Any thought of adding swing?

I tried Swing initially but it didn't sound good, the problem is that because all sequences are different tempos it makes it very difficult to implement, I'm not really sure how to go about it.. You can't really swing different tempos at the same time. Once I have everything working and implemented, I'll do some more experiments perhaps just locking it to a single tempo is the key.

There will be a release out in a few hours, I have the basics of the synth engine in there now.

I'm currently struggling with the timing issues, it has me puzzled, it is now rock solid in FL, but now has some issues in Reaper, can't seem to get it working in both at the same time... very strange problem..

BETA 2 Download

The synth engine is now in there, still lots to sort out but it's working. There are a few presets so far, you choose via the program change section on the mixer LSB changes banks, the idea is that bank 0 will have Bass/Lead type presets, 1 - will have more padlike sounds, 2 - Blips and Sequencing type sounds, and 3 FX. There's about 30 in each of the 0 and 1 banks, and a few in the FX.

It works by choosing sounds via the mixer, and you'll notice a new yellow button at the top of the mixer strips, when this is lit that channel is playing the internal synth, unlit will play external midi. Note that the mixer strip or program change does not need top be switched on to control the internal synths, as long as the yellow button is lit the strip will work for the synth.

Haven't done much on the synth page as yet, there is mono/poly mode, retrigger and fine tune so far, sorry no labels yet!

As for the bugs:

Channel 16 is fixed, timing in FL is fixed I hope, still an issue in Reaper but only when starting playback. If there is a note at the very beginning timing will be out. Solution is to start playback a bit earlier, if it is a looped section it plays correctly next time round which has me baffled..

I haven't noticed any graphic corruption, but have experienced some zippering, I think there must be a problem with my main sequencer display code, I'll look into that tomorrow.

Cantabile seems fine here..

I did leave the dragging across lanes for editing the velocity out intentionally, I thought it was bit too easy to edit the wrong step value in Arp.

Let me know how it goes! Next big job is to code something for samples/drum samples, and get some FX in there.

Andy

Hi Andy,

I found your manual for Vortex contains chapters with descriptions of setup in selected DAWs. Currently, I use PreSonus Studio One 2 as my main DAV. MIDI configuration in Studio One is a bit tricky, so if you want I can write short PDF/WinWord document with description of Vortex setup (with screenshots and setup for multitimbral MIDI outputs). Next, you could edit and add it to your manual. What do you think about this?

Janusz

Janusz

That would be fantastic

Have you noticed any bugs in Studio One?

Hi Andy,

OK, I'll write it after weekend.


No, Vortex works well with Studio One (at the moment)... If I had found bugs, you would find my bug reports here . However. I haven't too much free time for more advanced tests. I'd like check behavior of internal synth, CC messages, etc. tomorrow.

Best janusz

Oh that's good news then!

I'm going to add a screen of assignable CC knobs at some point soon which can be used for external or internal same as the 2 in the mixer. Just about everything in synth is controllable by CC with numbers starting at 70, I'll come up with a list of them soon. Avoid CCs below 70 for the time being, as there are a few set up for testing purposes.

Off the top of my head, 74 cutoff, 71 Resonance (needs limiting at the top end though), 72 Release. Note that they only respond to messages from the plugin itself via the knobs and CC sequencers, not incoming CC messages, as that would be chaos!

Yes, this is logical. Internal "routing" for those CC is sufficient - after all, Vortex is not Zebra2 or Alchemy ... this is multitimbral step sequencer, and synth engine is implemented rather for sequence tests.
Good idea! So, I wait impatiently on next beta.

Janusz

It might take a bit of getting used to as the ccs will affect all presets on that channel, so when the preset is changed, all ccs will be re-transmitted, same way as with external gear, I'll have a an on/off for each strip so that it can be disabled easily. I'm also planning to have a single version of the synth designed for creating your own banks of sounds (although this might be after v1.0 is released) and eventually sample based sounds too. I will be developing the drum based sample side of it before v1 though, I think that is essential.

Firstly, this synth was discussed in ARP 1.7 topic as basic synth engine similar to solution implemented in Sugar Bytes Thesys. But I see this idea grow up and now it transformed to real and serious synthesizer .

Janusz

Haha, oh yes, I do have a tendency to explore the full potential of things, the Ammonite engine is a complex synthesizer and so ALL the temptations are there Main thing is to keep things simple from the front end, so it's easy to use but the potential for presets is vast because of the concept of using MSB/LSB banks. The more I think about it the more I like it. I also want to have a go at getting the Terranova FX engine in there if it doesn't add too much CPU and do a similar thing with presets rather than full on GUI.

I'm just reworking the display, turns out that the glitches are caused by too much GUI activity and so it needs reducing drastically. I'd planned to overhaul this at some point anyway but I'd rather be doing it later than right now

Oh one more request, like the swing not sure how do-able it is but figured Id throw it out there, midi import

Geez! I missed this one! The controls look really fantastic, as does the gui over all. I give it a run this week. Thanks for public beta

Hi Scott,

Well I've refrained from sending a mail out yet until the main bugs are squashed, so it's a bit low key at the moment