KVR Audio

Torben · Post by **Torben** » Mon Jan 09, 2006 2:44 pm

asseca,

If we implemented that, Spectra would use several times the CPU it does today and I do not see much benefit in your suggestion. You got a much better overview over the harmonics on the GUI than on any remote MIDI controller.

Torben

TotcProductions · Post by **TotcProductions** » Mon Jan 09, 2006 3:03 pm

I'm a little late...but great track emdot! Very nice.

peace

asseca · Post by **asseca** » Mon Jan 09, 2006 3:20 pm

Torben wrote:If we implemented that, Spectra would use several times the CPU it does today and I do not see much benefit in your suggestion. You got a much better overview over the harmonics on the GUI than on any remote MIDI controller.

Spectra would only use more CPU during the change...

The other advantage is one could change certain harmonics during "live play" by using e.g. AfterTouch or a knob on a BCR.

Also, I suffer from mouse-RSI, so dragging a mouse a lot, like is needed with Spectra, is a painful experience for me...

emdot_ambient · Post by **emdot_ambient** » Mon Jan 09, 2006 3:39 pm

TotcProductions wrote:I'm a little late...but great track emdot! Very nice.

Thanks!

emdot_ambient · Post by **emdot_ambient** » Mon Jan 09, 2006 3:52 pm

asseca wrote:
Torben wrote:If we implemented that, Spectra would use several times the CPU it does today and I do not see much benefit in your suggestion. You got a much better overview over the harmonics on the GUI than on any remote MIDI controller.
Spectra would only use more CPU during the change...

The other advantage is one could change certain harmonics during "live play" by using e.g. AfterTouch or a knob on a BCR.

I agree that it would be interesting but I'm not sure how it would be implemented. Remember there can be up to 100 harmonies, each with up to 250 harmonics . . . So if you set Aftertouch to control the 12th harmonic, would that be the 12th harmonic on all harmonies? Or only on the last (the sustain) harmony? It sounds like a pain to implement to me. And I WOULD be worried about the CPU hit.

No, I'd rather see more than one layer of harmonies added and then have these other layers be triggered in a variety of ways. Again, CPU concerns pop in, but the sonic potential would be far more than just modulating certain harmonics (or harmonic ranges).

TotcProductions · Post by **TotcProductions** » Mon Jan 09, 2006 4:08 pm

asseca wrote:
Torben wrote:If we implemented that, Spectra would use several times the CPU it does today and I do not see much benefit in your suggestion. You got a much better overview over the harmonics on the GUI than on any remote MIDI controller.
Spectra would only use more CPU during the change...

The other advantage is one could change certain harmonics during "live play" by using e.g. AfterTouch or a knob on a BCR.

Also, I suffer from mouse-RSI, so dragging a mouse a lot, like is needed with Spectra, is a painful experience for me...

I see what your saying asseca....it would be interesting. However, you really have to be careful these days when developing software. CPU power is a precious resource to alot of people...and as soon as the synth starts eating a little too much everybody starts to bitch and complain. IMHO, torben was correct in implementing this. Any CPU power that can be saved usually needs to be, otherwise sales will suffer due to retards going around claiming the synth is a CPU hog. Unfortunate, but true. However, I wonder if Torben could possibly add a function to turn this funciton off....

So the user could turn a button on, and the tweak the harmonics and hear the result in real time...for live play or automation....and then turn it off when they wanted to save some more CPU. is this possible torben?

peace
frank

Torben · Post by **Torben** » Mon Jan 09, 2006 4:23 pm

I am not sure that tweaking a single harmonic on one harmony while playing would be that exciting in the end, and there would be very much work involved in implementing it. I think it is more interesting to tweak filter frequency and resonance while you play and that you can do. It is also possible to implement more filter types than the present ones and I see more potential in that.

Torben

jplanet · Post by **jplanet** » Mon Jan 09, 2006 4:30 pm

One question about Spectra - how do you get the sustain pedal to trigger the secondary release time?

pw · Post by pw » Mon Jan 09, 2006 4:30 pm

TotcProductions wrote:
asseca wrote:
Torben wrote:If we implemented that, Spectra would use several times the CPU it does today and I do not see much benefit in your suggestion. You got a much better overview over the harmonics on the GUI than on any remote MIDI controller.
Spectra would only use more CPU during the change...

The other advantage is one could change certain harmonics during "live play" by using e.g. AfterTouch or a knob on a BCR.

