PLASMONIC - A new synth from Brian Clevinger

[killmaster]

The only thing that I would like is to have an option to change the color of the box that's drawn around the parameters that get marked to show what is modulating them. I can barely see it. Would like the option of making it red so it stands out more.

yes: +1 definitely
i also barely see it
i'd prefer some additional modmatrix view
if, for example, i want to see the MW routing,
which would go to an LFO which would go somewhere else
it's kind of hard if not impossible to follow the whole route...

LFO is obscured by the expression panel,
further targets are somewhere hidden in a mousyclicking hide&seek festival...

so, imho an additional modmatrix-panel would be cool

hmm: vital solves this problem really quite elegantly imho

I agree with this as well. I'll take a look at vital to see what you mean...

[p1afff]

To benable to see Triggers destinations would be cool too...

[killmaster]

MPE pressure works fine but polyphonic aftertouch doesn't. Can anyone verify this? I was thinking of writing to Brian about it.

[killmaster]

The only thing that I would like is to have an option to change the color of the box that's drawn around the parameters that get marked to show what is modulating them. I can barely see it. Would like the option of making it red so it stands out more.

yes: +1 definitely
i also barely see it
i'd prefer some additional modmatrix view
if, for example, i want to see the MW routing,
which would go to an LFO which would go somewhere else
it's kind of hard if not impossible to follow the whole route...

LFO is obscured by the expression panel,
further targets are somewhere hidden in a mousyclicking hide&seek festival...

so, imho an additional modmatrix-panel would be cool

hmm: vital solves this problem really quite elegantly imho

I'm fast realizing that it's hard to work on building patches without being able to see all the parameters I'm driving. For instance, I often find it useful to use Slide and Pressure on my Roli to drive multiple parameters and it's easy to lose track. Would be great to have a way seeing a list of all the targets Slide is connected to. We should have easy access to all the connections imo.

O plus, I'd really like to be able to have more sort options for the presets. Primarily by author name.

[Cinebient]

The only thing that I would like is to have an option to change the color of the box that's drawn around the parameters that get marked to show what is modulating them. I can barely see it. Would like the option of making it red so it stands out more.

yes: +1 definitely
i also barely see it
i'd prefer some additional modmatrix view
if, for example, i want to see the MW routing,
which would go to an LFO which would go somewhere else
it's kind of hard if not impossible to follow the whole route...

LFO is obscured by the expression panel,
further targets are somewhere hidden in a mousyclicking hide&seek festival...

so, imho an additional modmatrix-panel would be cool

hmm: vital solves this problem really quite elegantly imho

I'm fast realizing that it's hard to work on building patches without being able to see all the parameters I'm driving. For instance, I often find it useful to use Slide and Pressure on my Roli to drive multiple parameters and it's easy to lose track. Would be great to have a way seeing a list of all the targets Slide is connected to. We should have easy access to all the connections imo.

O plus, I'd really like to be able to have more sort options for the presets. Primarily by author name.

At least there is an option to see what is all connected to slide with but I also would like to have an option to see a dedicated list for each modulation source.
Actually there is so much more I could imagine and would like to see in Plasmonic but still my new favourite toy to play with. It really needs time to explore but damn is this a wonderful sound engine.

[WasteLand]

I ended up getting Plasmonic and instead of having buyer's remorse, I have this fear thinking I almost didn't get it. It's beyond what I could have imagined. I haven't been able to record anything yet. just playing with it for hours and getting immersed in the sound and I've only gone through about 10% of the presets. I know Brian made this instrument with MPE being an integral aspect of it and it shows and it is by far the most successful expressive synth I own. I saw an interview with Brian and he mentioned that we wanted to make something where small motions could make surprising new resonances or sounds and this is very much the case. I can play quick notes 2 octaves down and it all of a sudden creates new surprising swells and resonances. And in the best imaginable way for what I like. Lot's of surprises and organic fluctuations with small changes in single parameters. Really the first time I've played my MPE controllers and thinking about what each finger is doing. I could go on...

great! i knew this was possible in plasmonic, but because i have a plugin stop, i didn't even try it, or i would buy it...

i like, and strangely generate has the same possibilities... but not with small motions still MPE has a lot of impact, you can make track with one instance and one patch. as i did. i could make more, it's like a 'generator' for movie-scores.. but with a twist... and soundscape it will be, not movie score.

back to plasmonic. now you have got me, i hope the sale will not be too soon.. it won't be...

but indeed, there are other synths, that with good MPE routing, in patches (i make them myself), can create sounds within one patch, sounds change by octave indeed, or semitones even, and slide motion/position (if you use absolute, i have roli blocks, 3 (seabord + 2 lightpad M blocks, the lightpad M blocks i use also for other things, but in MPE mode; you play diferently then on a seaboard block, great combination, for me).

plasmnonic next to generate (and vital) were the big newcomers, and not synths that are derivatives, but really add to the existing catalog of synths, and capabilities.

great that you enjoy plasmonic that much. i would too.. i guess at some moment i will..

