FXpansion releases Cypher2

[Ah_Dziz]

There seems to be some odd behaviour with tuning stability going on in the FM engine. Check out the sound example below. It's the init patch with only the following modifications: 'FM from 2' is turned up in osc 1, osc 2 is active but with the volume turned down (thus using purely as an FM source), sine wave mode is active on both oscs and their shape dials are turned fully left. We hear 6 notes played with very short gaps between notes, then 6 notes with slightly longer gaps between, then 6 final notes with short gaps again.

Now take a variable-waveshape oscillator with phase reset, as featured in Cypher. Most of its waveforms have some inherent DC component (think about a 0-5v pulse wave on 5% duty cycle.. huge amount of undesirable DC), and there's a DC-blocking filter (a basic high-pass) to remove it. This is absolutely normal, there's a bit of art and science in choosing a filter to remove undesirable DC without removing desirable bass, but that's nothing new or clever.

But what happens when you take one of these VCO style oscillators and use it as an FM source? Well, the DC filter takes a few waveform cycles to warm up (for example, a 10Hz filter needs tens to hundreds of milliseconds). During that time, there's some DC present, which causes the modulated waveform's center frequency to shift, hence the detuning you're hearing.

In actual fact, Cypher2 (unlike its predecessor) has separate DC filters on the VCOs' audio outputs and FM paths. On the FM side, it uses a much more aggressive filter to try and mitigate the issue you've outlined above, whereas on the audio path it's set lower to preserve the bass, but even so it's not possible to remove this effect completely. In addition, when a phase reset happens, the DC filter is initialised to an approximate value based on the last known frequency and wave shape to try and get it to stabilise quicker.

This doesn't seem correct: a free running osc (phase reset off means free running, correct?) though a HPF can't have DC with each new note.

And if I start with the default patch as described and turn polyphony to 1 (mono) it doesn't happen, so it seems to be related to something with the polyphonic voice/osc allocation to me.

Or am I missing something?

If the filter is reset on each note then it will, and that sounds like what was mentioned above. An actual analog filter has a time constant that if modeled correctly is still going to pass lower frequencies as it warms up.

[drewfx]

@drewfx - what you're perhaps missing is:

- that the osc (apart from osc 1) isn't totally free running in the sense of an analogue synth - it "powers down" when the voice is off.

- that in some cases (though not all), the asymmetry or DC component may be frequency/pitch dependent.

Fundamentally the issue is that this kind of FM is far, far more sensitive to otherwise-unimportant amounts of DC or near-DC frequencies (ID on fx bugtracker: 0015498)

Thanks. It did look to me like it might "power down" unused voices in poly.

My suggestion is that it really shouldn't do that when you want analog-style poly FM though. I expect a certain amount of instability when modulating pitch/waveform/etc in analog-style audio rate modulation - that's part of the charm . But if it were possible without a lot of difficulty to just not power down currently unused voices I think that would be a nice option. Then it would behave the same way with multiple voices as it does with a single voice.

Just a thought, as overall it's a great synth and sounds wonderful. Cheers.

[pdxindy]

@drewfx - what you're perhaps missing is:

- that the osc (apart from osc 1) isn't totally free running in the sense of an analogue synth - it "powers down" when the voice is off.

- that in some cases (though not all), the asymmetry or DC component may be frequency/pitch dependent.

Fundamentally the issue is that this kind of FM is far, far more sensitive to otherwise-unimportant amounts of DC or near-DC frequencies (ID on fx bugtracker: 0015498)

Thanks. It did look to me like it might "power down" unused voices in poly.

My suggestion is that it really shouldn't do that when you want analog-style poly FM though. I expect a certain amount of instability when modulating pitch/waveform/etc in analog-style audio rate modulation - that's part of the charm . But if it were possible without a lot of difficulty to just not power down currently unused voices I think that would be a nice option. Then it would behave the same way with multiple voices as it does with a single voice.

Just a thought, as overall it's a great synth and sounds wonderful. Cheers.

That would be very heavy on the CPU...

[himalaya]

Their use of Lift is brilliant---that parameter has been very underutilized in Equator and Noise.

The sheer quantity of sounds is a tremendous improvement over Equator, though not over Noise.

However, some of the 5D presets don't map Press as well as Equator and Noise do, making them significantly less expressive. Hopefully there's a way to fix that.

And standalone Cypher2 is consistently giving me a crackling sound after just a few minutes of playing.

The synth emulations of plucked string instruments are some of the best I've heard---though I've stuck to sample-based or physical modelling programs in the past for that.

