KVR Audio

Ingonator · Post by **Ingonator** » Tue Aug 30, 2011 5:14 pm

Hi,

i just had a small discussion about the Demo noise bursts and a solution ispossible. What would be a reasonable time between bursts in your opinion? My opinion was a minimum of 45 seconds.

Ingo

BFunKu · Post by **BFunKu** » Tue Aug 30, 2011 5:40 pm

45-60 seconds is good in my opinion. I also want to say that the Nuklear Synth definitely is different and interesting in terms of the sounds it's capable of making. Very unique in a Good way. I think everyone should at least try it.

Ingonator · Post by **Ingonator** » Tue Aug 30, 2011 5:58 pm

BFunKu wrote:I also want to say that the Nuklear Synth definitely is different and interesting in terms of the sounds it's capable of making. Very unique in a Good way. I think everyone should at least try it.

I had exactly the same opinion when i first tried it. I thought it sounds like a wavetable synth but after using it some time i found it's not too easy to compare it to another synth.
Anyway i'm still learning that pulsar synthesis myself so i'm sure i'll get some interesting results in the future.

Especially those "typical" Granular style sounds where there upper octaves sound significantly different are really interesting (e.g. preset "Gravitational Echo").

Ingo

Ingonator · Post by **Ingonator** » Wed Aug 31, 2011 11:28 am

Hi everyone,

for giving a better insight into the Pulsar train synthesis for you (and also myself) i created a series of screenshots using a Signal Analyzer while changing certain parameters in the oscillator/pulsar section of Nuklear. No filter, envelopes or other modulation was used to keep it simple.
Each screenshot includes both the Oscillator section of Nuklear and the Signal Analyzer display.

I have added and sorted those screenshots into a pdf file (appr. 3,5 MB):

https://rapidshare.com/files/3931617668 ... meters.zip

The screenshots show the influence of the following parameters:
A) Influence of the Pulsaret envelopes (Note: C3)
B) Influence of the "Pulsar" parameter (Note: C3)
C) Influence of the "Freq" (Duty-Cycle frequency) parameter (Note: C3)
D) Influence of the "Phase" parameter (Note: C3)
E) Influence of the "Micro-Sequencer" (Note: C3)
F) Influence of the "Width" parameter (Note: C3)
F) Influence of the Octave/Note

As you could see all parameters have an influence on the waveform but the "Freq" (Duty-Cycle frequency) seems to be one the most important ones.

Best wishes,
Ingo

izonin · Post by **izonin** » Wed Aug 31, 2011 12:02 pm

Is it "overpriced synths week" on kvr?

tibah · Post by **tibah** » Wed Aug 31, 2011 12:11 pm

BFunKu wrote:45-60 seconds is good in my opinion. I also want to say that the Nuklear Synth definitely is different and interesting in terms of the sounds it's capable of making. Very unique in a Good way. I think everyone should at least try it.

If we are talking about textures that are different or not possible with other synthesis types out there, I have to say I'm not impressed. I would rather stick with HCM synthesis (maybe upgrade from FireBird+ to Gladiator), if I would be into something fresh, that is beyond regular synthesis types. Because HCM is 1. worth the money, compared to features and 2. fun to use. Nuklear doesn't really invite me to craft my own sounds or has presets that would show the benefit of pulsar synthesis. Maybe it's just me, but I could also see no meaning in recreating the same old sounds, just with another name on it. That is my first impression at least.

Ingonator · Post by **Ingonator** » Wed Aug 31, 2011 1:28 pm

emotica wrote:
BFunKu wrote:45-60 seconds is good in my opinion. I also want to say that the Nuklear Synth definitely is different and interesting in terms of the sounds it's capable of making. Very unique in a Good way. I think everyone should at least try it.
If we are talking about textures that are different or not possible with other synthesis types out there, I have to say I'm not impressed. I would rather stick with HCM synthesis (maybe upgrade from FireBird+ to Gladiator), if I would be into something fresh, that is beyond regular synthesis types. Because HCM is 1. worth the money, compared to features and 2. fun to use. Nuklear doesn't really invite me to craft my own sounds or has presets that would show the benefit of pulsar synthesis. Maybe it's just me, but I could also see no meaning in recreating the same old sounds, just with another name on it. That is my first impression at least.

