KVR Dev Challenge 2016!

[idfpower]

(Full disclosure: yes I have also contributed to one of this year's entries, so if you read any defensiveness into this reply, that'd be why.)

I can understand why, but that doesn't change tha fact that some entries were indeed rushed.

Anyway, my comment was reffering rather to a state of things, rather than trying to bad mouth any dev (far from it): IMO the independent vst niche is going through a downward spiral, with fewer and fewer releases from one year to the next. Yes, we had some solid major releases, but apart from that, this was a quiet year in the synth realm. I was hoping for a bit more action for DC, sadly that was not the case (even 3 of my votes are going to effects...) . And to see even some of those half-baked, it just tells me ppl are losing their interest in creating fresh stuff. Maybe it's just me, but that's how I see things.

[Taron]

... I do wish Lord of the Springs ran on Mac because it looks really neat.

THanks, Louis! I so can't wait to be able to do mac, too... it's still such a big platform for music. Hopefully somehow circumstances will grow sense into such an investment, but I'm up for the work for sure...labor of love!

[Taron]

... IMO the independent vst niche is going through a downward spiral, with fewer and fewer releases from one year to the next. Yes, we had some solid major releases, but apart from that, this was a quiet year in the synth realm. I was hoping for a bit more action for DC, sadly that was not the case (even 3 of my votes are going to effects...) . And to see even some of those half-baked, it just tells me ppl are losing their interest in creating fresh stuff. Maybe it's just me, but that's how I see things.

Well, I'm just getting started, and it is because I want something that I couldn't find, yet, and I love the research and development so very much. I held back for at least 15 years, having been too busy and too interested in graphics and digital art... but now I finally made my first big step into exploring VST development. It's scary as heck, but it's absolutely beautiful, too!

I can only hope that my genuine enthusiasm will be somewhat contagious, but what matters to me most is that this world has opened up to me and it's jam packed with wonder. I wished the information about SDK would be a less well kept secret in countless regards and that cross platform matters wouldn't be another piece of the challenge, but I will deal with it all... I have to.

So, yeah, don't worry, there's still fresh fools like me, who work on the next big wave!

[idfpower]

Well, I'm just getting started, and it is because I want something that I couldn't find, yet, and I love the research and development so very much. I held back for at least 15 years, having been too busy and too interested in graphics and digital art... but now I finally made my first big step into exploring VST development. It's scary as heck, but it's absolutely beautiful, too!

Yup, your entry sure looks promising (and different) A few presets wouldn't hurt, though

Oh, btw, you have some really impressive digital artwork on your website, congratz

[Chris-S]

Is the Youlean Loadness Meter working for you? I'm getting no level display'd.
(Reaper32).

Today it's working fine (didn't changed anything).

[Chris-S]

Noizefield Refractor: No sound. Does not work in Reaktor 5 ?

Today it's working fine (didn't changed anything).

[Ivan_C]

Anyway, my comment was reffering rather to a state of things, rather than trying to bad mouth any dev (far from it): IMO the independent vst niche is going through a downward spiral, with fewer and fewer releases from one year to the next. Yes, we had some solid major releases, but apart from that, this was a quiet year in the synth realm.

I have one question for you (not asking it because of anger os something like that, but really out of curiosity). Do you have any idea about something that you would like to have in a synthesizer which doesn't exist in the freeware world yet ? Maybe someone reading your answer might want to do something about it

[Taron]

Well, I'm just getting started, and it is because I want something that I couldn't find, yet, and I love the research and development so very much. I held back for at least 15 years, having been too busy and too interested in graphics and digital art... but now I finally made my first big step into exploring VST development. It's scary as heck, but it's absolutely beautiful, too!

Yup, your entry sure looks promising (and different) A few presets wouldn't hurt, though

Oh, btw, you have some really impressive digital artwork on your website, congratz

THANKS! Yeah, it's now all ancient stuff on my website, but well...
...hey, I've added a Default Bank, which has a number of presets, though, still not plenty. Anyway, I think this one is so "specialized" that it's almost important you begin to experiment with it to find out what it can do for you. (carefully, I should add! Don't forget to attach a limiter!)

