Alchemy available in logic now

[qtheerearranger]

well who cares how much they bought it for they are apple, to them, 10 mill is pocket change. Even though I dont think they bought camel for nearly that much, id imagine they bought it for a fair price and gave him an amazing job with a great salary and benefits. thats just my thought.


anyways, this synth is incredible. As everybody else has stated, it would be hard to not recommend logic to a beginner or even a professional with all its bang for its buck.

One thing is clear, Apple has shown us they care about their Pro Audio Apps this year

Dont forget, Sandboxing is soon to come with the new AU protocol. The new core audio in el capitan will give us multi-band fx sends like bitwig and presonus studio one 3.

really excited to see what logic is up to. I reckon 11 will have some camel audio effects!!!

[chk071]

to them, 10 mill is pocket change.

True that.

[B_Stone]

What is the difference between spectral morphing and spectral re-synthesis ?

Well, I'm no scientist, but my understanding is that once you have resynthesized an audio file, you have essentially discarded the original samples and now describe the sound with analysis data. Because you have a data set which describes how to synthesize the sound, you can use two data sets and morph the values between them. This allows sounds to transform from one to another. So, imagine a kalimba and a piano. Each get analyzed, which produced a data set which describes how to resynthesize the sounds using, say, spectral. Once you have the two sets of data, you can morph between the values. The in-between values have novel attributes from both sources.

In Alchemy, you can morph using several methods of resynthesis, additive, spectral, formant, and even granular (I haven't tried granular yet).

[B_Stone]

So after importing numerous samples into additive and spectral mode I have to say, soundwise, nothing has improved, resynthesizing more complex samples still results in spectral blurry chaos which does not really sound good at all, what have they been improving/updating all these years?

After more import tests I am really, really, really disappointed, the re-synthesizing algos actually have de-proved, not improved, even the most simple samples create that glassy bluryness, no matter how you set the import options or tweak the formant and pitch parameters. Was this supposed to work with sine waves only? Zero out of Ten...

This kind of resynthesis is very content-dependent. I did have very good luck following the step-by-step outlined in this morphing white paper.

http://images.apple.com/logic-pro/docs/ ... y_0818.pdf

[B_Stone]

So after importing numerous samples into additive and spectral mode I have to say, soundwise, nothing has improved, resynthesizing more complex samples still results in spectral blurry chaos which does not really sound good at all, what have they been improving/updating all these years?

Mostly i miss now that i can't use all those wonderful tunig scales which are still available in Alchemy 1. No, i don't want to tune Logic, i just want to use some exotic scales as part of the patch inside Alchemy.
I was hoping even for an own tuning scale for each of the 4 sound source. A

they got rid of the .tun file capability
hahaha what a joke!
apple will have to make there own special exclusive tuning system that only their synths use
Apple doesn't own scala or .tun so you are forbidden to use it

Logic Pro X has a sophisticated custom tuning system with about 100 presets and a simple editor for creating your own tuning systems. Pretty easy and it works on all plug-ins provided by Apple. It nice to set this system up and then have a wide range of instruments that follow the tuning system.

One interesting, and oft forgotten added bonus is the Hermode Tuning system. I only have this in my Virus synths. The feature analyzes chords you play, then microtunes each note so that they are harmonically perfect. Makes for strikingly solid sounding chords. Its almost creepy. I'm going to start using it again.

[B_Stone]

This makes the $199 cost to go from Logic 9 to X much more palatable. I'm also glad I hadn't invested in Alchemy before (the file browser's lack of file system updates/refreshes was not functional for my working methodology). I was interested in the synth for its abilities, but wasn't enjoying the sample import behavior and creation aspect within it. Someone please tell me the file browser now pays attention to file system changes (without closing and reopening the Alchemy GUI).

Confirmed. The import window is dynamic and automagically updates when you make changes in the finder, like adding or deleting a file. I don't have to reopen alchemy or refresh or anything. It just works.

You can also drag and drop directly from Finder, Loops browser, or project files pane into the sources in the advanced view. It defaults to Spectral + Formant analysis.

