Arturia Pigments 2 (Free Update): Now it's Granular

[FarleyCZ]

And I still can't figure out this Anchored LFO, what will be the benefit to me and how much pain it will be if oh no. When I play the synthesizer I prefer the LFOs and other modulators to be free run.

...and that's exactly why you should want LFO anchoring. If your free run LFO is not anchored, it's starting phase will be different each re-render of your track. If you use that LFO in slower rythmical manner, it's nice to have it do the same random sounding moves each time you render out your track. Anchoring isn't bpm syncing. It's not key retrigering. It's just making sure that if you play the same part of your track repeatedly, the LFO will do the same random sounding sequence.

[perpetual3]

And I still can't figure out this Anchored LFO, what will be the benefit to me and how much pain it will be if oh no. When I play the synthesizer I prefer the LFOs and other modulators to be free run.

...and that's exactly why you should want LFO anchoring. If your free run LFO is not anchored, it's starting phase will be different each re-render of your track. If you use that LFO in slower rythmical manner, it's nice to have it do the same random sounding moves each time you render out your track. Anchoring isn't bpm syncing. It's not key retrigering. It's just making sure that if you play the same part of your track repeatedly, the LFO will do the same random sounding sequence.

I’m dumbfounded that Serum is the only synth that does this.

[BONES]

Except it isn't. Pigments does it too. Honestly, though, in 38 years of owning and working with synths, it's not something I've ever thought about, let alone needed, so I understand perfectly why almost nobody has bothered.

[perpetual3]

Except it isn't. Pigments does it too. Honestly, though, in 38 years of owning and working with synths, it's not something I've ever thought about, let alone needed, so I understand perfectly why almost nobody has bothered.

Hmmm... my understanding is that Pigments lacked this feature. Good for me if it has it.

For some of us, controlled randomness is a nice feature to have.

[BONES]

Plenty of ways to achieve it that don't require anchoring your LFOs. e.g. Using automation in your sequencer instead of trying to modulate things in your synth. If I need to anchor something within the arrangement, that seems to me to be the most obvious and sensible place to do it.

[perpetual3]

Plenty of ways to achieve it that don't require anchoring your LFOs. e.g. Using automation in your sequencer instead of trying to modulate things in your synth. If I need to anchor something within the arrangement, that seems to me to be the most obvious and sensible place to do it.

I’m not sure how I would go about anchoring the phase of the LFO using automation. I’ll have to look into it.

[FarleyCZ]

I’m dumbfounded that Serum is the only synth that does this.

It's not. From what I can report, Zebra and Falcon can do it too.

Except it isn't. Pigments does it too.

I don't think it does. I will have another look, but the closest thing I found was when you set the LFO to the legato retriggering mode. But that resets the phase and continue to run it only over connected legato notes. Not over the whole track. Once you interrupt the notes, it will reset the LFO again. Not the same thing.

Plenty of ways to achieve it that don't require anchoring your LFOs. e.g. Using automation in your sequencer instead of trying to modulate things in your synth. If I need to anchor something within the arrangement, that seems to me to be the most obvious and sensible place to do it.

But that's not exaxtly the same, is it. When using automation instead of LFO, you need to know what exactly you want to draw and re-draw it everytime you want it to change. With anchored free-running LFO you can play with that randomnes, reconfigure it on the fly and once you hit a phrase that you like, you can just leave it and it will continue to reproduce that phrase on each replay and re-render. It's creativelly much quicker.

[Vortifex]

Umm'd and aah'd over the demo for weeks but decided that the only thing I really liked was the granular part, and seeing as I already have a granular VST I'll have to give Pigments a miss. I wish I liked the sound more, it's a joy to toy with.

[Tj Shredder]

And I still can't figure out this Anchored LFO, what will be the benefit to me and how much pain it will be if oh no. When I play the synthesizer I prefer the LFOs and other modulators to be free run.

...and that's exactly why you should want LFO anchoring. If your free run LFO is not anchored, it's starting phase will be different each re-render of your track. If you use that LFO in slower rythmical manner, it's nice to have it do the same random sounding moves each time you render out your track. Anchoring isn't bpm syncing. It's not key retrigering. It's just making sure that if you play the same part of your track repeatedly, the LFO will do the same random sounding sequence.

