StiX : MultiSynthesis Drum Machine (v1.6 Released + Flash sales)

[Lotuzia]

The velocity controls in Stix work in a strange way and I wonder if that is by design or if it is an oversight or even a bug unique to my system.
The Vel- controls on the easy synthesis page (vel-vca, vel-vcf, etc...) only work correctly for sequenced notes but not for notes triggered by a midi controller.
So when you draw a pattern in the sequencer and adjust the velocity on the "single" page, the velocity controls work just fine. Vel-vcf for example opens and closes the filter according to the velocity that is programed and the amount the vel-vcf knob is turned.
But when you play a note with the midi keyboard, the vel-vcf (and all other vel- controls) only act as an offset. It doesn't matter what velocity you hit the key with the filter amount stays the same. When you turn the vel-vcf, knob it will open or close the filter relative to the settings in the advanced page, but the parameter remains static regardless of what velocity you play with (again it simply acts as an offset to the settings in the advanced page).

Anyway, I am just wondering if anyone else has observed this behavior.
I'm wondering if I should report this as a bug or a feature request.

Velocity/Vca i.e volume should have been corrected in one of the last versions. Here it works : Hits with low velocity on say midi keyboard to trigger drum sounds results in low volume sounds, and increasing velocity makes louder sounds. Could you please check if it works on your system ?

I'll test vel/vcf further. I don't think this one has been adressed yet (it's on the list though)

[Local Man]

The velocity controls in Stix work in a strange way and I wonder if that is by design or if it is an oversight or even a bug unique to my system.
The Vel- controls on the easy synthesis page (vel-vca, vel-vcf, etc...) only work correctly for sequenced notes but not for notes triggered by a midi controller.
So when you draw a pattern in the sequencer and adjust the velocity on the "single" page, the velocity controls work just fine. Vel-vcf for example opens and closes the filter according to the velocity that is programed and the amount the vel-vcf knob is turned.
But when you play a note with the midi keyboard, the vel-vcf (and all other vel- controls) only act as an offset. It doesn't matter what velocity you hit the key with the filter amount stays the same. When you turn the vel-vcf, knob it will open or close the filter relative to the settings in the advanced page, but the parameter remains static regardless of what velocity you play with (again it simply acts as an offset to the settings in the advanced page).

Anyway, I am just wondering if anyone else has observed this behavior.
I'm wondering if I should report this as a bug or a feature request.

Velocity/Vca i.e volume should have been corrected in one of the last versions. Here it works : Hits with low velocity on say midi keyboard to trigger drum sounds results in low volume sounds, and increasing velocity makes louder sounds. Could you please check if it works on your system ?

I'll test vel/vcf further. I don't think this one has been adressed yet (it's on the list though)

Hello. Yes, in general the VCA is controlled by velocity as you say but the Vel-VCA control itself doesn't work. That is, the volume of the drum modules fully respond to velocity regardless of how the Vel-VCA knob is set (ie you can't not have velocity control the VCA by turning the knob down if you want to).
So actually that knob doesn't work even more than the others, because even though the other knobs act as an offset to whatever parameter they are supposed to map to velocity, the Vel-VCA does nothing at all.

Again that is for notes triggered from a midi keyboard or drum pad. For the internal sequencer everything works as expected.

It would be very nice to have these controls work as they are supposed to. Especially velocity to filter and velocity to release are powerful controls for creating expressive drum sounds that highly playable.
I hope they are fixed in a future release.

[Local Man]

Oh and a somewhat related question: are there any plans for NKS support in the near future?
That could be one workaround for some controls at least. I guess I'll manually assign some midi ccs to see what happens.

Yes NKS is planned, and I already have a few -very draft- approaches for that on an Excel sheet. Well, controlling StiX via Maschine or a standard NI Keyboard is very different. Maschine can access different pages much more easily that the NI standard keyboards, so I think I'll base the approach on Maschine as a controller, wich seems to make more sense. But even there, there are many possibilities for the hierachy and layout of the pages. So I think I'll propose different schemas here, to see what people prefer and think is more appropriate. Btw All ideas/proposals are welcomed of course about how to implement NKS in StiX.

