Arturia V Collection 6

[Ingonator]

What I am missing a bit is a selector for the algorithms that gives an overview of all of them.

The 32 algorithms are the same as in the DX7 and here is an overview picture (each of them uses one fixed possible feedback):
http://powerfx.assets.s3.amazonaws.com/ ... rithms.png


In DX7 V you could "override" the feedback in the algorithms by using the feedback parameter in each of the operators. This would result in many more possible options than 32 fixed algorithms.

If you add the aditional filters in each operator you could go even further, same about the 25 waveforms available for each operator instead using just a Sine for all operators.

Certain combinations of operators are just used to emulate certain waveforms and/or filter behavior. In DX7 V you could use the waveforms and/or a dedicated filter directly without "wasting" operators.
FM "purists" might call this "cheating" but personally i do not really care about that. FM synthesis still remains difficult enough even with those aditional waveforms and filters used while on the other hand this could also offer totally new options not possible with "pure" FM synthesis.
That's even more true of you use the advanced modulation options in DX7 V (including the mod matrix).


UPDATE:
A feature i almost forgot about is the "LEVEL SCALING" for each of the operators. Besides the DX7 mode you could also use a MODERN mode whee you could use a MSEG including adding new enveleope points and editing the envelope slopes (as alraedy mentioned using a MSEG mode is possible with all envelopes in DX7 V).

[Ingonator]

The "INIT VOICE" factory preset in DX7 V seems to mostly use the parameters related to the original/old DX7. Personally i prefer using some of the "modern" features (that partly were also used in the updated DX7 II hardware). Due to that i created my own Init preset with those changes:

- DAC RES switched to "Modern" for an overall better sound quality
- Velocity mode switched to "Full" to get the full velocity range up to 127
- the filters all set to "bypass" using the on/off switch for them

In the default Init patch the filters are switched on while not actually being used (set to full Cutoff without filter modulation). Bypassing them could alo save some CPU load.

FWIW if you do not like the rate/level parameters in the DX7 envelopes you could switch to the DADSR or MSEG envelope modes instead (at the envelopes page).
I am creating multiple Init patches heer that use different envelope modes.

[Stefken]

I guess the fixed algorithms is a design decision to make FM synthesis more accessable.

They've added a lot of other features as the classic filter options from subtractive synthesis. Not just one general filterset but filters for each operator. This adds a lot of possibilities. The filter concept is also quite easy to understand and very tactile/ perceptive in approach. So, I guess they went for usability.

Maybe a DX7 V 2 will add the possibility to make your own algorithms. They have to keep something for an upgrade right?

[Ingonator]

Concerning the graphical envelopes in DX7 V it is also possible to zoom in and out. For that in the envelope displays at both the main GUI and the dedicated envelopes page you could click and hold the scale display above the envelope shape and then move the mouse up or down to zoom in/out. That way it is possible to use longer envelope times (= lower rates) and/or add more steps for the MSEG easier (or edit the MSEGs more detailed).
In DX7 mode this might be confusing as the "scale" above the envelope shape does not dispaly a value but zooming still works the same way.

If you zoomed into the envelope until a point where you no longer see the whole envelope you could move the display left/right by again clicking and holding at the scale above the enveleop and moving the mouse left/right.

For having a bigger display of the envelopes and also additional editing options best is switching to the dedicated envelopes edit page. There you also got access to the dedicated pitch envelope and the 2 additional mod envelopes (routing for those is possible in the mod matrix).
At teh enveloep edit page besides selecting the 3 different envelope modes for each of the enveleops you could also use the "rate multiplier" to change the speed of all envelope times/rates at once. With this you could easily make the whole envelope slower or faster. The rate multiplier value has a rangge of from 0.100 up to 10.000.
You could also use a "keyboard rate scaling" value that has a value between 0 and 7 where 0 means no key scaling.

[foosnark]

I won't deny a matrix is more flexible in some other ways, but it's also good to be able to just change the algorithm of a patch and have a drastic change in sound. Volca FM really puts that to good use by letting you sequence algorithm changes.

I've often found when I use a matrix-based FM synth I want an algorithm switch, and when I use an algorithm-based FM synth I want a matrix.

[waltercruz]

Hm...now that Arturia did the DX7, with additional waveforms, I think that it's not that hard to them to make a FS1R in a near future... Something like Yamaha did on Montage, without the most esoteric part of formants.

[Krakatau]

Hm...now that Arturia did the DX7, with additional waveforms, I think that it's not that hard to them to make a FS1R in a near future... Something like Yamaha did on Montage, without the most esoteric part of formants.

yeah ...or to emulate SY77/SY99 engines, with the original RCM technology (real-time convolution and modulation)

About the Fairlight emulation :

...By the way I way just surfing through the CMI presets on Analog Lab 3 and must say that I find them very inspiring (awesome work for a supposedly outdated technology !!!)

