ValhallaRoom 1.5.1 Released. New Electric Blue GUI

[valhallasound]

Any future considerations on say Valhalla DSPedals? Seems there are a few pedal companies/guys in the Portland area that are melding analog and dsp combined stomp box pedals.

Which companies are doing this?

I currently have the TipTop Audio Z-DSP module (in a really minimal Eurorack setup - seriously, I need a few more modules in there just to make it into an actual synth), as well as the Numberz kit used to program the cartridges for the Z-DSP. Right now, the main thing standing in my way is time - I want to get the next plugin out before I release any Z-DSP cards.

The DSP used in the Z-DSP, the Spin Semiconductor FV-1, is easy to integrate into analog designs, and is fun to program (for me, at least). The only problem is that it can't do a lot. It couldn't run ValhallaRoom, or most of the ÜberMod modes. It could do a few variants on Shimmer, but with less modulation, and only a few controls available.

Still, the FV-1 is well suited for "classic" reverbs, as well as a bunch of funky pitch shifting and modulated delay things. Once I get ValhallaNext out the door, I'll get back to the FV-1 programming and see what I can come up with. I might cobble together a few pedals based around FV-1 daughterboards (using my pitiful soldering and mechanical skills), just to see what they sound like running at high volumes through a decent tube amp.

Strymon uses some variant of the Analog Devices SHARC DSP (I think a 21375) in their pedals, which certainly have the horsepower to run my algorithms. I worked at Analog Devices for 5+ years, and have a fair amount of experience optimizing code for the SHARC and Blackfin. Unfortunately, the development tools are AMAZINGLY expensive ($6K and up), and their chips require a lot of specialized knowledge to integrate into analog designs like a stompbox. Plus, they laid me and my friends off at the end of 2006, so I'm not super anxious to pick up those tools again.

I keep waiting for the ARM solution to show up in stompboxes. The processors found in modern smartphones are invariably based on an ARM core, and they are BLAZINGLY powerful - 1+ GHz, dual core. The more recent generations incorporate the NEON SIMD engine, which is a 4-way floating point SIMD processor that is similar to Intel SSE2. The Valhalla DSP plugins rely upon SIMD heavily to get things running quickly*, and it would be fairly simple to modify my existing C/C++ vector library to target NEON. I know that TI has some processors (OMAP or something like that) used in the BeagleBoards and PandaBoards that have an ARM core, and it would be interesting to see if those chips would be a good candidate for stompboxes.

Right now, my most precious commodity is time. I wish that there were far more hours in the day, so I could get plugins out the door faster. I have a ton of ideas, and only X amount of time to code things up. Last year, I drank a ton of caffeine in order to get more done. This year, my primary goal is to stay alive, and I don't think that mainlining caffeine will help me in that goal.

Moving into pedals would involve more than time - it would involve CAPITAL. The early days of Valhalla DSP were pretty bare boned. ValhallaFreqEcho, Shimmer, Room, and most of ÜberMod were developed on a 2006 MacBook Pro, while sitting at the dining room table or in a library. I would listen with headphones, and only move over to the higher quality monitors when I needed to dial things in. Creating pedals would involve buying semiconductor inventory, having circuit boards made up, buying a bunch of enclosures, figuring out how to get things painted (no garage in our house), shipping...in other words, REAL physical things and REAL labor, as opposed to typing and PayPal buttons. I'm not really sure how I would go about this.

Still, Valhalla DSP pedals would be pretty cool. So, never say never.

Sean Costello

* As an example of this, the older Win32 versions of ValhallaRoom were not fully using SSE2 code, due to some quirks with the VisualC++ compiler. Once I changed my code to work around those quirks, the 1.1.0 update of VRoom uses 1/2 the CPU for the Win32 plugin versus older VRoom releases.

[@midnight]

You were able to make those optimizations with absolutely no change in the sound of the algorithms, is that right Sean?

[valhallasound]

You were able to make those optimizations with absolutely no change in the sound of the algorithms, is that right Sean?

I sure hope so. Is this a leading question?

I use 32-bit floating point numbers in all of my processing. The 32-bit floats in the scalar processor and the 32-bit floats in the SSE2 processor will have the same sound. The only changes I made to the existing ValhallaRoom algorithms between 1.0.9 and 1.1.0 were with regards to how I allocate memory.

Sean Costello

[lionscub68]

...something along these lines is definitely on the 2012 calendar for Valhalla DSP.

I don't think I will change the look of Shimmer per se, as I like the visuals of it, and they actually kind of match with the sound of the algorithm. Shimmer is minimal, like the later plugins, and uses Futura, which is becoming the Valhalla DSP look. Nothing against Univers, Akzidenz Grotesk, ...

I do plan on adding resizing to the Shimmer GUI, ...

Sean Costello

The more you write, the more you freak me out. I'm a graphic artist, who must be about the same age as you per the schtuff you occasionally reveal about your personal history, and have a thing for reverbs. All I'm missing is the ability to write code to be your twin. Starting to wonder if I've slid into this universe and met 'me', but with that one little thing that's different. That, and there's no letter J in this universe.

I just made two popuar sci-fi references. Ha! Find 'em both, I dare you.

[metalifuxx]

Which companies are doing this?

I am addicted to the Pro Guitar Shop website and the high quality effect pedal demo vids they do. They themselves are also in Portland. But they feature/stock some Portland based pedal makers as well.