[.jon]

Had time to check out some of the x32 and JS effects.

Bitsonic Sound Recovery does not a get a vote. The controls are poorly calibrated and can cause very loud output, noise reducers (gates?) lack configuration options making them too brutal, and getting any useful results required very careful dialing, in which the UI didn't really help at all. After some frustration, I did manage to improve old gramophone recording samples (which lacked the freqs plugin was made recover) so I guess it mostly does what it says, but the user experience was far from pleasant.

MBprocess launches with a completely over the top preset (EVERYTHING AT 11 !!! - be careful), and looks, well, there's no politically correct way to describe the GUI. However as a tool it is indeed easy to use, and worked surprisingly great on polishing up and "volume maximising" some electronic dance music stuff and vocal tracks I tried it on. With multiple stages of gain, compression and limiting and output meters starting from -12, it seems to be designed for fast & loud results. No bypass switch which would be appropriate for a plugin like this. With a better GUI and if I needed something like this, MBprocess could get a vote.

FFT Randomizer was one of the most interesting entries based on description- fresh ideas are what the DC should be about! I've given it a few hours now and fed it with all kinds of material ranging from noise to pads to drum loops and human voice, but unfortunately failed to produce anything I'd really like. The effect is sonically somewhat unique and different, but not terribly interesting or pleasant compared to classics like comb filtering and phasers. It's slightly annoying to work with as it is, being a JS FX this is a given (why does the user need to see modulation rate % with 6 decimals of precision?), and the advice to use a limiter is no joke. It's GPL and the JS code is very well commented, so it would be possible to fix the strange slider ranges (I adjusted the gain max range down to +12 from a whopping +90), add host tempo sync for example and even implement an actually practical GUI, but I personally don't think this FFT process itself is worth the effort to turn FFT Randomizer into a proper FX unit.

[idfpower]

I have one question for you (not asking it because of anger os something like that, but really out of curiosity). Do you have any idea about something that you would like to have in a synthesizer which doesn't exist in the freeware world yet ? Maybe someone reading your answer might want to do something about it

That's the whole issue: ppl seem to think there's already more than enough content released that it's not worth investing time & effort into building new plugins anymore.

But I take synths & effects like additional colors - while they might be of the same type, the sound will (never) be identical. Each plugin has its own sound & flavour. And each song you're building might require a different setup of sound arrangement - you have your regular "works on everything" workhorses, but (often) you may need something different, a different type of sonic spice. I've tried almost all the freeware synths and a good number of commercial releases. Some worked for my music, some didn't, but I did tested them. And I rotate them relatively often (trying to break the creative rut).

PS: there are many things I'd like to see done in freeware software form, but out of all, I'd really, really love to have a free option to Rob Papen's RG: a plugin that can put out very distorted, brutal guitar sounds without any external effect (especially no amp & cab sims) and works well with a piano roll workflow and no guitar playing experience. Most options (if not all) are commercial, Kontakt based and require some guitar playing knowledge in order to make them sound human. I know it's very difficult to emulate guitars, but RG's already a reality. I just need something similar, focused even more on metal tones, and freeware You asked

[DSmolken]

Keeping an eye on the big prize: what is most likely to make a big impression at NAMM, get a lot of people in the wider music world talking, and do the most to convince NAMM that it's worth sponsoring this every year?

[Taron]

I have one question for you (not asking it because of anger os something like that, but really out of curiosity). Do you have any idea about something that you would like to have in a synthesizer which doesn't exist in the freeware world yet ? Maybe someone reading your answer might want to do something about it

The world of sound is so much bigger, but most people are consumer in their hearts, knowingly or otherwise, and they're trained to be given things, rather than envision possibilities. This is not a complaint at all, just an observation. Thus, it's easy to understand why some may thing "it's all been there already", but I think we're nowhere near that!
I'm slightly tired of all the amazing reverse-engineering that's going on, with virtual instruments hoping to capture the problems that analogue equipment used to have and exhibit, hahaha, because it would be so much more alive. Well, heck, seriously, that's just putting a great deal of effort into stagnation, even when I understand the wonderful benefit of having authentic equipment sound without the related troubles (price, availability, cables, temperature, hahaha....pfff...all of that).

