KVR Audio

Ingonator · Post by **Ingonator** » Sat Sep 18, 2010 5:23 pm

Zephod wrote:as to the limited polyphony - I am working on a version that has variable polyphony up to 16. The old educational version was limited to 4 voices to ensure proper behaviour on a 486/pentium 1 class machine for any patches the students came up with. For these days that limitation is a bit weird.

Glad you like it though

Thanks for your reply, Zephod.

Yes, more polyphony would be nice (at least 6). Another thing would be to have a module for different keyboard modes like mono, poly, legato, etc.

Another thing which happened was a crash while using Blok in Ableton Live 8.1.5 on Windows 7 32-bit. This happened while saving and loading patches with the built-in browser.

No crashes while using it on Buzz but that version doesn't contain the browser of the vst version.

Except the things mentioned above Blok is really an excellent synth. Very good sound quality, really nice GUI, a good selection of modules and it is quite logical to use. The CPU use is ridiculously low compared to most other softsynths, really cool.

Zephod · Post by **Zephod** » Sat Sep 18, 2010 5:29 pm

Can you tell me which exact version that was, and which patches you were loading?

I did introduce/fix a few new issues with a recent optimization.. please try and update to 299, it fixes all the crashes I know about.

if it is reproducable, I'd really appreciate if you could do a screensharing-session with me on skype. Demonstrate the bug to me and I'll attempt to fix directly.

V. 300+ (the next one!) will have adjustable polyphony per patch, from 1 to 16.

Mono/poly is thereby covered, legato mode can be added as well but needs the usecases thought through. Any suggestions for the exact behaviour? (ie - all the envelopes would remain untriggered.. only the pitch will move to the next value)

Ingonator · Post by **Ingonator** » Sat Sep 18, 2010 5:38 pm

Zephod wrote:Can you tell me which exact version that was, and which patches you were loading?

I did introduce/fix a few new issues with a recent optimization.. please try and update to 299, it fixes all the crashes I know about.

if it is reproducable, I'd really appreciate if you could do a screensharing-session with me on skype. Demonstrate the bug to me and I'll attempt to fix directly.

V. 300+ (the next one!) will have adjustable polyphony per patch, from 1 to 16.

Mono/poly is thereby covered, legato mode can be added as well but needs the usecases thought through. Any suggestions for the exact behaviour? (ie - all the envelopes would remain untriggered.. only the pitch will move to the next value)

The patches were my own. Problems are less when i save patches in the editor window. No problems in Buzz but that doesn't contain the browser.
OS is Windows 7 32-bit an the host i tried were Ableton Live 8.1.5 and Tobybear MiniHost (both with crashes). The versions were 297 for the VST (no other download available yesterday) and 299 for Buzz.
BTW the crashes mostly happened when i wanted to load the single patches i made to the bank. Mostly no problems at the first patch in the bank but they happen with the second, third and so on but not always.

Zephod · Post by **Zephod** » Sat Sep 18, 2010 5:42 pm

If any of the patches contained an arpeggiator, that would have been it. That is the main fix between 297 and 299.

Please let me know if the problem persists with 299.

mcnoone · Post by **mcnoone** » Sat Sep 18, 2010 5:52 pm

Any chance of seeing a mac version of Blok in the future?
Thanks.

Zephod · Post by **Zephod** » Sat Sep 18, 2010 5:55 pm

Yes.. but it has very low priority. I'm very slowly rewriting the entire gui in a cross platform way.

AudioUnits on mac have a totally different architecture, and VST is not really universally supported. (and development on mac in general is very badly supported. )

Mostly this means a lot of extra work/testing for me for very little extra gain. Show me 300 customers and I might think otherwise.

Ingonator · Post by **Ingonator** » Sat Sep 18, 2010 6:20 pm

Zephod wrote:If any of the patches contained an arpeggiator, that would have been it. That is the main fix between 297 and 299.

Please let me know if the problem persists with 299.

It's possible because i removed the Arp from the first patch and didn't get a crash after that.
BTW where is the VST version 299 available ?? When i purchased Blok yesterday i only found a link for 297, except the Buzz version which is 299.

Zephod · Post by **Zephod** » Sat Sep 18, 2010 6:23 pm

I has been uploaded all over the site (just did a doublecheck to make sure)

I guess you were looking for download -just- as I was uploading

Go to the userarea and download again.

Ingonator · Post by **Ingonator** » Sat Sep 18, 2010 6:26 pm

Zephod wrote:I has been uploaded all over the site (just did a doublecheck to make sure)

I guess you were looking for download -just- as I was uploading

Go to the userarea and download again.

Got it now, many thanks for your fast reply.

UPDATE: I installed v299 and tried everything which i did with 297. No crash so far.

KungKrille · Post by **KungKrille** » Sat Sep 18, 2010 10:03 pm

I must say that this is an awesome and inspiring plugin

I have noted a strange behaviour though when it comes to rendering. If you listen to my files below you will understand. All sounds and effects are from BLOK except that the "string" is sidechained.

Here is how it sounds like in realtime:
BLOK realtime

This is a final render from my host:
BLOK render

You clearly hear that they differ a lot though the project is exactly the same

Zephod · Post by **Zephod** » Sat Sep 18, 2010 10:24 pm

Thanks! Some nice sounds there!

Am I correct in assuming that the samplerate during the bounce is quite different than during realtime?

Delaylines are very hard to keep sounding exactly the same at short-times while altering the samplerate..

Can you send me the most problematic patches you used + let me know what host you are using to bounce? I'll do my best to get them closer..

KungKrille · Post by **KungKrille** » Sat Sep 18, 2010 11:47 pm

Yepp, I used different settings when I rendered. 24/96 in realtime and 16/44.1 when rendered.

I can't send you any patches or re-render as I only used the demo. The patches are gone by now. My host is Ableton Live 8.1.4 btw. If it's the samplerate that is the cause it's no big deal now when I'm aware of it

Edit: I actually "saved" one patch:

mcnoone · Post by **mcnoone** » Sat Sep 18, 2010 11:48 pm

Zephod wrote:Yes.. but it has very low priority. I'm very slowly rewriting the entire gui in a cross platform way.
AudioUnits on mac have a totally different architecture, and VST is not really universally supported. (and development on mac in general is very badly supported. )
Mostly this means a lot of extra work/testing for me for very little extra gain. Show me 300 customers and I might think otherwise.

Thanks for your reply.

Ingonator · Post by **Ingonator** » Sun Sep 19, 2010 12:49 pm

KungKrille wrote:I must say that this is an awesome and inspiring plugin

I have to agree. It's one of those "gems" which are hidden in the mass of many other bad or average plugins and which i only got aware of based on a single post in a thread not even directly related to Blok. Sometimes such stories happen at KVR...

KungKrille · Post by **KungKrille** » Sun Sep 19, 2010 3:34 pm

Ingonator wrote:
KungKrille wrote:I must say that this is an awesome and inspiring plugin
I have to agree. It's one of those "gems" which are hidden in the mass of many other bad or average plugins and which i only got aware of based on a single post in a thread not even directly related to Blok. Sometimes such stories happen at KVR...

Amen to that

It's strange sometimes how the fate or whatever it is chooses it's path. And as soon as my Paypal is refilled I will be a BLOK owner too.