One Synth Challenge #148: Kuma 508 by beatassist.eu (Jasinski Wins!)

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Thanks for clarifying that ! I suspected as much.

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1980-F wrote: Thu Jun 03, 2021 9:18 pm
tickytock wrote: Wed Jun 02, 2021 11:47 pm Would love to get going on this, but feeling stupid at the outset:
In mac os 11.3.1 (Big Sur) the synth installs just fine after the usual skirmish with Apple blocking over "unidentified" developers. But Kuma's text instructions for the presets is to place its "Presets" folder in library/audio/presets, and there is no "Presets" folder in Kuma. Tried putting "Mac OSX - Soundbanks" folder in there, but this did not work. I figured out a convoluted way to upload individual presets, but it's really cumbersome. Would like to hear some presets just to get a sense of what the synth gravitates toward. Any suggestions on a fix, so that I can easily access the presets from the synth? Thanks in advance!
I can only tell how it works with Logic and Garageband (and Mojave):

Under "/Library/Audio/Presets" I created a folder "Duarte Vinagre/Kuma 508"
I copied and renamed all the "Kuma 508" preset folders there one by one.

Now I have the following folder structure:
/Library/Audio/Presets/Duarte Vinagre/Kuma 508/Danny Woodbrigde
/Library/Audio/Presets/Duarte Vinagre/Kuma 508/Dirty
[...]
As I wrote above the problem is that each of the directories
/Library/Audio/Presets/Duarte Vinagre/Kuma 508/Danny Woodbrigde
/Library/Audio/Presets/Duarte Vinagre/Kuma 508/Dirty

themselves contain the subdirectorie structure
/VST3 Presets/Duarte Vinagre/Kuma 508

So if you go into the first directory the full path to where the presets are stored is
/Library/Audio/Presets/Duarte Vinagre/Kuma 508/Danny Woodbrigde//VST3 Presets/Duarte Vinagre/Kuma 508

Please copy all presety you find their and in each of the other directories to the level of
/Library/Audio/Presets/Duarte Vinagre/Kuma 508/

At least that did the job for Windows 10, VST3 Version of the plugin.

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@baalisoda: Glad I could help with the presets (and that it works on Windows, too). :-)

My first impression of this synth is similar to yours. None of the presets sound pleasing or inspiring to me. :(

After my first participation to OSC last month, I was so motivated to make another track, but at the moment I don't know what to do. Maybe some experimental piece with heavy arpeggiating, delay and reverb. Right now this appears to me the only way to make this thing sound "good". But I'll give it another try at the weekend to create some sounds from scratch...

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baalisoda wrote: Fri Jun 04, 2021 3:43 am So far, haven't found a sound that matches with my style (plus my sound designing skills are rudimentary at best).
I don't think, the presets match anyone's style. They're just not worth the effort. Learning sound design on an FM synth isn't particularly easy, especially if, like in thes case, it's not exactly clear, which modulator modulates which carrier. :?
So, the best advice I can give you is to fool around. That's what I'm doing...

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FrogsInPants wrote: Thu Jun 03, 2021 11:44 pm
wandering-genie wrote: Thu Jun 03, 2021 11:16 pm Hello!! My name is Carlos and I am from Argentina. I am new here.
Welcome!
First of all, Do we only have to use a DAW to host the selected synth (Kuma 508 in this case)? Can we use a tracker programme like Psycle, for example?
I don't see why not.
Is it allowed to begin the work in a tracker and then import the resulting audio in a DAW to work further on it?
I think the rule that applies here is: "Audio must not be touched at all once it leaves the DAW (i.e. after bouncing a track or a stem). For example: One cannot master the audio in another software or service." If you're generating the audio in a tracker, it's essentially fulfilling the role of the primary DAW in this rule, so that's what you get. At least, that's how I'm interpreting this. I'm no authority, though.
Is it allowed to score on a score editor (Musescore, for example) and then export the result as midi and import that to a Daw to work with Kuma 508?
Yes, how you create your MIDI data doesn't really matter. Once it is in your DAW project, it's just MIDI data. I've used MIDI from Musescore in some of my OSC projects.
Welcome to the OSC! I pretty much agree with Froggy here, but if you have any questions as you go, about the rules, or about the synth, or even just about philosophical approaches to living, just come to the forum here and ask, you'll definitely find help!