Hello Lotuzia.
Regarding NKS, I created my own NKS mapping as a user preset and I thought I'd share it with you to maybe help with some ideas.
This is just my particular workflow but I do take great care to make sure that everything is logical, coherent and conducive to a smooth workflow. And with something as deep as Stix that is no easy task. Anyway, I hope it is of some use to you.

Stix - Init.nksf.zip

[Lotuzia]

Oh and a somewhat related question: are there any plans for NKS support in the near future?
That could be one workaround for some controls at least. I guess I'll manually assign some midi ccs to see what happens.

Yes NKS is planned, and I already have a few -very draft- approaches for that on an Excel sheet. Well, controlling StiX via Maschine or a standard NI Keyboard is very different. Maschine can access different pages much more easily that the NI standard keyboards, so I think I'll base the approach on Maschine as a controller, wich seems to make more sense. But even there, there are many possibilities for the hierachy and layout of the pages. So I think I'll propose different schemas here, to see what people prefer and think is more appropriate. Btw All ideas/proposals are welcomed of course about how to implement NKS in StiX.

Hello Lotuzia.
Regarding NKS, I created my own NKS mapping as a user preset and I thought I'd share it with you to maybe help with some ideas.
This is just my particular workflow but I do take great care to make sure that everything is logical, coherent and conducive to a smooth workflow. And with something as deep as Stix that is no easy task. Anyway, I hope it is of some use to you.


Stix - Init.nksf.zip

Thanks a lot for sharing it Local Man. I'll take a look at it asap (holydays beeing closer every day here)

There are indeed a lot of possible approaches.
Crossroads/Priorities I can see for the hierarchy of the pages atm are :

1/ Handling mix VS Synthesis first : What is more important for users : Mixer settings/effect send etc to balance a mix properly or synthesis to edit/change the sounds (a good balance could be to adress vca settings via the ez synthesis page)
2/ If mixer etc is first, then EZ synthesis should probably be next
3/ And finally advanced synthesis pages (but are these really needed, due to the BIG number of pages it requires for each of the 10 sounds ?) Or only a subset (like at least specify sample in the 3rd oscillator etc) that doesn't overlap too much the EZ synthesis page.

Overall : how much pages total number are required so that it doesn't become an indigestible gas factory ? Should it be extensive/exhaustive, or just a -as clever as possible- subset ?

It's hard to decide, and users feedback is definitely appreciated for all these subjects.

[Local Man]

Overall : how much pages total number are required so that it doesn't become an indigestible gas factory ? Should it be extensive/exhaustive, or just a -as clever as possible- subset ?

For me I like to take the all inclusive route (as much as is possible).
One reason this is a no brainer for me is that on the Komplete Kontrol keyboards the pages don't cycle or loop through. So when get to the end, you can't just push page right and be at the beginning again. No matter what you have to go backwards by pushing page left. This means that there isn't much benefit of having fewer pages as far as I'm concerned. If you just prioritize your pages so that it goes from most to least frequently used then having 16 pages and choosing to only use the first 4 is really not much different than only having 4 (you don't have to venture out into the woods so to speak).

Typically I like to map all the knobs and none of the buttons or toggles. Buttons and toggles are easy enough to use a mouse with and they are the kind of thing that you set and typically don't fiddle with too much after. Knobs are where you really want fine control (either for sound design or live applications).

For Stix I put a few master controls up front and then I really focused on the synthesis parameters since that aspect (along with the sequencer) is what Stix excels at.
Then I went fx, macros, and then mixer.
So it's sound design > mixing/live control.
I might have liked the mixer a bit more upfront but it just takes up to much real estate (20 knobs) so I decided to put it at the end where it's still easy enough to access.

