u-he roadmap information

[ehdyn]

What???

You've already made it? When did you find time to code that up?

Why wait a year to show it? I'll buy it right now, half working, sight unseen.

I love modulars, but they're a money pit, and girlfriends just aren't down with them period. They'll keep eyeballin' your A.F.G. wondering what kind of designer jeans you could've bought them with that money.

I actually had a dream that you were coding up a modular. I told James Coker, the developer behind Numerology about it months ago. It's gonna be so sick to use that with Numerology 2.

If you like insane modulars be sure to check out
http://www.adern.com/home/modules.php?n ... eview&id=4

[ehdyn]

Sound and Recording magazine is going to have a drum machine made by you?
Did I understand that correctly?

Is this magazine in the U.S.? Anybody know?

[bmrzycki]

Sound and Recording magazine is going to have a drum machine made by you?
Did I understand that correctly?

Is this magazine in the U.S.? Anybody know?

It's a German magazine. You can see their site here:
http://www.soundandrecording.de/

They also offer Zebralette (standalone) and Podolski (little brother of FilterscapeVA). The name of the drum machine is "ltmLabRX5". Or as the site puts it:

ltmLabRX5 - Softwarevollversion: Plug-in mit den Sounds des Yamaha RX5

I'd imagine you could pick up a copy of the magazine and get the goodies although I've never done it myself.

[Urs]

What do you think the commercial market for a fullblown modular is? I'd love to see something like this myself but I imagine a lot of people would be intimidated by it.

Actually, it's very small... as I said, 38 knobs (each knob has two adjustable modulation slots though). Gotta be thought out carefully. It's supposed to be the "u-he easy synth" with, yes, wires.

Cpu usage is insane. I can play chords. More or less. Still cheaper to buy a Macbook with this than to buy a hardware version.

The concept is insane, too. It goes way beyond what you can normally do, and this makes up well for not being able to patch directly into/from it from the outside.

Can't tease too much. Well. The first functioning filter sounds better already than XMF.

Btw. much of this already exists. Audio Realism Semi Modular looks like the small brother of it. And so does Way Out Ware's TimeWarp. Only... there are some "extensions" to how it's done normally.

However, the following days belong to MFM2 and 42 aka "Zebra Science"...

Later,

Urs

[ehdyn]

Kuniklo:

No reason to be intimidated by a modular synth, they're arguably easier to use than fixed architecture synths.

With a modular you have clean separate spaces with relatively simple feature sets that can be logically and slowly built into a custom tool as your needs and knowledge dictate.

With a fixed architecture synth all features are thrown at you at once, and you have to adjust to each developers individual paradigm, which most likely will not allow you to route signals very creatively. To make it even more confusing, they do away with a bus, and force you to tweak values at the origin, then on some it's the destination. Sometimes you can't adjust a min/max range. Parameter naming tends to be a bit obscure as well. You have to tweak the knobs in a million different contexts to reliably understand how it will sound deterministically( i.e. live without suddenly ripping your audiences head off).

Obviously, on the flip side there are a handful of very intuitive, and well designed fixed synths.

[ehdyn]

Sound cool Urs.
ABL Pro, and Timewarp are two really great synths. I'm strongly considering Timewarp as my next synth. I got a chance to meet the developer at Namm, and his passion for it was easy to feel.

Not sure what you mean by 2 mod slots for each knob though. Sounds like a strange way to control modulation.

One of the best modulation schemes I've seen has to be Logics internal instruments. ES2, and Ultrabeat specifically.
They have what's called "via" modulation which is nearly impossible to live without once you've gotten used to it.

When you play Ultrabeat from an external sequencer, you can slowly crank the centerpoint of the min/max values, and make it snarl and breathe as your track progresses. The synth architecture is so malleable, and morphable because of this.

Modulation is everything. Really important to have a matrix that allows for crazy tricks like LFO's adjusting their own frequency, or reset phase. Mixing of control signals etc....