Also, I suffer from mouse-RSI, so dragging a mouse a lot, like is needed with Spectra, is a painful experience for me...
I see what your saying asseca....it would be interesting. However, you really have to be careful these days when developing software. CPU power is a precious resource to alot of people...and as soon as the synth starts eating a little too much everybody starts to bitch and complain. IMHO, torben was correct in implementing this. Any CPU power that can be saved usually needs to be, otherwise sales will suffer due to retards going around claiming the synth is a CPU hog. Unfortunate, but true. However, I wonder if Torben could possibly add a function to turn this funciton off.... So the user could turn a button on, and the tweak the harmonics and hear the result in real time...for live play or automation....and then turn it off when they wanted to save some more CPU. is this possible torben?

peace
frank

The harmony handle morphing eliminates some of the want for real time tweaking of partials though, in cases such as automation. as for real live tweaking, I see the benefits in something like CFX's Adder which uses it's partials quite differently, but Ilike that Spectra focuses on some things (CPU and sound quality in the additive engine) at the expense of others (real time tweaking of partials).

Torben · Post by **Torben** » Mon Jan 09, 2006 4:41 pm

jplanet wrote:One question about Spectra - how do you get the sustain pedal to trigger the secondary release time?

The sustain pedal CC#64 offers a standard Hold function as on many other synths.

The second release is controlled by Hold2 CC#69,
sustenuto (cord hold) on CC#66 and Legato on CC#68. If you want your sustain pedal to control one of these other pedals you can use a MIDI transformer plugin, Cubase SX got one included and I think many other Hosts does as well.

Torben

M'Snah · Post by **M'Snah** » Mon Jan 09, 2006 4:46 pm

After being the proud owner of Spectra for almost a week, I finally decide to read the manual. Now I suddenly understand the Harmony Handles... WOW... I guess I was missing 1 dimension of Spectra until now

Torben · Post by **Torben** » Mon Jan 09, 2006 4:51 pm

M'Snah wrote:After being the proud owner of Spectra for almost a week, I finally decide to read the manual. Now I suddenly understand the Harmony Handles... WOW... I guess I was missing 1 dimension of Spectra until now

So you are the one reading manuals

Nice to see that part of the work aren't wasted

Cheers

Torben

drinelli · Post by **drinelli** » Mon Jan 09, 2006 7:43 pm

Torben wrote:
drinelli wrote:Hi Torben, whenever I get some money again, this will be the first thing I will buy, but I have not gone into details testing this, so is there a way to soften the notes through velocity without using the filter for it, Because the filter uses much more cpu than the additive proces.
You have to use the filter for this but in many cases the 6 or 12 dB low-pass filter is enough and that won't cost much CPU.

Thanks
Torben

Ok. Well maybe I overused the number of detuned voices a bit, that must be the reason.

-momo- · Post by **-momo-** » Mon Jan 09, 2006 8:46 pm

AdmiralQuality wrote:"Heck yeah, it's hot!!!"

(Nobody's gonna get that quote. )

heheh.

I got it.

Regards,
Synthbuddy

Breeze · Post by **Breeze** » Mon Jan 09, 2006 9:08 pm

I've played with Spectra off and on for the last week, and it's a great little synth whose parentage clearly comes from Chameleon 5000 and Absynth3. But Kjaerhus has made some operational and GUI decisions and additions that have created a synth with a lot of sonic flexibility, easily accessible and manipulated.

The oscillators are by far this is the most interesting section of Spectra. The concept of morphing harmonic content is not a novelty but the possibility of establishing 100 different points and cycling through them is brilliant. Things I'd like to see:

*Right-click on the points themselves for standard cut/copy/paste/delete operations.

*There's no control other than time to control the harmonic morphing speed; it would be useful to have at minimum a selection of ramp rates (linear, slow, fast, etc... as Vegas implements for event fades) to control the rate of change over time. Another right-click option...

*More than one full oscillator (at least 2). This synth is begging for it.

*I'd like to see a section of sub-harmonics added below the fundamental in order to craft subharmonic content and add some tailored "oomph".

While low CPU economy is claimed for this synth, I find that some of the more complex patches I've played with in Spectra rival some of the complex patches in Absynth3. CPU use goes up proportionally to the number of Harmony Handles that are used.

It's a really great 1.0 offering from Kjaerhus. Hope the above doesn't come accross as negative: I haven't commented on the many things I like about this synth (great filters, multi-stage envelopes...). I'm looking forward to its evolution.

Breeze

Kjaerhus Synth coming up