Tech Preview: Hive Wavetables

[Urs]

But would two LFOs in HIVE be enough now, that's the question... I would easily use two LFOs for the Wavetables only, but nothing will be left for the rest.

We'll see about that. I would just like to avoid going into feature requests that steer Hive away from its main selling point (get things done quickly) and/or push it too far into Zebra territory. More LFOs has always been an option though, and it will be considered. Maybe not right away, and maybe in a slightly unexpected way.

[pdxindy]

But would two LFOs in HIVE be enough now, that's the question... I would easily use two LFOs for the Wavetables only, but nothing will be left for the rest.

For now at least, you have the 4 envelopes and they can loop so they can function as an LFO too. Unfortunately the Env loop timing can only be controlled by an LFO... still useful though

[pdxindy]

But would two LFOs in HIVE be enough now, that's the question... I would easily use two LFOs for the Wavetables only, but nothing will be left for the rest.

We'll see about that. I would just like to avoid going into feature requests that steer Hive away from its main selling point (get things done quickly) and/or push it too far into Zebra territory. More LFOs has always been an option though, and it will be considered. Maybe not right away, and maybe in a slightly unexpected way.

Maybe you can make different LFO wave shapes as mod sources. At least then I could use 1 LFO as both a triangle and as a square. No additional GUI complexity and still a bit more flexibility.

[Igro]

But would two LFOs in HIVE be enough now, that's the question... I would easily use two LFOs for the Wavetables only, but nothing will be left for the rest.

We'll see about that. I would just like to avoid going into feature requests that steer Hive away from its main selling point (get things done quickly) and/or push it too far into Zebra territory. More LFOs has always been an option though, and it will be considered. Maybe not right away, and maybe in a slightly unexpected way.

Maybe you can make different LFO wave shapes as mod sources. At least then I could use 1 LFO as both a triangle and as a square. No additional GUI complexity and still a bit more flexibility.

Maybe having wavetables forms as LFO sources then? But then, wavetables are already doing its job in a non-linear way anyway. I would rather want 'smoothing' option on LFO waves.

[recursive one]

But would two LFOs in HIVE be enough now, that's the question... I would easily use two LFOs for the Wavetables only, but nothing will be left for the rest.

We'll see about that. I would just like to avoid going into feature requests that steer Hive away from its main selling point (get things done quickly) and/or push it too far into Zebra territory. More LFOs has always been an option though, and it will be considered. Maybe not right away, and maybe in a slightly unexpected way.

Maybe you can make different LFO wave shapes as mod sources. At least then I could use 1 LFO as both a triangle and as a square. No additional GUI complexity and still a bit more flexibility.

Maybe having wavetables forms as LFO sources then?

yes, this would be interesting. Virus has some of it's complex osicllator waveforms available as LFO shapes, it gives some really cool results.

Also if these LFO could run at audio rates and their speed/frequency could be keytracked we would be stepping into the FM territory, sort of.

With the advent of the wavetables Hive misses only two things from my dream synth feature list: cross-oscillator FM and a vowel filter (can be done by two parallel bandpass filters and/or a bitcrusher though).

[Igro]

But would two LFOs in HIVE be enough now, that's the question... I would easily use two LFOs for the Wavetables only, but nothing will be left for the rest.

We'll see about that. I would just like to avoid going into feature requests that steer Hive away from its main selling point (get things done quickly) and/or push it too far into Zebra territory. More LFOs has always been an option though, and it will be considered. Maybe not right away, and maybe in a slightly unexpected way.

Maybe you can make different LFO wave shapes as mod sources. At least then I could use 1 LFO as both a triangle and as a square. No additional GUI complexity and still a bit more flexibility.

Maybe having wavetables forms as LFO sources then?

yes, this would be interesting. Virus has some of it's complex osicllator waveforms available as LFO shapes, it gives some really cool results.

Also if these LFO could run at audio rates and their speed/frequency could be keytracked we would be stepping into the FM territory, sort of.

With the advent of the wavetables Hive misses only two things from my dream synth feature list: cross-oscillator FM and a vowel filter (can be done by two parallel bandpass filters and/or a bitcrusher though).

Why do you need a cross FM oscillators? In most cases having a Sine wave as modulator does the job well and this can be implemented with a single knob. All other waves as modulators don't give quite musical results. In fact, cross FM oscillator would waste the usage of the oscillators.

[Urs]

Also if these LFO could run at audio rates and their speed/frequency could be keytracked we would be stepping into the FM territory, sort of.

That won't work well with Hive's approach to CPU friendliness.

[recursive one]

Also if these LFO could run at audio rates and their speed/frequency could be keytracked we would be stepping into the FM territory, sort of.

That won't work well with Hive's approach to CPU friendliness.

Selectable quality modes? Like Dune2 perhaps.

Why do you need a cross FM oscillators? In most cases having a Sine wave as modulator does the job well and this can be implemented with a single knob. All other waves as modulators don't give quite musical results. In fact, cross FM oscillator would waste the usage of the oscillators.

We may have different definitions of "musical results". Virus "pos triangle" FM sounds crazy good, without going into the details it uses a triangle wave skewed across the Y axis for FM. It may yield some really nasty robotic/metallic textures but without sounding noisy or unpleasant or losing integrity like many software synths do, or it can add some subtle grit if used carefully. When FM-ing things in Serum I also often use various triangle-ish waves, or sometimes FM-ing a complex waveform with another complex waveform may sound very cool at certain sweet spot. FM-ing from sine typically gives the cleanest sounds but clean isn't always the desired result.

Bazille, I still don't quite undertsand how it works, but it is capable of various very dirty but still incredibly good sounding edgy FM-ish tones. Not that I want to have the whole Bazille in Hive, but something in this direction for simple FM sounds would be cool.

[Sound Author]

But would two LFOs in HIVE be enough now, that's the question... I would easily use two LFOs for the Wavetables only, but nothing will be left for the rest.

For now at least, you have the 4 envelopes and they can loop so they can function as an LFO too. Unfortunately the Env loop timing can only be controlled by an LFO... still useful though

Hive's envelopes can loop?!

[pdxindy]

But would two LFOs in HIVE be enough now, that's the question... I would easily use two LFOs for the Wavetables only, but nothing will be left for the rest.

For now at least, you have the 4 envelopes and they can loop so they can function as an LFO too. Unfortunately the Env loop timing can only be controlled by an LFO... still useful though

Hive's envelopes can loop?!

Indeed... using either LFO1/2 as timing

[Sound Author]

Oh, yeah, I knew they could be triggered that way. Not really the same as looping though.

[Robert Randolph]

Also if these LFO could run at audio rates and their speed/frequency could be keytracked we would be stepping into the FM territory, sort of.

That won't work well with Hive's approach to CPU friendliness.

You guys seem ok with having 'tweaks', can this not be a sort of tweak type deal?

[Sound Author]

I would LOVE for Hive's envelopes to loop like Bazille's do. But then you might have the same problem with Hive's "CPU friendliness" as they approach audio-rate.

[pdxindy]

Also if these LFO could run at audio rates and their speed/frequency could be keytracked we would be stepping into the FM territory, sort of.

That won't work well with Hive's approach to CPU friendliness.

You guys seem ok with having 'tweaks', can this not be a sort of tweak type deal?

Please no... it's nice to have one CPU friendly and easy to work with synth from u-he.

[pdxindy]

I would LOVE for Hive's envelopes to loop like Bazille's do. But then you might have the same problem with Hive's "CPU friendliness" as they approach audio-rate.

I've requested the Bazille 'loop' mode for Hive too...