Lord of the Springs

[Vospi]

Let's bump this up because -- love this.

[Taron]

AH, hahaha, thanks Vospi!

And thank you for your feedback in the "discussion" section of LotS' KVR page. I somehow couldn't reply directly to your last post, but simply gave you a new reply to your earlier post.

The first thing I will release after this is a decent preset management inside the plugin. This includes, if I figure out a convenient way, a baked-in default bank with some nice starters and maybe a nice File GUI to manage USER presets. This is all rather new to me, but I'm determined to conquer those "little challenges", too. (They're not so little to me, still! )

[nr1killabee]

Took me 20minutes before I found your plugin in my DAW... In Reaper I search with wordfilter and it is called LOTS. Too many plugins...found it by filtering on taron

[Taron]

Ahaha, that's weird indeed! Oddly enough, I hope, it will get even worse!
Just make sure that you don't accidentally load the 32bit version. Except for my beloved MULab (http://www.mutools.com), all other major DAWs tend to scan the vst folders at start-up with no mercy. If you have both version in there, it somehow seems to favor 32bit for some magical (and utterly annoying) reason.
I can't wait for this to become irrelevant...

Anyway, having some fun with LotS, yet?!
Feel free to ask away, if you have any questions!

[opoo]

Hi Taron, I am not getting your plugin to work at all.
I am using win xp sp2 with cubase sx3, vsthost and minihost. None of them even show the gui. Is this vst3? this would be a reason. I have tons of vstis installed but only up to vst2.4.

[Taron]

Eh, hey opoo, that's strange. Nope, it's vst2.4, but vstgui 4.3. I'm doing some daring things with the gui, as it creates all its content at startup. Maybe xp has an issue with it?! Have you updated your graphics drivers? Also, it's d2d, which could be trouble for some xp. Man, do I sound almost nerdy now, haha. Sorry.

Kann ich vorsichtig fragen, why are you still on xp?
I mean, I stayed on it for the longest time myself, but when I had to go win7, it was actually quite nice.

Anyway, I'm very sorry you encounter such a weird issue. I hope, somehow new graphics drivers and direct2d drivers can solve it.

[AlienXXX]

Just wanted to post a few lines really to say thank you to Taron for such a great plugin.
I am immediately attracted by the "strange and wonderful", so this was the first one I downloaded and tried out.
Initially I was a bit disappointed because I was only getting the same type of sounds.

Fortunately I did not give up and I came back to the plugin a few days later and tried again.
Second time around I could really produce a variety of sounds from it: plucky pianos, xylophones, steel drums, bells, basses, sub-bases, kickdrums and even s couple of half decent snaredrums.

Very impressive and all very useable.

The only glitch I found is that sometimes I can hear some kind of high pitch digital bleep which is obviously an artefact. This is a bit random/unpredictable, but seems to be related to the 'body' part of the plugin. This sound does occur if the body intensity is set to zero.
When it does happen, as I say, it is kind of random. So, if you press the same key again, the second time around you get the sound without the bleep.
I am using Ableton Live 9, 32-bit. Not sure if anyone else experienced these bleeps. I am not too bothered about it.

[Taron]

Thanks, Alien, that's some fantastic feedback! Thanks a lot!
LotS really begins to offer access to a certain principle of making sounds, which has the one beautiful advantage of being kind of really alive and really a virtual simulation in full effect, so to say. It's like the beginning of a system that turns a VST into some sort of virtual workshop for otherwise hardware instruments. At least that is where I want to take it and beyond.
The big trouble with the digital world is the hidden compromise that can sometimes bounce forward as something like a glitch of sorts. I have to figure out exactly what you mean and when I do, I will see that I track it down, of course.
I know that the body can bring forth the occasional sparkle, which is surprisingly physical, because there's literally one big spring, which stimulates the full set of springs in something like a feedback, but not exactly. There's an extra set of 128 independent springs hooked up to that major body spring. Pfff, I'm writing "spring" too many times, haha...need another word quickly!
Anyway, so, the body spring gets the output of all the playing springs and acts like a filter, whose vibrations then transfer over to the 128 springs. If a lower frequency happens to tingle a harmonic spring all the way in the upper registers, this will set of a little sparkle. But because it is "logical", it can actually sound very pleasant and has almost a kind of magical quality.
HOWEVER, what you're describing sounds like a problem, because if the body is on 0, then those springs do not get any energy whatsoever, meaning that your "beep" comes from something else?! I could have led with that, right?! ....so, yeah, sound like you're talking about a bug of sorts.
Can you somehow record it maybe?
If you safe a project and play it back, is it a reproducing issue? (that sounds wrong, hahaha, I hope it's not doing that! Though I might mix that up with procreating, haha...where on earth is my head at?! )

I'll try it out for sure! OH, you could save the preset fxp and post it or send it to me with some instructions (which note to best play and what ever you think I should know and look for!)!