Sub Decay
this pedal Spring Theory, being a purportedly DSP generated spring/room reverb
http://proguitarshop.com/subdecay-spring-theory.html

I know there was another Portland/Oregon based "company"/team on there that was recently featured in a pedal demo on there, that was mostly DSP based as well. It was for modulation/delay/reverb type pedals I can't remember off the top of my head, but I thought of you, being based in the Pac NW area too, when I read that.

I don't know too much about that stuff in general or how complicated it could be, the chip involved, the quality of effect generated, but I thought if other relatively indie pedal companies were doing DSP pedal stuff like that, it would be a similar correlation to what you are doing in software and possible to port over to pedal dsp chip form.

[Jesse J]

How about the Raspberry Pi and its ARM1176JZF-S then Sean?

I'm sure some of the modular manufacturers would team up with you so that you write the code, and they do the hardware side.

[valhallasound]

Which companies are doing this?

I am addicted to the Pro Guitar Shop website and the high quality effect pedal demo vids they do. They themselves are also in Portland. But they feature/stock some Portland based pedal makers as well.

I did not know this. I lived in Portland in my most pedal heavy days (1994-5), and bought a Prescription Electronics Experience fuzz at that time. It is good to know that the pedal market has expanded.

Sub Decay
this pedal Spring Theory, being a purportedly DSP generated spring/room reverb
http://proguitarshop.com/subdecay-spring-theory.html

Dang. That sounds pretty good. I wonder what DSP they are using? At that price point, and in a box like that (i.e standard Hammond), my guess is that it is probably not something super high powered. Which means they are doing some NICE programming there. I gotta rethink my theories about spring reverb emulation...

I don't know too much about that stuff in general or how complicated it could be, the chip involved, the quality of effect generated, but I thought if other relatively indie pedal companies were doing DSP pedal stuff like that, it would be a similar correlation to what you are doing in software and possible to port over to pedal dsp chip form.

Well, ValhallaFreqEcho started off as an algorithm running on the FV-1. So it is possible to do some cool stuff with fairly simple DSPs. You have less controls to work with, but is this a bad thing?

Sean Costello

[valhallasound]

How about the Raspberry Pi and its ARM1176JZF-S then Sean?

I'm sure some of the modular manufacturers would team up with you so that you write the code, and they do the hardware side.

I'll take a look at the Raspberry Pi, and how difficult it would be to hook it up to a decent quality codec for audio.

Sean Costello

[metalifuxx]

You have less controls to work with, but is this a bad thing?

As long as it sounds better than one of those cheap older plastic Zoom/Digitech multifx processors, is less than $200, the less controls on a guitar pedal, the better IMO.

I have often seen cheap used Alesis and other older rack type reverbs units on Guitar Centers used gear section, and thought for a second that it might sound cool on the amp, but then I realized there was no easy way to bypass it if you needed to. I am sure it has and can be done with the right routing/mixer pedal combo though, but that is extra gear, signal degradation etc.

[valhallasound]

You have less controls to work with, but is this a bad thing?

As long as it sounds better than one of those cheap older plastic Zoom/Digitech multifx processors, is less than $200, the less controls on a guitar pedal, the better IMO.

I have often seen cheap used Alesis and other older rack type reverbs units on Guitar Centers used gear section, and thought for a second that it might sound cool on the amp, but then I realized there was no easy way to bypass it if you needed to. I am sure it has and can be done with the right routing/mixer pedal combo though, but that is extra gear, signal degradation etc.

I was a big fan of Labradford during the 1990s, and the guitarist of that band used an Alesis Midiverb II, with the output cranked to get a touch of overdrive with a Fender Twin Reverb. The Midiverb II sells for around $40 in this part of the world nowadays. No controls on that, other than the preset and volume. But it sounds pretty cool.

In general, I like Alesis reverbs for big washy ambient stuff, but they are pretty noisy. I don't like the Alesis shorter rooms, but I would never use a short room sound on my guitar anyway. I like my guitar

- dry as a bone, with moderate crunch,
- dry as a bone, with gobs of transistor fuzz,
- echoed,
- dwipping with spring reverb, or
- put into a lush modulated hall/plate emulation.

Oh, and, uh, buy ValhallaRoom, or something. I've spent too much time talking about pedals and Prometheus, and not enough time shilling. Be Sure and Buy From Valhalla DSP, Your Friendly Neighborhood Reverbmonger!™

Sean Costello

P.S. I just added "reverb" to my OSX Dictionary, so it wouldn't keep underlining the word as being misspelled. You think I would have fixed that earlier.

[koalaboy]

Oh, and, uh, buy ValhallaRoom, or something. I've spent too much time talking about pedals and Prometheus, and not enough time shilling. Be Sure and Buy From Valhalla DSP, Your Friendly Neighborhood Reverbmonger!™

I'm going to do just that tonight, mostly because you started such a great non-valhalla thread and put the absolutely fantastic Blade Runner sound as your starter-for-ten

Apparently your reverb is quite good as well, so I don't think it'll be a problem

[bk]

That, and there's no letter J in this universe.

I just made two popuar sci-fi references. Ha! Find 'em both, I dare you.

"No letter J" is a reference to Heinlein's "The Number of the Beast".They "translate" to an alternate Earth that seems identical to their own, until they realize there's no letter J in the phone book.
No idea what the other one is...

[lionscub68]

just a reference to the tv series "Sliders." don't worry, you didn't miss much if you haven't seen that one. Good job on the Heinlein quote.

[Bronto Scorpio]

The new mode is simple awesome
A very simple Tyrell sound through the new mode: Smooth Ambient Hall

Cheers
Dennis

[sinkmusic]

Hi, Sean.
I am alwas very glad to read about Labradford or Shellac on KVR (or Autechre !)