u-he

right angle · Post by **right angle** » Sat May 21, 2011 12:28 am

I am hoping that DIVA will be somewhat approachable for us not-so-technical users, because I am very exited by the idea that it will be able to emulate an Xpander. A producer I worked with some years ago had one, and it made some of the most unique & funky sounds I have ever heard from a synth.

I do realize the Xpander is very complex, so if I have to resort to presets, I think I can live with myself.

Urs · Post by **Urs** » Sat May 21, 2011 9:50 am

Well, actually, I don't think it will emulate an Xpander. Diva may partly emulate its filter component, but the rather complex structure of the Xpander or the Matrix synths is completely beyond Diva's scope.

Diva is mostly going to be almost identical to TyrellN6 at first glance. Diva will however let you select different models for the first oscillator, for the filter and for the envelopes. These models will be "inspired" by different vintage synths.

News From The Sky · Post by **News From The Sky** » Sun May 22, 2011 10:06 am

LUSH on the other hand would probably benefit from some of the Xpander's modulation capabilities, no?

Urs · Post by **Urs** » Mon May 23, 2011 12:45 pm

NewsFromTheSky wrote:LUSH on the other hand would probably benefit from some of the Xpander's modulation capabilities, no?

Well, Lush is in a difficult state, not just because D16 might release a synth under that name. We've been thinking about the "super oscillator" strategy, but it somehow doesn't lend itself towards the concept of modularity within Berlin Modular. Hence - and in order to ever get finished with anything - we've decided to do a different modular synth first.

The general idea of Lush however is not out of this world. It may still happen, but probably not within the context of Berlin Modular.

phazed · Post by **phazed** » Tue May 24, 2011 9:34 pm

Hi Urs,

I use TyrellN6 a lot and as it seems to be the base for DIVA, I'd like to give some ideas for improvements:

- Rename and delete in the preset browser
- Some more slots in the mod matrix (not too many)
- Option for linking decay & release in the envelopes (like the Minimoog)
- Much longer maximum delay time on the LFOs (several seconds)
- Bipolar osc tune
- Selectable osc start phase (free, 0°, 90°)
- Octave up/down buttons (inc/dec transpose by 12 for better preset browsing)
- PWM on sawtooth (we all like hoovers)
- Unison spread
- Single mode for Env1 (this is different than mono/legato mode, think of glide)
- Different filter types (already on your list)
- Juno-style or similar chorus (on your list, too)
- Pulse/Saw as ringmod sources regardless of selected waveform

More to come...

hakey · Post by **hakey** » Tue May 24, 2011 9:49 pm

phazed wrote:More to come...

Here's one:

- In Tyrell it sounds to me like detuning a 2 voice stack results in one voice moving whilst the other maintains constant pitch. It might be better if both voices moved in opposite directions relative to the starting pitch. For odd numbered stacks one voice could maintain steady pitch.

EDIT: Routing Voice to VCA1:Pan in Tyrell spreads the voices only in one direction, left or right, from centre. If DIVA outputs a stereo signal (I'm hoping it will) it would be useful to be able to spread stacked voices across the stereo stage either side of centre.

News From The Sky · Post by **News From The Sky** » Thu May 26, 2011 6:16 am

Urs wrote:Well, Lush is in a difficult state, not just because D16 might release a synth under that name. We've been thinking about the "super oscillator" strategy, but it somehow doesn't lend itself towards the concept of modularity within Berlin Modular. Hence - and in order to ever get finished with anything - we've decided to do a different modular synth first.

The general idea of Lush however is not out of this world. It may still happen, but probably not within the context of Berlin Modular.

You raise an interesting point I hadn't considered. It seems to me that Lush, which is intended to provide "supersaws, pads + formant filters" (I'd like it to cover string machines and their descendants too), really needs to offer pretty good polyphony so you can play big chords with lots of layers and animation and long release envelopes, without aliasing creeping in. Perhaps the most obvious way to get this without sacrificing too much sound quality is to lose the "audio rate modulation anywhere" approach - you'd still want lots of modulation possibilities, especially for pads, but modulation could be done at some lower rate than is the case for ACE or Bazille (hopefully there's a happy medium between the old software envelopes of the 80s "hybrid" synths and proper audio-rate modulation that still sounds good). That seems like a reasonable compromise (presumably that's where Zebra lives), but then it kind of disqualifies Lush as a component of Berlin Modular.

I'll be interested in whatever you put out, but I hope at some point soon you can find a way to create the "ultimate pad machine" with a "lush" sound but less CPU load than ACE - perhaps DIVA will satisfy that need for me. I can't wait to see what you do with it, especially the modulation routings and chorus effect(s).

Urs · Post by **Urs** » Thu May 26, 2011 10:04 am

That brings up an idea... Diva could have a paraphonic mode... as long as the routing stays simple, it would be doable. Hehe, if only for a bit of Poly 800 vibe.

Bronto Scorpio · Post by **Bronto Scorpio** » Thu May 26, 2011 10:12 am

Urs wrote:That brings up an idea... Diva could have a paraphonic mode... as long as the routing stays simple, it would be doable. Hehe, if only for a bit of Poly 800 vibe.

That's a really cool idea

Any news on the new website?
Can't wait until it's finished

Cheers
Dennis

Urs · Post by **Urs** » Thu May 26, 2011 10:30 am

Bronto Scorpio wrote:Any news on the new website?
Can't wait until it's finished

Tell me about it

It's two websites actually... the sound design website ahs slightly lower priority, but will be up soon as well.

End of next week we'll start beta testing the newsletter and the site. Still a lot of fine tuning and content creation till then...

hakey · Post by **hakey** » Thu May 26, 2011 11:20 am

Urs wrote:That brings up an idea... Diva could have a paraphonic mode... as long as the routing stays simple, it would be doable. Hehe, if only for a bit of Poly 800 vibe.

<cough> Solina <cough>

Urs · Post by **Urs** » Thu May 26, 2011 11:37 am

hakey wrote:
Urs wrote:That brings up an idea... Diva could have a paraphonic mode... as long as the routing stays simple, it would be doable. Hehe, if only for a bit of Poly 800 vibe.
<cough> Solina <cough>

Well, I could add some samples...

Bronto Scorpio · Post by **Bronto Scorpio** » Thu May 26, 2011 11:39 am

hakey · Post by **hakey** » Thu May 26, 2011 12:16 pm

Urs wrote:
hakey wrote:<cough> Solina <cough>
Well, I could add some samples...

hakey · Post by **hakey** » Thu May 26, 2011 12:23 pm

(btw if anyone can enlighten me as to where my thinking was wrong that whole debate, I'd be genuinely interested in hearing it. I still haven't heard a sensible explanation. Via PM's would be fine.)

u-he

KVR Audio

The long DIVA thread