Unify by PluginGuru; The next big thing?

[trusampler]

Is it possible to integrate our hardware synths in Unify? I'd like to add my wavestate to a patch in unify,but not quite sure how to get started.

Not YET, but the Easter Bunny may have a nice surprise for you in April...

Awesome news Shane! I've been digging in the Korg Wavestate's sample set, and what a joy to find sounds from Plugin Guru in the factory set.

[mladi]

I bought it but never get notification mails about updates.

[dbender]

I bought it but never get notification mails about updates.

Me too, not getting notification emails about updates.

[getdunne]

If you bought Unify direct from PlugInGuru.com, but aren't getting emails about updates, please contact UnifySupport@PlugInGuru.com and ask to be put on the mailing list. I don't know the details (I'm not involved in setup or running the PlugInGuru e-commerce system), but I understand customers don't get added to the list automatically.

If you bought Unify from another dealer, please contact the dealer directly.

[zoidkirb]

polybox is awesome. i now have polyphonic reaktor blocks!

[WatchTheGuitar]

Really happy have finally been able to integrate LFOs on MIDI CCs within Unify itself using HY-MPS2 to (for instance) automatically modulate the Filter cutoff and resonance of an instrument.

In case this helps anyone else:-

1. Add Unify to a track in your DAW (in my case tested it with Bitwig - yes I know that has world class LFO functionality, but I wanted the same shizzle in my other DAWs that aren't as well furnished with LFOs)
2. If you haven't done already add HY-MPS2 to the list of MIDI FX plugins Unify knows about by clicking the left most icon at the bottom right of Unify (the one that looks like three stacks of dots and lines.
3. From the dropdown in the top left of the plug-in window choose MIDI Effects
4. Select "ALL My MIDI Effects.xml"
5. Browse the list in the middle for your MIDI FX which is to provide the LFO (in my case, HY-MPS2)
6. Once you've selected it, click 'Add Selected'
7. Hit Save then click the icon from step 2 to get back to the main Unify screen
8. Select your MIDI Effect layer (or add a new one) and click on "Add (or Swap) : ALL my MIDI Effects" and pick your MIDI FX
These next steps are specific to HY-MPS2, but hopefully help with other things
9. Inside HY-MPS2 click on MIDI Thru and (unless you want it) disable the Block Chainer sequencer.
10. In the MOD tab, give Mod1 and 2 a spare CC target - I used 22 and 23 - that you can later map on your target instrument.
11. I set Mod1 - Target CC22, Mod Depth: between 12PM and 3PM on the dial, Range: 090%
12. I set Mod2 - Target CC23, Mod Depth: between 12PM and 2PM on the dial, Range: 100%
The next bit is to set these CCs to register in your target instrument - I used Repro-5 with a great pad preset named "Like Faith" so these steps are specific to Repro-5
13. Click the red button in the top right hand corner to get a screen with some red options mostly in red. Click on "MIDI TABLE".
14. Use the Add button to enable you to add parameters and match them up with the CCs you set in step 10.
I used
Filter:Cutoff, Controller: 22 (all other options set to default)
Filter:Resonance, Controller: 23 (all other options set to default)

That all works, but you can also set up the Macro knobs e.g.
15. Right click on Macro 1, choose Linked Parameters, click the plus sign, find the specific thing in the next menus you want to map to the control e.g. midi/1/effect/1/Mod1 LFO Rate


Apologies it's long-winded and I don't imagine many people under forty would even attempt to read that and just be annoyed there isn't a video instead, but if Shane's reading this and fancies bashing up a simple LFO tool we can use within Unify itself it'd be a hell of a good thing and the plugin I used is $40 and not free, but at least this is a way to get LFOs on CCs working within Unify without having to do anything specific in the DAW or dick around in the synth's own mod matrix if it has one (and even if they do it's not always that obvious how they work).
Plus there's the whole thing about giving myself something to do while trying to take mind off the apocalypse / impending lack of toilet paper situation (delete as applicable).

FWIW - I can't get HY-MPS2's scale filtering to work inside Unify, does anyone know how or could they point me at something a cack-handed keyboard player like me could use to prevent wrong notes without having to do anything at the DAW level?
Is there a free to use MIDI FX that works in Unify that lets you specify scales like A Minor Pentatonic?

