One-Synth-Challenge 54: XILS 3 Beat Edition - Gossip

[abovethoughts]

FYI, if you keep the filename of your file the same you can claim the same soundcloud url for your song. I needed to re-upload my song and discovered that.

To Bjulin , sorry to read the sad news perhaps you can have some comfort from this community.

[V'ger]

Sorry ClaRago, that is not freeware and easily accessible as the rules say so must be replaced, hope you make it in time.

[abovethoughts]

Just submitted the XILS entry, whew that synth was difficult, but rewarding.

For next month, I am thinking of a workflow change. I am thinking of testing out Mobius and arranging/sequencing my tracks using the Mobius VST in Cantabile. Currently, I am taking my audio stems into Reaper for arranging/sequencing which has been productive but not as intuitive as I would like. So are there any Looper looping issues I should be aware of that might go against the OSC rules ?

Mobius the programmable Looper / http://www.circularlabs.com/

[V'ger]

For me it seems that anyone who can understand Mobius is free to use it as they wish..

About legality, the rule is that sampling or bouncing (looping), should only be used to save CPU or for convenience but only where the EXACT same result could have been achieved using the original synth.. Creative looping can all too easily for example cut sounds like would never be heard when playing the synth so this is a grey to black area honestly. But using Mobius for MIDI only is of course Ok.

Can I suggest you use MIDI and use an arranger tool instead? It will do the loops and you can quickly try different versions of the song, see Reaper's Region manager and playlist here:

(Click picture for bigger size)

Or try Ableton Live, I believe it can trigger MIDI loops with MIDI controller like Mobius, but not sure if it has an arranger feature though..

[idfpower]

That's why I use FL for synth related stuff Making patterns/loops and arranging songs is easy breezy Then you can export each track (or segments) to your DAW and make full use of its resources

[Haha_YouAint]

To Bjulin, I don't know you but I send my condolences as well.

[abovethoughts]

Can I suggest you use MIDI and use an arranger tool instead? It will do the loops and you can quickly try different versions of the song, see Reaper's Region manager and playlist here:

V'ger check out how Tony Ostinato configured Reaper to be a live sound module; (who buy the way is also a Cantabile user) - watch the video it's fascinating as the workflow would fit the way I work rather nicely. Instead of the Mobius Looper, time better spent would be to try develop a Tony like KVR OSC Reaper template

[ClaRago]

Sorry ClaRago, that is not freeware and easily accessible as the rules say so must be replaced, hope you make it in time.

It should work out fine. I sort of remember only using it without automation on one instance anyway. Back home on Saturday night.

[Lotuzia]

I've been using the Xils3 full version for now many years, and as I see it, and ime, its as free of bugs as all my other soft synths

Hi Lotuzia, see this post for a summary of the bugs I found in BE. One other I found is that the import/export bank menus don't do anything (no file picker window, etc.).

* This may be an intentional limitation with the BE edition, but I could sure use me some more envelopes
* Reverb modulation doesn't seem to work - sending any modulation source to the "REVERB" control channel doesn't affect the reverb's dry/wet mix - I've tried routing velocity, mod wheel, oscillator, keyboard follow, etc. to it. Would be nice to have this as it'd allow for some interesting physical simulation patches.
*Velocity mod seems to be way over-smoothed - e.g., modulating an OUT LVL 1 or 2 with velocity results in a slowly rising or falling output level. If I hit notes repeatedly very lightly, the volume will slowly decrease over many notes, and if I hit notes very hard, the volume will slowly rise, as though it were a moving average with a 5-second window or so. Seems to happen with any modulation target (have tried decay, OSC freq., etc.)
*Meter doesn't respond correctly to any inputs I've tried - update rate is very slow, maybe 1/4 second (should ideally be 30 or 60 frames per second to be useful) and doesn't seem to improve with the update frequency setting in the options menu - and the values that do show seem random / unrelated to the input.

Sorry for the late answer. So ...
1/ You have 2 additional envelopes in Xils3, both trapezoidal or standard ADSR. its a limitation of the BE series.
2/ For the Reverb modulation I made a patch in Xils3 using only Xils BE available parameters and here it works perfectly OK. Maybe its a BE version thing, or maybe not. You'll tell me. Here's the screen capture of the patch, I choose noise as oscillator so that the reverb is obvious to notice. The I modulate the reverb with OSC 1 used as "Lfo" with the LOW setting. I clearly hear the modulation of the reverb.