[kuniklo]

The concept is insane, too. It goes way beyond what you can normally do, and this makes up well for not being able to patch directly into/from it from the outside.

Can't tease too much. Well. The first functioning filter sounds better already than XMF.

Intriguing. Looking forward very much to hearing more about this.

If I had my way I'd make all the audio devs take a year off from adding new features and spend the time focusing on sound quality. Sounds like this might bring us both.

[kuniklo]

One minor quibble about MFM2 - the UI is great but I find the radial gradients in the background distract me from the controls quite a bit. Will MFM2 allow for alternate skins?

[ehdyn]

What do you mean by sound quality?

Are you talking integer vs. floating point?

Or 64 bit dynamic range/headroom?

What synths do you own that don't sound good?

I'm having trouble thinking of any besides like vanguard.

Some of the Virsyn stuff usually sounds pretty high quality.

[kuniklo]

What do you mean by sound quality?

Just the raw sonic sweetness the best synths have. Good analogues, impOSCar, Zebra (with some coaxing), Vaz etc. Subjective, but I think it's only in the last year or two that some softsynths have entered the first rank in sound quality.

For a counter example, with which some people will doubtless disagree, the NI stuff always has lots of imaginative features, but the sound doesn't usually grab me.

[ehdyn]

I have alot of the NI stuff, and it's useful but I definitely hear alot of artifacts, and glitching. Especially with Reaktor. When you've got something really good and you're trying to commit it, it just goes off a bit. Really pisses me off as I record live.

The Gmedia stuff is really good. They take the time to do it right.

OTOH:
I wouldn't go near Arturia if you paid me. Check out all of the people bitching on their forums.

[justin3am]

Please, oh please! I want a woggle bug in software form! I've always wanted a soft modular that was really freely routable. I want a filter that can be set into self oscillation, wave shaped, then sent as a modulation source to FM another filter.

I can't wait to see what comes of this project!

[Urs]

Not sure what you mean by 2 mod slots for each knob though. Sounds like a strange way to control modulation.

Nope... it just says

- every parameter has 2 CV inputs
- every CV input has its own VCA with built-in inverter

That's pretty much like two of the variable source knobs in Zebra, for each parameter, evaluated at audio rate.

I'm not sure yet whether to use patch cords or not, and how. Current ideas look like a really cool concept that lets one use it pre-routed to some extent, just like the ARP 2600 where a patch cord would disconnect the hardwired connection.

They have what's called "via" modulation which is nearly impossible to live without once you've gotten used to it.

You surely have noticed that Zebra has a modulation matrix and modulation mixers that utilize the concept of via parameters?

Regarding sound quality:

As all modulations happen at audio rate there are certain things to consider. For one thing, there can only be a fixed set of modules, much like the stuff you buy and put in your Doepfer/AS/Buchla frame. Within that set, all signals can be routed freely, at a latency of 1 sample per module. Due to the very nature of modulation possibilities (FilterFM, audio rate PWM etc.) the whole system has to be oversampled big time.

Furtherly as many modules as possible will be modeled from analogue counterparts, but there won't be a claim of authentic emulations. The final judge will always be ears, not oscilloscopes.

Urs

[Urs]

Please, oh please! I want a woggle bug in software form! I've always wanted a soft modular that was really freely routable. I want a filter that can be set into self oscillation, wave shaped, then sent as a modulation source to FM another filter.

Ha, that Woggle thing looks cool! Almost everything will be on board. There are only two Lag Generators in my current design, but one can abuse an ADSR envelope for that, too: When you modulate Sustain, the slew rates for rise and fall can be independently adjusted by Attack (rise) and Decay (fall).

I can't wait to see what comes of this project!

I can't, either. However, it's a huge project. It's been cooking for only short time and I'm very excited. The concepts are to die for!

[Urs]

One minor quibble about MFM2 - the UI is great but I find the radial gradients in the background distract me from the controls quite a bit. Will MFM2 allow for alternate skins?

Well, you can skin any of my plugs.

I have promised an alternative skin for MFM2 already... I better get that done soon