[getdunne]

...if Shane's reading this and fancies bashing up a simple LFO tool we can use within Unify itself it'd be a hell of a good thing...

LFOs are straightforward to implement inside a plug-in such as a synth, but much more challenging in a host. The only control "signals" available are parameter-automation, which is not sample-accurate and really only good for slow changes, and MIDI CCs, which are sample-accurate, but only provide 128 distinct values. In either case, you are relying on the individual plug-ins to provide some internal smoothing, and many do not, so you will hear stepping artifacts.

All that said, this is very much on our to-do list, and will be coming in a future update.

[WatchTheGuitar]

...if Shane's reading this and fancies bashing up a simple LFO tool we can use within Unify itself it'd be a hell of a good thing...

LFOs are straightforward to implement inside a plug-in such as a synth, but much more challenging in a host. The only control "signals" available are parameter-automation, which is not sample-accurate and really only good for slow changes, and MIDI CCs, which are sample-accurate, but only provide 128 distinct values. In either case, you are relying on the individual plug-ins to provide some internal smoothing, and many do not, so you will hear stepping artifacts.

All that said, this is very much on our to-do list, and will be coming in a future update.

That'd be great. Yeah I agree there are limitations until we get that sexy MIDI 2.0 resolution, but I do find LFOs really handy for adding some interesting movement to pads or 303 style basses.

[zoidkirb]

something weird happened with blue arp when i did the new unify and unify content update: i stopped being able to edit step type/octave/key select.
solution was to re download blue arp itself, and manually replace it inside the plugin guru vst folder. blue arp is now working again

[mrsugmad]

Here's John demonstrating the new version using PolyVox:

[SciFiArtMan]

That layer cycling effect with PolyBox is a whole new world of sonic creativity, from my perspective! I can see I'll be exploring this extensively! Even subtle changes can be so rich and full! And then the craziness side of it seems limitless! Thanks guys!!!

[Cinebient]

Great, i was waiting for such a feature inside Unify. So far i use Polymer and i wonder if Unify also allows me to even combine polyphonic synths, so supports multiple voices per MIDI channel. Let me say 2 voices to channel 3, 4 voices to channel 5 and so on. And also things like voice 2,5,6 to channel 2, voice 1,3,4 to channel 3 from a chord i play.
And are there different choices how the cycles works?
Hard to explain in my bad english but i´m searching mainly for a thing like Polymer to use as midi FX.
https://polymer-app.com
Would be awesome if Unify now covers that all.

[getdunne]

Great, i was waiting for such a feature inside Unify. So far i use Polymer and i wonder if Unify also allows me to even combine polyphonic synths, so supports multiple voices per MIDI channel. Let me say 2 voices to channel 3, 4 voices to channel 5 and so on. And also things like voice 2,5,6 to channel 2, voice 1,3,4 to channel 3 from a chord i play.
And are there different choices how the cycles works?
Hard to explain in my bad english but i´m searching mainly for a thing like Polymer to use as midi FX.
https://polymer-app.com
Would be awesome if Unify now covers that all.

PolyBox is only one voice per channel/layer right now, and there are no choices for cycling. I hope to add these features in future.

[Cinebient]

Great, i was waiting for such a feature inside Unify. So far i use Polymer and i wonder if Unify also allows me to even combine polyphonic synths, so supports multiple voices per MIDI channel. Let me say 2 voices to channel 3, 4 voices to channel 5 and so on. And also things like voice 2,5,6 to channel 2, voice 1,3,4 to channel 3 from a chord i play.
And are there different choices how the cycles works?
Hard to explain in my bad english but i´m searching mainly for a thing like Polymer to use as midi FX.
https://polymer-app.com
Would be awesome if Unify now covers that all.

PolyBox is only one voice per channel/layer right now, and there are no choices for cycling. I hope to add these features in future.

Thank you. In general the workflow inside Unify looks like how i ever wanted it. Copy, remove layers, save, recall all seems to work fast without tons of clicking around and stuff. So great work on this.
But if you could add these features on top you go straight into the hall of fame of midi plug-ins.
Its already a great tool so thank you for all your work and bringing also creative joy into our home, especially at this times.

[grdh20]

Thanks for the update, Can you add a "Customize" button on the next installer so that on mac we can choose which things to install, such as un-ticking vst3?