3/ For the velocity modulation I made more than 200 patches for my Xilistic soundset and used velocity modulation in an intensive way. It works 100% Ok on filters cut off and any other parameters including LFOs rates, envelopes etc. I'll try to post some audio examples. I think I would have noticed a 5 second delay/slow rate for modulations, even half a second is huge, so 5 seconds is like eternity with real time. so by working well I mean its instantaneous, with real time playing, like in all synths I have.
4/ For the Kick I made a quick kick, using only the standard parameters. If someone use it, let me know if it works for you with a bit of tweaking. See the picture under for details on how to patch. It seems to me that its more solid than the one kick in the factory lib, but well you'll see that.

5/ For the meter, you're right, its quite slow on my system as well. I use it mainly to verify that a connection does what I expect it to do ( meter doesnt make sound, its just an indication) but indeed it could be improved.

Its possible that some things running very smoothly on the Xils3 ( Like velocity or all modulations ) can have problems on the Limited BE version. For those who would like to try the full Xils version, there's a dongle less Demo installer.

I'm sorry if I could not answer all questions, but with the Xils3, a picture of the patch or the patch file exported is essential, as there are so much possible connections, and that a single wrong connection can mess up totally a patch. Sometimes i did not really understand a question, or to be more precise, I had several possible translations of a question. Well thats the beauty of modular design

LtZ

[ontrackp]

I noticed the same problem with velocity for output level on the BE version. It was difficult to get consistent results. Still a great, though quirky, little synth.

[Davias]

Lotuzia : what is the point of sending Ring Modulation into the filter in your kick patch ?
(I already have a big loud constant kick, and it is almost all I've got for now for this month ^^ so it is more for curiosity purposes that I'm asking)

[e@rs]

Started a project with Xils 3 and got stucked with a drifting kick.
Then, I was extremely disappointed with the Feldspar results for my submission. Kinda lost interest in OSC.

Hoping for a better mood.

Making music should be tied to more than the results of a single contest in KVR.

Better mood will come, dont ever loose hope !

You're right. I had really high expectations and the disappointment was accordingly. Unfortunately I'll skip Xils 3 competition...

[idfpower]

You're right. I had really high expectations and the disappointment was accordingly. Unfortunately I'll skip Xils 3 competition...

Heh, dissapointment goes away bit by bit with every OSC entry It would be nice if everyone could to knock it out of the park from the 1st try, but in reality things don't work that way most of the time.

Keep these in mind:

1. there's always someone better and worse than you (your work). Being "average" is not that bad you know, especially when you're competing against really impressive & talented artists

2. just because some folks don't happen to like your song(s), doesn't mean that your work sucks - it may just be the opposite. Tastes are personal and subjective, some folks are moved by certain things, others are not. So it's natural to get both negative and positive feedback at the same time.

3. don't take it personal - and who knows, maybe next time the same guys that gave you a low rate will give you 5 points.

4. last, but certainly not least: keep doing the things you love. Not because you're good at it, but because you really like doing them If music is your thing, keep going and don't mind the "background noise" too much


Best of luck

[Bjulin]

Keep these in mind:

1. there's always someone better and worse than you (your work). Being "average" is not that bad you know, especially when you're competing against really impressive & talented artists

2. just because some folks don't happen to like your song(s), doesn't mean that your work sucks - it may just be the opposite. Tastes are personal and subjective, some folks are moved by certain things, others are not. So it's natural to get both negative and positive feedback at the same time.

3. don't take it personal - and who knows, maybe next time the same guys that gave you a low rate will give you 5 points.

4. last, but certainly not least: keep doing the things you love. Not because you're good at it, but because you really like doing them If music is your thing, keep going and don't mind the "background noise" too much


Best of luck

Very good advice, this is... (said master yoda!)

[QuadrupleA]

Its possible that some things running very smoothly on the Xils3 ( Like velocity or all modulations ) can have problems on the Limited BE version. For those who would like to try the full Xils version, there's a dongle less Demo installer.

Yeah, sounds like these are problems with the BE edition, and not the full edition. If you get the chance to try them in BE I imagine you'll find what I'm talking about (with reverb mod & velocity mod, bank menus, etc.). If you try them BE and don't see what I'm talking about I'm happy to send a patch image.

And yeah, up to you whether it's worth the time to fix BE - I imagine if a lot of people are trying it then you'd get more sales of the full Xils 3 version - but sounds like the Demo is more the "recommended" teaser, so maybe not worth the trouble.