Aurora FM - New Win(32/64) VSTi FM synthesizer - Introductory pricing

[RyFi]

Version 0.12.0 is available and there are some significant changes:

• DPI-aware! Aurora FM now renders dynamically-sized and incorporates DPI-aware scaling. It will no longer be tiny for those with high-DPI displays.
• In addition, there is now variable custom scaling! CTL+SHIFT+mousewheel with the cursor over the window (and not over a control) to increase/decrease the scaling factor in 5% increments from 50% to 150%. I know several people were asking for this, so here it is.
• Removed "multiple of 4 samples" buffer size constraint. This was potentially leading to confusion and frustration and wasn't a fair constraint to place, so I had to solve it. Nothing's ever simple...
• Identified and fixed potential crash or hang for Cubase users. I'm surprised that it took this long to reveal this, and I apologize. In my defense, I don't own every host and it's very hard to know about every host compatibility issue. There's only so much one guy can do without the assistance of others and reports. Downloading the Cubase Elements trial enabled me to solve this.

Since there were several big internal changes, there may be new issues. I've tested to the best of my abilities with several hosts (Reaper, VSTHost, FL Studio, Cubase Elements, vPlayer), but there could still be issues. If so, please report them and I beg for your patience. I have always and will continue to fix any issues that are brought to my attention as promptly as possible.

I'm announcing that the introductory pricing of $17 CAD will only be in effect for a little while longer. If you want to score a pretty sweet synth at a ridiculous price, now's the time to do it.

The introductory price was a gesture of appreciation towards the early adopters for their patience in working through issues and growing pains. Now that Aurora FM is more mature and has most problems and compatibility issues resolved and has more features, it's time to set the price to something more reasonable and not be under-valuing it. I haven't decided on a final price yet, but it will probably be $25-$30.

[nichttuntun]

Hi Ryan, yes you are right of course. The confusion was, I payed round about 11 EUROS. Its of course 17 Canadian Dollars. And you are right again, the price is ridiculous.

Would pay again

[RyFi]

Quick update: 0.12.1 is up. I found and fixed the problem that Cubase 8 users were experiencing.

[nichttuntun]

Thank you so much. Now get your head free for a while. We all need sleep and such

[nichttuntun]

Thank you for your answer.
But price apart, I am trying to figure out where to "put your synth on the map", between the free Dexed and the "bigger" (and more expensive) synths made by a team, and featuring FX, filter, arp or a different take on FM (like Bazille or Nemesis).

Hi,
I have BAZILLE and love it. You can definitely not compare it with AURORA FM at all. Not soundwise and not conceptional. U-He have done a hybrid snthesizer which is very close to a little analog modular-system. Yes it has FM and many routing and modulating options but in no way it is a pure FM synthesizer.

The great thing about Aurora FM for me is that it is pure FM with 6 operators plus frequency selection relative mode plus modulation sources plus loopable and complete free designable envelopes. Modulation madness awaits, be shure. The loopable envelopes alone opens up so many design-options. By the way, FM doesn´t need a filter, you are doing sweeps by changing the phase (in fact FM = Phase Distortion) by a envelope which can provide a similar effect as a filter in substractive synthesis. Using an additional filter would change the characteristics of the typical FM sound. You can use an external filter in your DAW like the one Melda provides for example, if you really need one.

As a result and exclusively regarded by the FM-aspect, Aurora FM leaves DEXED and BAZILLE far behind.

[KBSoundSmith]

I just started demoing Aurora tonight. A few observations/questions

• There is significant latency, accurate real-time performance is impossible
• Are operators restricted to sine waves only? Is there a possibility for other waveforms?
• I'm used to being able to ctrl+click to return values to default, feels a bit strange not being able to do that
• While having all info available on one screen is useful, it makes a cramped space for click+dragging with the mouse. I'd like to be able to double-click and type in numerical values for all parameters -- this is especially important for envelopes, where fractions of a millisecond can matter. This would be much faster and more accurate a way to work, especially on a small screen.
• Is it possible to have per-operator feedback, or is global OP feedback necessary for compatibility with DX7 patches?

Those quibbles aside, there's quite a bit to like here and obviously it's early in development. But it seems very promising. Just sharing lightning fast initial impressions.

Thank you for your answer.
But price apart, I am trying to figure out where to "put your synth on the map", between the free Dexed and the "bigger" (and more expensive) synths made by a team, and featuring FX, filter, arp or a different take on FM (like Bazille or Nemesis).

The loopable envelopes alone opens up so many design-options

There seems to only be a looping option for the Mod Env -- is it available for the operator envelopes too, or just the mod env?