Have a look at the PDF file in my last post above. This shows the influence of all parameters in the oscillator section on the resulting waveform.
Like in Granular synthesis there could also be be a significant difference in lower and higher octaves (see last example in the PDF).

Besides those "basic" settings ANY of the knobs has it's own mod matrix (at the upper right display) and could be modulated e.g. by one of the 8 available envelopes, LFOs or step sequencers. And then you could combine the 4 oscillators with different settings. It would be quite strange if any possible sound would be already included in the factory bank. I and i guess also most of the other sound designers are still exploring the possibilities.

Future updates could also include additional features like e.g. waveform import, an arpeggiator (besides the step sequencers) and additional FXs.

Earlier attempts for pulsar synthesis were more "scientific" with many strange parameters and Nuklear tries to simplify it to a set of less complex controls and tweaking those controls could immediately give some interesting results.
Besides this the new oscillator type is embedded into a "normal" subtractive environment which should make it easier for most people to get used to it.

Ingo

Ingonator · Post by **Ingonator** » Thu Sep 01, 2011 7:50 am

For those who speak german here is a release info for Nuklear at MusoTalk:
http://www.musotalk.de/news/newsansicht ... haeltlich/

Another one, again german:
http://www.delamar.de/musiksoftware/ham ... ear-11425/

Like mentioned there the Pulsar train synthesis used in Nuklear is not totally new, in fact there were developments since around 10 years but Nuklear is the first commercial synth to use this kind of synthesis.

One of the earlier developers of the Pulsar synthesis (and Granular syntheis in general) was Curtis Roads:
http://clang.mat.ucsb.edu/

His Pulsar Generator software (only for MacOS 9) seems to be more for research than to be used as an actual synth:

Another quite basic Pulsar synth is available for MaxMSP:
http://www.jg1983.co.uk/Blog/pulsar-synthesis-in-maxmsp

In both examples many of the features of Nuklear are missing like multiple oscillators, filters, extended modulation, FXs plus a proper presets browser.
The Pulsar Generator seems to be available only for MacOS 9 and not as a plugin and for the MaxMSP plugin you have to purchase MaxMSP (or Max 6/MaxFourLive).

Ingo

Ingonator · Post by **Ingonator** » Thu Sep 01, 2011 9:57 am

Those who want to give bug reports or feature requests could do this at the dedicated Sub-forum at the new Hamburg-Audio forum ("NUKLEAR Bug Report" and "NUKLEAR Missing Feature"):

http://shop.hamburg-audio.com/forum/index.php

Of course posts at the hamburg-audio forum should be done in a polite and constructive way. It's not made for bashing about the synth.

I added a list of feature requests myself:
http://shop.hamburg-audio.com/forum/index.php?topic=5.0

http://shop.hamburg-audio.com/forum/index.php?topic=3.0

Ingo

KungKrille · Post by **KungKrille** » Thu Sep 01, 2011 8:37 pm

I tried the demo and I quite like the lofi-ish sound. I don't know if it's worth the money though. I uploaded a short snippet of a patch I was working on. I regret that I didn't render more versions before I closed down the host because I used a bit too much limiter. I was able to save the patch so I thought I could just load the project and continue but I was wrong. Anyway, you can listen to it here and if you purchased the synth you can download the patch as well (if the save worked at all):

Nuklear demo (the noise bursts are not a part of the patch ofc)

Nuklear patch

Ingonator · Post by **Ingonator** » Fri Sep 02, 2011 5:22 am

KungKrille wrote:I tried the demo and I quite like the lofi-ish sound. I don't know if it's worth the money though. I uploaded a short snippet of a patch I was working on. I regret that I didn't render more versions before I closed down the host because I used a bit too much limiter. I was able to save the patch so I thought I could just load the project and continue but I was wrong. Anyway, you can listen to it here and if you purchased the synth you can download the patch as well (if the save worked at all):

Nuklear demo (the noise bursts are not a part of the patch ofc)

Nuklear patch

Hi, nice demo. I just tried to load you patch into the full version but it does not work. AFAIK loading and saving is not supposed to work in the demo anyway.

Personally i really like the sound of Nuklear, it got it's own character.

About the Noise bursts: This will hopefully be changed to a longer time distance soon.

