Vectorspace: Gestural Sequenced Sampler for Reaktor

[~Pd~]

Tom was right, this is a bit of a klunky way of loading samples. Save the whole ensemble.

Well, you do have to save the ensemble in order to save the snapshot, tho...

One thing that's neat, on the other hand, and I'm not sure it works in all hosts so experiment, is that Reaper will save the path of a sample you've added to Reaktor and the current control values with the Reaper project, without having to save the ensemble. Kontakt works that way too, last I checked.

If it's an important project at all I do like to turn on Reaktor's autosave though. Better safe than sorry.

[ThomasHelzle]

Yeah, sorry PD - I didn't want to give you grieve. I know how it works, it just doesn't make sense IMO. But that is another discussion.
I'll shut up now.

Thanks and cheers!

Tom

[Naenyn]

I haven't played too much with this yet .. impulse bought it. It is a lot of fun to toy with, though!

[el-bo (formerly ebow)]

musical, playable

I'll have to do a demo track with that in mind.

would be interesting to hear

[jk-cream2]

Freeze mode is a bit mind boggling. You have separate parts of the whole sample being played at the same time.

https://soundcloud.com/joe-kingthethird ... h-freeze-1

This just uses a large scan of the waveform, playing notes as the big transparent square passes over it. This has hold off while the previous had hold on.

https://soundcloud.com/joe-kingthethird ... glefreeze1

[Echoes in the Attic]

So can this thing do smooth sounds? Most of what I've heard has been choppy. Even the one above has audible looping. Is there loop crossfade or some kind of grain smoothing?

[Breeze]

So can this thing do smooth sounds? Most of what I've heard has been choppy. Even the one above has audible looping. Is there loop crossfade or some kind of grain smoothing?

i agree: seq times are fast (1/4 is the slowest) and seem to be geared towards rhythmic uses with fast attacks. Even the Smooth control is limited in it's effect and only affects end resynthesis. IMO it would have a lot of potential for ambient tracks if it were possible to make the timings much longer as well as introducing more extensive control over smoothing.

[ThomasHelzle]

Well, if you want endless smooth ambient a la Paulstretch, I'd rather recommend tcStretch from ToneCarver.

But Vectorspace can be quite smooth and fluid too, with "Smooth" at max and the sequencers switched to the smooth interpolation instead of stepped. I like mixing some parameters being stepped/rhythmic and others smooth and slow.
And if that still isn't slow enough, you can always automated the parameters from your DAW...

Cheers,

Tom

[~Pd~]

Vectorspace isn't a typical granular because the grains don't overlap. It's like a hybrid of granular and a very flexible traditional sampler. Think of it as one grain per voice, so that you have individual control of the position and pitch of each grain.

As Thomas points out you can turn up the smoothing - in addition, turn up the VoiceLFO so the grains move relative to each other, and use short sample segments. The modal bank resonator can also smooth things out. In the end you have far more control over the sound than you'd get with a standard granular.

Here's a Vectorspace trick: turn on hold but not arp and hit the same key four or five times, for multiple grains with the same pitch, then experiment with VoiceLFO and grain length. This can approximate the sound of Mirage, which is geared more towards that typical granular ZZZSSSSHHHHHHHH sound.

[jk-cream2]

I've got Auto and freeze on and arp and hold on.
I've got some scanning gesture going on.
If I check the growl (shape waveform) xy pad button on then it freezes a part of the sample. I didn't expect that. Turning it off freezes the scan and turning it on freezes the scan.

[~Pd~]

I've got Auto and freeze on and arp and hold on.
I've got some scanning gesture going on.
If I check the growl (shape waveform) xy pad button on then it freezes a part of the sample. I didn't expect that. Turning it off freezes the scan and turning it on freezes the scan.

Yeah, I use switches for the effects modules to save CPU and turning switches off or on, or changing effects, causes a global reset in Reaktor which resets (among other things) each frozen voice's playback position to the current cursor position.

I'll look at it tonight and see if something can be done... In the meantime a workaround is to not use freeze while selecting effects, then apply freeze afterwards.

And may I say, thank you for scrutinizing Vectorspace so thoroughly - I'll have to PM you about beta testing my next instrument.

[Echoes in the Attic]

Vectorspace isn't a typical granular because the grains don't overlap. It's like a hybrid of granular and a very flexible traditional sampler. Think of it as one grain per voice, so that you have individual control of the position and pitch of each grain.

As Thomas points out you can turn up the smoothing - in addition, turn up the VoiceLFO so the grains move relative to each other, and use short sample segments. The modal bank resonator can also smooth things out. In the end you have far more control over the sound than you'd get with a standard granular.

Here's a Vectorspace trick: turn on hold but not arp and hit the same key four or five times, for multiple grains with the same pitch, then experiment with VoiceLFO and grain length. This can approximate the sound of Mirage, which is geared more towards that typical granular ZZZSSSSHHHHHHHH sound.

On the subject of Mirage, how's it different from Travelizer? That's the main granular synth I tend to compare others to. Obviously it's simple but does the job.

[~Pd~]

On the subject of Mirage, how's it different from Travelizer? That's the main granular synth I tend to compare others to. Obviously it's simple but does the job.

I find Travelizer very frustrating, actually - there's an older version that's better. The most recent (Reaktor 4) version is obscure and difficult to control. Mirage gives you, I think, more reasonable controls over things.

Other main differences are that Mirage is polyphonic, and all parameter LFOs are also polyphonic. You can set sample area by clicking and dragging on the waveform. There's per-voice panning and synchronized per-voice grain reset, which can add interesting rhythmic effects. Also, per-voice filter settings. The grain reset and filter controls add and subtract columns when you change the number of voices in the instrument. And most importantly, the notes you play can be saved in snapshots, so if you create an awesome ambient patch that combines a chord with a set of parameters, the whole thing saves together in the snap.

I realize Mirage's GUI is looking long in the tooth but I have an update (free for previous purchasers) ready to release Real Soon Now. ParamDrum too, actually. It's just a matter of finding time to write some promotional material, do screencaps, upload Soundcloud demos, create the shopping cart items...

[jk-cream2]

I wonder if you can have a gestural sync mode. Everything starts when the sample select gesture starts.

In smooth mode I found it difficult to start an xy pad gesture in time with the waveform pass (maybe that's just me).

The smooth mode on the xy pads and the quantised modes seemed to be different gestures, swap them over and they seem different.
I would have that when you are in smooth mode that it would get transfered to the quantised mode.

[~Pd~]

I wonder if you can have a gestural sync mode. Everything starts when the sample select gesture starts.

In smooth mode I found it difficult to start an xy pad gesture in time with the waveform pass (maybe that's just me).

The smooth mode on the xy pads and the quantised modes seemed to be different gestures, swap them over and they seem different.
I would have that when you are in smooth mode that it would get transfered to the quantised mode.

That's by design. The smooth gestures are indeterminate length so they phase shift against any other sequence anyways. And since the quantized and smooth gestures have different lengths they'll be somewhat related to each other but not identical.

The next version, by the way, will have settable max lengths for the smooth gestures and an offset control so you can match smooth sequences to other XY faders and sample area gestures in a more determinate way.

It's funny, the philosophy of the instrument was all about getting off the grid, but based on feedback from poeple the grid should always be an option. Oh well, live and learn.