[Digivolt]

Really not enjoying trying to import the Samples from Mars into Stix Some of the wavs won't import and I don't know why, everything else imports fine but not these, they're wavs and in 44.1khz like all the other samples so I don't understand why Stix is refusing to import

For reference it's refusing to import
909 Kicks in Color category
909 Snares in Various category
909 Toms in Color category
909 Rim shots in Various category
909 Hand Claps 03 to 05 in Clean category (but 01 and 02 import wtf ?)
909 Hand claps in Various category
909 Closed Hats in Color category
909 Open Hats in Various category
909 Cymbals Crash shorts
909 Rides Clean type B options (Type A loads fine wtf ?)

Also when loading an imported sample into Stix, it doesn't update the name of the preset which is really annoying

As an example, the preset I've selected



What Stix shows when I close the browser



Works fine if I change "official" presets, the correct names show, but for imported stuff, it seems to only want to show the last "official" preset name used

[Local Man]

Really not enjoying trying to import the Samples from Mars into Stix Some of the wavs won't import and I don't know why, everything else imports fine but not these, they're wavs and in 44.1khz like all the other samples so I don't understand why Stix is refusing to import

For reference it's refusing to import
909 Kicks in Color category
909 Snares in Various category
909 Toms in Color category
909 Rim shots in Various category
909 Hand Claps 03 to 05 in Clean category (but 01 and 02 import wtf ?)
909 Hand claps in Various category
909 Closed Hats in Color category
909 Open Hats in Various category
909 Cymbals Crash shorts
909 Rides Clean type B options (Type A loads fine wtf ?)

Also when loading an imported sample into Stix, it doesn't update the name of the preset which is really annoying

As an example, the preset I've selected



What Stix shows when I close the browser



Works fine if I change "official" presets, the correct names show, but for imported stuff, it seems to only want to show the last "official" preset name used

Sample import in general is super buggy for me. I would have all kinds of weird things happen, like name changes and tags getting mixed up and things just not saving. I would have to redo it multiple times to get it to work.

I finally gave up and just use the factory samples with Stix. Which is not too bad because there are a ton of them and they sound great.

[Digivolt]

Sample import in general is super buggy for me.

As I'm finding, even changing samples is not so simple with some weird fuckery going on, where I change sample, but it's not playing the sample I switched to but it's also no longer the sample that was selected either. I can fix it by going back into drums button and selecting some "official" samples clicking through until it finally decides to play the correct sample randomly, then I can go back into sample button and select the sample I actually want.

It's really off putting and kills workflow

[Lotuzia]

Really not enjoying trying to import the Samples from Mars into Stix Some of the wavs won't import and I don't know why, everything else imports fine but not these, they're wavs and in 44.1khz like all the other samples so I don't understand why Stix is refusing to import

For reference it's refusing to import
909 Kicks in Color category
909 Snares in Various category
909 Toms in Color category
909 Rim shots in Various category
909 Hand Claps 03 to 05 in Clean category (but 01 and 02 import wtf ?)
909 Hand claps in Various category
909 Closed Hats in Color category
909 Open Hats in Various category
909 Cymbals Crash shorts
909 Rides Clean type B options (Type A loads fine wtf ?)

Also when loading an imported sample into Stix, it doesn't update the name of the preset which is really annoying

As an example, the preset I've selected



What Stix shows when I close the browser



Works fine if I change "official" presets, the correct names show, but for imported stuff, it seems to only want to show the last "official" preset name used

I think -not sure- that you make a confusion between a drumpad (or a drumsound preset) and a sample, wich can be part of a drumpad, or not.

The picture you show ( when you close the brwoser) is a DRUMPAD preset. A drumpad preset can include up to three oscillators, and oscillator 3 can be a sample. Or noise. Moreover, in a pure analog or FM drum sound, osc3 volume can be set to zero, while analog oscillators might have max volume, so in this case changing the sample is clearly not enough.