[killmaster]

I ended up getting Plasmonic and instead of having buyer's remorse, I have this fear thinking I almost didn't get it. It's beyond what I could have imagined. I haven't been able to record anything yet. just playing with it for hours and getting immersed in the sound and I've only gone through about 10% of the presets. I know Brian made this instrument with MPE being an integral aspect of it and it shows and it is by far the most successful expressive synth I own. I saw an interview with Brian and he mentioned that we wanted to make something where small motions could make surprising new resonances or sounds and this is very much the case. I can play quick notes 2 octaves down and it all of a sudden creates new surprising swells and resonances. And in the best imaginable way for what I like. Lot's of surprises and organic fluctuations with small changes in single parameters. Really the first time I've played my MPE controllers and thinking about what each finger is doing. I could go on...

great! i knew this was possible in plasmonic, but because i have a plugin stop, i didn't even try it, or i would buy it...

i like, and strangely generate has the same possibilities... but not with small motions still MPE has a lot of impact, you can make track with one instance and one patch. as i did. i could make more, it's like a 'generator' for movie-scores.. but with a twist... and soundscape it will be, not movie score.

back to plasmonic. now you have got me, i hope the sale will not be too soon.. it won't be...

but indeed, there are other synths, that with good MPE routing, in patches (i make them myself), can create sounds within one patch, sounds change by octave indeed, or semitones even, and slide motion/position (if you use absolute, i have roli blocks, 3 (seabord + 2 lightpad M blocks, the lightpad M blocks i use also for other things, but in MPE mode; you play diferently then on a seaboard block, great combination, for me).

plasmnonic next to generate (and vital) were the big newcomers, and not synths that are derivatives, but really add to the existing catalog of synths, and capabilities.

great that you enjoy plasmonic that much. i would too.. i guess at some moment i will..

Vital is in this group as well, yes! Future looks bright for instruments who integrate MPE in this way. I'm even using my pedal now, so I have 11 "fingers". Setting MPE mode in Plasmonic to 12 voices. I voice per finger and a couple for bumping into adjacent notes!

[killmaster]

The only thing that I would like is to have an option to change the color of the box that's drawn around the parameters that get marked to show what is modulating them. I can barely see it. Would like the option of making it red so it stands out more.

yes: +1 definitely
i also barely see it
i'd prefer some additional modmatrix view
if, for example, i want to see the MW routing,
which would go to an LFO which would go somewhere else
it's kind of hard if not impossible to follow the whole route...

LFO is obscured by the expression panel,
further targets are somewhere hidden in a mousyclicking hide&seek festival...

so, imho an additional modmatrix-panel would be cool

hmm: vital solves this problem really quite elegantly imho

I'm fast realizing that it's hard to work on building patches without being able to see all the parameters I'm driving. For instance, I often find it useful to use Slide and Pressure on my Roli to drive multiple parameters and it's easy to lose track. Would be great to have a way seeing a list of all the targets Slide is connected to. We should have easy access to all the connections imo.

O plus, I'd really like to be able to have more sort options for the presets. Primarily by author name.

At least there is an option to see what is all connected to slide with but I also would like to have an option to see a dedicated list for each modulation source.
Actually there is so much more I could imagine and would like to see in Plasmonic but still my new favourite toy to play with. It really needs time to explore but damn is this a wonderful sound engine.

I didn't realize there was a way to see everything connected to Slide. Reading the whole manual today!

[Cinebient]

The only thing that I would like is to have an option to change the color of the box that's drawn around the parameters that get marked to show what is modulating them. I can barely see it. Would like the option of making it red so it stands out more.

yes: +1 definitely
i also barely see it
i'd prefer some additional modmatrix view
if, for example, i want to see the MW routing,
which would go to an LFO which would go somewhere else
it's kind of hard if not impossible to follow the whole route...

LFO is obscured by the expression panel,
further targets are somewhere hidden in a mousyclicking hide&seek festival...

so, imho an additional modmatrix-panel would be cool

hmm: vital solves this problem really quite elegantly imho

I'm fast realizing that it's hard to work on building patches without being able to see all the parameters I'm driving. For instance, I often find it useful to use Slide and Pressure on my Roli to drive multiple parameters and it's easy to lose track. Would be great to have a way seeing a list of all the targets Slide is connected to. We should have easy access to all the connections imo.

O plus, I'd really like to be able to have more sort options for the presets. Primarily by author name.

At least there is an option to see what is all connected to slide with but I also would like to have an option to see a dedicated list for each modulation source.
Actually there is so much more I could imagine and would like to see in Plasmonic but still my new favourite toy to play with. It really needs time to explore but damn is this a wonderful sound engine.

I didn't realize there was a way to see everything connected to Slide. Reading the whole manual today!

