try the kyma wiki at symboic sound. i bet you can get some help there.. or at least pushed down the right path

Nice. I'm glad my recommendation was helpful.

I did notice you haven't updated your blog on Kyma for some time now, so I thought maybe you have a hard time with it. Sorry to hear that.

Sounds like you want someone to make the sounds for you.
You need to learn your tools, Kyma especially.

Try Vertigo.

kyma takes time. you have to think in long term. if you stick with it then along the way you'll many little "aha" moments and break throughs.

it's an endeavor that is quite a challenge.. you can't expect it to come easy.

try small things. when i had mine i would use it for live processing of hardware while i was learning other bits. that EUverb is amazing. i configured lot's of simple small patches to do live processing and use it like an FX box and so that way it was fitting into my workflow in some way while i was trying to figure out more complex stuff.

i'd say 90% of the people who use kyma or any complex thing like kyma.. have gone through frustrating times figuring things out.. same w/max/msp/reaktor etc...

your expectation should be that it will be a struggle.

Well, yes. I had been making progress, figuring little things out bit by bit, learning, watching the videos etc. but I hit a bit of a brick wall and there was nothing else to post on my blog. The trouble is not creating sounds, or using Kyma on a technical level, it's taming Kyma to the point where the sounds are musical and can fit in to a piece of music.



Wow. I guess you haven't spent any time reading my blog, or the multitude of lengthy posts that I've put on several forums, or watched the hours I've poured in to pulling Kyma sounds apart, reading the manual and watching videos then.



Um... perhaps you didn't notice but that's kinda the point I've been making..



Don't worry. I'm in this for the long haul. I anticipated a very steep learning curve from the beginning. I knew what I was getting myself in to before I forked out the cash. But, I'd certainly say that Reaktor was nowhere near as frustrating to figure out as Kyma.



It really depends on what you mean by should

If you mean that I should have expected that using Kyma would be like getting ravaged by an angry gorilla, then yes I agree. I expected to feel that way after using it. That's what everyone else says as well.

But, if you mean that a software package ought to hurt, then I'd beg to differ. There are plenty of synths around such as Integra Live that are really simple to use and have really deep potential. I strongly disagree with people that say that Kyma is somehow superior because of the way that scripting is built in to the engine. Max also has a very powerful scripting engine that is easier to understand.

I think the one thing that makes Kyma superior is the sheer vastness of the array of synthsis modules that are there and the fact that there is a dedicated group of hardcore followers.

Meanwhile I'm getting the kinds of sounds that I wanted to get from Kyma in other synths. I've gotten some great sounds out of Reaktor, Ableton and Integra Live. Really good sounds!

I also just did a short sound design course. It gave me a lot of insight in to where Kyma comes from. The lecturer was a hardcore Kyma fiend and had been using it since the beginning. He was getting interesting granular sounds out of it, but again - he wasn't doing anything musical - just sound textures. All the sounds that I've downloaded from the Kyma wiki are non-musical. You know - sounds like violins morphing in cats screeching etc.

I know I'm eventually going to get over this hump but I can't really say when that's going to happen. I just have to keep bashing away at it.

Thanks for the blog Syncretia. I've enjoyed reading about your experiences. I'm sure the wall will be vaulted soon.

i guess when i said "struggle" i was thinking of myself because i sure did struggle with it.

it sounds like you're moving up over that hump though. i check your blog now and then. i think it could become a good resource for people getting into or thinking about getting into kyma

If you're looking for a topic for another blog post, I'd like to hear more about your current frustration. Why can't you get a musical sound out of it? Surely there must be basic oscillators, filters, and envelopes which you could use to make musical sounds and capture them in your DAW? Interesting sound design and glitchy effects make excellent seasonings for a composition, but I'm sure it must be capable of bog-standard melodic sounds as well. So what is the obstacle?

Thanks for the encouragement guys. I will get over the hump. And, I will post a lot more information about Kyma on my website with YouTube videos etc. when I get the hang of it. I haven't posted any YouTube vids etc. because I haven't got anything to show anyone yet.



Yes. It does. But, why would I use Kyma for that? I have dozens of synths that do that stuff. My weapon of choice for that kind of stuff is Zebra. I bought Kyma to get specific types of sounds that I couldn't get out of other synths. I guess that's probably part of my problem as well. I guess I'm trying to run before I can walk in a sense.



Yes. Totally. But, that hasn't really been my focus. My focus has been on trying to to tame samples in to something that I could play on midi keyboard for example, and especially to be able to morph two pitched sounds together and make it pleasing to the ear. But, I've had more luck with this in other synths. Anyway, the Kyma forum is quite a good resource and it's helping me to push forward bit by bit.

Win! I just found a module in Kyma which allows me to force the harmonic content of any input to a given pitch. It means that I can take the timbre of a given sample and play it like a synth. Fantastic! I've been wanting to do that for a long time.