Fathom Synth Development Thread

[CHOOS]

@ jmg8: So you'd approve someone sampling your girlfriend/wife,
because it's cheaper than courtship, romance, and marriage?

Depends on what the other guy brings to the table...

[Sinthoid]

I echo what others have said about vst instrument sampling, there really isn't a need for it in Fathom. The only real use for such a thing is as an alternative to freezing a track, and it's preferable to use a dedicated plugin for that. Fathom Sampler should really be focused on creative uses for sampling, and having a unique way of doing things compared to other samplers.

I am, however, a big fan of the FathomFX idea. I even feel like this could be a product in it's own right with unique modules for sidechain input, envelope follower, etc. That's all gravy for me tho, I'm plenty satisfied with effects that are already out there.

[gentleclockdivider]

Fathom is now only 25 euro/dollar
Almost bought it , but I really dislike the analog style oscilators .
I know they are additive by nature , but damn they sound thin .
The saw wave played at lower octaves sounds like nothing really , just thin

[zzz00m]

I think as far as sampling is concerned, there are two main use cases. 1-Sample libraries and playback of sampled instruments; and 2-Sample mangling of user samples within a project.

Regarding case #2, Ableton Live is often cited for its integrated samplers, Simpler and Sampler. https://www.ableton.com/en/packs/sampler/

Have also heard good things about Reason and their NN-XT sampler. https://www.propellerheads.com/en/reaso ... ents/nn-xt

Less well known, recently Tracktion has added a multi-sampler to the Waveform 9 DAW.

And the latest PreSonus Studio One 4 has an update with an upgraded Sample One XT with live sampling included. https://www.pro-tools-expert.com/studio ... ple-one-xt

Perhaps I am just rambling here, but the intent was to share some examples for case #2, where I think the efforts to add sampling to Fathom belong. Case #1 seems to be well covered by Native Instruments and their world domination of pre-recorded sample libraries for the Kontakt ecosystem.

[574X]

More insight about efficient multisampling, which may be inspiring:
Also applicable to layered, velocity sensitive strings, percussion, choir, etc, triggering a different sample depending upon velocity range...

[jmg8]

I should at this point respond to some of the comments.
I do not intend to use an auto-sampling feature to "steal" things.
I own several items of software and I have paid for it all. I love to support developers.
I am also a new developer myself and my first plugin (reverb) will be available to buy soon.
I am a professional sound designer.
Sampling another soft synth can have many benefits. Firstly it massively saves on CPU for some stuff.
Say I want like a 128 voice unison sound and it is completely killing the CPU, then sampling it will be more efficient (yes I know it will not sound as good as a sample as opposed to in the synth)
Now the sampler will be inside Fathom, so getting a sample from another synth is only half the story. We can then take it and use it as a sound source for subtractive synthesis and start layering it with other OSCs and FX etc. Until there is a new sound.

[Distorted Horizon]

What are you planning for the sampling side? Sidechain a track to Fathom and sample that?

[gentleclockdivider]

Think I have found a bug
Select frequency pulse oscilator
Choose frequency and add modulator
Select an envelope but set modulation to mulitply and range to zero , the result is that it still somehow modulating the frequency parameter

[jmg8]

What are you planning for the sampling side? Sidechain a track to Fathom and sample that?

Was that for me? I am not really sure what you mean. Can you elaborate please?

[Whywhy]

+1 jmg8.
A lot of professionals make some crazy patches based on sampling their own sources.
Making a very complex patch, sampling it to multiples layers, construct another patch base on that sampling, sampling it again.....
It's not a feature for piracy or a fantasy feature, it's a useful feature.
Sampling can be a complicated process, same for export it to multiples formats, for maximum compatibility.
Some tools already exist, but no one is the perfect solution.
I hope Fathom could be the solution.

[Whywhy]

Idk if it was mentioned before, if sampling external sources is validated, crossfade loop print to sample is a must have.

[Distorted Horizon]

What are you planning for the sampling side? Sidechain a track to Fathom and sample that?

Was that for me?

You writing Fathom?

[fmr]

More insight about efficient multisampling, which may be inspiring:
Also applicable to layered, velocity sensitive strings, percussion, choir, etc, triggering a different sample depending upon velocity range...

Sampling every single note from a synth, is just a waste of space.

[zzz00m]

After further considering a sampling feature in Fathom, I do like the idea of having a sampling oscillator in the synth, even if I only plan to drag and drop a sample into it.

The cool thing would be to be able to slice and edit the sample loop region inside the synth.

I already have a few subtractive type synths (including SynthMaster and Biotek) that will let you load a wave sample into an oscillator, which offers a ton of sound design possibilities, especially when you can combine oscillator layers using both traditional synth waveforms and samples. Nice atmospheric pads and drones can be achieved this way.

But the main drawback with most of those synths that I have are that you have to pre-edit your wave sample elsewhere because the synths will loop the whole imported sample from start to finish. So you need to already have a fairly good plan for what part of the sample you wish to loop before you import it. That detracts from the creative workflow moments inside of the synth.

I think it would be a big enhancement to be able to slice and loop the sample, perhaps even to just select a loop region non-destructively within the synth itself, until you are happy with the result.

Another example of a synth with a sample playback focus, that also contains traditional basic synth waveforms is iZotope Iris 2. But the focus there is on non-destructive spectral editing and looping of the waves, so I am not suggesting that. But it does let you control the part of the sample region that loops in each oscillator. Perhaps a time based, rather than spectral based, version of this editing feature would be nice. Iris 2 lets you load a combination of up to up to 4 samples or oscillator waves per patch.

[FathomSynth]

Sorry, fell a bit behind on the thread last couple days.

I'll read through everything in the last couple pages tomorrow and record all sampler feature requests.

Not sure why you said the oscillators sound thin. You can draw your own waveforms, if you don't like the way the waveforms sound just draw the one you want. Also there are 8 detune voices plus noise and distortion. Plus you can add as many oscillators as you want and detune them manually in addition to all the detune voices. I'm not sure how much fatter it could be? Is there a specific synth you are referring to for comparison which sounds "fatter"? Fathom's oscillators are alias free, maybe you are use to hearing more aliasing.