MPowerSynth experience (and maybe bugs?)

[Soundplex]

hello.

after some read threads about "why some synthesizers dont get the attention from major sound designers" i decided to make a soundset consisting of the same sounds for a couple of synthesizers. so i could tell how quick someone can make this or that sound and so on today i tried MPowerSynth and experienced some things (maybe bugs).

my first impression was different from the other synthesizers i own. i really was overwhelmed by the interface and i now can confirm: you need to spend lots of time with MPowerSynth to find the right workflow it was unintuitive. but to get an overview i started with randomization. i think it did not work that smart how it should be by that amount of parameters. the results were 90% noisy, heavily modulated or none tonal. maybe thats the strength of MPowerSynth? fx soundscapes etc.

i just played with the global adsr. there was a graphic bug with the release. if sustain is silence then the release is visible.

sustain.png

i really like the smoothness option. but again i think there is something wrong. if the hold is 0ms then everthing is fine. but as soon as it is higher the smoothing doesnt work as expected. also the release point does not get smoothed.

smoothness.png

while designing some basic presets i missed 2 options (at least i was too dumb to find them ): osc (hard) sync and a way to disable the osc phase retrigger.

some other things that are not that important: is there a way to tune the middle c?
i thought your plugins have multichannel support but not MPowerSynth. with its possibilities to create fx soundscapes it would have been a nice feature to use it in surround too.
i wanted to automate a parameter and opened the parameterlist. i got shocked by thousands of parameters and it was pretty hard to find the right one.

of cause i will spend some time with this synthesizer (at least to finish my studies) but i think i already know why there are no major sound designers for MPowerSynth. please dont misunderstand my opinion but i just think the customers for this synthesizer are too special if a sound designer has to spent half a year to get its workflow for one synth its not worth it. as i read in other threads and also experienced there are simple features missing. i mean you sure could get a workaround for something with modulating and so on but it will never be as easy as having it right as parameter.
maybe there will be another comparison with version 10, 11 or 12

cheers, Anton

[Tagirijus]

Maybe it's indeed somekind of "being used to Melda-style"? I once also had a little trouble getting into the synth, but I did learn it very fast after all, I think. Maybe it's because I already use a lot of Melda-plugins and I know the GUI etc.? In the end I would always prefer such a complex tool with a little learning curve than being bound to multiple tools with less learning needs. Maybe it's a matter of taste, of course.

The thing with the release being visible with silent sustain also was strange to me. On the other side it can become handy, when you want to tweak the release with silent sustain and still want to really see it. Maybe that's the intention behind it? At least I find it very handy often times!


One thing I already had in my mind regarding the tuning you mention: in the OSC pitch setting you can choose "constant frequency". I do not want to start a new thread about it, since it is somehow mentioned here. My question / FR: how about the possibility to really choose the frequency (hz) after pressing this button? Maybe "octaves, semitones and cents" will morph into a new frequency-Hz input field? Of course this can become quite scientific, but in the end there can be situations in which exact frequencies are needed.


Offtopic-ps: I really like to call it "sound design", when you get audio as a product and "preset design", when you get presets as a product.

[Gone soft]

while designing some basic presets i missed 2 options (at least i was too dumb to find them ): osc (hard) sync and a way to disable the osc phase retrigger.

For a simulation of osc 2 hard synced to osc 1 go to osc 2, off course first switch it on if needed... For "mode" choose "sync" and choose an appropriate mix mode, perhaps you'd want 100 % wet for a classic sync sound. Then do your usual messing around with the pitch of osc 2.

MPowerSynth Osc 2 sync.png

Random phase for each note is found in the "general" tab under "advanced settings" just above the modulators etc.

MPowerSynth random phase.png

[Soundplex]

The thing with the release being visible with silent sustain also was strange to me. On the other side it can become handy, when you want to tweak the release with silent sustain and still want to really see it. Maybe that's the intention behind it? At least I find it very handy often times!

yes, you can misuse it for tweaking purpose. but i think it is not intended for that. cause then it would also appear with very low sustain values (which you cannot really see anymore). btw when du you want a sound to have release but no sustain? doesnt this cancel out itself?

Offtopic-ps: I really like to call it "sound design", when you get audio as a product and "preset design", when you get presets as a product.

but i want audio as product with the help of a preset

Random phase for each note is found in the "general" tab under "advanced settings" just above the modulators etc.

wow i total misread "advanced settings" as a title, not a button. im sorry but i have to say the user interface is pretty f****d up i know you can customize everything but the base is not good at all. maybe there should be a designer who reorder elements an make it more clear.
but thanks. now i know.

edit: i also searched for the arpeggiator about 10 minutes its a mess.

[Tagirijus]

btw when du you want a sound to have release but no sustain? doesnt this cancel out itself?

