Give me NONlinear ADSR !

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Elo :)
So i want to recreate the amazing high resonance sweeps from Van Halen - 1984.
Which look like this:
Image

But from most freeware and few payware demos (including some of the most loved on KVR) i get something like this:
Image

Yes there are some with nonlinear envelopes (Sonigen Modular for example), but most do the transition from A to S with a little sudden bend.
The glorious exception is Elektrostudio Virtual Model Mini that does it as smoothly as a gentle morning breeze:
Image
Pity the developer is not very active, because EXP envelopes in all his synths are bugged and introduce some very audible artifacts.

Are nonlinear EXP/LOG envelopes very hard to code ?
If not, then why are they so rare in modern VSTi synths ?

So if you are a developer, please give your synths a little switch between linear and nonlinear envelopes ! :)
Last edited by Mutant on Wed Apr 22, 2015 3:47 pm, edited 1 time in total.
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If there's a mod matrix and the synth allows it, you can modulate the envelope amount by the envelope amount, then adjust the amount of the amount that the envelope amount is affected by the envelope amount. What that amounts to (see what I'm doing here?) is you can control between exponential, logarithmic, and anything inbetween by using the modulation amount. Set it up like:

Source: Envelope level
Destination: Envelope level (or modulation amount, however the synth handles it)
Amount: -100 to 100

I believe this works in ACE. ACE and other u-he synths also have a modulation mapper. From there you can map an input to any output value for a modulator, so if you draw a curve in there, it'll convert linear movement to exponential.
http://sendy.bandcamp.com/releases < My new album at Bandcamp! Now pay what you like!

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Strange, imho most synths do have non-linear envelopes...

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fluffy_little_something wrote:Strange, imho most synths do have non-linear envelopes...
Can you name any freeware ones that do it as smoothly as my best example above ?
Btw i used Signaldust Dust Analyzer to get these spectrograms.
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Oh, this is about freeware? Didn't know...

Either way, I can't think of any synth I have that has linear envelopes. Most seem to have exponential ones, some even allow to choose the curve.

I don't know what exactly you have done in your tests so I can't do such a test.
Do you have a specific example of such a VH sweep? Video plus min/sec?

What is "gibe" by the way? :)

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fluffy_little_something wrote:Do you have a specific example of such a VH sweep? Video plus min/sec?
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=omg9Zv8ihKQ

It's the very first sound your hear on the album.

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fluffy_little_something wrote:Oh, this is about freeware? Didn't know...
As i said i also tested some payware demos.
fluffy_little_something wrote:Either way, I can't think of any synth I have that has linear envelopes. Most seem to have exponential ones, some even allow to choose the curve.
Try Diva. :)
Maybe not 100% linear, but still too fast near the end of the A stage, which results in a sudden change to S stage that doesn't sound as it sounds in 1984 at all.
fluffy_little_something wrote:I don't know what exactly you have done in your tests so I can't do such a test.
Nothing really complicated.
Filter freq = 0-10%
Filter resonance = 70-90%
Filter envelope amount = 80-100%
Filter keytrack = 100%

FEnv attack = Slow
FEnv release = Medium
FEnv Sustain = 100%
FEnv release switch = on

It is a 2 note 1 octave apart sound, so a polysynth would be best.
fluffy_little_something wrote:Do you have a specific example of such a VH sweep? Video plus min/sec?
Elassi linked it.
fluffy_little_something wrote:What is "gibe" by the way? :)
V is just next to B. :)
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Looped the problem in red.
Image

And don't get me wrong, i think that Diva is absolutely fantastic, just not for this exact sound.

Or is there any hidden way to make a smooth envelope in Diva like in Model Mini ?
Image
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Ay caramba !

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Also here you can hear that another OB-Xa envelopes really sound like they sound on Van Halens OB-Xa, so there was no additional "knob turning magic" involved.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=60qaA-cZahY
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Ay caramba !

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Vaporizer has different types of envelope analog,digital and linear.
http://www.kvraudio.com/product/vaporiz ... cs/details

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Taifunk wrote:Vaporizer has different types of envelope analog,digital and linear.
http://www.kvraudio.com/product/vaporiz ... cs/details
Vaporizer's envelopes sound very good, like Sylenth's they also have a very pleasant attack. The whole synth sounds very good and pleasant, unfortunately it eats my CPU alive and the user interface controls/labels are hard to read :P

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fluffy_little_something wrote:
Taifunk wrote:Vaporizer has different types of envelope analog,digital and linear.
http://www.kvraudio.com/product/vaporiz ... cs/details
Vaporizer's envelopes sound very good, like Sylenth's they also have a very pleasant attack. The whole synth sounds very good and pleasant, unfortunately it eats my CPU alive and the user interface controls/labels are hard to read :P
it is true :) , it is a little heavy on the cpu, the developer said it will certainly be optimized and also there will be new features, will surely become a great synth ,I really like.

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I tried to recreate the sound with Aurora ,xoxos synth have a curvable envelope with some adjustments you should get that kind of sound, looks quite similar.
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Nice :)
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Checked the "out of tune going" version of Zebra 2 i forgot about earlier when i was doing my first test.
If you set the envelope to 16sX and V-slope and set the slider all the way left, it gives a shape almost exactly like in Virtual Model Mini !

Image
Sounds and looks beautiful. :)
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