EDIT: BTW, thought I'd share a simple bass sound I churned out. Easy to make, using all six operators, algorithm 1. I did add some external compression, chorus, and send/return reverb for some ambiance. I'd get more complex, but there's no saving in the demo so not worth it: https://app.box.com/s/zw1lxjm9ohyx1ekix9262s4soxhxdxhu

[RyFi]

I'll try to answer your questions.

I just started demoing Aurora tonight. A few observations/questions

There is significant latency, accurate real-time performance is impossible

I'm not sure what you mean... There's no additional latency. Aurora FM processes the events for a given buffer immediately within that buffer, just like every other VI. Do you mean you can't lower the buffer size as far as you can with other VI's?

Are operators restricted to sine waves only? Is there a possibility for other waveforms?

For now, yes, sine waves only.

I'm used to being able to ctrl+click to return values to default, feels a bit strange not being able to do that

Right-click (RMB) to reset (sliders & envelopes) to patch value. CTL+RMB to zero.

While having all info available on one screen is useful, it makes a cramped space for click+dragging with the mouse. I'd like to be able to double-click and type in numerical values for all parameters -- this is especially important for envelopes, where fractions of a millisecond can matter. This would be much faster and more accurate a way to work, especially on a small screen.

Use the mousewheel! Setting the sliders and envelope points accurately is a simple movement of click+dragging to approximately where you want it, and then mousewheeling up or down a few notches to dial it to the exact value you want. On the envelopes, CTL+mousewheel makes fine changes, so use CTL+MW for fine x-axis changes and CTL+SHIFT+MW for fine y-axis changes.

You can CTL+drag too, but I much prefer the mousewheel and suggest trying to get comfortable with that approach. Once you're used to it, it should be quicker than numeric entry.

Is it possible to have per-operator feedback, or is global OP feedback necessary for compatibility with DX7 patches?

It would be possible, but I haven't implemented that. For every person who's disappointed that there aren't other waveforms or per-op feedback, there's someone else who praises it for being true to pure FM. I personally am very happy with the single feedback operator and don't find that a limitation at all...

Those quibbles aside, there's quite a bit to like here and obviously it's early in development. But it seems very promising. Just sharing lightning fast initial impressions.

Sure, thanks.

There seems to only be a looping option for the Mod Env -- is it available for the operator envelopes too, or just the mod env?

Every envelope is loopable. It's the envelope loop control under the envelope control.

EDIT: BTW, thought I'd share a simple bass sound I churned out. Easy to make, using all six operators, algorithm 1. I did add some external compression, chorus, and send/return reverb for some ambiance. I'd get more complex, but there's no saving in the demo so not worth it: https://app.box.com/s/zw1lxjm9ohyx1ekix9262s4soxhxdxhu

Thanks for sharing - I like it!

Ryan

[KBSoundSmith]

Regarding the latency, there is a very audible delay from the time a note is performed via laptop or midi-keybaord to sounding, it's quite difficult to play in time. But I'll play with my settings a bit, may just be on my end. Ignore for now. I haven't noticed it much with some other synths, so maybe I changed a setting somewhere and didn't notice.

Regarding Operator Feedback...I was thinking about it some more, and I think for an FM synth with Fixed Algorithms rather than a Matrix, the global feedback is fine as opposed to per-operator feedback. Not all of the algorithms even use feedback, so I'd much rather that additional waveforms be made available per oscillator. That said, I can also see the argument against having additional waveforms (even though they'd be great to have and would immensely increase the possibilities of Aurora) -- I get the impression most people don't really know their way around an FM synth and may fall back on them as a crutch, rather than exercising full control over the synth. EDIT: and that's part of the appeal of Dexed/Aurora to me recently -- I know more than the average bear, but I'm no expert...yet.

[KBSoundSmith]

I still cannot understand why people keep following the DX7 paradigm. Even Yamaha had gone beyond that long ago, first with the DX5/DX1 followed by the DX7 II (which layered two FM elements, because clearly, one single FM element was too short), then with the TX816 (which could layer up to eight FM elements), followed by the SY77/TG77/SY99 (more algorithms, more waveforms, up to four FM layers, or combination of FM and PCM layers, interaction with samples), and later with FS1R. Still, programmers seem to think that there is something magical in the DX7

I just noticed this thread a few days ago, so I'm late to the party in responding to this...

I think it's due to the simplicity of the architecture. It's similar to many subtractive synths having 2-3 oscillators, a few classic waveforms, 1 low pass filter, 1 amp env and 1 filt env, maybe an lfo or two -- one might say why bother with that while Zebra and UVI Falcon exist? But for beginners or for those who prefer focused simplicity, a very basic architecture is appealing, especially since they'd be unable to make use of all of an advanced synth's power.

