functionnal ZYN Fusion under windows : working simultaneous with the old version, no bugs, etc, etc...

But the demo to download is 3.0.

I recently got some commercial synths (the last one was Codex, from Waves). Not bad, but all are just gadgets compared to Zyn. So it would be fantastic if the Zyn fusion project would be achieved, and not only under Linux that remains an Insider OS.

Ray

[Marginal Ray]

As of https://github.com/zynaddsubfx/zynaddsu ... 8a4d656b8e loading save files from jackoo's VST builds seems to work fine (this will be in the next -rc). Thanks again to jackoo for supplying testing files.

I'm not developper and can't do anything with this information.


I'm sorry to ask the same question again: IS ZYN FUSION DISCARDED ?

[AJYoung]

I really hope it's not. I would love to buy this as soon as its stable, but even the Release Candidate demo is a buggy mess on Windows 64bit VST.

That, and there's not a way to automate parameters via the host, which is essential.

Looking at the above posts from Fundamental, it seems those changes are coming, which is encouraging! It has to be difficult to essentially be developing Zyn as basically a side-project while finishing a PhD.

Unfortunately, because of that, development looks to be stagnant for a while. I can only hope it resumes soon, as Zyn is a monster of an instrument that deserves more love.

[Marginal Ray]

I really hope it's not. I would love to buy this as soon as its stable, but even the Release Candidate demo is a buggy mess on Windows 64bit VST.

That, and there's not a way to automate parameters via the host, which is essential.

This beta should not be sold. It is unfinished and unusable (at least under Windows).
Perhaps a real collaboration between Fundamental, Jackoo and Paul Nasca would be the solution. Jackoos version works fine under windows (even 64 bits).

Looking at the above posts from Fundamental, it seems those changes are coming, which is encouraging! It has to be difficult to essentially be developing Zyn as basically a side-project while finishing a PhD.

Unfortunately, because of that, development looks to be stagnant for a while. I can only hope it resumes soon, as Zyn is a monster of an instrument that deserves more love.

Yes, Zyn is a monster of instrument. I mostly use presets because making sounds is not my cup of tea (Things may change with Zyn Fusion). Among all my synths, no other has such a great range of sounds (except samplers, expanders or synths based on samples). Zyn is not only powerful. It sounds very musical.
Among the modern commercial trendy synths, Synthmaster is considered as a monster: multi syntheses + samples. I own the Player. Most of the presets sounds very digital, suited for EDM. With a modern interface and a perfect windows 64 bit integration, Zyn could become a hit 15 years after its first release.

[Musical Gym]

I bought it.

[fundamental]

That, and there's not a way to automate parameters via the host, which is essential.

This has been resolved via a replacement to the midi-learn system (see https://github.com/zynaddsubfx/zyn-fusi ... /issues/77 for some details).
The next release is planned to arrive this week (windows build included) and the plans for this release were announced a few weeks back on zynaddsubfx-user. For a high level overview of what changes to expect see https://github.com/zynaddsubfx/zyn-fusion-issues/wiki for a coarse change log.

[Marginal Ray]

Fine. Will a demo version be available ?

[AJYoung]

The next release is planned to arrive this week (windows build included)

Woo! That's fantastic news. And yes, I hope there is a demo version of the next release, that way I can do some testing.

[AJYoung]

Wow, looking at that conversation about macros and automation has me really excited. This is the kind of stuff I've wanted to see in Zyn for years. Can't wait to try it out.

Thanks for your work, Fundamental. And another shout for an updated windows demo when that release hits!

[Marginal Ray]

Wow, looking at that conversation about macros and automation has me really excited. This is the kind of stuff I've wanted to see in Zyn for years. Can't wait to try it out.

I'm not sure to understand (excuse my bad english). Automation works in Jackoos VST version.

[fundamental]

Wow, looking at that conversation about macros and automation has me really excited. This is the kind of stuff I've wanted to see in Zyn for years. Can't wait to try it out.

Thanks for your work, Fundamental. And another shout for an updated windows demo when that release hits!

To confirm, there will be a demo update.

For free this release will involve x86_64 windows build (10 minute limit) and x86_64 linux build (10 minute limit).
For paid users this release will include x86_64 windows build, x86_64 linux build, and the full source for the UI (with a restricted/personal use license for components which have not been open sourced yet).

I am interested to see how the automation macro design evolves zyn with this and future releases. It has the potential to be a big driving factor in future development. It presents many new and interesting interaction possibilities, so hopefully there won't be too much friction in its evolution.