The Hive Hexagon Thread

[aMUSEd]

Yeah, not a fan of complete randomisation, but the Nord G2 mutation feature works pretty well, the G2 version is more constrained variation and selecting inter breeding with a lot of control over the process. Absynth has something along similar lines but not as good.

[Jee]

Cool things to ask users urs
I would like simple macro controls and full midi assignements maybe.
Also what comes to my mind would be a modulation step seq. As far as I know we only have the seq gate as source. A modulation step seq with drawbars and step curve settings would be much easier and faster to program than the seq (which is by the way tiresome imho, I find it long and not so fun to program, I never use it), and would also be richer in terms of possibilities I suppose.
But mainly macros controls are really missing imho.

Or a nice version of donkey kong to kill time when not inspired

[tedlogan]

Cool things to ask users urs
Also what comes to my mind would be a modulation step seq.

The CC lane is the modulation step sequencer.

As far as I know we only have the seq gate as source. A modulation step seq with drawbars and step curve settings would be much easier and faster to program than the seq (which is by the way tiresome imho, I find it long and not so fun to program, I never use it), and would also be richer in terms of possibilities I suppose.

..bah!..*outraged* !!!!

Hive's step sequencer is my favourite of all step sequencers, especially the "Record" function. It is very capable as well. It is by no means the most complex of its sort, but for me it is perfect in Hive's context. I would sell Hive tomorrow if the SEQ was to be removed - superb springboard for musical phrases of all sorts. 90% of my patches are sequences.

[pdxindy]

Couple ideas for another hexagon panel

I like the morph option in FM8 where you have an X/Y type pad and you put a different preset in each of the 4 corners. Only some stuff morphs where applicable.

A regular X/Y pad with modulatable snapshots.

Or a Hexagon could contain a modmapper.

Or it is really fine as it is and +1 to not finding randomization useful.

[Kriminal]

I vote for nothing. Hive has achieved what it set out to. Its already more complex than i thought it would be when you said it would be 'simple'

Sometimes less is more. Adding bells and whistles can water down the quality of a product.

[Funkybot's Evil Twin]

I say just replace the WIP section with the FX section and show it by default.

[Shiek927]

It the 'Omnisphere Orb' idea is too ambitious, than something like Vector Synthesis like other people have suggested wouldn't be bad I suppose. Synthmaster, Rob-Papen Blue and other synths are examples: the parameter will basically move on it's own over a path you draw, which could make for some nice textures.

If that's STILL too much, and we can't get macros either, than visual representation is the way to go. Not just an Oscilloscope, but the works like Xfer Serum has: little lightsaber-esque bars for the mod-matrix would be nice for example.

Preferably though, I'd love to see some modularity. Nothing like what Zebra has, but I don't think it would be much slower to have an XY pad and/or macro controls. Spire, for example, aims to have some Macro controls:



Surely it wouldn't much slower to give some to Hive as well . The Hexagon however might be inconvenient for that, so it might be better to delete the hexagon and put them somewhere more appropriate.

Actually to make this even more interesting, you could add a patch mutation feature too to help generate variations, each variation in a seperate hexagon in the honeycomb, maybe with a central hex that is the original patch and increasingly different variations going outwards from the centre, and people could morph between them and store the ones they like, or create more, as subpatches.

Heeeeey, not a bad idea ^^

Why not capitalize on the hive/hexagon-like design and run with it with a unique XY pad, like you said .

[outofgas]

Urs, if you feel like adding something to the hexagon, then my only request is to make it something light on CPU.

Honestly, I like Hive the way it is right now. I don't have an x/y controller, so all I would vote for is a chaos function that I could run a mod to. You know, just a little chaos or a lot of chaos. (Or maybe think of it as cosmic radiation playing hell on a modern computer. Do you want a little radiation or a lot of it?)

But really, it's great the way it is.

[xh3rv]

I think using macros can be broken down into two coarse processes. The first is macro design, or mapping synth parameters to a set of macro parameters. The second is macro interface, or how a macro parameter is manipulated by a user.

On the macro design side, one way of doing macro design is explored pretty well in Zebra where any viable parameter is mapped by users to one of 8 generic XY's. Preset morphing is actually another way of doing macro design: it's just every morph-able (continuous) synth parameter pre-mapped from A/B states to one macro parameter.

Suppose Zebra's macro design is called 'N->8 in user-space', and preset morphing is called 'N->1 in state-space'. Maybe there's a way to do macro design that's something like 'N->8 in state-space' where synth parameters are pre-assigned to a well-designed set of preset macros. It would be a challenge to find the right set of macros - some ideas might be per-module, or based on qualities of sound design (like 'timbre' or 'dynamics'). (Macros might be a little easier if one parameter->many macros is solvable with weighted interpolation.)

On the macro interface side, patch design just involves selecting useful macros as axes of an XY-pad, and getting the A/B states worked out.

--

A separate idea on macro interface: Use a hexagonal XY pad, with a little rotation ...

3:00 - X-Max, Y-Avg || 9:00 - Y-Max, X-Avg
5:00 - X-Max, Y-Min || 11:00 - Y-Max, X-Min
7:00 - X-Max, Y-Min || 1:00 - Y-Max, X-Min
9:00 - X-Avg, Y-Max || 3:00 - Y-Avg, X-Max
...

There's a conformal mapping that makes this work, will have to think about the math, there's a sense of a third radial axis. Really the gimmick is it's tricky enough to use it feels more random

[mcnoone]

I'd think some xy thing would be best.

[Touch The Universe]

Orb alchemy snapshot comination

[SLiC]

Global (output) stuff- How about expanding on the clean/dirty osc ? Maybe a few more peramiters (slop, drift, grit) maybe include master effects here, an output stage - limited, softclip...valve saturation (nice picture of a glowing valve )

[Urs]

Global (output) stuff- How about expanding on the clean/dirty osc ? Maybe a few more peramiters (slop, drift, grit)

Good call, but that might end up in a "Custom Engine" slot or a cogwheel-drop-down next to the engine selector. Some time later maybe.

maybe include master effects here, an output stage - limited, softclip...valve saturation (nice picture of a glowing valve )

That is an idea we have had for somewhere else in Hive. We will experiment with this, but it won't be in the hexagon. Like the engine extensions, it won't be before some later date and we have to evaluate how much sense this would make (while a limiter is an obvious choice, a tube stage or any other type of "mastering" device might not be, if good results are more than a click or two away).

[sacer]

Two X/Y pads splitted in the hexagon would be nice, because they would match 8 controller knobs, and most upcoming presets could be tweaked very well like in massive. So that its up to the preset if you combine XY to filters or to morph like in Kore, Diversion or Alchemy

[sugo]

A simple visualized "trance"-gate tool