Anyhow, so, we are dealing with numbers and time here, with which we can do what ever we please to do, if we understand how to, and there's no limit to where it can go, really. I know how challenging it is to deal with proper DSP, the math, the computational elegance/speed and all that, but that's just another reason for why one can expect a good deal of innovation to evolve. Last but not least the evolution of musical styles. Often they've been directly related to available instrumentation...so...some exciting times ahead for sure!

[Chris-S]

Fuzzed crashing Live 9 during scan (Win 7). Pity.

Same in Reaper-32 (Win7).

[Ivan_C]

I was really asking that question to start a discussion, not because I was trying to answer to the question directly in the question But I'm going to state my humble opinion, as a freelance developer which has worked for a few commercial products already and who is doing the same thing for himself with freeware products.

That's the whole issue: ppl seem to think there's already more than enough content released that it's not worth investing time & effort into building new plugins anymore.

I don't think that's the issue there. All the audio developers I know have tons of ideas, I have never met one thinking that everything has been done already. However, I think some of you guys underestimate a little bit the amount of work necessary to release something, for a KVR contest or whatever. I'm not only talking about the time you need to develop something, or the experience / sensibility to come up with an idea, but also about all the code you need to produce in the past to be able to code something new in a few weeks for example. If you have never tested a plug-in you did with all the platforms / hosts, or coded a preset system already, even if you're the best developer in the world, you will never be able to make it in 3 months ! And I'm talking also about the amount of training you need to do a plug-in all by yourself. You need years of training in C++, in DSP, in basic user experience, in graphics design if you do something there too, + all the stuff around (making videos, audio samples etc.).

Knowing that, what I think is that the typical devs doing KVR contests are beginners which try to put a feet in this area, but might not have the skills yet to do all the things they would like to do (aka the good ideas you suggested), so they started with basic stuff. Then, you have intermediate level devs which want to learn new things and to try different concepts in the contest context, using the constraints as creative fuel (like me for example). Sometimes there are also some devs working for companies doing already commercial products, and they do that to get some extra visibility if they don't have enough.

Anyway, I can understand that some users might have liked to see more variety, things looking more exceptional or whatever. But I don't like too much seeing comments about "entries being rushed" or not enough innovative / ambitious, or "the weakest DC ever". That contest is called a "developer challenge" and that's how it should be. An opportunity for everybody to create something, to talk about it, and get some benefits from it, as well as musicians and users who will be able to discover a lot of freeware music tools at once. But sometimes, it feels like the contest is more a "marketing contest" than a "developer contest". Some people complained about the fact that there are not more already known people doing the DC. WTF ? What if some of the devs (not me lol) are going to become the next TDR / Bootsie / Urs or whatever ?

To talk again about the content of that KVR DC entries, I can see there a lot of cool / very useful in freeware / innovative stuff. I'll do a proper review of some of the other contestant entries like usual later, but what I can say right now is that I had a lot of fun doing my audio demo yesterday with Snare Buzz and Siren. Lord of the Springs doesn't "look like" something that could be sold 299 bucks right now but I don't know a lot of commercial / freeware synths doing what it does, and it sounds really cool ! The BPB delay is great too for making etherial atmospheres / pads. Noisetar looks cool too + quite innovative and I'll probably try it very soon. Same for the qyooo synthesizer. I have always wanted to use a cool free loudness meter and the PSA preamp looks and sounds great etc. etc. I have the feeling that sometimes the users want to see in the KVR DCs something that looks like a u-he synth, with new things everywhere to try, and they don't see the love the devs have put in their creation, and they don't try to understand that in this context, they need to put some time and have open mind to understand what they did and appreciate their work at its true value, being either good or wrong. The same ones who will say they hate something one day, and that they love the day after. But that's the game...