[KBSoundSmith]

Last post for now, but a more important/technical one...

I think there may be some aliasing being caused by short envelope values. I've made an audio comparison with Dexed, took screen shots of some spectrums, and also a screen shot of Aurora settings:

Dexed/Aurora audio (Dexed is first and plays two notes, followed by Aurora playing two notes): https://app.box.com/s/tclg5dp6tq3xuq6ghjfkh7y0ba3pn6jq
Dexed Spectrum: https://app.box.com/s/padqpjffwkhvquiw3thmlmffczy235kj
Aurora Spectrum: https://app.box.com/s/pjubvj762jkwdnh3bceraa0lbqkjqduc
Aurora Settings: https://app.box.com/s/ygor0dnh2k5ao4mx81l5lca8h54168ur

Perhaps I'm mistaken, but if not, something to look into

[KBSoundSmith]

Just found a bug where the plugin would freeze its audio output when the Mod Env is set to short values in Tempo Synced mode. I haven't explored it too much, so perhaps it happens with other settings too, but I was using very short values for all envelope stages and would either get frozen silence or audio, depending upon when the parameters were adjusted. Loading a DXY cartridge or simply deleting the instance of Aurora would solve the issue (perhaps loading a preset would too, but I'm on demo and can't test that). I don't think the Init button worked during this problem either.

Separately, would it be possible to add copy/paste functionality for the envelopes? That would be an immense time-saver.

EDIT: For the fun of it, I scratched out and replicated a patch to compare between Dexed and Aurora. The patch is played dry, then with effects. In both cases, Dexed plays first, then Aurora: https://app.box.com/s/t5jyvod1s72bmbcplq2j4k1wn8soo531

[RyFi]

Thanks for your reports. I'll investigate these issues as soon as I get the chance, which might not be for a little while. I have some other fixes in the pipe but I'm also juggling plenty of pressing personal responsibilities, so I'm unfortunately being kept from providing the support I'd like...

As for envelope copying, I agree. That's a feature that I've wanted to include for a long time but it's always taken a back seat to more important things. I'll give it some thought when I get the chance.

[KBSoundSmith]

Hey all, I just bought a license of Aurora. It still has some growing to do, but it's off to a good start -- IMO it's on par with Dexed and in many ways already surpasses it. With a little more development (especially if given additional waveforms), this will nicely fill a nice gap in the market. And I don't know of any other 6-Op FM synths that are being actively developed. I'll revisit this thread after I've compiled some feature requests and have had time to further explore Aurora. I think this has a lot of promise.

[RyFi]

New version, lots of various fixes and changes:

• Fixed the problem with Cubase 8 failing to restore state with the project. This required a change to my patch indexing as far as the host is concerned. There's now an "edit" slot at index 0, with the Init and factory patches following. I'm reasonably sure that this change won't break other hosts' ability to restore the state saved in previous versions. (For what it's worth, and if you haven't heard me say this before, the VST API is a mess. It's scary how Steinberg does things differently than how most other hosts do, and everyone has a different, incompatible interpretation of how the VST API is supposed to work. Ugh, NOT a good API.)
• Found and fixed the envelope distortion artifacts. There was (low-level) distortion in the envelopes due to a boneheaded calculation error. It was clearly visible on an analyzer, and more prominent and audible at high envelope rates of change. My sincere apologies for letting this escape resolution for as long as it did!
• Identified and resolved more potential threading issues that could lead to hangs or sluggish UI. Cubase 8, possibly other hosts.
• Added an "Off" option for the reverb to save performance when you're not using it. Previously the reverb was always running even if the level was at -inf, since you really want to maintain a current reverb buffer state in case someone turns it up. Not having an "Off" option was a very poor choice on my part. Note that this change is unfortunately a minor patch compatibility break. If you had the reverb on before in a saved project or patch, now the state will be restored with the reverb off, and you'll need to enable it.
• Found a couple of places to make some very slight performance gains.
• Found and fixed a small memory leak introduced with the 0.12.0 scaling feature.
• Added a warning dialog to the Settings screen if your plugin directory isn't writable. This one's long overdue too. Sorry about that.

[mcbpete]

Love the progress on this so far. Would there be any way of changing the current behaviour of the preset and algorithm selection - Maybe a dropdown menu or something? At the moment it's kinda click heavy if (worst case scenario) you couldn't decide between using algorithm 1 or 16 so you keep going between the two, each time having to press the button 15 times !