So in short, a sample can be part, or not, of the oscillators of a drumpad. Not all drumpads in StiX use samples.

So what you need to do to hear your freshly imported samples is :

1/ Better 1st choose a drumpad preset wich actually use a sample, and possibly, only use that as oscillator (In the picture you take, just choose a drumpad with sample selected as synthesis type).(btw the one you screened only use analog oscillators and no samples, it's a base analog BD)
2/ Once this is done, switch to the advanced synthesis page. You can now see the three oscillators, and the sample loaded in the 3rd oscillator slot (mouse over this area to see the current sample name)
3/ Once this is done you have two solutions : Either load your new sample by using the dropdown tree in the main GUI. Or : Open the preset browser/samples and load any sample by dbl clicking on it. You can audition samples before loading them. Chances are that your freshly imported samples are in a bank called 'imported' or 'user'. So selecting this bank will sort samples so that you can see only your imported samples.
4/ When you're satisfied with the results, you can now save your new drumpad in a bank named for example 'my drumpads'.

Please note that you can also mass retag all your imported samples in one operation. If you have imported 100 'snares from mar's, you can open the preset browser, select all samples you have imported, create a new 'MARS' Bank, tag all the samples to 'Snare' type and all this in one clic. This will help ou to select and find more easily your samples later on.

Hope I have answered your question.

[Lotuzia]

Really not enjoying trying to import the Samples from Mars into Stix Some of the wavs won't import and I don't know why, everything else imports fine but not these, they're wavs and in 44.1khz like all the other samples so I don't understand why Stix is refusing to import

For reference it's refusing to import
909 Kicks in Color category
909 Snares in Various category
909 Toms in Color category
909 Rim shots in Various category
909 Hand Claps 03 to 05 in Clean category (but 01 and 02 import wtf ?)
909 Hand claps in Various category
909 Closed Hats in Color category
909 Open Hats in Various category
909 Cymbals Crash shorts
909 Rides Clean type B options (Type A loads fine wtf ?)

Also when loading an imported sample into Stix, it doesn't update the name of the preset which is really annoying

As an example, the preset I've selected



What Stix shows when I close the browser



Works fine if I change "official" presets, the correct names show, but for imported stuff, it seems to only want to show the last "official" preset name used

Sample import in general is super buggy for me. I would have all kinds of weird things happen, like name changes and tags getting mixed up and things just not saving. I would have to redo it multiple times to get it to work.

I finally gave up and just use the factory samples with Stix. Which is not too bad because there are a ton of them and they sound great.

I'm currently building some StiX add-ons wich are heavily sample based. Mass import sample works 100% robust here. But I should certainly make a tutorial to show exactly how to perform it.

Well 2 things are sure atm :
1/ StiX is as powerful as it can be complex. Though it can create a very large variety of drum sounds and effects, maybe the largest one of all drum machines, due to it's power, the learning curve can't be zero. Should one want to totally master it, some efforts equivalent to a complex synth like Zebra or the Xils 4 should be done.
2/ In an -hopefully not sofar- future, new, and exclusive, sample collections will be available for StiX. This means the rarest drum machines, as well a samples based on pure synthesis, modulars/FM/WT , acoustic instruments, as well as some more common, but still usefull, stuff like tr-xox sounds etc etc. With all these sounds, StiX will probably be able to have the largest exclusive sample content ever done for a pure synthesis drum machine. This doesn't btw negate the need and uniqueness of other drum machines : The more I get, the happier I am, and I don't think I'm alone in this case.

Last to Digivolt and you : Once a drumpad is properly populated with a sample, don't forget to muse with StiX last version new features for the samples : Sample start position, reverse etc.(if a sample is selected, the knobs above it in the osc 3 slot will get basic functions specialised for samples) Though they are fairly basic, It increase the possibilities with a simple sample loaded into StiX.

