Buffer Synth 2 released (v1.03 out now)

[thoshu]

Nice FX and GUI, but I have a problem here.
Although CPU comsumption is OK (under 10%), it almost freezes mouse movement and I don't have access to any knob. Preset loading is OK, this shows that the plugin works in general here.
This happens in Wavelab and CubaseSX2. It seems that it doesn't like my Matrox G550. I have no problem with any other plugin this way.

I'm having the same behavior on a Win98se machine.
Orion Platinum.

-7zark7

same here on amd xp3000, win xp-home and matrox g450.

nevertheless fantastic gui

[NiallM]

Hmm... I wonder if the graphics issue on Windows is actually something to do with Matrox graphics cards? I'll have to look into this.

There's a demo available for Live, so I'll try and check that out later today. I'm not entirely sure what a host could do that would affect the wave file loader, but assuming I can reproduce the problem on my machine, it shouldn't be too much of a problem to fix it (I hope ).

- Niall.

[suthnear]

I used it briefly yesterday and it worked well enough in sx with a matrox g450 (I used it as an insert to an audio track, though, not as a synth).

Those having problems could try turning off all XP's graphical frippery. A friend of mine had no end of trouble with arturia moog modular until he turned off mouse shadows. Perhaps the same applies here...

[PeterL]

I used it briefly yesterday and it worked well enough in sx with a matrox g450 (I used it as an insert to an audio track, though, not as a synth).

Those having problems could try turning off all XP's graphical frippery. A friend of mine had no end of trouble with arturia moog modular until he turned off mouse shadows. Perhaps the same applies here...

No mouse shadows/tails activated here. Also turned off unnessary graphics as far as possible (no screensaver, no background image...) to have optimized audio performance. This doesn't solve the problem.

[NiallM]

I used it briefly yesterday and it worked well enough in sx with a matrox g450 (I used it as an insert to an audio track, though, not as a synth).

Oh well, so much for that idea... I've got a feeling this isn't going to be an easy bug to fix .

- Niall.

[NiallM]

Site's back up . Now go easy on it...

I also downloaded Live and it's doing the same thing for me - so with a bit of luck I'll be able to fix it without too much trouble. It might have to wait a couple of days though, as my macmini just arrived .

- Niall.

[spacefox]

Thanks for a brilliant plugin (thank you for Modulator2 as well).

[ohm]

I'm in love with this synth (actually never tried using it as an effect).
There is definately a serious buffer overrun when you load a wave file. It doesn't crash my host (energy XT, winXP) but it corrupts the data so the file won't reload properly - this can seriously kill a song if you don't do loads of backups
I also discovered a bug (or is it a feature that I just don't agree with?) in the envelopes (both amp and mod). Try setting a long envelope with a sharp attack and a low sustain value. If you then press and hold a key it works fine. If you release the key quickly however the notes sound much louder. What happens I guess is that the envelope is still moving through the the attack and decay stages and when a noteoff is received it moves on to the release stage but leaves the output as it is - higher than the sustain level.
The solution will be not to force the envelopes to jump to the release stage when a note-off is received. Hope this is not too difficult in your implementation.
Finally I have a suggestion: If you are really sick of looking at the code why not put the thing on sourceforge so we all can help improve it? I have a pretty stable wave file loader that can load all bitdepths I'd love to contribute. Unless of course the thing is coded in delphi...
Finally finally another thank you - also to Tomasz for that very professional looking GUI - your stuff looks like the Native Instruments GUI's - can't get much better than that man - cheers

[NiallM]

Important Note:
Okay, almost 1/4 of my bandwidth has gone and it's only the 3rd of the month, so I'm going to have to remove Buffer Synth 2 from my site (last month Buffer Synth 2 accounted for more than a gigabyte of my bandwith, and I'm only allowed 3GB a month ).

ohm: I will fix the wave file loader soon, it's just that I've been a bit distracted since my macmini arrived (I've actually got Buffer Synth 2 working on it now). Are you sure that's how ADSRs are supposed to work? Surely if it goes into the release phase starting at the sustain level, there'll be a big discontinuity? That's why I made the envelopes work the way they do...

I think sourceforge might be the way forward - it's just that the plugin's code really isn't particularly pretty. My coding skills have vastly improved since I started writing it (this is part of the reason I'm sick of the sight of the code), and it really shows, to me. To be honest, I would have released the source code (see cycle shifter et al), if it weren't for the size of the preset data files that I'd want to include for completeness' sake (as well as running out of bandwidth, I'm rapidly running out of space on my site).

- Niall.

[duncanparsons]

Niall, have you thought of getting extra web space at somewhere like uklinux.net? You could have your standard web page, but keep the plugs elsewhere, and just link..

uklinux.net offer 20Mb of space for free, so long as you connect for 1 hour a month on a rolling 3 month window, or pay £30/yr to waive that limit. There are very solid and secure.

There are other bits of space around.. web1000.com offers a good free service. There are times when they are slow due to the way they operate their bandwidth, but it might be worth putting some less used things there as an online backup..

HTH
DSP

[stefancrs]

Regarding ADSRs
Either you always go A->D->S->R (without and only holding at S if the key is pressed) or you just move on to R independant of where you are when you release the key. I prefer the later kind of envelope, but I guess it's a matter of taste. It would be very disturbing to use the first kind when having really long attacks or decays....

[NiallM]

Niall, have you thought of getting extra web space at somewhere like uklinux.net?

To be honest, I don't really want to go to the trouble of getting extra web space when my current package is so close to being upgraded (June's not that far away). All the bandwidth problems should be fixed then. Actually, I'm thinking maybe I could maybe try to get people to donate to buy me a better package, possibly offering to build donaters a plugin of their own design as an incentive...

I prefer the later kind of envelope, but I guess it's a matter of taste.

Me too, having to go through the decay phase after you've released the key just doesn't seem right to me .

- Niall.

[NiallM]

Oh yeah, in other news, I've fixed the file loading bug (did nobody notice it affected the patch & bank load/save dialogs as well?). Turns out it had nothing to do with the wave file loader, and it was actually the file dialog that was playing up...

- Niall.

[ohm]

Sounds awsome with the file dialog fixed and all - appreciate your effort. Regarding ADSR's I have to agree with stefancrs so disregard my previous post. I guess the reason I never found this annying in other synths is that it is usually quite easy to set the attack and decay values to very small values - it's difficult to set attack to 4ms. and decay to zero with these envelope widgets... perhaps they could be complimented by some smalle number boxes for each value so you had an alternative?
How about releasing the code and have the rest of us help you clean it up? You can always throw in a disclaimer: "Warning don't read this code if you don't have a sense of humor" or something like that ...

[R.A.W.]

Oh yeah, in other news, I've fixed the file loading bug..

niall, how about sending the new version to ronny so he can upload it for us all? i just noticed that you linked to his website on your page

btw i offer you a mirror too.. if you are interested check out your pm