alpha forever...upcoming modular synth

[bmanic]

Balázs, would you consider making a Mac M1 version of Alpha Forever if I buy you a Mac?

Answering this question feels like answering the two guys on the plane from the Key and Peele skit (title: Prepared for Terries). I assume, I'm free to say no, but you'll not take no for an answer. The difference is that 'yes' would be the answer I'd like to give, and I'd be happy if AF would be platform-independent and even work on Linux.

Long story short: the way AFModular works ATM will stay Windows only. We envision turning AF into a JIT compiler, where custom designers would perform comparably to precompiled nodes. Going this way will mean a restart from scratch (with solutions to issues we cannot address in the current structure), and probably a good point to go completely platform-independent.

Ah that's too bad. My second option then is to simply buy a small 13" Windows laptop that'll be my Alpha Forever standalone box. It's not as convenient but if that's the only option, then so be it.

I do of course still have my giant heavy Clevo laptop but it's starting to show it's age.. and it weighs a ton, so I've kind of abandoned it.

I love your work. It's just absolutely phenomenal! So I'll get a tiny cheap(ish) windows laptop then. Now I just have to figure out a tiny convenient soundcard to go with it, something that has decent ASIO drivers.

[bharris22]

https://youtu.be/DIrFQnsTIl0?t=776

Ben's Karplus Strong patch is beautiful.

Can we please have a similar preset in the next update?

I just checked the video once again. The Karplus-Strong patch was my work actually, and it's one of the early patches provided with the prerelease version. This patch evolved into these presets (currently available in Alpha Forever):

Inst Strn Phy Guit P (this is the polyphonic guitar)
Inst Strn Phy Guit Leg M (this is a monophonic guitar with legato)
Inst Strn Phy Strng Leg (Monophonic legato string)
Inst Strn Phy String P (polyphonic string)

These are advanced versions of the patch Benn played with. Anyways, the next update will make Karplus-Strong-style synthesis a lot easier (and a bit more advanced).

Hi - approximately how many presets currently ship with Alpha Forever?

Thanks!

[9b0]

Ah that's too bad. My second option then is to simply buy a small 13" Windows laptop that'll be my Alpha Forever standalone box. It's not as convenient but if that's the only option, then so be it.

I do of course still have my giant heavy Clevo laptop but it's starting to show it's age.. and it weighs a ton, so I've kind of abandoned it.

I love your work. It's just absolutely phenomenal! So I'll get a tiny cheap(ish) windows laptop then. Now I just have to figure out a tiny convenient soundcard to go with it, something that has decent ASIO drivers.

I wish I could tell you: that the Mac version will be here in a few months, but that's not the case. You gave us so much support back in the WWAYM days, and it would be good to know: that you're around and make use of our work.

[9b0]

Hi - approximately how many presets currently ship with Alpha Forever?

Thanks!

In total there are 127 presets (including the init preset). We will implement a new preset system soonish alongside the palette rehaul project, so the limitation of 128 presets will be gone, and I'll be able to provide preset packs for our users.

[9b0]

I've built a patch that is performing a morph in between chords. The whole thing is controlled by a single knob.

https://youtu.be/TQtJzq9cr-c

[Everglide]

Balázs, this made my day!

Much appreciated

https://youtu.be/DIrFQnsTIl0?t=776

Ben's Karplus Strong patch is beautiful.

Can we please have a similar preset in the next update?

I've done a search in my archives, and found the OG patch that was sent to Benn. I was able to bring it to the latest release and clean it up a bit (and fix some mistakes I've done).

So here's the patch just a little bit modernized (won't be out of tune on higher notes, and is lighter on the CPU, and the patch is nicer organized for better sight).

