KVR Audio

makk · Post by **makk** » Mon Jan 25, 2010 11:44 am

Take it easy, antto. There's nothing perfect in the world.
You are still not completely satisfied with your work, but it's OK now.
I'm sure that this plug-in becomes what a lot of people wants.
Easy fix and easy release. Let's make a good product little by little.

mute · Post by **mute** » Wed Jan 27, 2010 3:59 am

aye, its a georgeous interface antto and the uniques touches you've added to an old idea are rather cool. look forward to this one..

mztk · Post by **mztk** » Thu Feb 11, 2010 5:46 pm

bump!

what's new, antto? you bought a teebee, or wot? ;p
waiting to hear from you, either here, or there >>>

antto · Post by **antto** » Fri Feb 12, 2010 5:30 pm

erm, i wish i could..
i'm currently very tired of my dayjob, the financial crysis is on it's peak right now, and things aren't okay at all, i'm trying to hold on

i recently started a new little project of approximating a tape-cassette effect, which is 60% ready, and has better chances to get released soon
the developement of this project also helped me understand quite a bit more about some things in saturation and electronics, which i did not understand before

the VB-303 project is needs more attention, but i really don't have enough spare time, and i really hate that
actually, in 2009, when i first developed the first version of this project, at that time i was jobless, and i had the whole time in the world to do it, the sequencer, the basic synth structure, the GUI..
i didn't do anything else at that time..
this is what i need now, but it's not really possible, unfortunately

so, i will not stop here, the synth is not ready for use (not even for my personal use) and i _really_ need to finish it, not just for you guys, but for me too
i am keeping myself away from making "music" (what i really love to do) just to be able to finish this synth
the type of music that i make, almost always involves a distorted LP-filtered sawtooth synth, which happens to be a 303
this is just one of the things that keeps me pushing this project to the next release

--------------------
recently, i recoded the square waveform, now it's a bit more "live" .. less expensive approximitations, more code that looks like a circuit
it sounds better (because it's "alive") and it definately sounds like a 303
i improved the clipping in the filter, and i plan to add a tuning knob for the overdrive
i'm thinkering about adding LOAD/SAVE support for the Phoscyon pattern format, if that's possible, got to contact d16 for this..
i'm thinkering about a very flexible pattern manipulation/randomization system
and more things come out just as i start to think about it..
and this also means that the old GUI won't work at all, a new one will be made ;]

in other words: the amount of work that needs to be done is almost as much as the amount of work spent on creating the synth the first time
and this is wonderful, i love doing it
i only hate that i don't have enough free time to mess with it

keep it acid ;]

blakecasimir · Post by **blakecasimir** » Sat Feb 13, 2010 4:23 pm

Look at the thread length. This is one of the best 303 emulations out there, and your work thus far has been tremendous, Antto. I think 22 pages confirms a lot of people are appreciating your work.

Those of us that can't resist THAT sound but wouldn't want to entertain the thought of having to buy a real one, get the MIDI retrofit etc, it's ideal.

antto · Post by **antto** » Wed Feb 24, 2010 1:01 pm

http://www.box.net/shared/6k8dotlk25 (image)

i decided to make huge changes to the sequencer structure
first of all, the patterns, the binary format will be changed a little, but the sequencer will recognize the old ones from the new ones (that's more work tho..)
a new pattern "type" will be implemented into the sequencer.. a 303 type
in contrast with the current format, here, "notes" and "lengths/timing" will be separate things
in other words, previously the patterns were an array of values (this format will be kept too!)
in the "303" type, Time Information will tell how the pattern will go, and like the TB-303, a "note" will be picked up depending on the Time Information
a pattern will be either type1 (old format) or type2 (303 format) and the manipulation tools will be slightly different between them (due to the nature of the 303 format)
but at any time, the pattern can be converted to the other type, so you can mess with the advantages of the manipulation tools available for that type

all of this sounds wonderful, but it's a huge amount of work todo
basicaly, i'll be recoding 70% of the sequencer + adding the new stuff ;]

and one of these is this new 20x4 "LCD display"
the image shows only a conceptual drawing, tho, the fonts are ready, i only need to code it (and wire 80 bitmap modules in SE)

it's really what you can call an "LCD display" actually, the characters are 7bit
what it'll do? the most obvious thing is it'll be able to draw a PIANO ROLL!
i hope you like the size of the fonts, been doing them for the last 5 hours and i think they're big enough
it'll also display menus, and stuff like Gate/Acc/Slide on one single screen
example:

