Anacreon Synthesizer | Anacreon 2.5 Released

[Erich.Pfister]

To all - prototyping preset load from GUI today, looks like I should be able to release an update with direct preset load/save ability in a matter of days. Next move will be to redesign GUI with user-specified colors via config file, that will likely take at least a couple of weeks if things play out how I expect.

[THE INTRANCER]

To all - prototyping preset load from GUI today, looks like I should be able to release an update with direct preset load/save ability in a matter of days. Next move will be to redesign GUI with user-specified colors via config file, that will likely take at least a couple of weeks if things play out how I expect.

I'd draw up a redesign in 3 - 4 hours, but it would be twice as big size wise and 3D rendered with 3D knobs and glass displays. But there would be little point if you couldn't make use of it.

[Erich.Pfister]

@THE INTRANCER - I plan to use the existing GUI, maintaining a flat/minimal design, but with each module having an assignable color. Additionally, the patch cables will match their source module's color. Background color and foreground color will all be assignable. Once that is finished, I will put together a scaled up version of each knob / control, maybe 50% larger. Upon resizing the window, the controls will start to spread out. Once the window is scaled up past a certain point, the upscaled knobs / controls will replace the smaller versions.

I thought about doing a skeuomorphic GUI, but I don't think the ethos of 3D knobs and glass displays really fits the character of the synth - I want it to look bright, crisp, and computerized. That being said, I appreciate the offer - may I contact you in the future for my next project?

EDIT The reason the GUI will take so long to upgrade is because I'm adding a config file that I have to teach my VST to read from. I also have to add logic for storing and computing dynamic color schemes. Next, I have to export all of my existing controls as separate layers so that they can be colorized independently. Finally, I have to write portable graphics code to colorize each imported bitmap sequence according to the information from the config file. The good news is that I'm already implementing file handling in the preset load/save update, so I'll have my ducks in a row by the time I get to structuring that config file.

[teacue]

The good news is that I'm already implementing file handling in the preset load/save update, so I'll have my ducks in a row by the time I get to structuring that config file.

Any chance in the meantime to provide the users with more than the three presets available?
One reason why I bought your plugin was your unconventional point of view, but I would appreciate to have more presets.

[Erich.Pfister]

teacue,

Thank you for purchasing a copy of Anacreon - More presets will follow as soon as the preset load / save update is completed - I hope to have it done today, with presets being released over the weekend / next week.

What kind of presets do you like?

[teacue]

Thank you for purchasing a copy of Anacreon - More presets will follow as soon as the preset load / save update is completed - I hope to have it done today, with presets being released over the weekend / next week.

Thanks for your answer
Glad to hear.

What kind of presets do you like?

Unheard sounds
Beautifull noises!
Deep and rich bass sounds ...
Almost everything except bread and butter mainstream sounds already available with so many VSTis.

[Erich.Pfister]

@teacue got it - sounds like we have similar sonic interests. Once i figure out this preset save/load system I'll make sure to start with some very unusual patches. In the meantime, may I suggest patching feedback between filters and connecting oscillator output to the frequency knob? That's how I get the strangest sounds!

[THE INTRANCER]

That being said, I appreciate the offer - may I contact you in the future for my next project?

Well given that it's taken you 10 years to get to this point and the complexity of the tasks you are doing currently to try and update this to accommodate, I'm not sure if I'll be around in another 5 years on KVR , but if you do manage to do all the things required in the next 6 months and you've decided to start something new, fresh and modern.... there is probably a good chance that I'll be here... so you can PM me and let me know what you need design wise. If you need any reference in the type of GUI design /working instrument and redesign work / projects I've been working on over the past 8 years, you can find it along the top section of my intrancersonic-ds website.

[Erich.Pfister]

@THE INTRANCER - you have no idea how funny that first line was to me. I honestly do plan to have this VST finished in fairly short order - the Steinberg SDK is quite possibly the most unnecessarily insane, difficult to use library I've ever used. Once I finish this synth, the abstraction layer from the SDK will also be finished, and I plan for future projects to reuse the boilerplate. This should speed up development and let me focus more on concepts than plumbing.

[ahanysz]

...the Steinberg SDK is quite possibly the most unnecessarily insane, difficult to use library I've ever used...

I haven't tried to use it myself. But it's interesting to see some of the reactions as others try.

[andrewbrewer]

I too need some presets to really dive into this beast

[bmanic]

Ok, finally had time to test this properly. The old demo was indeed completely broken for me, even turning the oscs up. So I downloaded the latest and it is somewhat usable. The demo noise restriction is probably bugged/broken or otherwise it is _extremely_ over the top. You can sort of play the synth for like 30 seconds and then it'll become "broken" sounding for about 5 to 10 seconds.. then randomly it seems to trigger between these states.

Worst demo ever..

However, it IS immediately obvious within the first 30 seconds that this thing sounds AMAZING.
So I bought it. For this price, considering the sound, I can definitely call it a net gain.

There are some huge drawbacks/omissions to this synth in it's current state:

1) There is no way to add any modwheel or pitchweel routing.. and forget about aftertouch
2) It's still extremely buggy. Managed to crash reaper twice and could not load a single one of my presets successfully once saved in Reapers standard format (which is just the VST paramter values stored)

I really miss all those nice presets I created. Hope they can get recovered. All the connections look graphically correct and knob positions too.. but there is simply no sound. Synth is completely silent.

This thing has massive potential and with some refinement is unique sounding enough that it carves it's completely own space where it can sit comfortably and laugh at some of the more established wannabe "analogue" and extreme synths. Yes, it can sound that good.

[bmanic]

Feature request:

One more "row" of stuff for the synth. This section could be simlar size to the envelopes/noise/mults.. but would instead contain Modwheel, Pitchwheel, Aftertouch, Velocity and a Keytrack module. These would all have the same + / +- / - outputs with gain (modulation destination just like on other modules) and other useful shaping functions. This would make the synth a lot more expressive and free to program for actual live playing.

Especially keytrack on master output volume is extremely useful in many cases, so having one such module available to freely assign anywhere would be really useful.

[Erich.Pfister]

@bmanic - I sincerely appreciate you buying a copy, as such - I'm going to add pitch/modwheel support. I have played with the idea of adding an extra row containing all these items.

There is one issue, though - not 100% how to solve it: instantaneous change of pitch causes clicks when mapped against something that isn't being integrated / isn't a derivative. The best way I can think of to handle it is to add a glide parameter to the keytrack modulation like everything else. Any thoughts on that?

Also, crashing - did that happen with loading / saving presets only?

Aftertouch will probably be the last thing added of this group - I believe that it is one of those things that the SDK doesn't support super well, so it will probably take a little more time to get it running.

Regarding presets, I sure hope we can get those recovered.
The preset issue is as follows:
- the VST framework requires that hosts are able to save and load presets.
- not all hosts are able to save and load VST3 presets.
- not all hosts save and load presets exactly the same way. Very annoying.
- this is all a surprise to me in my Ableton echo chamber. my hair starts falling out again.
- I've successfully written the preset loading function.
- preset saving is a surprisingly interesting problem - the file format is a little difficult for me to get right.



As it stands, here's the current order of feature requests:
-save/load buttons on GUI
-writing some preset files for @teacue
-add the final row as listed above
-make GUI customizable.
-are things still crashing? if so, fix.

EDIT Thanks for the high praise on the sound! It's lovely to hear that I've got something worthy in Anacreon. Is the demo really that bad? It works off of random timing so people don't hack it. Maybe that random needs to be more constrained more than it is..

[akira2]

Anacreon sounds very very good !

about new gui...make it resizable