Ingo

KungKrille · Post by **KungKrille** » Fri Sep 02, 2011 6:55 am

Ingonator wrote:
KungKrille wrote:I tried the demo and I quite like the lofi-ish sound. I don't know if it's worth the money though. I uploaded a short snippet of a patch I was working on. I regret that I didn't render more versions before I closed down the host because I used a bit too much limiter. I was able to save the patch so I thought I could just load the project and continue but I was wrong. Anyway, you can listen to it here and if you purchased the synth you can download the patch as well (if the save worked at all):

Nuklear demo (the noise bursts are not a part of the patch ofc)

Nuklear patch
Hi, nice demo. I just tried to load you patch into the full version but it does not work. AFAIK loading and saving is not supposed to work in the demo anyway.

Personally i really like the sound of Nuklear, it got it's own character.

About the Noise bursts: This will hopefully be changed to a longer time distance soon.

Ingo

Thanks

And I did suspect the patch wouldn't work.

Yes, it has character. And things starts happening when you drive each osc hard and that's before the distortion unit. Many sounds depends on where on the keyboard you play them much like on synths with aliased waveforms. You can have industrial noises in one end of the scale and angel-like (well almost hehe) pads on the other. Very strange synth indeed

Ingonator · Post by **Ingonator** » Fri Sep 02, 2011 8:59 am

KungKrille wrote:
Ingonator wrote:
KungKrille wrote:I tried the demo and I quite like the lofi-ish sound. I don't know if it's worth the money though. I uploaded a short snippet of a patch I was working on. I regret that I didn't render more versions before I closed down the host because I used a bit too much limiter. I was able to save the patch so I thought I could just load the project and continue but I was wrong. Anyway, you can listen to it here and if you purchased the synth you can download the patch as well (if the save worked at all):

Nuklear demo (the noise bursts are not a part of the patch ofc)

Nuklear patch
Hi, nice demo. I just tried to load you patch into the full version but it does not work. AFAIK loading and saving is not supposed to work in the demo anyway.

Personally i really like the sound of Nuklear, it got it's own character.

About the Noise bursts: This will hopefully be changed to a longer time distance soon.

Ingo
Thanks And I did suspect the patch wouldn't work.

Yes, it has character. And things starts happening when you drive each osc hard and that's before the distortion unit. Many sounds depends on where on the keyboard you play them much like on synths with aliased waveforms. You can have industrial noises in one end of the scale and angel-like (well almost hehe) pads on the other. Very strange synth indeed

I'm happy that you like it too.

Understanding the Pulsar synthesis is not too easy. For understanding the oscillator parameters you could have a look at the manual and/or at the pdf with the screenshots which i added a few posts ago and at the OP too.
BTW it's quite normal that the sound is different in higher octaves as the Pulsar synthesis is a kind of Granular synthesis where this could be found too.

BTW there could be some confusion about the section on the right side of the GUI.

Here is a short explanation:
- If you click on the "envelope" or "LFO" label the display switches to the other one (e.g. from envelopes to LFO or vice versa)
- The 8 black dots at the upper right represent the 8 different LFOs or envelopes
- A blue dot besides the label show that this modulation source is in use
- At the lower right display it works the same but you could switch between sequencer, Delay and Distortion
- By clicking on any knob the corresponding mod matrix for that parameter opens at the upper right display

This could also be found in the manual of course.

Ingo

ThomasR · Post by **ThomasR** » Fri Sep 02, 2011 5:53 pm

Hi all,

I'm Thomas who coded Nuklear. I've heard the call for less demo noise instantly. And we all agreed to give unregistered users 20 seconds of silence instead of 5. But I had to work on other things.
But now the silent Nuklear demo is online. It's got the same version and zip name. Not a good style. But I wanted to publish it as soon as possible. And Andre who could change the links on the web page is somewhere on his way from Hamburg to Malaga.

Nuklear demo should be able to export *.nsx files. But KungKrille's nsx isn't readable. I'll have a closer look at that in the next minutes.

Also I'm astonished that automation doesn't work in Live. A beta tester told me it does. Maybe a misunderstanding. This might take a bit longer. But the next version should be automatable in Live also.

Best Regards,

Thomas

ps.: thanks Ingo!

ThomasR · Post by **ThomasR** » Fri Sep 02, 2011 5:54 pm

it's 30 seconds of silence. Not 20.

Hamburg-Audio Nuklear (Pulsar Train Synthesizer) released (new v1.1.2 + additional sounds available)