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SeBaer wrote: Fri Jun 04, 2021 1:06 pm Learning sound design on an FM synth isn't particularly easy, especially if, like in thes case, it's not exactly clear, which modulator modulates which carrier. :?
Yeah, it's not obvious. I think the modulation flows from the center top, out to the sides, and down.
Celebrating 50 years of pants with frogs in them

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The biggest problem so far is not being able to easily set a OSC frequency knob back to zero. Any slight offset will/can lead to unwanted interactions and poor tuning.

Anyone worked out how to reset OSC's freq to 0.0 easily?

dB

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] Peter:H [ wrote: Fri Jun 04, 2021 7:42 am
As I wrote above the problem is that each of the directories
/Library/Audio/Presets/Duarte Vinagre/Kuma 508/Danny Woodbrigde
/Library/Audio/Presets/Duarte Vinagre/Kuma 508/Dirty

themselves contain the subdirectorie structure
/VST3 Presets/Duarte Vinagre/Kuma 508

So if you go into the first directory the full path to where the presets are stored is
/Library/Audio/Presets/Duarte Vinagre/Kuma 508/Danny Woodbrigde//VST3 Presets/Duarte Vinagre/Kuma 508

Please copy all presety you find their and in each of the other directories to the level of
/Library/Audio/Presets/Duarte Vinagre/Kuma 508/

At least that did the job for Windows 10, VST3 Version of the plugin.
Thanks for your very thoughtful help with this!

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doctorbob wrote: Fri Jun 04, 2021 7:19 pm The biggest problem so far is not being able to easily set a OSC frequency knob back to zero. Any slight offset will/can lead to unwanted interactions and poor tuning.

Anyone worked out how to reset OSC's freq to 0.0 easily?
I don't think there is any reset function for the knobs. They can be tuned more precisely using the <ctrl> key, though. Both 'Pitch' and 'Fine'. Personally, I've had some trouble adjusting to the V/octave style of the 'Pitch' knob, which doesn't make much sense for FM at all. Oh well... :shrug:

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doctorbob wrote: Fri Jun 04, 2021 7:19 pm The biggest problem so far is not being able to easily set a OSC frequency knob back to zero. Any slight offset will/can lead to unwanted interactions and poor tuning.

Anyone worked out how to reset OSC's freq to 0.0 easily?
If there's a way to do it in the plugin GUI, I haven't found it. Best bet is probably to bypass the GUI with whatever tools your DAW has for setting parameters directly. In Reaper, the easiest would be to hide the plugin GUI and use the sliders in the plugin parameter view it shows. A double-click there will reset the pitch parameters to 0.

An alternative would be to enable automation, use that to set the value to 0, then disable the automation. Or leave it active so it'll reset the value if you accidentally touch the knob again. :hihi:

Binding the parameters to a MIDI CC can work in principle. The plugin's own MIDI bind won't do at all because it only uses a 7 bit CC and doesn't have an exact 0. You'd have to use the DAW's MIDI binding and fiddle with offsets to get an exact 0. Probably not worth the effort unless you're using MIDI CCs to modulate the values anyway.
Celebrating 50 years of pants with frogs in them

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Yes FIP, I have used the Reaper UI to do just that. Not too much of a hassle to flip the GUI style!

Getting the signal flow in my head is not going well ... funny old synth ...

dB

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Hello,

Is there a tutorial for Kuma ? I don't understand how and where the modulators are linked to the carriers.
I am trying all the modes (FM 1, FM 2...) but the only things that make the sound change is when I am messing with the carriers. So I guess that the modulator are not linked to anything by default.

Any idea ?

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fab music wrote: Sat Jun 05, 2021 12:30 pm Is there a tutorial for Kuma ? I don't understand how and where the modulators are linked to the carriers.
I am trying all the modes (FM 1, FM 2...) but the only things that make the sound change is when I am messing with the carriers. So I guess that the modulator are not linked to anything by default.

Any idea ?
Try turning up the depth parameter on the carrier. The depth parameter on the modulator also has an effect, but the depth > 0 on the carrier seems to be required to get any FM. The amount of FM is then determined by the depth parameters and the envelope of the modulator.
Celebrating 50 years of pants with frogs in them

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Got it thanks! I ha have now tried, but I realise I am a real newbie at FM.... Hard to get sounds I like...

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Imagine the good old days when all you had was a 2 line LCD display on the hardware synth, and one fader and/or buttons to change all the parameters! The DX-7 was a pig to program, my DX-11 a little better (and still is!).

dB

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