FXpansion releases Cypher2

[zvenx]

So... I have my license and can look a bit deeper into the synth. Some interesting thing, in Cubase after some time the lot allocated RAM with Cypher2 will be released. So there must be some kind of "garbage collector". Is it a memory leak? Maybe
.............

This may explain why I never noticed it in use.
hmmm
rsp

[lastmessiah]

To assign modulation you just hover above the rotary or slider with your cursor, and to control the parameter directly you place the cursor directly on it. It’s pretty straightforward, never had a problem with it at all.

[Liero]

By now there should be some kind of global human rights decree that would deny engineers of any kind to design user interfaces - whether virtual or real-world.

I don't know if Cypher 2 had a specialist UX/UI designer, but it sure as hell looks like the classic case of mad scientist coder just plastering knobs wherever. Exponential Audio is another great example of this fallacy - my eyes start hurting just thinking about the first release of R2 reverb.



Oh well. The sound is good tho, not easily replicable with other synths.

[zvenx]

By now there should be some kind of global human rights decree that would deny engineers of any kind to design user interfaces - whether virtual or real-world.

I don't know if Cypher 2 had a specialist UX/UI designer, but it sure as hell looks like the classic case of mad scientist coder just plastering knobs wherever. Exponential Audio is another great example of this fallacy - my eyes start hurting just thinking about the first release of R2 reverb.



Oh well. The sound is good tho, not easily replicable with other synths.

I think R2 is actually easy to use but fugly....

I do find cypher2's gui a bit intimidating as a player more than a programmer.
rsp

[himalaya]

The GUI has to be a 'one page design' (for all synth parameters) in order for the TransMod to function as well as it does.

The whole point of TransMod is that you select a mod source (a TransMod window) and then proceed to assign, or as I prefer to call it, 'paint-in' the modulation amount on any and every knob. This makes it very fast and intuitive to assign modulation. You are free to pile on as much modulation as your heart desires, all without having to think about which page to choose, which tab to go to, since there are none for the synthesis engine (there is one for the sequencer and effects, but that is understandable).

So my recommendation is, just spend some time with the interface, in order to familiarise yourself with the synth engine, which is not as daunting as one would think. It's not something like Alchemy, which has so many tabs and windows....Cypher is a VA angine at its core so everything should be self-explanatory. Although, there are aspects to it that would be pleasantly surprising, stuff like the dual osc hard-sync, or the 3 ring-modulators. No other non-modular synth has such elaborate hard-sync and ring-mods (as far as I know).

If you are going to come to Cypher2 and give it 5 min of your time, you will miss all it has to offer. Same with the presets, do it slowly and you might notice some 'colourful'' sounds.

[pdxindy]

I also absolutely HATE the way the modulation "rings" are always in the way everywhere. I really wish we could turn those off. I don't want to modulate every damn knob all the time and it is extremely easy to hit that by mistake. I really wish we had a setup option of just turning it off.. or perhaps the transmod system would work as a TOGGLE button so that when you hit it once, it gets toggled on.. and now the rings are available. Then you hit the same transmod source again and it gets toggled off and all rings and mod areas around everything gets hidden. Or just make it work when a modifier key is pressed, like CMD + left click + drag for instance.

Good suggestion... I am constantly adjusting the modulation rings by mistake... the visual feedback is not clear which you have grabbed and then the annoying popups don't even tell you that you have the mod ring instead of the parameter itself

lastly you cannot quickly reset that mistake because double click doesn't reset so you have to drag the mod ring back to middle and it can take a couple seconds to get back to center.

[zvenx]

A bit cumbersome, but you can right click and choose reset parameter.

[bmanic]

lastly you cannot quickly reset that mistake because double click doesn't reset so you have to drag the mod ring back to middle and it can take a couple seconds to get back to center.

You can right click and get a list where you can reset the modulation. But yeah, still a real chore as I keep hitting those damn rings.

[pdxindy]

I still prefer drag and drop modulation and still find the transmod a huge challenge, but some love it.

I don't dislike the Transmod concept... but it can be clunky when you have to go find the parameter you want to assign as a source in one of the transmod slots. There are 16 transmod slots and something like 160 possible sources (some really cool source options in there)

Also there are some funky behaviors. For example, you can assign a second parameter to a transmod slot. At first I thought that when a slot is selected, that the second slot can be chosen. But then I realized after some stumbling around that each of the 16 slots have 3 right click zones (no visual clue at all). So it is fairly easy to accidentally add a second source when one is intending to replace the primary source. Okay, now how do you get rid of the second source? I'm not able to undo that error except by using the unassign option which unassigns both the secondary and primary sources. Ugh... in one case I did not remember what the primary source was and so it was not possible to return to where I was.

[pdxindy]

lastly you cannot quickly reset that mistake because double click doesn't reset so you have to drag the mod ring back to middle and it can take a couple seconds to get back to center.