[opoo]

Eh, hey opoo, that's strange. Nope, it's vst2.4, but vstgui 4.3. I'm doing some daring things with the gui, as it creates all its content at startup. Maybe xp has an issue with it?! Have you updated your graphics drivers? Also, it's d2d, which could be trouble for some xp. Man, do I sound almost nerdy now, haha. Sorry.

Kann ich vorsichtig fragen, why are you still on xp?
I mean, I stayed on it for the longest time myself, but when I had to go win7, it was actually quite nice.

Anyway, I'm very sorry you encounter such a weird issue. I hope, somehow new graphics drivers and direct2d drivers can solve it.

Hi Toran, I have another music PC with cubase sx2 on win xp sp3 with the same issue. Your synth doesn't even show up a bit. Both machines have the same graphics drivers and 470 synths working. And since I can work with these systems pretty fast, I really think twice before doing any changes which might foul up other things.
Win7 or newer might have its advantages, but hey, I have xp under control, and I know it would take me months to set up the same system and programms with win7 or newer.
I probabely will not change before I get serious hardware failures.
This is now the second synth I don't get to work. I will have to live with it for now.

[Taron]

Awww, man, times are changing, I'm afraid. I also know your worries about switching, but it really, really isn't as dramatic as you might think right now. Especially windows had done quite a remarkable job with updating. I was amazed how pleasant it went.
Especially since you have two machines, you should consider taking the plunge, but maybe you just buy yourself a new machine and set it up on current standards. It will take YEARS to setup...or days, depending on how much time you plan on spending reading all the license agreements, hehehehe, but no, it won't be so terrible and it can feel beautiful to have a fresh start.

Anyway, I'm still terribly sorry and wished I knew what I'd have to do to make it work on 15 year old PCs, but for now I kind of have to focus on what I can actually create for contemporary systems and possibly the future.

It's Taron, by the way. Toran was a fantasy character with a magic bow, I think, hahaha! Must've been around the time when you got your machines! sorry... (I did love that movie, though!)

[AlienXXX]

It's like the beginning of a system that turns a VST into some sort of virtual workshop for otherwise hardware instruments. At least that is where I want to take it and beyond.

And this is brilliant because I make some sound experiments in the real world - like bowing a metal bucket with a cello bow to get sound out of it. And I have created some contraptions where I have rubber bands connected to all sorts of things. Sometimes I record these with a normal mic, but very often use contact mics.
Also made some contraptions recently involving springs. But my experiments were limited to a maximum of about 4 springs, not 128! And I could not really tune them to a specific frequency.
So you can see how excited I was with your plugin!...

HOWEVER, what you're describing sounds like a problem, because if the body is on 0, then those springs do not get any energy whatsoever, meaning that your "beep" comes from something else?! I could have led with that, right?! ....so, yeah, sound like you're talking about a bug of sorts.
Can you somehow record it maybe?
If you safe a project and play it back, is it a reproducing issue? (that sounds wrong, hahaha, I hope it's not doing that! Though I might mix that up with procreating, haha...where on earth is my head at?! )

I'll try it out for sure! OH, you could save the preset fxp and post it or send it to me with some instructions (which note to best play and what ever you think I should know and look for!)!

I am sure it is a bug, because it does not happen in a reproducible way. When you play the same note again the bleep is gone. And it really sounds like a high frequency bleep, not really part of the more natural sounds that your instrument produces.
I will record myself playing so I can get some examples of that sound and also save the preset and send to you.
From my experience, this sound only seems to occur when the volume of the body is > zero. So I believe it has something to do with the body calculations.
Also seems more frequent in the lower notes. Although it will not be there if you play the same not again.

[Taron]

Oh, so the body was not 0, ok, that makes more sense! Yeah, that would be a high spring getting an impulse. And that would not really make it "a bug", but rather something unfortunate that I should find a way to control. See, if low frequencies come along, they can hit just at the right time to stimulate a highly tuned spring, but not catch it again. It's kind of like a lottery of sorts, haha...hmmm...yeah, I should have a close look at managing that more carefully.

