Fathom Synth Development Thread

[FathomSynth]

Sorry, long post, but I think we need a complete update today.

Good news everyone, I found the cause of the start up in monophonic mode bug. The “is poly flag” was initialized after loading the voices, rookie bug. Which is why it happened sometimes and sometimes not. That will be fixed in the next release.

Fleer: I will try a MAC OSC AU build sooner than a month and let you know.

Babbgr: Mouse wheel scrolling of audio list on left side. Yes, soon.
Babbgr: Dial direct numeric entry, and envelope point direct numeric entry. Yes.
XGmode: AM FM Graph update speed. That should be fast, I will test and fix.
XGmode: Clicking while playing presets. That should not happen, I will test and fix.

XGmode: Clicks due to modulator envelopes are caused by a sudden envelope vertical transition in waveform midcycle. This is the one case of clicking which I did not want to fix in a hidden way without giving the user full access to the amount of smoothness. So there is a dial called “Smooth Samples” on the envelope modulator page in the center upper right. Use can use this dial to exactly set how smooth you want the envelope edges to be. Try that.

XGmode: Wow, what a cool sound. Send me the preset xml for that so I can debug it, and also I would love to put that one in the factory preset folder for the release.

XGmode: Massberg LP filter should be super clean. Send me the preset xml for that and I will debug it.

Yes filter low frequency will be moved down from 100 to 20, I will do that as soon as I have time to test all the filters. Soon.

XGmode: Browser preview presets without closing. Yes you can already do that, hit the preview button and it will load each preset in the processor without closing the page. Also, I need to make that page not close after a load for the wave morph feature, maybe I will just change the whole thing so that it does not close unless you click close.

XGmode: FM pass, airbox chords, clicking fast notes. These should be clean, which DAW are you using? FL Studio?

BlackWinny: The DLL update downloads are at the end of the KVR Members page.

BlackWinny and ErikH: I just realized you are right, the DLL upgrades should not be on the Members page, since everyone needs them. I will move the DLL updates to the main product page for everyone. Doh!

Xgmode, I don’t think the two check boxes are necessary for maximum size buffers or from host. Fathom doesn’t really care, and it can handle variable buffer sizes. The only reason that you really need to check “Use fixed size buffers” on FL Studio, is that if you don’t, FL Studio will request buffers often of size one to five samples, which is profoundly rediculous. Its impossible to manage audio with buffer sizes that small. So I think just check “Use fixed size buffers” (for buggy plugins that don’t want sample blocks with one sample per block, and therefore don’t want to perform all sample block processing overhead 512 times for 512 samples, instead of 1 time per 512 samples).

Tatanka: Dull presets. Yes, the dull presets are because the last time I went to a dance club they were playing “little fluffy clouds”. I can’t reveal the details yet, but I am currently in negotiation with a professional sound design team from Europe who may be doing the presets for Fathom. I can’t say anything more until some details are hammered out, but they have sent me a demo and some example presets, and it makes Fathom sound like an entirely different instrument. So this will fix the “dullness” of many of the presets. Eventually I will move all my 70’s disco presets to a separate folder called “Old School” or “Stone Age” and the modern presets will become the Factory presets.

Tatanka: Send me more details on the crash and which DAW, and I will fix for next release. Crashes are always top priority and get fixed in next release.

Totolitot: Good point, I just realized that Fathom does not change its processing for bouncing, and its easy to get this message from the host which always tells the plugin the audio is offline. I will change this so the sound quality is super high during bounce.

Totolitot: Please send me specific steps and a copy of the preset xml to the support email and I will fix for FL Studio. A lot of people use FL, so I have to make sure it is rock solid on FL, even if it takes more work.

On a personal note: Some of you are spending a lot of time with Fathom even despite some serious bugs. Your work is making a massive difference in Fathom’s future, and many beers are owed to you.

Fathom Synth

[Totolitoto]

Me again,
I tested with another project and the presets seem to load fine now, I dunno what happened to my last try

Cheers,
David

[RPH]

XGmode: Clicks due to modulator envelopes are caused by a sudden envelope vertical transition in waveform midcycle. This is the one case of clicking which I did not want to fix in a hidden way without giving the user full access to the amount of smoothness. So there is a dial called “Smooth Samples” on the envelope modulator page in the center upper right. Use can use this dial to exactly set how smooth you want the envelope edges to be. Try that.

Will do.

XGmode: Wow, what a cool sound. Send me the preset xml for that so I can debug it, and also I would love to put that one in the factory preset folder for the release.

Thanks, it's a pattern of fast playing notes ( randomiser in FLstudio ).
Darn, was just fiddling around. Didn't save the exact preset.. Not sure how I built it.
I'm saving the good sounding ones now, to provide as soundbank maybe.

XGmode: Massberg LP filter should be super clean. Send me the preset xml for that and I will debug it.

That one is simple to reproduce, tested with Asio and DirectSound driver:

- Start with 0 bank program
- Add Basic waveforms, change nothing.
- Add Massberg filter, just tweak the cutoff.

Yes filter low frequency will be moved down from 100 to 20, I will do that as soon as I have time to test all the filters. Soon.

