Roger Linn Design

Pulse Emitter · Post by **Pulse Emitter** » Wed Jul 11, 2018 3:37 pm

It does appear they are using option 1. I heard back from the developer.

"As per MPE spec, channel 1 defaults to the master channel on which pitchbend is interpreted globally and therefore affects all voices. Global pitchbend would typically be sent by a traditional pitch wheel and it’s bend range is set with the “Wheel Range” control, which would also be the reason you were getting different bend ranges when using channels 1-8."

So I did have the LinnStrument set up wrong, I must have set the per-note channels to be 1-8. Glad to have figured this out.

Thanks,
Daryl

Roger_Linn · Post by **Roger_Linn** » Wed Jul 11, 2018 4:00 pm

That's because Animoog doesn't use a Main (Master) channel. Most synths don't use a Main (master) channel. This is explained on the page "What is "MPE?":

"Note that most MPE-compatible MPE synths do not implement a Common channel, instead applying all received messages other than the above five per-note messages, regardless of the channel on which they are received, as Common and therefore applying to all notes."

The purpose of the Main (master) channel is to send messages common to all notes like Sustain Pedal, master volume, etc. This is discussed in the Panel Settings page > Per-Split Settings tab, under the heading "MIDI Mode".

MPE is kind of a mess, but at least LinnStrument permits you to configure the channels however you like.

Pulse Emitter · Post by **Pulse Emitter** » Wed Jul 11, 2018 10:12 pm

Sorry, you were replying to my question why Animoog still works while I was simultaneously editing that question out, whoops.

I am gaining a better understanding of this now. Seems like Volt actually follows MPE spec well. And indeed glad LinnStrument lets all of this be configured.

I recommend Volt. Cool that it works on iPhone as well as iPad!

NightMachines · Post by **NightMachines** » Mon Jul 16, 2018 7:34 pm

It looks like the iOS granular synth Tardigrains, was updated with MPE support (just in time before Quanta is released in the App Store):
http://www.humbletune.com/tardigrain/

I just downloaded it and look forward to try it out with the Linnstrument

John the Savage · Post by **John the Savage** » Mon Jul 16, 2018 11:16 pm

NightMachines wrote:It looks like the iOS granular synth Tardigraina, was updated with MPE support (just in time before Quanta is released in the App Store):
http://www.humbletune.com/tardigrain/

I just downloaded it and look forward to try it out with the Linnstrument

I wish iDensity would add support for external keyboards and controllers, never mind polyphonic/MPE functionality. From a pure sound-design perspective, iDensity is the most comprehensive granular synth on the iOS platform in my opinion. I’m not entirely sold on Tardigrain, but Quanta is sure to be an excellent app. Chris Randall and the lads at Audio Damage do good work. They know where it’s at!

Cheers!

NightMachines · Post by **NightMachines** » Tue Jul 17, 2018 3:50 am

Yeah, I'm refreshing the App Store for Quanta like crazy

I found another synth that lists MPE support:

Fragment Synth
https://www.fsynth.com

I have no clue how it works yet, it's a weird concept. Collaborative live online coding of granluar synthesis?!

Roger_Linn · Post by **Roger_Linn** » Tue Jul 17, 2018 3:35 pm

NightMachines wrote:It looks like the iOS granular synth Tardigrains, was updated with MPE support:
http://www.humbletune.com/tardigrain/

I just tried it and it seems somewhat unpolished. The developer states that you should select "OMNI" for MPE usage, but OMNI means mixing all channels together, so it's possible he doesn't understand what MPE is. I tried to verify MPE function but it's difficult to do so, given that none of the presets respond to pitch bend, the UI contains no text and only a minimal-function Help button, and the web site seems to have no manual. So I gave up and decided not to list it on the Recommended Sounds page. If you have a better experience and can verify true MPE implementation, please post your experience here and I'll copy it to the Recommended Sounds page.

NightMachines · Post by **NightMachines** » Tue Jul 17, 2018 5:42 pm

Yeah, Tardigrain takes some exploring for sure. Generally you need to slide your finger left/right or up/down over most controls (which are sometimes not really recognizable as such). I'll be with my Linnstrument tonight or tomorrow and see what I discover. The modulation matrix is hidden on a pull-out tray on the right side of the screen where you see the sample waveform. There are four modulation slots plus a filter. You can map X and Y axes absolute or relative, pressure and brightness (?) to pretty much any parameter and also set the mod amount. It's all done with swiping gestures, which work really well ... problem is just that nobody really explains this to you properly

It seems like a cool, simple app, which is nice. The only thing I don't like too much is that the grain start points always seem to be chosen at random on each key press.