BUT: A W E S O M E !!! You're doing exactly the sort of thing that I had in mind! HA!
Naturally, you've experimented with the mod wheel "bowing" already, but I want to really expand on that in the next round of development. Not only improving the control over the mod wheel behavior, but also introducing this action as a type of general envelope control, if so desired! I'm even thinking about allowing the design of the texture of the ribbons, which could make it quite exciting!
Between that and all the spectral improvements I have in mind for the tone control, this should make a really big playground for innovation!
...I would completely love being in your workshop with you, though! That just sounds like a dream come true for me. I haven't had time nor space for these types of experiments in the last 25 years at least. Sounds like endless fun!
At the same time it makes me jump for joy that I can create such a virtual workshop now, which has been a dream of mine for just as long. For some reason I never got around to really do audio related coding. I did a bit of it over the years, but never like now. And I'm over the flipping moon!

Well, thank you, man, you might be able to imagine just how happy you're making me, regardless of the little sparkle issue, hehe...'tis the season for them anyway, hehe, but I'll fix it somehow, I'll do my best! You rock!

[AlienXXX]

Hi Taron

I have not been able to use the modwheel scrubbing mode
My midi keyboard is an M-Audio Keyrig 25. The mod wheel is really 2 buttons. Not very nice. Same with the pichbend wheel.
Don't know if that is the reason why I cannot use the modwheel scrubbing technique or if I need to do something special to use it - a hidden button somewhere?

As far as 'my workshop' goes, I guess you would be disappointed: all I have is a small garden shed, some junk I have collected and some home-made contact mics. Still, some interesting sounds can be produced on the cheap:
https://www.freesound.org/people/AlienX ... ds/370342/
https://www.freesound.org/people/AlienXXX/sounds/88520/
(I post most of my sonic nonsense at Freesound, by the way)

As for the 'bleep', I like quirky synths. - If that is 'what it does', then let it do it!
If I need a very precise degree of control over sounds, I can always fine tune a synth to the perfect sound and then sample it.
But the quirkiness of some synths is their beauty. And you can play along and record a whole live session and capture those happy incidents.

This synth is an amazing tool to create sounds that no one else has!
So, a big thank you!
Considering this is your first serious adventure into audio coding, it is quite impressive. I hope you find it pleasant (and addictive), so we get some more fantastic plugins along the way

[Taron]

....that's what I feel right now!

A small garden shed would NEVER disappoint me! That's completely perfect!
Those are indeed nightmarish sounds, but I really dig the plucked rubber bands!

Awww, dang, about the keyboard. Yeah, you need a proper mod wheel, because it moves the "ribbon" 1:1 with your wheel action across the springs, allowing for very organic playing. You can hear it in a bunch of my demos including the little scrubby thing I posted somewhere up there.
Not too long ago my poor- but beloved- Korg M1 broke so I bought myself this clunky, massive AKAI (MPK 88) masterkeyboard, which I wouldn't recommend, but the mod wheel and pitch wheel are incredible. They're beautiful really. Large, robust and sensitive. It feels completely fantastic to play LotS with it! I wished, I could try it with my M1, because of the stick, you know. Would be interesting, if it would work that well, too?!
Anyway, you can always make an automation lane for your modwheel and see what it does. I recommend some quick strokes, maybe across 1/8 or even 1/16, just so you get a feel for it. OH, but BEWARE, because the speed affects also the volume of the stimulation. It's actually a literal simulation!
Since it literally makes strokes over the springs, it makes a difference whether you go up or down. That's quite amazing, actually. You can set really nice rhythms that way!
But later on I will really try to make this adjustable, so you could use it to make long strokes as well as altering the "texture" of the ribbon, which then would literally be another oscillator, actually.
So, yeah, I'm addicted to it. I absolutely love writing synths, even if I have to look at a mountain of things I still have to learn, but I love that kind of climbing, too!
I think it's fairly safe to say: there will be more!

Again: A Massive and I really hope we remain connected!

[opoo]

Awww, man, times are changing, I'm afraid. I also know your worries about switching, but it really, really isn't as dramatic as you might think right now. Especially windows had done quite a remarkable job with updating. I was amazed how pleasant it went.
Especially since you have two machines, you should consider taking the plunge, but maybe you just buy yourself a new machine and set it up on current standards. It will take YEARS to setup...or days, depending on how much time you plan on spending reading all the license agreements, hehehehe, but no, it won't be so terrible and it can feel beautiful to have a fresh start.

Anyway, I'm still terribly sorry and wished I knew what I'd have to do to make it work on 15 year old PCs, but for now I kind of have to focus on what I can actually create for contemporary systems and possibly the future.

It's Taron, by the way. Toran was a fantasy character with a magic bow, I think, hahaha! Must've been around the time when you got your machines! sorry... (I did love that movie, though!)

Hallo Taron, I appreciate your response. And I knew all along that people will start to tell me to update.
It will be more likely that I build up a new machine (some day).
About your vsti, I found out there seems to be no way to get direct2d installed on win xp.
I wish you much success with your projects