Hive 1.2 - free update - adds wavetables and more

[lengro]

I've wondered for a while - is there any difference in sound quality, between:
1) inbuilt basic waveforms
2) equivalent .umh script (for example: sin(2*pi*x) vs inbuilt sine)
3) imported wav (for example: full resolution perfect sine)

If not, why not just go full wavetable, so selecting inbuilt sine would draw a sine in first frame?

The built-in waveforms draw even less CPU.

Thanks. I guess its because optimized code for a simple well-known waveform is faster than processing a look-up table.
But soundwise its the same.

I really enjoy fiddling with .uhm scripts, it is very elegant thought out. Not that I have invented any interesting wavetables, but I learn a lot about sound creation.

Any plans expanding the language with constansts - e.g. _cutoff=2000, instead of hardcoding numbers in formulas?
I think it would help readability and reduce the need for comments.

[Urs]

Variables would be awesome, but they might considerably slow things down as the engine will only bake constant expressions into constants. I would have to patch the parser library quite a bit, which I'd rather not do in a hurry...

[pdxindy]

Btw. I wholeheartedly agree with what you, 2NDMOUSE and AdvancedFollower say. I probably also enjoy the cozyness of our little retreat here, maybe I'm subconsciously afraid of how wild things can go in Instruments

Amen to latter... the thread in Instruments is officially lost.

Instruments threads are like that... they devolve... then come back around... then disintegrate again and so on.

Kudos for your patience

[Urs]

Hehe, thanks. Yeah... I really don't get why people need to do that. I don't wish this onto any of our competitors.

[lengro]

Variables would be awesome, but they might considerably slow things down as the engine will only bake constant expressions into constants. I would have to patch the parser library quite a bit, which I'd rather not do in a hurry...

Understandable - it's more a nice than need to have.

Another thing - some scripts like:

Code: Select all

NumFrames = 1
Spectrum lowest=1 highest=10 "1"

- the plotted waveform gets clipped at the top and buttom. It also happens when importing some waveforms. It would be nice with a zoom all toggle.

[Urs]

Variables would be awesome, but they might considerably slow things down as the engine will only bake constant expressions into constants. I would have to patch the parser library quite a bit, which I'd rather not do in a hurry...

Understandable - it's more a nice than need to have.

Another thing - some scripts like:

Code: Select all

NumFrames = 1
Spectrum lowest=1 highest=10 "1"

- the plotted waveform gets clipped at the top and buttom. It also happens when importing some waveforms. It would be nice with a zoom all toggle.

Yep. We had to leave *some* room for improvement

[Funkybot's Evil Twin]

In case anyone's interested, AJYoung converted the Adventure Kid wavetables into a format that works well with Hive here:

viewtopic.php?t=421602

The originals are hundreds of single cycle waveforms, grouped into categories/folders, whereas this packages each folder up into a wavetable where each waveform is a frame. Plays very nicely with Hive and is much more organized than having hundreds of single cycle waveforms adding clutter to your Wavetables folder.

Note: some of these have over a hundred frames of very different sounding waveforms, but I've gotten some good results by finding a batch of like sounding waveforms and doing very subtle modulations of the wavetable position in those instances.

[Maykie]

Sorry for being a whiner but I hate this update. Unnecessary complexity added to synth that meant to be simple ( plus it looks super ugly now ). I am going to stay at previous version forever.

[EvilDragon]

Err, what? It's as simple as it can possibly be and you get a huge amount of additional waveforms to explore and extends the sounds that Hive can cover considerably. Nobody forces you to do ANY scripting? Just pick new waveforms/wavetables from the menu. How's that complex? New presets are awesome. Bundled wavetables are super-useful. The GUI practically wasn't changed, there are only two more tabs in the hexagon, and they don't look "ugly"? Are you a troll?

[snigelx]

Sorry for being a whiner but I hate this update. Unnecessary complexity added to synth that meant to be simple ( plus it looks super ugly now ). I am going to stay at previous version forever.

Look, I understand kind of what you mean, but then again I feel it is a bit strongly stated without adequate constructive motivations. As I am also one of the users who have always valued Hive's (generally slimed-down) efficiency, I am genuinely curious about your comment here. I find I am able to pretend nothing has changed for the most part. I can ignore the XY and WT additions when needed. Where/How are you annoyingly hindered by the additions included in this update within your current Hive workflow?? I don't notice any real difference. It is still efficient. Uglier? It hasn't really changed to my eyes, unless you mean the cells?

Edit: I should add that Honestly I welcome the new cells. We Hive users have always known there would be additions (the missing cell mystery). They were telling us this from early-on. It was only in the last years that we had an idea what it would be and honestly, the execution is quite smooth. U-he have stated, and I agree, that the update was very well thought out to try to be as non-intrusive as possible to existing happy Hive users. As I am one of those who was afraid of the changes before, I can say now that they did a great job not interfering with my normal workflow and making the additions truly optional aspect of the synthesizer.

[PieBerger]

Given the huge increase in it's capabilities, not a lot has changed GUI/workflow-wise, save for 3 extra tabs in the hex, which you never have to click on, if wavetables/macros are not your thing.

[Urs]

I would like to second what snigelx and PieBerger say. For years we have been criticised for not filling the "missing hexagon" - which became a thing due to an accidental impression in a promotion video that was done from 3D renderings of a very early alpha stage.

Now we filled it and nothing has changed, unless you want to.

Ok, the preset browser has changed. But also not in a way that makes it less usable.

[pdxindy]

Sorry for being a whiner but I hate this update. Unnecessary complexity added to synth that meant to be simple ( plus it looks super ugly now ). I am going to stay at previous version forever.

I'm guessing that you tried the alpha version with the hacked in and floating wavetable windows.

With the 1.2 release version, it can be basically invisible if you have no interest in using the wavetables. Plus you get the new browser.

[mkruse]

I have another wavetable synth and the wavetables in Hive are sooo much better! They are musical! Great job.

[voidhead23]