Z3 Feature Suggestion - Snapshot Morphing

[Urs]

Sorry to spoil this, but I can't see anything exactly like it happening.

One can't load several Zebra presets and morph between them. Because there are too many non-continuous parameters involved. Simple example: One preset uses FMOs and MSEGs, another preset uses Comb filters with LFOs. There's simply no way to find "inbetween" states.

Now, I recommend to have a look at synthesizers that have "layer" systems before asking about "corner modes". While it may seem simple to select a corner and then to edit just knobs (not switches/structure), it simply gets people confused. I know two examples at least that IMHO are fail blog candidates.

I'd much rather improve on the XYs as they are. Maybe add something that makes them easier to sue, yet more flexible and powerful

[hakey]

Snapshot morphing =! preset morphing

[Howard]

Sorry to spoil this, but I can't see anything exactly like it happening. One can't load several Zebra presets and morph between them.

Er... that wasn't the idea (as it developed), Urs. Edit: hakey beat me to it.

[Urs]

I know. But I'm still weary about it.

What if you want a snapshot back into the edit buffer? What if you morph around and then edit settings? Does it offset all snapshots to the degree they're audible? What exactly is stored? Offsets, absolute values?

I'm not quite sure about the pitfalls of such a system, and the amount of support ("I try tweaking Cutoff, but nothing happens") we'll get from it.

That's not to diss any such system, that's about many, many years that I've been thinking about these issues, and not ever once found a sufficient solution.

Urs

[hakey]

oh well, fair enough.

(now I have this idea for a bespoke exciter+resonator module...)

[trance_lucent]

Maybe a special snapshot mode that makes only one pad visible, deleting any existing X/Y control? That would give you 32 parameters for each axis (assuming Z2 capabilities).

Actually there is no need to disable other XYs if snapshot morphing is used.

Interpret XY's settings as usual parameters. For example, there are 2 snapshots.

Snapshot 1: XY1 controls filter: X for cutoff displacement in the range -15...-5...+5, Y for resonance in the range -15...-1...+2
Snapshot 2: XY1 controls filter: X for cutoff displacement in the range -5...+5...+15, Y for resonance in the range -3...+6...+10

So if we do morph from snapshot 1 to snapshot 2 and XY1's cursor remains in the center, filter cutoff displacement changes from -5 to +5, and resonance from -1 to +6.

Of course XY's cursors positions cannot be morphed, they remains there user place it.

P. S. May be my idea written murky and not so clear (my English is rather simple), so I can rephrase if somebody wishes.

[Howard]

...many, many years that I've been thinking about these issues, and not ever once found a sufficient solution.

Yep, fair enough.

[mcnoone]

There are alternative methods that produce similar results though.
Not as cool as snapshots would be, but automation between 2 or more instances, modwheel settings, and even a mentioned outside party plugin can get almost the same results. One XY controller being mapped to the 4 separate rows can do something similar as well.
The snapshots morph thing is definitely a good feature within some other products, but a lot of Zebra users don't even bother doing XY programming.
It's not hard to imagine a snapshot feature also not being utilized at all by users, except a few.

[trance_lucent]

The snapshots morph thing is definitely a good feature within some other products, but a lot of Zebra users don't even bother doing XY programming.

Yes. To say the truth I never used various snapshot/preset motphing in other synths. Prefer to use automation and (not often) XYs. My thoughts in the post earlier was just theoretical. I am not needing preset/snapshot morphing. It is good, but I think better to spend development time to other features (filters, VA oscillators, usual oscillators but with extended waveform editing: OscFX rendering, Geomorph2Geoblend2
Spectramorph2Spectrablend converting (blend to morph is very hard to make though. Although I used software which converts bitmap images to vector curves and it was almost perfect), waveform import and so on).

[Howard]

"Using snapshots to "automatically" program X/Y would be a very significant help imho..."
No takers? This was about programming, not performance.

[aMUSEd]

One thing I suggested when I made my Zebra template for Lemur is a sort of "master" XY - in practice, unless automated, using 4 XY's at once in performance is rather unwieldy. Possibly another reason they don't get much use. But if you had a fifth XY or grid that could take snapshots of sonic "sweet spots" found while moving the other 4 it would be much easier to use live and that could certainly be automatable. Essentially that's what I do with the Zebra Kore patches - Kore functions as the fifth snapshot based XY grid. That way it would also avoid the headaches Ur's is contemplating that full snapshot functionality could bring - that hidden params also get stored, in this case all that gets stored is variations based on the params the XY's are already using, a subset of the whole, chosen carefully and musically appropriate.

[hakey]

"Using snapshots to "automatically" program X/Y would be a very significant help imho..."
No takers? This was about programming, not performance.

Yeah, that was where I was coming from... I think.

[Howard]

...where I was coming from... I think.

I only just managed to remember before what I was thinking before I lost the plot!