Regarding the Fragment synth above, that's probably something for Geert ... I don't think I'll get my head around that level of craziness

NightMachines · Post by **NightMachines** » Tue Jul 17, 2018 8:09 pm

I just connected my Linnstrument to Tardigrain. I’d say it actually does do MPE quite well, but there are no “traditional” pitch slides/bends with this synth at all.

Here's an annotated screenshot:

3F2B05A3-AAAA-4306-98EC-F2FF2C1895FE.jpeg

You pull out the modulation tray from the right side of the screen by tapping on the handle thing. There you have four modulation slots. Slide up/down over the destination names to change them and drag the ends(!) of the blue vertical lines next to them to change the modulation amount (can also be reversed). Tap the squares above the destinations to set the mod source:

Sun = Brightness (CC74)
Arc = Pitch Bend (this is just another controller and not used for actual pitch slides, set bend range to 2 or 3 on the Linnstrument)
Circles = Poly Pressure

Works really well. Make sure you enable the “MIDI CC” switch in the MIDI settings (DIN plug icon) in the lower left of the screen. In the MIDI settings you can also set up regular MIDI CC control for all synth parameters.

NightMachines · Post by **NightMachines** » Wed Jul 18, 2018 5:09 am

Aaaand Audio Damage Quanta is out on the iOS App Store

https://www.audiodamage.com/collections ... 046-quanta

John the Savage · Post by **John the Savage** » Wed Jul 18, 2018 7:52 am

NightMachines wrote:Aaaand Audio Damage Quanta is out on the iOS App Store

https://www.audiodamage.com/collections ... 046-quanta

Aaaand purchased!

Thanks for the heads-up. There's a lot of modulation to be had in Quanta, and given the boundless nature of granular synthesis, I'm very much looking forward to hearing what timbral varieties I can bring to life with the LinnStrument and a handful of my favourite samples (grin).

Cheers!

John the Savage · Post by **John the Savage** » Sat Jul 21, 2018 9:57 pm

Sadly, I've run into a few bugs in this early incarnation of Quanta, so I've had to abandon it for now...

Cheers!

NightMachines · Post by **NightMachines** » Sun Jul 22, 2018 7:34 pm

Yeah, I had some weird things happening as well. There is a new update out today, but I haven’t tried it yet.

Gomjab · Post by **Gomjab** » Sun Jul 22, 2018 8:12 pm

I just tried the update and during a quick test I didn’t get the pops and clicks I was hearing on my iPad pro.

John the Savage · Post by **John the Savage** » Fri Jul 27, 2018 10:07 am

Gomjab wrote:I just tried the update and during a quick test I didn’t get the pops and clicks I was hearing on my iPad pro.

So I finally found the time to download the latest update for Quanta and give it another go... Um, ya, I don't know what others are experiencing, but on my 2017 iPad 9.7" the app completely overloads when I try to do anything MPE related. To be fair, poly-pressure seems to work alright, but then, that can be done over a single channel; polyphonic pitch-slides, however, are subject to some lag, and any Y-axis movements whatsoever cause a complete audio meltdown: i.e. nothing but garble!

It was such a mess in fact, I seriously had to open my Moog apps just to be sure there wasn't something inherently wrong elsewhere in my setup. Sufficed to say, the Moog apps performed as expected, so it's definitely Quanta.

Too bad... It'd be deadly if it worked (smirk).

Cheers!

*Edit: Okay, so, upon further investigation, the above issue with the Y-axis was due to the fact that Quanta will only allow polyphonic Y-axis movements using CC74 in MPE mode; whereas Model D allows polyphonic Y-axis movements over CC1 (although I suspect there's something amiss with Model D's MPE implementation in this regard), and Animoog uses CC74, but if I use CC1 it doesn't seem to care (that is to say, the audio doesn't freakout like it does in Quanta). That said, I'm still getting some odd voice-stealing behavior in Quanta, and it tends to lag when performing pitch-slides and other such modulations. It's not very smooth or consistent anyway. Regardless, it's not inspiring confidence at this stage.

Roger Linn Design

KVR Audio

Software that supports MPE