[Lotuzia]

Some of the new features of v1.5 illustrated in this video, some of them are relative to the use of samples as oscillators.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fSE12QR4dig&t=17s

[Digivolt]

Hope I have answered your question.

Thanks, that makes sense at least for why samples are sounding weird when I select them, bit of a strange design in that previous preset settings remain with adding new sample but at least now I know why it's acting this way and can at least work around it.

You didn't however answer why Stix is failing to import certain wavs (all from the same sample pack) ? Are there any restrictions within the import function that could possibly make some samples not be able to import ? If it's needed I can send you some of the wavs so maybe you can dig into it yourself why they're unable to import ?

[Lotuzia]

Hope I have answered your question.

Thanks, that makes sense at least for why samples are sounding weird when I select them, bit of a strange design in that previous preset settings remain with adding new sample but at least now I know why it's acting this way and can at least work around it.

Yes, well I think the reason is that StiX is very versatile : You can mix analog oscillators, FM, RM, AM, Cross Synthesis, Samples, Noise and various filter topologies in a SINGLE DRUMSOUND. But once you have a clear view of that, a bit of practise and you'll soon enjoy the total power of StiX.

So for example, why doesnt the whole behaviour of the synthesis page of a drumpad (drumsound) doesn't change when you have added a new sample ? It' because we can't know what you want to do with *this sample* inside the drum sound.

Simple examples : It's common to layer a 808 sound and an analog sine oscillator to create those trendy BOOM layered Kick/Bass used in many genres (from hip-hop to dance floor nowadays) Or you could want to simply modulate 1 or 2 analog oscillator with the sample output, BUT not want to hear the sample (Cross synthesis). Or : Add an FL bell/metal sound on the top of a sample.

So as we can't be sure of the decisions/roads you want to take, we can't let StiX make decisions alone in your back.

But like I said, once you have a more precise idea of StiX synthesis, you'll be able to quickly find your way. Like going from a 'sample only' base sound (so taken as a kind of template), to load your own samples in it and then immediatly getting the sound you expect. If I dared to make a comparison, I'd say the workflow would be similar to start with a polyphonic strings sound on a complex synth when you want to design a mono bass à la 303. Startçing with 'another bass sound' might make more sense, and it will also probably save you a lot of time.

[Lotuzia]

Hope I have answered your question.

You didn't however answer why Stix is failing to import certain wavs (all from the same sample pack) ? Are there any restrictions within the import function that could possibly make some samples not be able to import ? If it's needed I can send you some of the wavs so maybe you can dig into it yourself why they're unable to import ?

Yes sorry, I focused more on the other side of the question, because I thought it was very important that you can see the differences between a drumpad preset and a sample preset, otherwise you would not be able to solve your problem, and use StiX with rewarding pleasure, even if all samples were properly imported.

Well tbh I don't know. Import works ok here (+ I hope you have stix last version).

Then, The only thing I can think of is that StiX has a limit for importing samples in one operation. I don't remember it precisely, as I rarely import more than 100 samples at once, but it can be the reason. I'll document this and report here.

Then : If the number limit is not the cause, then I'd suggest that you send me (by PM) a small zip archive with 50/50% files that were successfully imported, and files that failed to be imported (30 samples would be enough I think). I'll then be able to perform import tests and see what happens. It's possible that there is a bug, or maybe it's something else, like bizarre file format or whatever. We'll see

[Digivolt]

Then : If the number limit is not the cause, then I'd suggest that you send me (by PM) a small zip archive with 50/50% files that were successfully imported, and files that failed to be imported (30 samples would be enough I think). I'll then be able to perform import tests and see what happens. It's possible that there is a bug, or maybe it's something else, like bizarre file format or whatever. We'll see

It's definitely not the number as I've tried to import them one at a time and still they don't import, so I'll zip up one of the folders which has both samples that import and don't import for you and shoot you a PM, hopefully it's nothing major and you can find the issue