alpha forever...upcoming modular synth

[Everglide]

Balazs, Do you plan to port Alpha Forever to Mac?

Hi! We plan to do it in the future, but for the time being we are focusing on new features and improvements. Apart of the huge amount of work and testing it would take to port the plugin to AU, the future of the Mac OS is also a huge risk ATM. Currently it's safer to do as much as we can on the current platform. We will focus on Mac whenever we happen to have more users / resources, and we know what the new OS X is going to look like (what the compatibility with the current Intel chipset is going to be, and what the reaction of the audio industry is going to be like).

Now that Apple have announced that the new Mac Pro is remaining on Intel, does that give you reassurance for future development of Alpha Forever on Mac?

I'm seriously contemplating buy a Mac Mini Pro to boot in Windows just so I can use Alpha Forever now. It sounds that good!

[aabyssx]

Just an idea (never tried it) but maybe it is possible to use a virtual machine with a Windows guest OS on Mac to experiment with Alpha Forever. Of course there could be performance and compatibility issues but buying a computer for it seems to be overkill.

[9b0]

The latest AFNoding episode is here. We create a custom curved envelope follower that can be turned into an LFO.

https://youtu.be/A_xfG0r4PQQ

[Charlie Firpo]

Very interesting! Great video & explanation 9b0. Thanks alot!

[9b0]

Very interesting! Great video & explanation 9b0. Thanks alot!

I always forget to tell something in the videos... this time it was that you’ve been the inspiration for building this, so thanks for the idea!

[Starmill Studio]

Hi, I'm probably doing something wrong, but the synth is not reacting to CC64 sustain pedal.
Sadly for me this is a show stopper. I allready bought it, but I cant't see myself playing it without a working sustain pedal.
Geetings from Austria!

[9b0]

Hi, I'm probably doing something wrong, but the synth is not reacting to CC64 sustain pedal.
Sadly for me this is a show stopper. I allready bought it, but I cant't see myself playing it without a working sustain pedal.
Geetings from Austria!

Hi! You can use MIDI CC's using the MIDI CC node. Simply write the CC number into the input field, and the node will output values in the 0..1 range depending on the state of your controller.

Here i'm receiving MIDI CC 72 in Ableton, and track the values on a scope:


Be aware, that some hosts filter MIDI CC messages that a plug-in can receive. As an example: if a VST parameter is mapped to CC64 in Ableton, the Midi CC node wont receive the messages it requests from Live.

It's also important to know, that your MIDI CC node has to be connected to the patch that connects to the audio output (or be connected to the output directly). That's the way AFModular is structured. Nodes only process anything, if they are part of the patch that makes sound.

[Starmill Studio]

Thank you for your answer but that's not what I meant. For prober sustain pedal functionality the Midi Note module needs to keep track of all Note Off messages received while the pedal is down (CC64 > 64). So the module produces only gate open (G = 1) signals. When you let go of the pedal all the gate closed (G = 0) signals are sent at once.
So when you play with the pedal down all the envelopes are held at sustain level and when the pedal is lifted the envs go into their release stages.
At least that's how each and every other synth or keyboard instrument I have works. Maybe I'm just to old to rewire my brain NOT to use my pedal, but as a classically trained pianist I just can't help myself.

[Starmill Studio]

Actually I might be able to implement this behaviour using some logic modules. Since every new Note On Message gets it's own voice there is no need for a list of held notes. All I have to build is a structure that holds the gate open until the pedal is released.
Although I still would prefer if the plugin itself took care of sustain duties. I just looked it up in NI Reaktor - in the properties of an ensemble you have a "Sustain Ctrl" set to CC64 and "Sustain Ctrl Active".

[aabyssx]

I think you might want something like this:
(copy-paste it into afmodular)

Code: Select all

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325297332871879B52B2F8F472E50A62

[9b0]

I think you might want something like this:
(copy-paste it into afmodular)

@aabyssx: the problem with your patch is that releasing notes get turned on again when the sustain restarts.

@Starmill Studio: I've created another patch that acts the way it should be alright. You can save this macro for yourself and reuse it in any other patch. You simply have to insert this patch inbetween the gate and your envelopes. I was playing it now, and even if i do not have a pedal, i was able to recreate the sustain behaviour nicely with it. We hope, this will make playing AF more fun for you!

Code: Select all

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512653E5436B8702F3C08C0105C74F9D

Simply connect this designer like this:


This is what the sustain designer looks like inside:


The idea is to save the state of the gate to a variable whenever MIDI CC64 goes above or gets below the 0.5 threshold. If it's above the threshold we output the value saved in the variable (if the gate was alive at that time then the value should be 1, if it was not alive, then it's a releasing note, so the value of the variable should be 0), if it's below the threshold we simply output the gate, since we do not want the sustain to influence anything in this case.

[9b0]

And here's a different approach that works well 2!

Code: Select all

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B68CDFA58F4E7FA4185C04391C330DFF

The idea is the same, just the realization is different.


EDIT:
MIDI CC node: The MIDI CC node outputs values between 0..1 depending on the state of your controller.
Add node: I add 0.5 to the MIDI CC-s output, so we are inbetween 0.5 .. 1.5.
Trunc node: The truncation cuts the decimals, so after the truncation we have 0 if the pedal outputs a value below 64, and we have 1 if the pedal outputs something above 64.
1-x node: I subtract the output of the truncation from 1, this is basically inverting. We have 1 if the pedal is on low and 0 if it's on high now.
Variable node: the variable is something like a sample and hold modul. If the input labeled 'Trg' has a nonzero value, then the variable stores the value just received on the input plug labeled 'New'. The node always outputs the last stored value, so if the 'Trg' input receives a constant value of 1, the variable simply outputs the incoming signal received on the 'New' plug. In this case this is the 'New' plug receives the gate. If the signal on the 'Trg' input gets a value of 0, we simply output the last gate value we had at the time the 'Trg' was on 1. So if the gate was active at this point of time, we will output a constant value of 1 until we raise our leg from the pedal. If the pedal is raised, the variable will output the gate value again. If we did raise our hand from the key by now, this value will be 0 for sure, and the note will start to release.

[Starmill Studio]

Thank you! I'll have a go at it over the weekend!

[9b0]

A new noding session is available. We cover the topic of analogue drumsounds, but if you look carefully, you can spot some new features as well.

https://youtu.be/qGAisrmyhxE

[bmanic]

Awesome! Any news on updates? I'd love to see Alpha Forver really take off in a huge way.