Works for all modulators (or most). There is a green circle left side if you hoover over the modulators. If you click on it it gets green and you see all destinations highlighted.
When there is one critic it is the not great legato and glide in mono mode. I really have some trouble to get a smooth sound here. I would like a much more fine editing (and custom curves/slopes) for this as well. Maybe its user fault. I will try harder.
Oh and the voice stealing seems a bit on the hard side. If I use less voices I get often clicks when a voice get stealed. This could need an update or different altos to choose.
These things are very important, especially for an instrument like this.

[Cinebient]

Oh and while I had some fun again with a Plasmonic preset....
https://soundcloud.com/user-790535032/p ... elling-fun

[killmaster]

The only thing that I would like is to have an option to change the color of the box that's drawn around the parameters that get marked to show what is modulating them. I can barely see it. Would like the option of making it red so it stands out more.

yes: +1 definitely
i also barely see it
i'd prefer some additional modmatrix view
if, for example, i want to see the MW routing,
which would go to an LFO which would go somewhere else
it's kind of hard if not impossible to follow the whole route...

LFO is obscured by the expression panel,
further targets are somewhere hidden in a mousyclicking hide&seek festival...

so, imho an additional modmatrix-panel would be cool

hmm: vital solves this problem really quite elegantly imho

I'm fast realizing that it's hard to work on building patches without being able to see all the parameters I'm driving. For instance, I often find it useful to use Slide and Pressure on my Roli to drive multiple parameters and it's easy to lose track. Would be great to have a way seeing a list of all the targets Slide is connected to. We should have easy access to all the connections imo.

O plus, I'd really like to be able to have more sort options for the presets. Primarily by author name.

At least there is an option to see what is all connected to slide with but I also would like to have an option to see a dedicated list for each modulation source.
Actually there is so much more I could imagine and would like to see in Plasmonic but still my new favourite toy to play with. It really needs time to explore but damn is this a wonderful sound engine.

I didn't realize there was a way to see everything connected to Slide. Reading the whole manual today!

Works for all modulators (or most). There is a green circle left side if you hoover over the modulators. If you click on it it gets green and you see all destinations highlighted.
When there is one critic it is the not great legato and glide in mono mode. I really have some trouble to get a smooth sound here. I would like a much more fine editing (and custom curves/slopes) for this as well. Maybe its user fault. I will try harder.
Oh and the voice stealing seems a bit on the hard side. If I use less voices I get often clicks when a voice get stealed. This could need an update or different altos to choose.
These things are very important, especially for an instrument like this.

Thanks! I didn't realize so I appreciate it. Also, I'm not sure if this is voice stealing, but I do notice often that there area a lot of click sounds. Maybe the envelopes or maybe voice stealing, but they are not the kind of click sounds I like.

[muki]

Works for all modulators (or most). There is a green circle left side if you hoover over the modulators. […]

yes + no
you can't often see all modulators at once

because panels obscure each other...

simple example:
Filter Hz is modulated by LFO1 which is engaged by MW
i.e.: turn up the modwheel and the LFO will sweep the filter

the view:
expression tab is open
i click on the modwheel
the green circle hilights
nothing else - i don't see any modulation destination activated/hilighted

LFP/ADSR/Trig are obscured by the expression panel

now the hide&seek-game starts:
select the ADSR panel: nothing
select the LFO panel: oh! here it is! (easter easter)

then i have to select the LFO-circle to finally see the FilterHz hilighted

sorry: imho that's cumbersome hide&seek

[pdxindy]

Works for all modulators (or most). There is a green circle left side if you hoover over the modulators. If you click on it it gets green and you see all destinations highlighted.

You can see them (most of them) but you cannot edit the mod depths that way... so if you have 3 parameters modulated by an LFO and you want to edit the mod depth of all 3, you have to click the 1st parameter to make the cog visible, then click the cog to open the mod window, edit the depth, click to close the window and repeat. 4 actions each so to edit the 3 parameters is 12 separate actions. In Hive, one selects the mod source then all the target depths can be edited at once. So in the above case it would be 4 steps in Hive for the same result as 12 steps in Plasmonic.

I really like the sound of Plasmonic and it is different enough that I accept its idiosyncrasies, but I would love to see some workflow evolution of the mod system.

[killmaster]

Works for all modulators (or most). There is a green circle left side if you hoover over the modulators. If you click on it it gets green and you see all destinations highlighted.

What is most important to me is to see what keyboard parameters like pedal, aftertouch, slide, modwheel etc. are assigned to. These things in the mod source window:

Screen Shot 2021-02-07 at 8.11.17 AM.png

If you look around the screen you might get lucky and see what's moving in the tiny modulation bar under the parameter button and if there are multiple assignments, it gets pretty impossible.

[Cinebient]

A weird ambient piece. 6 instances of Plasmonic used, no extern FX.
https://soundcloud.com/user-790535032/p ... a-demonica