In general, lots of good sounds. However, even though I really wanted to use some of them in a recent project... I ended up deciding my other synths just had similar sounds that I like slightly better. But Cypher2 has the advantage of greater Seaboard compatibility.

Thank you for your comments.

I thought that I'd try to address your observation about the use of 'pressure' and 'LIFT'.

Cypher2 5D presets are tuned to the continuous pressure response of the Seaboard RISE. This means that pressure is 'scanned' or 'active' the second you touch the silicone surface. This allows certain sounds to be extremely expressive. As you gently touch the keywave, you get to play with a deep modulation range via pressure (or 'PRESS'). 'Wind' sounds benefit from this the most, as continuous pressure can mimic the response of breath, which can also be continuous. Here's one such hybrid 'wind' preset from Cypher2:

https://soundcloud.com/fxpansion/wi-tiny-reed-5d

However, such continuous expression is not suitable for all sounds. In fact, it can destroy many sounds we know and love. For example, take a typical, classic analogue bass pluck. One which is tight, and plummy. Think of a funk Moog bass. If I create such a bass with continuous pressure expression, then what will happen with each key press, I will loose the 'pluck', the 'decay' stage of the bass as I play and trigger 'pressure', which in turn will modulate various parameters and alter the main 'shape' of the bass. Now, this may or may not be what I want. If I want that classic tight, 'pluck' response, then continuous pressure modulation/expression will spoil it. So what to do? There are a couple of remedies. One is not to use pressure on sounds that may not benefit from it, but another is to use the 'Expression Curves' and create specific curve shapes which 'delay' the onset of modulation assigned to pressure. Coupled with the 'slew' parameter (which by the way, Equator does not have) the modulation assigned to pressure (or any other 'dimension') can be nicely tailored to every sound.

If you inspect many of the bass sounds, you should see various shapes, none of them linear. Instead you will see variations of exponential shapes. And it's this deeper exponential shape, mixed with a higher 'slew' value, which alters how you perceive pressure to be. How sensitive it is. So, still thinking of this bass sound and why it may be limited in its pressure response, there will be many similar sounds which are 'controlled' in this manner. For example, Leads also need this specific 'tuning' of pressure. Some key-sounds too.

Without limiting pressure in this manner, we would find ourselves unable to make certain sounds as illustrated above, and I can assure you that the same technique is used in lots of Equator presets.

You also mention LIFT.
Equator has many sounds with LIFT, maybe not as many as Cypher2, however Cypher2 has many more 5D sounds than Equator anyway, so it may be just this difference. I don't know as I've never checked.
Make sure that you download all Equator presets since by default, Equator does not provide all the presets that are available, and you need to download them (you can do it in the Equator browser by downloading extra 'Playlists'). Having said this, we did pay a lot of attention to make sure that LIFT is used in pretty much all 5D Cypher2 presets.

Now, there is a trick to actually hearing what LIFT is doing in each preset, or what is assigned to LIFT (note-off velocity in standard MIDI speak). I don't know if you are familiar with this already, if yes, then I will outline it for the benefit of others. Many sounds are designed to prevent LIFT getting in the way and so to hear LIFT, we need to perform a quick 'press&release' gesture. Without this, you won't hear LIFT.

Again, there is a reason why this is done like this. If we assign LIFT without any specific tweaks (which I will explain below) what will happen is that whatever we assign to LIFT will be triggered as you play. We will hear LIFT all the time, which can be extremely distracting, and certainly not what is needed in the majority of cases. So, in order to prevent LIFT getting in the way like this, we need to use those expression curves which helped us so much in the above example with pressure. So, again like with PRESS, we need to create deep exponential shapes, which will prevent LIFT from firing off on every key release. In fact, with the LIFT expression curve, there will be many examples where the curve has a totally 'flat' shape at the start, only rising sharply in its later part.

So, this is more or less how PRESS and LIFT are used in both, Equator and Cypher2 (and Strobe2).
Hope this helps.

While I'm here, take your time when exploring 5D presets, there is so much going on sometimes, especially when you tweak the presets with the 3 faders and the XY controller. Some presets will be completely transformed into totally new sounds. I think this needs some audio demos, since the changes can be extremely deep.

[drewfx]

@drewfx - what you're perhaps missing is:

- that the osc (apart from osc 1) isn't totally free running in the sense of an analogue synth - it "powers down" when the voice is off.

- that in some cases (though not all), the asymmetry or DC component may be frequency/pitch dependent.

