Whats your favorite/'desert island' MPE sound generator?

[48cube]

My desert island generator would be Sunvox. It's virtual modular music studio and runs on any possible platform/os. It's free for desktop and ARM platforms (yes, RaspberryPi too), paid on mobile platforms (iOS and Android - no MIDI support on Android yet). And because I'm using it since early days on Palm OS handhelds, it feels like coming home every time I launch it. With one of the recent updates came multi channel MIDI support so designing MPE voice MetaModule first and then duplicating it and assigning several MIDI channels gives you modular MPE poly synth.
The approach to modular paradigm is slightly different than in hardware realm but you can often apply the same patching strategies. There's decent selection of modules including ready-playing synths and flexible sampler.
One day I must find time and share the MPE sound design tutorial in Sunvox. Some specific steps are required to make i.e. slides working properly but in the end you get full freedom in parameter assignment.
Sequencer is not exactly MPE friendly, to be precise, it's advanced tracker style sequencer. No MPE capturing possible but can be used as neat sound design modulation source if you omit traditional tracker composition completely.

It runs very well on various generations of iPads which makes it pretty portable and direct-touch modular toolbox.

[c0nsilience]

Interesting that Papen is looking at MPE, do you know if they are updating all the synths?

Yes, I believe so, but I also think it is going to take them some time to do so. I'm definitely looking forward to it!

[BobDog]

Thanks for the info, it would be pretty neat if they do. I love those synths.

[c0nsilience]

Thanks for the info, it would be pretty neat if they do. I love those synths.

As do I! In fact, there are very few I love more than what Papen does - very original and highly intuitive to use. Low to nonexistent CPU spikes as well, which is a bonus this day in age.

[SteveElbows]

For sound design I'm going to give the new modular grid thing in Bitwig 3 beta (that came out today) a fair try. Because I've already established that MPE works fine with it, and its a nice system for doing poly & MPE stuff without the mess and duplication. I havent actually built anything nice with it yet, but I at least established that MPE controls were working per note in the usual Bitwig manner.

[pdxindy]

For sound design I'm going to give the new modular grid thing in Bitwig 3 beta (that came out today) a fair try. Because I've already established that MPE works fine with it, and its a nice system for doing poly & MPE stuff without the mess and duplication. I havent actually built anything nice with it yet, but I at least established that MPE controls were working per note in the usual Bitwig manner.

The new Grid sounds really good. I made at least a dozen sounds today with it. Lots of audio rate modulations and came up with couple lovely lead sounds and some beautiful pads. You can combine samples (including multi-samples) and classic osc's... wavetables, supersaw type sounds, FM stuff. Best modular environment I've used in terms of workflow and the MPE works great. It will be possible to fine tune presets with the same level of expressive control as Cypher. I don't love the fundamental sound of Cypher even though the MPE expressive control is excellent.

Bazille has been my 'desert island' software synth for MPE.

Hardware: I'm putting in a pre-order for Black Corporations upcoming Xerxes (Elka Synthex clone) and like Deckard's Dream, it is MPE capable.

[BobDog]

The Grid does sound very good indeed, I have just gone through the presets and haven't tried it with MPE yet but I am very impressed with the sound.

Having a bit of an issue with the GUI CPU usage on my mac though when the grid is enlarged, but this is a general problem I have here with the GUI. I really hope they can move to the GPU soon.

I am going to spend some more time with it today but from first impressions it looks really good.

[Reckon104]

I completely concur. The Grid sounds great to me and my first impression is an extremely good one all around.

[pdxindy]

I'm so impressed with the Grid. A very diverse range of tones and fantastic for refined MPE control...

[Reckon104]

I'm so impressed with the Grid. A very diverse range of tones and fantastic for refined MPE control...

Yes indeed! After a couple hours with it tonight, I am completely blown away by the quality of the sound and the ease of workflow. A majestic accomplishment on the part of the Bitwig team.

[pdxindy]

I'm so impressed with the Grid. A very diverse range of tones and fantastic for refined MPE control...

Yes indeed! After a couple hours with it tonight, I am completely blown away by the quality of the sound and the ease of workflow. A majestic accomplishment on the part of the Bitwig team.

Same for me... This is the most fun I've had with a software modular. Actually, it is the only time I've found a software modular fun and fluidly creative. Brilliant job by Bitwig!

[Tj Shredder]

Just coming back from Superbooth, I’d add for hardware I would go EaganMatrix, either with the ContinuuMini or we have to convince Edmund to sell just that in a little box...
Software is now Bitwig with the Grid. Most easy to patch modular which exists...

[John the Savage]

Just coming back from Superbooth, I’d add for hardware I would go EaganMatrix, either with the ContinuuMini or we have to convince Edmund to sell just that in a little box...

Yes, with yet another major tech conference in the rear-view, and still nary a mention of MPE in the hardware domain, I have to say that I'm a little disillusioned and growing somewhat impatient at how slow the industry has been to respond to the MPE protocol.

Based on what BobDog observed previously, after a look inside his ContinuuMini, it seems perfectly plausible that the EaganMatrix could be housed in a little desktop box with a USB host port and a pair of audio outputs. That would suit me just fine. Not that I fully understand the EaganMatrix—Ahem! But I like what I've heard from it thus far (grin).

Ah, if only (sigh).

I guess it's back to my modular endeavors...

Cheers!

[pdxindy]

Just coming back from Superbooth, I’d add for hardware I would go EaganMatrix, either with the ContinuuMini or we have to convince Edmund to sell just that in a little box...

Yes, with yet another major tech conference in the rear-view, and still nary a mention of MPE in the hardware domain, I have to say that I'm a little disillusioned and growing somewhat impatient at how slow the industry has been to respond to the MPE protocol.

Based on what BobDog observed previously, after a look inside his ContinuuMini, it seems perfectly plausible that the EaganMatrix could be housed in a little desktop box with a USB host port and a pair of audio outputs. That would suit me just fine. Not that I fully understand the EaganMatrix—Ahem! But I like what I've heard from it thus far (grin).

Ah, if only (sigh).

I guess it's back to my modular endeavors...

Cheers!

All 3 Black Corporation synths support MPE (Deckard's Dream, Kijimi, Xerxes). Super-6, just demoed at Superbooth also supports MPE.

[John the Savage]

Well, indeed the Black Corp. synths have been on my radar for a while now, and they definitely sound fantastic; however, the MPE implementation feels like a bit of an afterthought to me, in the sense that it's really just the same ol' analog subtractive architecture and DIN MIDI interface adapted under-the-hood for minimal MPE control. Don't get me wrong, it's workable, and I applaud them for making the effort, but I'm looking for something more forward-thinking like the EaganMatrix: i.e. designed specifically with MPE controllers in mind.

The Super-6 sounds amazing as well. Funny, you know, I watched his entire presentation and don't recall any mention of MPE, and I was listening for it too. Hmph. That's good news though. That said, if it were to work for me, they'd have to make a desktop version and slap a USB host port on the back.

You'd think, what with the FH-2 on the market and other similar modules cropping up, that there would be more Eurorack stuff aimed at MPE by now. A four-oscillator, wavetable module with CV inputs for Gate, Pitch, and two or three timbral parameters per voice, as well as the ability to save presets would be a godsend. Anyway...

Thanks for the recommends though, I appreciated it.

Cheers!