Code: Select all

EDIT Gat/Acc/Sld ###
 gggg gggg gggg gggg
 aaaa aaaa aaaa aaaa
 ssss ssss ssss ssss

it'll have to have some navigation buttons too, but it'll free up a huge amount of screen space, most pattern manipulation functions will be moved to this little screen ;]
because of the new pattern format, pitch values will be reduced to 5 octaves, which is still fair

otherwise, i might remove some of the extra features on the synth side, i'm not sure yet, but they're taking too much CPU now
like the second oscillator.. not sure

that's for now..

mztk · Post by **mztk** » Mon Apr 12, 2010 6:48 pm

mate, you must have the most incredible eyesight!!!
(panic)
afaic, far too small! i struggle with the existing display, as i've said;
i don't mind tooo much cz it's worth it.

it's only recently that my eyesight has started to decline - kinda distressing, but i'm getting used to it - but i'm not alone, and reckon you should assume other have probs too; it's a shame to scupper such a great plugin with graphics that are hard to see; you've got plenty of space on this, and could even afford to go a bit bigger overall, as it's a small screensize plugin;

have you got a 32" inch screen you're working on or something? imo, you can
assume a 15" screen for most people, and VB303 could afford to be the width
of, say, this kvr blue panel x 2/3 height; if not, you could have a flip panel with the sequencer detail...?

thecontrolcentre · Post by **thecontrolcentre** » Mon Apr 12, 2010 6:58 pm

mztk wrote:it's a shame to scupper such a great plugin with graphics that are hard to see

Got to agree ... if the jpg is actual size, then it's virtually unusable to me on a 17" widescreen.

antto · Post by **antto** » Tue Apr 13, 2010 4:13 am

the new skin is a bit bigger, different colors, it'll be easier to look at
and most of the important text labels will be at least 5x5
the LCD is 5x7 right now
i've increased the contrast too..
the buttons will also be grouped somewhat.. so once you get to use them you'll remember them and wouldn't need to read the labels..

my monitor is a 17" one (not widescreen) and my resolution right now is 1152x864
started drawing the new skin all around the "keyboard" section adding the other features around it, so i'm not restricting myself in size..

i'm also looking forward into actually porting Venom to the VST SDK, but i'm having problems with it and have no clue how to make it work..
this might take yet another year..

mztk · Post by **mztk** » Wed Apr 14, 2010 10:23 am

yeah, woah, sorry 'bout that, had a coupla drinks before i posted, oops.
not being negative or anything, just saying my bit...

default 12whatever x 768 over here, btw.

did you notice that bpm2 thing? weird.(spose i'd better finish that drum
machine thing and post it)

we'd be very happy with an SE based update, for now, ahem...

bpblog · Post by **bpblog** » Fri Apr 16, 2010 12:33 pm

omg that tiny sequencer looks so damn awesome! i mean i know it's not very nifty to use such a small gui but it just looks so damn sleek.

VariKusBrainZ · Post by **VariKusBrainZ** » Sun Apr 18, 2010 11:08 am

Is a newer version available?
The download in the 1st post is July 2009.

ta

antto · Post by **antto** » Sun Apr 18, 2010 8:25 pm

mztk: what about "bpm2" ?

bpblog: thanks ;]

VariKusBrainZ: no, there is only the first beta, and beta2 (there is a link to it in the first post)
beta2 is old too now, and it has some new bugs (but sounds a bit better than beta1)

new update - not really, most modules are currently full of "temporary" code and i've disconnected all buttons of the sequencer, it's like broken right now
i'm still trying to figure out how to proceed with this project

mztk · Post by **mztk** » Tue Apr 27, 2010 2:52 pm

re bpm2

check out this little drum plugin i knocked up; it uses bpm2.
http://www.box.net/shared/vhcduzfbcl

it's a kind of x0x type beatbox. uses samples, has a pattern chaining
thing going on, and isn't quite finished.

( hope it works on your system...have no idea what rate you'll have to
use; assume 44.1 ).

if you load this with your beta2, and messaround with the tempo control on it, you'll possibly find venom trying to follow the new tempo. of the other plugin?!! it's weird.

it uses bpmclock2, same as venom. but how can it become master clock controller? strangely, venom does not have reciprocal tempo control.

VSTJuNkiE · Post by **VSTJuNkiE** » Tue Apr 27, 2010 5:13 pm

antto wrote: i've disconnected all buttons of the sequencer, it's like broken right now
i'm still trying to figure out how to proceed with this project

FORWARD! Always move forward. Don't kill it. It's teh bestest FREE 303 ever!

Maybe ask for help from other devs? Just know antto that there's a LOT of ppl who love Venom and can't wait for to be finished.

Link: Venom VB-303 VSTi (Beta release)