MrRay73 mk2: public beta test

[kevink]

I've played a tad with the newest beta, and it's still got problems for me under Sonar 7.0.1 on a Win2KSP4 system with RME audio hardware/drivers, *if* Sonar is set up to use the WDM/KS driver interface. If I cut over to ASIO, the problems (audio artifacts and crashes on exit) go away. It *might* be a problem with the driver itself, but I use a lot of other plugs, most of them commercial, and none of them (including Mr Ray V1) has so far exhibited any problems under Sonar using WDM/KS, so I worry that you're making an unsafe assumption about buffers somewhere.

If it helps you debug, I get an illegal reference to the memory location 0xa2808ea6 by the instruction at 0x7830dfce (cmp dword ptr[edx+4].edi).

And while MRV2 a nice sounding instrument, it still drives me nuts that the bottom 40% of the keyboard sounds wrong to me. I've played Rhodes pianos that sounded a lot like V2, but I always thought that they were poorly set-up. I always wanted to hear a little chime, even in the bass register, so I tweaked the pickup positions to get that sound, which a lot of jazz/fusion players liked.

Mr Ray V1 has that chime - arguably too much of it - but V2 has little or none of it, regardless of what parameters I set up. If that difference is a matter of a single coefficient or two, I would beg you to give us control over their value from some control pane or configuration file. I doubt it's that simple, though...

[kevink]

... *if* Sonar is set up to use the WDM/KS driver interface. If I cut over to ASIO, the problems (audio artifacts and crashes on exit) go away.

Alas, it's not quite that simple. I re-loaded the test project again, with ASIO still configured for Sonar, and got the artifacts. I used the Sonar "Synth Rack" to disable and re-enable the plug, and the problem went away. I hope that makes more sense to you than it does to me.

[Funkybot's Evil Twin]

Hi Guido, though it doesn't sound like much changed in the Piano Age feature this otherwise sounds ready for release IMO. Anyway, I'm ready to make a purchase as soon as your ready to sell it. BTW, I wouldn't delay the sale because of a lack of demo songs, I mean we can all just demo it ourselves.

Oh, and I'm not seeing any issues with it in Sonar 7.02 using an RME Fireface and ASIO.

[kevink]

For reference, http://www.kevink.net/tunes/quotes/ETQexcerpt.mp3 is pretty much what I consider to be a definitive Rhodes sound. Mr. Ray V2 is damned close. But it needs just that little bit of chime in the low end.

True, strange story: Trying to characterize the MRV2 glitch problem I was looking at last night, I changed back from ASIO to WDM/KS and restarted Sonar (which I'd upgraded to 7.0.2). Profiling the device, as Sonar does, gave some strange results and some warnings about certain sample rates not being available, and cut the sample rate from 88.2K to 44.1K. When I loaded the saved project with the latest MRV2 beta, it sounded, I swear, different. It was, well, chimey. So I thought "aha, it's got something wierd to do with the sample rate", which would be strange but not impossible, so I cut back over to ASIO, keeping the sample rate at 44.1K. The sound changed back again. I've changed driver models and bit rates back and forth a couple more times, but have been unable to re-create the change in timbre. I'd swear there's an initialization problem in there somewhere, Guido! Now, as to whose it is...

[ZioKiller]

Hi,
definitely there's something with the samplerate, infact I'm writing in the Doc file that MrRay works best with samplerates up to 48 KHz. To be honest, I don't know why it changes the timbre when using higher samplerates, but not in the positive way we could expect. The sound becomes squeaky and thinner, not warm and deep like it should be.

I'm also thinking to put an alert on the interface.

This also happened to the old MrRays and MrTramp, so it isn't my code's fault... must be something connected to the particular filter design I'm using in these plugins. I've been experimenting and researching for months without reaching a plausible explanation... that's really peculiar...

[ZioKiller]

In this example mp3 you can hear the latest build (just compiled 1 minute ago) with all the features exposed: the timbre, the dynamics, the "re-pedaling effect" which also affects how the dampers make the tines resonate with the metallic noise, the sympathetic resonance, you can hear that the notes are never re-triggered like samples, they always vary according to the interaction between the tines, the dampers and the mallets. Everything is there, except a good pianist

I tried to do all the best I can to give this simulation a timbre as much natural as possibile, although I know that the vitality and the spontaneity of a genuine Rhodes is unparalleled by digital means. This is why I still love my Mark I (and I hope to afford the new Mark 7 as well. )

[Lagrange]

After finally getting my gritty little fingers on this one I figured let me post a lil something I did just to show what it can do..

Simple recording in AudioMulch and eXT.. Plus theres no drum or bass section.. Just an extra flute outline for the new MRray.. I put some soft Tape drive on there and a palancare impulse...

SONG: Taxi Anyone?MrRay_b07010801.mp3..

For those of you that watched the show Taxi in the 70's early 80's you should recognize this. The fact that that the black keys clip makes my playing sound worse than it already does Sorry my playing from sheet music is kinda rusty.. Anyhoo hope youz like...

I do have to say this version of MRRay is even more impressive than its predecessor.. I would love to give the full version a go without the limitations..

L

[Watto]

In this example mp3 you can hear the latest build (just compiled 1 minute ago) with all the features exposed: the timbre, the dynamics, the "re-pedaling effect" which also affects how the dampers make the tines resonate with the metallic noise, the sympathetic resonance, you can hear that the notes are never re-triggered like samples, they always vary according to the interaction between the tines, the dampers and the mallets.

I realise you're happy with what you've done, so there's probably no point me adding my thoughts, but that mp3 was an odd experience for me. The little noises etc made it sound very realistic, but I still wavered between Rhodes and Wurly while listening...

I've owned both, btw, and own a Wurly atm.

Also, I got this error from Reaper with the latest beta:

Everything is there, except a good pianist

Sounds like bloody good playing to me

[Lagrange]

So does anyone remember this or what ?

L

[Watto]

So does anyone remember this or what ?

L

Nup, but then, I was born in '76.

I also wanted to add that I only gave that opinion based on the mp3, so I'm very keen to try the beta myself if I can get it working

[Lagrange]

watto look here

L

[Watto]

The url contained a malformed video id.

[Lagrange]

my bad try again..



L

[gsoto]

Playing with b07010801 here. I can't comment on realism but it sounds great!

I'm experiencing some 'strange' behaviors. I believe that at least the first one is part of the emulation, but I don't know, as I've never played a real Rhodes:
- Irregular intensities when repeating a note with the sustain pedal down.
- Notes sounding different and considerably louder than the adjacent ones (E2, A1, ...).
- Weird voice stealing when you play three notes in the G4-C5 range.

About the gui, it's usable and looks ok, but a little unpolished. Also, inverted knobs??
Anyway, the sound is what matters.

So does anyone remember this or what ?

Link doesn't work. Born in the 80's but I definitely remember that nice Rhodes in the Taxi intro.

[Lagrange]

New LINK to my one octave example ... also an 80's child..

L