[Zipede]

If I run 1 instance of Buchla with the opening patch "volt-aged piano", I get a few pops and clicks, CPU runs around 35-50%. If I load the patch "pad me up", it's unplayable 50-60%.

If I load 4 instances of Buchla, all with the patch "volt-aged piano" playing simultaneously, there are zero clicks and CPU goes down to 30-35%

On my machine I get 8.7% CPU with one "Volt-aged Piano", or 6% CPU with the GUI closed.

Setting it to 4x polyphony, I get 16.4% (GUI open) or 14.2% (GUI closed).

With 4 monophonic instances and the GUI closed, I get 14%.

"Pad Me Up" is about 11.4% with the GUI closed. But things got brutal when I had two instances of it running and I didn't even measure CPU time because Maschine got unbearably sluggish. No pops and clicks though.

FWIW, the magazineware version of Aalto is about 4% for one instance, or 3.4% with the GUI closed... and Maschine itself is 2.2% with no plugins or anything else going on.

(Maschine 2.6.10 32-bit, on a 2011 Core i7 960 @ 3.2GHz, with 8GB of RAM. Focusrite Saffire Pro 40, at 44.1kHz and a 256 sample buffer, with 14.1ms latency total reported by Maschine.)

Damn, why is my system so slow?
Comparing our systems, I should be doing a lot better than I am. Could your Focusrite be making that much difference, maybe my system is set up wrong.

[felis]

....
As you, I also want something more powerful features, and a freely configurable algorithm is one of them, of course. Actually, I would gladly see an emulation of the FS1R, as that is way beyond the DX7, and, even just as an FM synth, is much more powerful. Hopefully, Arturia may come with something in that vein in the future.

While it's cool to have another DX7 type thing, I would have been much more excited by an FS1R emulation.
Maybe they can work into it in the future.

[ENV1]

So, by now (consult my own measures) you could just see that you aren't exactly right. Sure, DX7 V demands more RAM than the old FM synths - it is a modern soft synth, with much more features. But not THAT much as you were implying.

I havent 'implied' anything.

I have demonstrated that 3 instances of DX7 V took ~ 245 each.

Do you want to dispute that?

[Krakatau]

....
As you, I also want something more powerful features, and a freely configurable algorithm is one of them, of course. Actually, I would gladly see an emulation of the FS1R, as that is way beyond the DX7, and, even just as an FM synth, is much more powerful. Hopefully, Arturia may come with something in that vein in the future.

While it's cool to have another DX7 type thing, I would have been much more excited by an FS1R emulation.
Maybe they can work into it in the future.

true...I hope so too !

[Ingonator]

I have not tested this yet but as each operator in DX7 V could use it's own Bandpass filter and each of them one of 25 different waveforms (not just a Sine) this way it should be also possible to create kind of formant synthesis when using multiple carriers with a Bandpass added. Some of the included additive waveforms might be already close to such sound.

Overall DX7 V just has quite many options that go beyond the real thing. If it would just be a 1:1 emulation of the DX7 (while it could do that too if needed...) i maybe would have not been intersted in this plugin.
The way DX7 V is done i see it more or less as a new synth instead just as an emulation of a DX7.

Of course it is a nice bonus that you could import all DX7 Sysex files and taht way play with tons of those patches in this plugin.

[ENV1]

Suggestion:

Give us a bit more demotime. I always find it very difficult to really check out a plugin like the DX or CMI when the sound is going out after just 20 minutes. With all these features id say 40 to 45 would be good, an hour even better.

(Either that or let us save presets so we can at least continue from where we were.)

[wagtunes]

Suggestion:

Give us a bit more demotime. I always find it very difficult to really check out a plugin like the DX or CMI when the sound is going out after just 20 minutes. With all these features id say 40 to 45 would be good, an hour even better.

(Either that or let us save presets so we can at least continue from where we were.)

If you can save presets then there is never a reason to buy it unless they put a time restriction of how long you can actually demo it for, like 7 days or 14 days or something like that.

[ENV1]

If you can save presets then there is never a reason to buy it unless they put a time restriction of how long you can actually demo it for, like 7 days or 14 days or something like that.

Well they do have a time restriction of 20 minutes per go and that was just the point.

So what i meant was that if they dont want to extend the demotime to 45 or whatever then being able to save presets would help a lot since we could at least pick up where we had to leave off.

(In other words one or the other. Cant really check out synths like that if the sound goes out after 20 minutes and you cant save any progress youve made either. Its just too little time.)