Fundamentally the issue is that this kind of FM is far, far more sensitive to otherwise-unimportant amounts of DC or near-DC frequencies (ID on fx bugtracker: 0015498)

Thanks. It did look to me like it might "power down" unused voices in poly.

My suggestion is that it really shouldn't do that when you want analog-style poly FM though. I expect a certain amount of instability when modulating pitch/waveform/etc in analog-style audio rate modulation - that's part of the charm . But if it were possible without a lot of difficulty to just not power down currently unused voices I think that would be a nice option. Then it would behave the same way with multiple voices as it does with a single voice.

Just a thought, as overall it's a great synth and sounds wonderful. Cheers.

That would be very heavy on the CPU...

I don't see why it should be any worse than unison mode or, you know, actually playing the voices.

[pdxindy]

That would be very heavy on the CPU...

I don't see why it should be any worse than unison mode or, you know, actually playing the voices.

Each instance of Cypher would be using all assigned voices at all times... regardless of whether one were playing notes.

[Stefken]

I've tweaked my skin somewhat further.

Structure

I made some structural changes now:

* I'm confident about moving the performance knobs to the left. Positioning them in the bottom right corner is a bad choice as this is the place where a user will look the least. (Eye movements concentrate on controls that are positioned to the left and to the top of the screen).
By positioning them to the left, they get a lot more attention. Knobs are still pretty small though.

* I swapped the lfo's and envelopes, giving more attention to the envelopes.

* I enlarged the VCF1+2 cutoff knob

* I moved related elements closer to each other ever so slightly, so they are more seen as a unity (e.g. I moved the oscillators and envelopes just a bit closer to each other).

Colors

* Some color changes focusing on a limited set of colors and an appropriate level of contrast. The default skins have way too many colors imo, making the interpretation of the GUI difficult. In other words, it takes too many human cpu cycles to interpret it. (Human interpretation runs through cpu cycles too; don't think that perception is an immediate thing).

* I accentuated some knobs (dark orange) that can easily 'create variations in sound'. Like when you're playing an arp, tweaking these parameters will create a variation in sound (the various drives and filter cutoffs being the obvious ones). Not too sure about that decision. If you know the synth, you will know this. And why would I make the decision for you which knobs are more important? It also creates 'issues' with the other skins, so I guess I will remove this. Your opinion?

Cypher-skin1b.png

[tapiodmitriyevich]

What do the modulation colors look like, are they easily spottable?

[zvenx]

@stefken, really nice looking skin... are you an industrial designer in another job or your nine to five? you pay more attention to way more detail than I ever would.
Kudos.
Rsp

[Stefken]

What do the modulation colors look like, are they easily spottable?

The real time modulation is easily spottable, also due to the fact that their movement catches your eye.

Cypher-mod1.png

The modulation assignments are pretty much in your face, so you can spot them easily.

Cypher-mod2.png

[Stefken]

@stefken, really nice looking skin... are you an industrial designer in another job or your nine to five? you pay more attention to way more detail than I ever would.
Kudos.
Rsp

Thx!

I used to be a webdesigner and am also an amateur photographer.
You could say that I'm quite fond of multimedia. I also do art (painting).

[FastTriggerFish]

Nice skin ! Will try it out.

Also, I’ve just finished reading the manual and I have to say holy crap is this thing deep and powerful.
Really seems like everything one might want to do is covered and easily accessible, and feels like a sound designer’s dream.
Can’t wait to spend more time with it, and I also hope to see more videos and tutorials.

[pdxindy]

What do the modulation colors look like, are they easily spottable?

The real time modulation is easily spottable, also due to the fact that their movement catches your eye.

Cypher-mod1.png

The modulation assignments are pretty much in your face, so you can spot them easily.

Cypher-mod2.png

Cool... How do you edit the existing skin? I mean, where would I find the files that need to be edited (Mac)?

Also, are you making your skin available to try?

Nice Job!!

[fisherKing]

stefken, that's great work. is it downloadable somewhere? (sorry if i missed that info). cypher 2 is great (altho it struggles in places, in logic X). but am using it a lot, and still barely scratched the surface...

[himalaya]

It's a lovely theme, Stefken! A really nice colour balance.

Although, the new layout with the envelopes and LFOs swapped around may not work for me that well, simply because I've spent so much time with the default layout that my hand would go to the right side to edit the envelopes (muscle memory) only to bump into the LFOs.

How about a version with the factory layout and your new colours?