You can right click and get a list where you can reset the modulation. But yeah, still a real chore as I keep hitting those damn rings.

I think the ring should be the same orange color upon hover as the transmod slot... so it is obvious that you have the mod ring and not the parameter.

Pretty much every other synth I use double click resets the parameter. Having to use two hands every time I make such a mistake... well, it sucks... this is one of the most unintuitive error prone GUI's I have ever used.

Another head scratcher... select a Transmod slot and adjust a parameter. Now either on purpose or by mistake, remove the source from the slot. It is still active and modulating the parameter, but there is no way to see what is the source.

[himalaya]

I still prefer drag and drop modulation and still find the transmod a huge challenge, but some love it.

I don't dislike the Transmod concept... but it can be clunky when you have to go find the parameter you want to assign as a source in one of the transmod slots. There are 16 transmod slots and something like 160 possible sources (some really cool source options in there)

Also there are some funky behaviors. For example, you can assign a second parameter to a transmod slot. At first I thought that when a slot is selected, that the second slot can be chosen. But then I realized after some stumbling around that each of the 16 slots have 3 right click zones (no visual clue at all). So it is fairly easy to accidentally add a second source when one is intending to replace the primary source. Okay, now how do you get rid of the second source? I'm not able to undo that error except by using the unassign option which unassigns both the secondary and primary sources. Ugh... in one case I did not remember what the primary source was and so it was not possible to return to where I was.

You also need to go and find the mod source in a 'mod matrix' type of design. Is this clunky as well? There is no getting away from having to select a mod source, but once its done, it's plain sailing as you apply modulation to anything you see in from of you on the main synth panel. I haven't found a quicker mod system yet, bar the one implemented in Alchemy (a reverse of Transmod), where we go to the mod destination instead and then apply a mod source, but yet again, we need to select the mod source from a drop down menu with so many options. There is no escaping this. It's not clunky, it's options.

All the TransMod mod sources are grouped into meaningful panels in the drop-down menu, so it should be fast to find the mod source one needs.

With the second part of your post, are you refering to the 'via' option in a mod slot? Simply give it a constant value of 1 to return it to its original state (one which is not modulated by a secondary modulator). But you are right, the visual cue there isn't very good. Cypher 1 had a more clear representation/division of the mod source and the 'via' mod, the secondary one.

[pdxindy]

What is the purpose of the dual LFO? It appears to be 2 single LFO's but with a couple of shared parameters. I would assume it means you can create complex shapes by blending main and sub together. Doesn't seem to do that though. Am I missing something?

It does get some interesting results to modulate PW and Phase of the LFO by itself. I'm getting some lovely tones in general! But man, that GUI is tough to like

[pdxindy]

With the second part of your post, are you refering to the 'via' option in a mod slot? Simply give it a constant value of 1 to return it to its original state (one which is not modulated by a secondary modulator). But you are right, the visual cue there isn't very good. Cypher 1 had a more clear representation/division of the mod source and the 'via' mod, the secondary one.

One should be able to remove the via source... currently there is no way to do it without removing the primary source.

And it is not that the visual cue isn't very good... there is no visual cue at all.

[himalaya]

I still prefer drag and drop modulation and still find the transmod a huge challenge, but some love it.

[/quote]

But what is so challenging? Select a mod source and paint the mod amounts anywhere you please?

Drag&drop slows down the workflow and simply aids in developing RSI, as you are asked to constantly click on the mouse and drag it with the value pressed via the mouse click. If I'm sitting with a synth 24/7 this constant dragging can be felt...

It slows me down since I need to go to a mod source, click on it, drag it to a mod destination, then - and this is the crucial bit - if I desire to work with this mod source - I need to go back to it, drag again to another mod destination, and go back, and drag, and do it again...and again...it's this very method which is clunky.

With the TransMod, once I select a mod source, I am then free to assign as many modulations as I wish. I don't have to keep going back to my mod source and drag anything. This is the crucial difference.

So as an example, when I work with velocity, to make the sound respond nicely to note-on dynamics, I select the TransMod slot with velocity (always available by default) and then I just paint modulation as I please. My sound becomes dynamic in half the time it would take to drag&drop an equivalent amount of mod assignments.

So, look at TransMod as canvas and paint: select a mod slot (a colour) and then paint onto the canvas (assign to any and every knob and slider in front of you).

[himalaya]

With the second part of your post, are you refering to the 'via' option in a mod slot? Simply give it a constant value of 1 to return it to its original state (one which is not modulated by a secondary modulator). But you are right, the visual cue there isn't very good. Cypher 1 had a more clear representation/division of the mod source and the 'via' mod, the secondary one.

One should be able to remove the via source... currently there is no way to do it without removing the primary source.

.

There is. Both the mod source and the secondary mod ( the 'via) are fully independent. See the manual.