And fortunately, I see also a lot of people not complaining at all, just happy to test some entries and to share their opinion ! It's really appreciated.

PS: there are many things I'd like to see done in freeware software form, but out of all, I'd really, really love to have a free option to Rob Papen's RG: a plugin that can put out very distorted, brutal guitar sounds without any external effect (especially no amp & cab sims) and works well with a piano roll workflow and no guitar playing experience. Most options (if not all) are commercial, Kontakt based and require some guitar playing knowledge in order to make them sound human. I know it's very difficult to emulate guitars, but RG's already a reality. I just need something similar, focused even more on metal tones, and freeware You asked

Thanks for sharing Indeed, it's an area without a lot of products, but the problem there in my opinion isn't just that the existing products aren't freeware, more than it sounds really complicated to do a correct emulation of electric guitar played with a MIDI keyboard... And a lot of the people who might want to do something there play already guitar

The world of sound is so much bigger, but most people are consumer in their hearts, knowingly or otherwise, and they're trained to be given things, rather than envision possibilities. This is not a complaint at all, just an observation. Thus, it's easy to understand why some may thing "it's all been there already", but I think we're nowhere near that!

I agree with you, I've seen a lot of amazing things happening in conferences, in research, things amazing made with Max/MSP or Reaktor, and all these technologies aren't available yet in public applications. And even if we can do a lot of things already with what exist, another source of innovation in the future might be to change how we do it.

I'm slightly tired of all the amazing reverse-engineering that's going on, with virtual instruments hoping to capture the problems that analogue equipment used to have and exhibit, hahaha, because it would be so much more alive. Well, heck, seriously, that's just putting a great deal of effort into stagnation, even when I understand the wonderful benefit of having authentic equipment sound without the related troubles (price, availability, cables, temperature, hahaha....pfff...all of that).

Well, that's another problem. I think some DSP devs just love doing that reverse engineering (like I), and that's why they are doing it in the first place. And the other thing is that these products work very very well on the audio market, which isn't a place where you can earn thousands of bucks a month at all. So I understand why it happens. Urs and Richard for example did an amazing job with their simulations, and I'm happy they released them. You have also to understand they would love to work more often on "more innovative stuff" even if that doesn't mean anything, which is anyway something they already do, but too innovative will not bring enough money to pay the employees and finish the month with a positive amount of money on the account. Moreover, in these particular cases, I see that more as "doing something new with reverse engineering of something old" than just copy and paste in the digital world. The cool thing with reverse engineering is that you could take for exemple the filter of an old synth and put it in a new digital delay line

But I would like also to see more things embracing the digital and the future instead of things than keep us in the past (I'm thinking about the 'memberberries jokes in the last South Park season lol). Fortunately, it happens already, it's just less visible than the other stuff. And I can see that in that KVR DC.

Anyhow, so, we are dealing with numbers and time here, with which we can do what ever we please to do, if we understand how to, and there's no limit to where it can go, really. I know how challenging it is to deal with proper DSP, the math, the computational elegance/speed and all that, but that's just another reason for why one can expect a good deal of innovation to evolve. Last but not least the evolution of musical styles. Often they've been directly related to available instrumentation...so...some exciting times ahead for sure!

+1 !

[.jon]

Imagine if Adobe worked for two years on a Photoshop filter emulating one single film type shot on a certain consumer camera from the 80s, and you'd have to control the filter with limited, arcane controls copied from the old mechanical device, and drawn to look like said camera.

Of course completely ridiculous idea, I mean like beyond retarded. And so instead, they work on advanced computer technology like contextual crop and facially aware tools- the digital imaging industry has been moving rapidly forward, nobody sees emulating old shitty gear as the future. People are using computers, and they want to harness the power of the CPU in any way they can.

Imagine the tools we'd have if audio industry would embrace the power of computing fully and with the same enthusiasm.