One Synth Challenge #138: Surge (MrKarolus Wins!)

[functionform]

No way to do that without a pretty considerable rework.

Ah too bad. It's not necessary, but an FM8 style configurability with regard to routing for even just those 3 oscillators would open worlds for people who like their fm wubs.

Is there a way to bypass all filters too? Again not really necessary, but a nice to have.

[functionform]

It is insane how great this synth sounds and how usable it is out of the box. I'm basically just editing presets and its sounding pretty fantastic. Don't think I'm going for any major sound design goals this time around, just having fun with it.

[EvilDragon]

No way to do that without a pretty considerable rework.

Ah too bad. It's not necessary, but an FM8 style configurability with regard to routing for even just those 3 oscillators would open worlds for people who like their fm wubs.

Is there a way to bypass all filters too? Again not really necessary, but a nice to have.

Yeah it requires a lot of (re)work to do the FM8 style routing, we do have an issue for that, but it's not in immediate plans to do it.

Also no way to bypass filters as of yet.

[Taron]

One thing I get lately is that MuLab always crashes after the exit and there really is only Surge in the project. Not sure what it might be, but something in the destroy procedure seems to rub MuLab the wrong way.
In Surge I'm using a bunch of effects, reverb, frequency shifter (chorus), delays... feels like it may relate to those. I've had issues with buffers in my own synths after exit.

[baconpaul]

Hmm it has been pretty stable but we have some sporadic fl hang reports from one or two folks also. Can I ask a couple of questions

1: Win 10 vst3 64 bit?
2: would you be willing to share your Mulab file with us?
3: do you open and close surge window a lot?

Best if you have a GitHub I’d is to open an issue there and attach file as zip if willing; or attach it here and evil or I can move it to gh. I will grab a Mulab demo and look then

The daw object lifecycle is ambiguous in vst3 and while I think we have it right maybe Mulab (and fl) do something that tickles us

[Taron]

Ah, thanks, but I have a bit of an allergy against GitHub, hahaha.... (thanks, peter! ) ...BUT here are answers:
(...and you may not like them, because it's vst2!)
1: Win7 64bit, vst2 64bit
2: Sure thing...where should I send it?
3: No relation to surge window, but certainly to playback. I tried loading the project and then closing MuLab without playing and it works all fine. Then I did the same, but played the track... stopped it, close MuLab and crash.

MuLab doesn't take vst3, by the way. I did consider using KV_Element, or what it's called, but thankfully the vst2 compile came my way. Naturally, I'm afraid this means it may not help you much, but considering that you had reports regarding the vst3 version, it may be the same issue.

[EvilDragon]

It might not be a bad idea to check out the VST3 in whatever wrapper you can.

You can drop the project here or via PM to baconpaul - also let us know if any 3rd party plugins are in there.

[Taron]

Let's see, if I can drop it here... this is without any mastering or other 3rd party plugs, except 4 MuLab muxes...

Ah, seems I can add it...cool!

[EvilDragon]

OK so I played that project in a loop on MuLab demo a few times, all the while opening and closing Surges, and it seems to be just fine here...

Your computer specs?

[Taron]

The crash happens after closing MuLab, not during playing or cycling through the Surge windows. I haven't encountered any problems yet while working with the project. It's really only after closing MuLab.
Also, I've established that it has nothing to do with the GUI of Surge.

Specs: windows 7 pro 64bit, Xeon dual 6core, Nvidia GTX970, onboard Realtek High Definition Audio (latest drivers), not running ASIO, though, but on MME.

When Asio crashes, well... that would be a blue screen. ... so for the sake of my sanity I don't for now.

[Aro]

Make your own init patch, or use one of init patches from Factory->Templates folder.

Oh cool! I never thought to have different template init patches. Or to build my own. What an idea!

[Taron]

Oh hey, I just found this wonderful clip, searching (again) for a nice reference for a snare:
https://youtu.be/qq4SNkt53Q0
This is brilliant, because it is an endless variety of snares to study.
By the way, I've flipped the velocity around on the snare strings so that you hear more hiss at lower velocities, making even my "from the top of my head"-snare work quite well on ghost notes.
However, I may create a whole bunch of them, because Surge is just such flipping fun to design with. Still in love...

[EvilDragon]

The crash happens after closing MuLab, not during playing or cycling through the Surge windows. I haven't encountered any problems yet while working with the project. It's really only after closing MuLab.
Also, I've established that it has nothing to do with the GUI of Surge.

Specs: windows 7 pro 64bit, Xeon dual 6core, Nvidia GTX970, onboard Realtek High Definition Audio (latest drivers), not running ASIO, though, but on MME.

When Asio crashes, well... that would be a blue screen. ... so for the sake of my sanity I don't for now.

Yeh I could close MuLab without any issues... I'm wondering if MME+Realtek might have some problems somehow.

Is there any chance you could borrow a proper audio interface that has its own ASIO drivers rather than the kludget that A4A is?

[Taron]

Nope. But I'm working on not being broke, which then will also include getting decent audio gear. I'll be looking for advice then, for sure!

[IV!]

Oh hey, I just found this wonderful clip, searching (again) for a nice reference for a snare:

Thank you, it's useful to refresh your mind on how they sound!

I can not praise Surge, it will still remain above all my praise! It's too difficult for me yet, so I'm totally into the manual. And I want to say that this is the most detailed and clear guide that I have seen! Along with links to the desired section from the synthesizer itself, this is super convenient!

P.S. I Want to ask the advice of experienced synthesizer programmers - do you have any ideas how to make the sound of breaking glass? Something like a short percussion sound. Just your thoughts on which features I should look at... Thanks!)