I hate it if my piece sounds the same each time I listen to it...
...that’s exactly why you should want to avoid anchoring by all means...; - )

[FarleyCZ]

I hate it if my piece sounds the same each time I listen to it...
...that’s exactly why you should want to avoid anchoring by all means...; - )

No, that's why it should be a deactivatable option. World is not black and white people, come on.

Especially in the mixing and later mastering stage, I want to have an option to hop back into the original project, do some minor changes and render a new version out. ...without having bunch of un-anchored LFOs fundamentally changing how stuff sounds in the track. Anchored LFO's and fixed random feeds are a way how we can rid of that tideous resampling stages. It just speeds up workflows.

[Tj Shredder]

Of course you are right... (I want the original emojies back, have to fake them ; - )

[Echoes in the Attic]

Yeah sample start modulation is as easy as any other parameter. So is grain size. Maybe cnt is talking about the loop markers though? In the edit section. I don’t see a way to modulate those, there’s only the markers on the waveform to edit The placement. Same with loop fade and other parameters in the edit screen actually. That’s too bad. Is there a way to modulate these?

So is this correct then? No way to modulate loop start/end?

[muki]

So is this correct then? No way to modulate loop start/end?

yes
in logic trying to assign a midi parameter from pigments to logics builtin modulator
does not work with loop sample or sampleloop start/stop points

the only parameters that seem to be modulatable from logic modulator
(but not from within pigments) in the edit module are:
TUNE A: Transpose and Fine
MIX A: Gain and PAN

(Loop Fade does not work)

[BONES]

I’m not sure how I would go about anchoring the phase of the LFO using automation. I’ll have to look into it.

No, you use automation INSTEAD OF an LFO. That way, if you move your arrangement around, the automation moves with it, so it's even more consistent than anchoring the LFO. Maybe it was easy/obvious for me because Orion has an LFO tool to create automation that perfectly mimics the LFO in a synth, plus has a few other tricks like fade in/out, but that's how I'd do it if I ever had to.

I don't think it does. I will have another look, but the closest thing I found was when you set the LFO to the legato retriggering mode.

A few pages back, somebody was asking what "anchor" meant in the context of Pigments' LFO, which is what I was going off. As I said, it's not a feature that would interest me in 100 years so it's not something I'd notice for myself.

But that's not exaxtly the same, is it. When using automation instead of LFO, you need to know what exactly you want to draw and re-draw it everytime you want it to change. With anchored free-running LFO you can play with that randomnes, reconfigure it on the fly and once you hit a phrase that you like, you can just leave it and it will continue to reproduce that phrase on each replay and re-render. It's creativelly much quicker.

As I said above, Orion has an LFO feature in the piano roll that will do all of that stuff as easily as a synth's LFO. You make adjustments while you are playing the pattern you're working on, press OK and it renders the automation again. Not sure it would be as easy with Cubarse but I'm sure there are MIDI plugins that could handle it.

Umm'd and aah'd over the demo for weeks but decided that the only thing I really liked was the granular part, and seeing as I already have a granular VST I'll have to give Pigments a miss. I wish I liked the sound more, it's a joy to toy with.

I've got a couple of granular synths but what I hear in the Pigments patches is quite different to either Straylight or Quanta, which themselves have different strengths and weaknesses. Pigments seems to do better at making musical timbres, where Quanta is great for rhythmic patches and Straylight is more about other-worldly atmospheres. The three co-exist quite well together for me. Just as with V/As and most other types of synthesis, there is no one size fits all when it comes to granular.

[EnGee]

I hate it if my piece sounds the same each time I listen to it...
...that’s exactly why you should want to avoid anchoring by all means...; - )

No, that's why it should be a deactivatable option. World is not black and white people, come on.

Especially in the mixing and later mastering stage, I want to have an option to hop back into the original project, do some minor changes and render a new version out. ...without having bunch of un-anchored LFOs fundamentally changing how stuff sounds in the track. Anchored LFO's and fixed random feeds are a way how we can rid of that tideous resampling stages. It just speeds up workflows.

What DAW do you use? I ask this because maybe you would be interested in Bitwig if you like to feel unrestricted in modulations (in general). It is the best DAW IMO in doing such modulations and it gives new life even to old synths. It is a "modulation heaven" without a doubt