SQ80 emulating VSTi available

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maxxxter wrote: switchable oversampling would be on my list of desired features; there's just too much aliasing going on, making the whole thing almost useless.
Like it or not, I suspect that the aliasing is part of the emulation of the DCO:
Siegfried Kullmann has developed a sound based on the specifications of the original Ensoniq sound engine. It could be argued that the DOC chip has as much or more influence on the sound than the famous Curtis filter bank that graces the synth.
(from http://www.scoreforsale.com/html/sq8l.html)

Lo-fi and gritty it may be, but, personally, I think that the sound of the SQ8L really has a something very special about it. :)

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hakey wrote:
maxxxter wrote: switchable oversampling would be on my list of desired features; there's just too much aliasing going on, making the whole thing almost useless.
Like it or not, I suspect that the aliasing is part of the emulation of the DCO:
Siegfried Kullmann has developed a sound based on the specifications of the original Ensoniq sound engine. It could be argued that the DOC chip has as much or more influence on the sound than the famous Curtis filter bank that graces the synth.
(from http://www.scoreforsale.com/html/sq8l.html)

Lo-fi and gritty it may be, but, personally, I think that the sound of the SQ8L really has a something very special about it. :)
You're totally right. The original, despite it's analog filter is a very digital sounding machine. Adding anti-aliasing to it would be like fixing the Mona Lisa's smile. It's supposed to be that way silly. :ud:
Zerocrossing Media

4th Law of Robotics: When turning evil, display a red indicator light. ~[ ●_● ]~

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maxxxter wrote:
In conclusion, I'm one of those (probably rare) people that don't even like the PPG's "stutter" artifact which definitely is a part of its "character". Just not my cup of tea, I think it sounds horrible and annoying. But many people like it and I accept that.

That's why I said a switchable oversampling option would be nice in this case.

Respectfully
Fair enough, though if you got the results you wanted with the oversampler, then I guess you're good, especially considering we're talking about a free plug in which doesn't seem to be on it's way to being commercial any time soon.
Zerocrossing Media

4th Law of Robotics: When turning evil, display a red indicator light. ~[ ●_● ]~

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maxxxter wrote:And, frankly, if it's the aliasing that defines the character of a synth, than I personally don't have much respect for that kind of "character".

(Having said that, the sound of some specialized synths, such as Synthetic II PRO, is totally defined by aliasing, and i LOVE that, but in case of SQ80 I'd say that that wasn't the intention behind the design. I could be wrong, though.)
At the risk of provoking another discussion about intent, it seems a fair bet that the intent of the dev here was to produce as accurate as possible an emulation of the SQ80. If that means emulating an aliasing DCO (and, never having played with a real SQ80, I honestly don't know) then I would say the aliasing is intentional.

But, as zerocrossing says, if using an oversampler improves the sound for you, then it's not really a problem either way - unless you want the ability to switch oversampling on and off from the SQ8L?

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maxxxter wrote: I agree with you in that the aliasing can play a part in defining the synth's character, but I've done an experiment and made an oversampled version of this dll, using the Arkecode oversampler, and the result was very nice. The sound stayed the same, except there were none of those horrible aliasing artifacts in higher octaves anymore.
So what's the problem then ?

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maxxxter wrote:
jupiter8 wrote:
maxxxter wrote: I agree with you in that the aliasing can play a part in defining the synth's character, but I've done an experiment and made an oversampled version of this dll, using the Arkecode oversampler, and the result was very nice. The sound stayed the same, except there were none of those horrible aliasing artifacts in higher octaves anymore.
So what's the problem then ?
It's a bit unstable that way, crashes Nuendo sometimes. So it'd be nice to have switchable oversampling in the plugin itself. Just a thought though, no worries.
There's another oversampler whos name escapes me for the moment. Christian Budde maybe ?

I have a hard time (from a strictly theoretical pow) believing it's the oversamplers fault. Because it's so simplistic in it's implementation. I've taken a really good look at the code and there's precious little that can go wrong.

But if the oversampled one crashes and the original doesn't then the first suspect is obviously the oversampler. Maybe try and pm Arke AKA Chris Walton and see if he has any suggestions.

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I just spent some time playing around with it in Wusik VM using both the 2x and 4x oversampling. Seemed pretty stable to me. Changed through tons of presets. Sent it a lot of MIDI.

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I dig up to thank very very much for this synth,its really incredible and i spent 2 whole nights with it wihout sleep,it has this 80's character and feel,even without effects and reverb only it sounds quite good,some of the stuff i made at night:

http://www.speedyshare.com/files/23419161/sq8italo.mp3
http://www.speedyshare.com/files/23419583/SQ8L7.mp3
http://www.speedyshare.com/files/23419160/sq8italo2.mp3

Its very good for italo disco sounds and for keys/pads ,basically everything from 80s.There are no samples in there ,everything was straight from SQ8L, and a bit of reverb.

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bwwd wrote:I dig up to thank very very much for this synth,its really incredible and i spent 2 whole nights with it wihout sleep,it has this 80's character and feel,even without effects and reverb only it sounds quite good,some of the stuff i made at night:

http://www.speedyshare.com/files/23419161/sq8italo.mp3
http://www.speedyshare.com/files/23419583/SQ8L7.mp3
http://www.speedyshare.com/files/23419160/sq8italo2.mp3

Its very good for italo disco sounds and for keys/pads ,basically everything from 80s.There are no samples in there ,everything was straight from SQ8L, and a bit of reverb.
i get 404 not found in firefox and ie for these files (keen to hear them!)

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do_androids_dream wrote:i get 404 not found in firefox and ie for these files (keen to hear them!)
They download fine here.

Very nice tracks, shows how good SQ8L sounds. I sold my ESQ-1 when I got my hands on SQ8L ;)
CrimsonWarlock aka TechnoGremlin, Moved to Reason and Rack Extensions exclusively (from Reaper and VSTs) several years ago.

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Here is one more,not my melody of course ,i took midi to check how it will sound in SQ8L

http://www.speedyshare.com/files/23420441/sq8savage.mp3
Last edited by bwwd on Sun Jul 18, 2010 10:47 am, edited 2 times in total.

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Very nice. Have you oversampled it?.

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