For instances if you want a plucked sound which has an equal decay and release duration: you hit the note fast or hold it down and it would sound the same ("not damped string like behaviour").

but i want audio as product with the help of a preset

Well, I would totally accept that. Unfortunately I often times found "musical synthesizer" regarded topics, when I searched the www for "sound design".

[Synthetic Wav]

maybe check the manual a little, i also had a bit of trouble at first but oversall the synth is great to program once you make a gui to your preference and know the synth.

[MeldaProduction]

Yep, soundplex, maybe it's just not for you. What seems unfriendly to some, seems friendly to others. You are obviously used to the classic synths, which are generally very simple. Well, this one is not, so it may not be the ideal choice for you. But the short learning curve may get you sounds you wouldn't be able to get otherwise . I'd suggest checking the video tutorials.

Anyway:

- The release shape is intentional - make a very long decay to silence (sustain) and short release - the relase will still be relevant when you release a key before the decay ends.

- Smoothness - well, that's a little complex subject. Basically it is how it is, in this specific case it may not indeed be ideal...

- Tunining - there's full microtuning support in Advanced settings.

[Tagirijus]

Hi Vojtech,

how about the idea to be able to enter a frequency, when "constant frequency" is selected? ... or should I open a new topic for this?

[Soundplex]

maybe check the manual a little, i also had a bit of trouble at first but oversall the synth is great to program once you make a gui to your preference and know the synth.

i prefer reading the manual when i'm stuck or when i am looking for missing features i think the main parts should be selfexplaining and intuitive. no-one should get into the situtation where you have to watch 10 youtube videos and read 100 pages of text to work with a synthesizer.
but anyway have you ever read the documentation of MPowerSynth? it is not up to date and unnecessary long and confusing because of repeated sections i started to look after the random phase feature and didn't find it. but i found at least 3 times "signal generation fundaments".
so when i say it is unintuitve i mean for example: why is the random phase a global setting and not just a button next to the phase option inside the oscs?

i miss something like an clear modulation matrix where i can quickly see the settings. i had a case where 3 modulators were modulating 1 parameter. but it didnt work. i couldnt find out what i did wrong.

You are obviously used to the classic synths, which are generally very simple. Well, this one is not, so it may not be the ideal choice for you. But the short learning curve may get you sounds you wouldn't be able to get otherwise

like i said i tested many synthesizers and i have to admit i like complex ones. there is a synth based on Doepfer modules in my studio. things can really get heavy on it but nonetheless it is easy to use.

The release shape is intentional - make a very long decay to silence (sustain) and short release - the relase will still be relevant when you release a key before the decay ends.

i totally agree with that. but why is the release curve visible at silence sustain? if it is a help to tweak the settings shouldnt it be also there at low sustain levels where i can see the release curve very good?

Tunining - there's full microtuning support in Advanced settings.

i dont know if this is the setting i was looking for. what i meant was a parameter where i can tune the middle a from 440hz to maybe 444hz and the complete played notes adapt to this.

i also experienced later that the waveforms are bandlimited to 28khz or something. i can imagine it is because of anti alias reasons. this no major thing but i ask myself why. why not just a bit higher than half of the samplerate to get the full available spectrum filled? please no discussion about we cant hear things about 20khz

but anyway i still try to get into MPowerSynth. and i will also spend some time later this week. perhaps the great enlightenment will come

cheers, Anton

[Tagirijus]

I am not sure, if you already noticed: you can press F1 over nearly every knob and get a quite good info about it. I really like this help system. You can even open the help text in a browser, which even generates the help content (+images!) according to your loaded preset!

[steve2KVR]

...well dust my broom!... ...genious!... .../s~

[aMUSEd]

I am not sure, if you already noticed: you can press F1 over nearly every knob and get a quite good info about it.

I didn't know that, some tooltips would be useful though. I found this wonderful sound yesterday just by clicking on the random button next to the dropdown preset menu but I'm new to the synth so didn't know if that particular random button just loaded a random preset or actual randomised the params, that's where tooltips would help, especially given there are random buttons all over the place. Also if it did load a random preset it would have been useful for the preset name to show in the browser.

[Tagirijus]

Hm, I thought it was obvious. Again: seems like I am just used to Melda style, hehe.

[Synthetic Wav]

there is the ? for each part of the synth for help, i never opened the synth manual tbh.

Amused for the random , you have one global random and also one on each or most part of the synths so if you want a random preset you have to go in the preset browser and use the random fonction their , and the random preset name show btw

you can also undo the last randomisation , random more or less with pressing some key it's explained in the ?

[Tagirijus]

You can also click the dice next to the preset selector arrows to get a random (factory, etc.)-preset.