[B_Stone]

@Sampleconstruct, Thanks for your input on the 'new' Alchemy's capabilities and sound. Although obviously there’s nothing that new. You're almost the only one here on KVR who took the time to try it & share your thoughts about it and not just whine and b!tch about how evil Apple is.

I’m not a Logic user, but I hope for all of you Logic-Alchemy users that Apple keeps updating Alchemy with true great features, not just maintaining it. Alchemy is one amazing synth, would be a shame to freeze it like that in time and stop improving it.

I don't have the same opinion. I suggest you check for yourself. This is a major update over 1.5. Sound quality is remarkably improved as is the rest of the system. Check out this list of changes..

https://support.apple.com/en-us/HT205047

The Formant resynthsis and synthesis is really amazing. I've been stuck here in my exploration for a few hours.

[ObsoleteAcc99]

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[B_Stone]

But you can crossfade in the keymap editor....

Well, i saw you mean crosfade loop.... yeah.... funny that even some of the cheapest synths can do this......

But in terms of modulation sources Alchemy is great (still not the king). Most other synths are very limited to just a few LFO and MSEG's.

I'd love to check out the king! Why are you not telling me?

Alchemy has a lot of modulation on offer, so it seems like its in a special class of uber-modulation instruments. What instrument would you say is more robust than Alchemy? The documentation says "over 100 modulation sources". That's kind of bananas.

[B_Stone]

The granular engine is still completely underwhelming. Alchemy still seems like a "jack-of-all-trades, master of none" affair. Why a VA engine in a sample manipulation instrument? If you want good granular you'd still need to go with Halion/Padshop or Machfive 3. Even Granite or The Mangle are superior. If you want good spectral stuff, you're probably better off with Iris.

This isn't to say that you can't get good sounds out of Alchemy but I don't think it makes Logic suddenly a "must buy". If this really is V2 redone as a Logic exclusive, I can't see what some people were on about it being such an awesome upgrade.

Still, as a free add-on, I'll take it.

I'm really curious about this too. I don't have a lot of experience with Padshop or Granite or The Mangle. Why do you think these are better? For the record, granular in Alchemy is dead easy and the results are luscious. I'm stoked.

[B_Stone]

no polyAT any more ... thats a step backwards
and they have not taken the opportunity to include either MPE or Midi mono mode.

That's a pain, given that Alchemy was one of the synths that had a readymade setup for the Eigenharp.

I got the Mainstage update on my old MacPro yesterday and too am under the impression that several of the pro features have been cut out - I haven't dug too deep yet though. While I still would prefer to have the full uncrippled Alchemy 2 running on my PC, I no longer envy the mac users much - this isn't too much of an upgrade compared to Alchemy 1 and in some areas it's a downgrade.
I'll be able to use it with Mainstage via rtpmidi from Bitwig on my PC if need should be, not sure if it would be worth the hassle.

From what I can tell, Alchemy in MainStage is identical to Alchemy in Logic Pro X. What did you see that was missing. Its definitely not obvious.

[dredd i knight]

I have no doubt it was a sum in this region if not more.
This was put out there by Chris from Audio Damage. And that was way before it became common knowledge that it was Apple that had bought them, so it has authenticity as rumours go.

for one, with the nda's there is NO WAY Chris at audiodamage could legally know the actual figure at that time. No way. It's just a guess and a rumour.
- and my guess is no WAY did they pay 10 million for a synth.

The nda meant there was no way he could have known that apple bought it , but he did...
And its not the synth they're paying for. It's the tech, and synthesis code, algorithms, future potential etc. And the amount skill that camel had is, imo, easily worth it to apple.
If you built a company from nothing, how much would it take to make a sale? Yeah I think that sounds about right...

[Neon Breath]

I don't have the same opinion. I suggest you check for yourself. This is a major update over 1.5. Sound quality is remarkably improved as is the rest of the system. Check out this list of changes..

https://support.apple.com/en-us/HT205047

The Formant resynthsis and synthesis is really amazing. I've been stuck here in my exploration for a few hours.

You obviously have no idea who Sampleconstruct is and how many presets the guys did for Alchemy over the past years. Trust me, he knows every damn inches of Alchemy. I'll trust his review and input way more than a nice features and enhancements list from the Alchemy owners, or you as a matter of fact.