Dawesome Novum (A Granular Synth for Creative Sampling)

[zvenx]

I for one am not even sure what you mean.
What Daw? What OS?
how are you dragging it? Via Explorer/Finder?
From your DAW?
Like in Cubase they are three places to drag it from.. Big Media Bay, project window, side small media bay..

I for one would need lots more information to be of any help to your simple question.
rsp

[AtomOfScent]

Additional feedback/ideas:
1) More FX would be really useful. Basic EQ and dynamics is a must.

2) The delay is cumbersome as it has a sync feature, but the time parameter stays in MS, or at least doesn't show useful tempo-based values. If this is improved please allow dotted notes and triplets.

3) It's nice there's a chorus but I don't find it's that great. For synths a Juno-style chorus, or Eventide H910 Ultra Harmonizer tend to sound great on almost anything. Also, with some of the existing effects the volume can drop considerably with higher wet values so including an output gain parameter would help, especially if automating/modulating the parameters.

4) A convolution reverb would be amazing, especially if we can load our own samples. Some of the best sound design can come from using tonal and percussive sounds rather than traditional reverb impulses. Since Novum already supports basic note detection when importing samples this could also be used for impulse files making it easy to tune the root to match the key of the track.

5) It might be hard on some CPUs, but a unison mode with detuning and stereo spread for the voices could really help thicken things up.

[Spitfire31]

Just add your external FX to taste instead of preching for blotaware.

[martiu]

External effects exist you know Atom?
You can put any combination you want with them, no need to be build into Novum.
Also why the hell you want to "thicken things up" with granular synth when you already have a "thickened up" analog emulators?

[carllackey]

i'm using waveform 12 and i'm dragging a loop from the browser in w 12. i'm on a mac.when i drag my loop from the browser in the daw it won't load. it just goes back to the browser.

[Spitfire31]

Try dragging the loop from the Finder instead. W kan be itchy…

[SHall1000]

I’m probably not using this correctly or adventurously enough but every thing sounds a bit samey to me. Sounds like the original sample in a room full of wasps…….or maybe bees.

[manymanyhaha]

Thank you for all the proposals and ideas - I find this very precious feedback and it will for sure influence the further development of Novum! So please keep them coming!

In general:
* Features that are easy, fit will in the philosophy, and will not clutter the UIX -> these will come for sure (eg PITCH JIT)
* Features that will tax the CPU like x2 or x3 -> These will most likely not come ... but I may find ways to achieve the same endgoal with slightly different approach
* There are some features where I am heavily resistant because they are against the central design goals for Novum.

To give an example:
Novum is centered around the idea of "make expressive instrument from a single sample". There are many excellent multi-sample Player, like Kontakt. There are awesome and had grown over decades. While this is great, making a multi-samples sound is a huge investment of time, from the recording, the pre-processing, the mapping, the looping ... this is so much effort that we (musicians) tend to leave this completely to companies who specialised on this. Thats fine, but Novum does not try to be this. Novum wants to be something that is instantly inspiring and is able to take any single sample into something that you can use in a musical context (or SFX context).
You may argue that we need multi-sampling, round robins etc to make it sound great across the keyboard. But this is mixing the problem ("I don't want mickey-mousing for high pitches, I want my low end to sound less dull") with a potential solution ("Please give us multi-samples"). Why do we tend to mix this? Because we are all used to what we know, and IMHO the industry has not been to creative over the last decade to develop alternative solutions. I am working on technology that allows to detect the formants from a single sample and allows pitch shifting while maintaining the formants. If I get this to work it will address the original issue, but w/o multi-samples. This will come with the benefit that you get some additional parameters to shape sound, like formant shifting. Will it replace multi-sampled instruments like VSL? For sure not!

In the end - what counts for you is that your use-cases are adressed - not the underlying technology I use. So at least for me it is much easier if you express the usecases that you miss, explain what you would like to achieve, instead of proposing a specific solution. (This is not meant as criticism!)

I hope this makes some sense!?

Hey, thank your for that and thank you for Novum. Kind of indispensable already and I've only had it a for a few days. Easily my favorite VSTi so far.

