ACE base waveforms question

[djscorb]

Me too

I wonder why the restriction? Seems strange to restrict things like that in software. I guess there is a reason that is not immediately obvious to non DSP geeks like myself!

Anyway, I have decided to make a bank for ACE available later this year. I have 50 uber solid patches already and will continue until I have at least 200 to choose from. I think the world needs some more cutting edge sounds for ACE. No other soft synth I've tried has such a gorgeous tone and sense of power.

Going back to the idea of generating curvy saws from retriggered sines. I think this should be possible using the s&h function in ACE's first LFO. Will have a play with that idea on monday

Cheers

Scorb

[xh3rv]

ACE's oscillators are all sort of particularly defined, I think it feels really manageable, but Bazille's oscillators are just hugely versatile - been exploring them a lot more deeply recently and really think it might offer some of what you guys are thinking about. I'm excited at least

[djscorb]

Cool

I must find some time to play with it (Bazille).

I found ACE hard to get into at first which is strange as I normally take to any synth like a duck to water. I had to re-read the manual and watch all the U-He videos to force myself past the barrier I was coming up against. Things like the multiples weren't as intuitive as I assumed and I found the labels for prepatched modulation confusing at first. I still think it would be more useful for new users if those labels changed to represent what is patched into them. The cables get a bit messy with some patches and initially I couldn't find out how to make them transparent and thinner which doesn't help with reading the labels and unpatching specific cables etc. Little things like this can put a new user off sometimes.

I used to love Vaz Modular so was really keen on getting ACE. I couldn't get past these issues at first so it has been sitting on my hard drive unused for nearly 2 years, what a crime!

Glad I finally got into it that's for sure. I think I would benefit from getting even more comfortable with it before trying Bazille, or would you say that it is easy to pick up if you are reasonably comfortable with ACE?

Cheers

Scorb

[Ch00rD]

[...] I think I would benefit from getting even more comfortable with it before trying Bazille, or would you say that it is easy to pick up if you are reasonably comfortable with ACE?

Well, perhaps not "easy", but definitely "a bit easier", as they more or less follow the same design philosophy.

[xh3rv]

Glad I finally got into it that's for sure. I think I would benefit from getting even more comfortable with it before trying Bazille, or would you say that it is easy to pick up if you are reasonably comfortable with ACE?

I think ACE is smaller, more refined, better documented, and with the factory patches has a lot more examples of how various things are done than the Bazille alpha. So I'd probably say ACE. From what you've mentioned you've done with ACE I don't think you'd be lost in Bazille, though - there's a lot of overlap [e: as Ch00rd says above]. The same cabling, multiples, filters, and outputs, I think. No fixed routing or mixer in Bazille.

The oscillators in Bazille are pretty unique, though. I really think it's worth checking out even in passing. The basic waveform selection is determined by the boxes that default with [ Saw ] [ Same ], the phase knob sort of blends between a sine and the one or two cyclic shapes chosen (8 choices per slot, note [ Saw ] [ Same ] is a bit different than [ Saw ] [ Saw ]). Fractal resonance is maybe the next thing to tweak. This is sort of the bare minimum of what one can do with a Bazille oscillator and it's already exponentially more flexible than a typical subtractive or FM oscillator.

Abstractly, the modularity with Bazille's oscillators I think means one can find many ways to construct single cycle waveforms in modular ways. With ACE there are ways to do this - PWM, or FM on LFO1, or one can stack a subtractive waveform with a wavetable through a multiple and think of it as one source, some things like this. With Bazille, each oscillator has a several parameters exposed, and phase distortion is all about stretching, squishing, scrambling inside a single waveform cycle. I don't know if, for example 'triangle with FM and sync' strictly translates but at least a loose, and critically, useful sort of equivalent should be possible in Bazille.

[djscorb]

My interest is well and truly piqued

Thanks for that info, if only I had more free time this month.

I will get it installed so that when some time presents itself I can get exploring!

ACE has really ressurrected a fascination with modular synthesis. There is something so much more engaging and individual about defining your own signal flow and shaping it in this way.

I've been making some awesome percussion with it this afternoon. I managed to get a realistic sounding handclap with a pseudo reverb on it and it sounds sooo much better than any drum machine I ever tried.

In fact I managed to make a short track using just 10 instances of ACE. Kick, Bass, Shakers, Snare, noise Claps, White noise crash, lead and a Pad Drone. I am pretty sure anyone would be very surprised upon listening to it that it all came from just ACE with no post processing

Cheers again

Scorb

[wesleyt]

My interest is well and truly piqued

Thanks for that info, if only I had more free time this month.

I will get it installed so that when some time presents itself I can get exploring!

ACE has really ressurrected a fascination with modular synthesis. There is something so much more engaging and individual about defining your own signal flow and shaping it in this way.

I've been making some awesome percussion with it this afternoon. I managed to get a realistic sounding handclap with a pseudo reverb on it and it sounds sooo much better than any drum machine I ever tried.

In fact I managed to make a short track using just 10 instances of ACE. Kick, Bass, Shakers, Snare, noise Claps, White noise crash, lead and a Pad Drone. I am pretty sure anyone would be very surprised upon listening to it that it all came from just ACE with no post processing

Cheers again

Scorb

Are these percussion presets going to be in your patch bank you mentioned above? I sure hope so. Looking forward to that release!

Regards,
Wes

[djscorb]

Hi Wes

Yes most definitely.

I will be taking my time with this bank as I want it to be exceptional and to showcase a broad range of what ACE is capable of. At the moment I have several categories of sounds planned and aim to have between 150 and 200 presets in the final bank:

Kicks
-----

Including Footfalls, 808 Subs, EDM, Techno, Distorted and Psytrance Kicks

Percussion
----------

Shakers, Claps, Noise snares, Noise crashes, Claves and EDM blips etc

Bass of ACE
----------

Huge bass pads, Subs, Reeces, EDM basses and stacks more

Leads
-----

Acid, Techno leads, Dance/trance, Psytrance, DnB, Keys, Character Pads.

Classic Modular Madness
-----------------------

B-movie FX, LFO crazyness, Zaps, Bleeps, Klangz and Squeals!


FX
--

White Noise fx, Stabs, Risers, explosions, sub rumbles, evolving pads, uncategorisable warblings and unconventional sounds.

-------------

I haven't fully decided on the final name for this soundset yet, but maybe the "TRK ACE OF CLUBS"

As I already said, I feel like I'm barely scratching the surface of this incredible synth so I'm sure by the end of this year the soundset will have evolved greatly. I personally find most banks for synths out there to be "Patchy" (sorry, souldn't resist that!) at best and I fully intend this ACE bank to be highly useable for all electronic styles with absolutely no filler sounds.

I'll make a demo bank available for free which will showcase sounds from each category and the full bank will be available through my labels webstore for a very modest price (less than a beer for sure).

Cheers

Scorb

[wesleyt]

Scorb,

Sounds great. Looking forward to it!

Regards,
Wes