Cheers, no problem.

XGmode: FM pass, airbox chords, clicking fast notes. These should be clean, which DAW are you using? FL Studio?

Flstudio indeed, it doesn't happen when the preset doesn't have a ADSR. Not sure about the other modulators yet, will test asap.

Xgmode, I don’t think the two check boxes are necessary for maximum size buffers or from host. Fathom doesn’t really care, and it can handle variable buffer sizes. The only reason that you really need to check “Use fixed size buffers” on FL Studio, is that if you don’t, FL Studio will request buffers often of size one to five samples, which is profoundly rediculous. Its impossible to manage audio with buffer sizes that small. So I think just check “Use fixed size buffers” (for buggy plugins that don’t want sample blocks with one sample per block, and therefore don’t want to perform all sample block processing overhead 512 times for 512 samples, instead of 1 time per 512 samples).

Ok, thanks for explaining.


I also noticed some other unusual stuff while trying stuff, e.g. made a video what happens when tweaking the modulation level.
Will also test operation in Renoise and Reaper, maybe it's just Flstudio.

Note: The overloaded bit happened while recording, is not from Fathom. It starts at 0:13 seconds:
Vid:

[RPH]

One more thing:
I connected an oscillator to another oscillator, then tweaked the AM/FM parameters of one, it copies the settings to the connected oscillator. Is that normal behaviour?

[FathomSynth]

Yes, AM FM parameters between modulator and carrier oscillators must be kept in sync,
which is done automatically.

Modulator -> Carrier

If you modulate any AM FM dials be sure to modulate them in the modulator not the carrier.

Parameter which effect the overall oscillator such as Volume or Detune should be made in the carrier.

[Musical Gym]

Where is the breakbeat soundset?

[FathomSynth]

Website, Listen, Break Beat Demo, Break Beat Soundpack by Shnugglefritz,
Download Soundpack Zip

[Musical Gym]

Website, Listen, Break Beat Demo, Break Beat Soundpack by Shnugglefritz,
Download Soundpack Zip

thanks

[FathomSynth]

XGMode

OK, I figured out the FL Studio Massberg filter stuttering problem.
I tested it in Ableton and it is rock solid clean.
Then in FL Studio if I move the frequency cutoff too quickly it stutters, like you found.
So go into the FL Studio plugin bar top second icon, plugin settings, and pick Processing.
Check "Use fixed size buffers" then click "More" and also check both
"Process maximum size buffers" and "Use maximum buffer size from host".
Now go back to the Massberg cutoff frequency and move the dial quickly,
and now it is totally clean.

I will update the FL Studio instructions on the web site to state this.
Good find! Thanks!

Also, in regard to audio clicks when moving the mod slat modulation amount mini dial
and the envelope points. This is suppose to happen by design.
Fathom precalculates the modulation buffers for fast table fetch during run time.
This enables Fathom to eliminate the envelope curve exponential math calculation
during audio processing for super fast per sample modulations at run time.
But !!! It has to perform the precalculation at some point, and it does this
when dials are moved or envelope points are dragged.
This will only occur if you are playing while making edits, and when the edits
are done, this click will not occur during the audio processing, which should then be super clean.
In the future I will come up with some way during dial motion to hide the click
caused by missing a block during the mod buffer precalculation.
Also for the next release I may enable vector processing compile
for the calculation which might eliminate it entirely.

Also for the next build with the Wave Table Morph I figured out a way to eliminate
the dial motion clicking during oscillator dial edits, by performing a reverse FFT
on the forward FFT already calculated, only during dial motion, to get the waveform
partials while dials are being moved.
This enables the audio and graphs to respond to dial motion almost instantaniously
with no click. I just have to do the same thing for all the oscillators.
This should be in the next release.
Everett

[CHOOS]

Any chance of more partials?
When I make a low saw pluck or any low saw bass the last partial is somewhere around 6k
On higher notes it's no problem but it's pretty noticeable on low notes.

Thanks for this synth!
I want to pay for software that I like but I'm broke as hell so thanks for making this super affordable.
Love the reverb and distortion by the way.

[Totolitoto]

Hi,

COuld you please add automation?
It's a real problem not to be able to automate anything, especially those nice filters

[FathomSynth]

Yes for Partials, for 1.0.5. all oscillators will have 128 partials like the Analog Saw.

Yes, for automation, so many people have mentioned that,
that I'm making that the very next major feature after wave morph,
I will be adding assignable high speed parameters accessible in the host.

[CHOOS]

Yes for Partials, for 1.0.5. all oscillators will have 128 partials like the Analog Saw

didn't spot the 128 on the analog saw.

[CHOOS]

Here's a request...

A simple way to change filter types but keeping envelopes etc intact to see which filter is most suitable for the sound you're working on.

Just a thought

[FathomSynth]

Yes, Analog Saw has 128 partials and also a spectrum balance for the partials.
I think in the next release or one after, all oscillators will have 128 partias not 64.

I think there may be a way to try different filters and keep the same modulation on the cutoff frequency.
Either by dragging a filter on top of another filter.
Or a button on filter to preview filters but keep the cutoff value and modulation.
I will experiment with that.