If there ever is a way to implement mapping of multi-samples without harming anything else, would love it as an option. I just enjoy recording my own samples and layering/mapping them in interesting ways. Definitely not a pitch problem for me, more of a creative habit (it's how I use TAL Sampler), but no worries, totally understand your reasoning for not wanting to go there. This instrument is a creative playground, love it, thanks!

[AtomOfScent]

Just add your external FX to taste instead of preching for blotaware.

External effects exist you know Atom?
You can put any combination you want with them, no need to be build into Novum.
Also why the hell you want to "thicken things up" with granular synth when you already have a "thickened up" analog emulators?

Gee, I had no idea, thanks for the tip!
Seriously, has no one ever used a synth with unison or internal FX that don't suck?
Can the developer or third-party sound designers make presets with external FX?
Why not just get rid of the "bloat" and remove them entirely?

Can name another synth that lacks even basic HP/LP filters? Including them would probably take 0.1% of the time as the GUI design.

A "tempo-synced" delay showing time values in ms is a bug, pure and simple. The fact I can add Valhalla Delay in my DAW isn't a reason to ignore it. And if the Juno had this chorus no one would remember it ever existed.

[PetVor]

Additional feedback/ideas:
1) More FX would be really useful. Basic EQ and dynamics is a must.

2) The delay is cumbersome as it has a sync feature, but the time parameter stays in MS, or at least doesn't show useful tempo-based values. If this is improved please allow dotted notes and triplets.

3) It's nice there's a chorus but I don't find it's that great. For synths a Juno-style chorus, or Eventide H910 Ultra Harmonizer tend to sound great on almost anything. Also, with some of the existing effects the volume can drop considerably with higher wet values so including an output gain parameter would help, especially if automating/modulating the parameters.

4) A convolution reverb would be amazing, especially if we can load our own samples. Some of the best sound design can come from using tonal and percussive sounds rather than traditional reverb impulses. Since Novum already supports basic note detection when importing samples this could also be used for impulse files making it easy to tune the root to match the key of the track.

5) It might be hard on some CPUs, but a unison mode with detuning and stereo spread for the voices could really help thicken things up.

I agree fully to 1-4. Hurts a bit to admit, but it is true that the build in chorus could be far better. I find it okayish for metallic sounds, but not as an ensemble effect. This will be no bloat, its just one more option in the FX section.
Not sure about 5, I think PITCH JIT or TUNE JIT is the way to go here, which will detune every single grain, instead of having multiple detuned voices.

[PetVor]

i'm using waveform 12 and i'm dragging a loop from the browser in w 12. i'm on a mac.when i drag my loop from the browser in the daw it won't load. it just goes back to the browser.

Does drag and drop from the finder work? If not I'd check the file format: Novum can't read copy-protected files (for example you find these often in Ableton packs)

[PetVor]

i'm using waveform 12 and i'm dragging a loop from the browser in w 12. i'm on a mac.when i drag my loop from the browser in the daw it won't load. it just goes back to the browser.

Does drag and drop from the finder work? If not I'd check the file format: Novum can't read copy-protected files (for example you find these often in Ableton packs)

[kraster]

When I copy envelopes from one slot to another it doesn't copy the start and loop points of the envelope?

Is there a way of copying the start point and loop points of the envelope with the envelope?

Is there any form of numerical entry for parameters or any kind of precision mode for the sliders?

Also I'd love a regular file browser for samples along with drag and drop. (If that's not already possible)

[FigBug]

i'm using waveform 12 and i'm dragging a loop from the browser in w 12. i'm on a mac.when i drag my loop from the browser in the daw it won't load. it just goes back to the browser.

Don't drag anywhere from the browser. Drag from the icon that looks like a sheet of paper with folder corner (document). Then you'll see the mouse cursor change to file icon and you can drag to 3rd party plugins.

[Sampleconstruct]

I noticed that when playing very low notes with some sounds there are plenty of audible clicks in the +10 kHz area, I can clearly see (and hear) them in audio editors like RX (and happily remove them), something seems to be wrong...