[Everglide]

Alpha Forever HyperSaw / SuperSaw anyone?
How to Emulate the Super Saw - ADAM SZABO

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0XPkHMRSNSQ
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=exQE1l0nW-k

[9b0]

Alpha Forever HyperSaw / SuperSaw anyone?
How to Emulate the Super Saw - ADAM SZABO

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0XPkHMRSNSQ
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=exQE1l0nW-k

Using the unison node makes creating hypersaw / supersaw sounds pretty easy. If you want to emulate the JP-8000 exactly: that takes a bit of fiddling around, but it's doable, but a setup like this will get you close:


I did not find any info on the JP-8000 if its oscillators were bandlimited or not. If not, then phase offset can be solved quickly, if they were bandlimited, a workaround is the delay method I used in the patch above (the reset phase setting of oscillators has been on our to-do list for a long time now).

[9b0]

Sorry, I had to take a little break from producing videos. We are finalizing the next release, I'll be back with videos when the new version is out. I hope you'll like what we did!

[ralfrobert]

Sorry, I had to take a little break from producing videos. We are finalizing the next release, I'll be back with videos when the new version is out. I hope you'll like what we did!

What exactly can we expect? And when? Sorry for being curious...

[9b0]

What exactly can we expect? And when? Sorry for being curious...

I'm really bad at keeping secrets.

A bunch of oversampled distortion nodes, a versatile resonator, some new math nodes (mostly advanced trigonometry), two features that will make editing nodes more convenient, a GUI update (that you already have seen on my videos: the palette will feel a bit different, and switches won't have borders, hover-scopes will have a short appear time: this is the start of a larger GUI rehaul), additional pickups for some filters, reviewed NL 4p filter, reviewed reverb, fixed frequency shifter, updated clipper node, bug fix for inactive pasted nodes, new presets.

[ralfrobert]

What exactly can we expect? And when? Sorry for being curious...

I'm really bad at keeping secrets.

A bunch of oversampled distortion nodes, a versatile resonator, some new math nodes (mostly advanced trigonometry), two features that will make editing nodes more convenient, a GUI update (that you already have seen on my videos: the palette will feel a bit different, and switches won't have borders, hover-scopes will have a short appear time: this is the start of a larger GUI rehaul), additional pickups for some filters, reviewed NL 4p filter, reviewed reverb, fixed frequency shifter, updated clipper node, bug fix for inactive pasted nodes, new presets.

Wow, thanks for the info. This is getting better and better ... I am especially looking forward to the distortions.

[go_fig]

First, devs, I want to thank you for being so dedicated to continually improving your flagship product, and providing so much interesting video content that teaches not just your software, but ground-up sound design more generally. I intend to purchase your software when I have time to do sound/music again.

Second, I have wanted to ask your perspective about offering single-sample-level sound manipulation in a tool like yours, a la Gen in Max/MSP.

I know there are "serious issues" from a computational and software perspective to taking this step. I have read about these issues with respect to Max and Reaktor, although it's hard to develop a really robust understanding without being actually involved in software development or the nitty-gritty of OS and architecture.

I would love to hear your take on those issues (if you have time at some point), but mostly I wanted to ask you more about your perspective as an experienced low-level sound designer. When you are trying to achieve a desired sound, how often do you wish for that kind of control? If the answer is "seldom", why is the set of tools provided by AF (which work at a higher level of granularity) so often sufficient for your goals? [edit: I was wrong, there is sample-level control, sorry]

[9b0]

First, devs, I want to thank you for being so dedicated to continually improving your flagship product, and providing so much interesting video content that teaches not just your software, but ground-up sound design more generally. I intend to purchase your software when I have time to do sound/music again.

Thanks for your kind words, we do everything we can to advance, and can just hope, our users will like the direction we are going to.

Second, I have wanted to ask your perspective about offering single-sample-level sound manipulation in a tool like yours, a la Gen in Max/MSP.

If I understand your question correctly, the answer is, that in Alpha Modular everything is sample accurate. There's no differentiation between control signals and audio. Everything is just a flow of numbers. The way the nodes interpret the numbers is different in each node: a value of 50 can mean 50ms of delay when connected to a delay's delay input, or the pitch of the MIDI note 50 (a D note) when connected to the pitch input of an oscillator.

[go_fig]

[edit: I was wrong about this, sorry] Yes, but IIRC there is no way to define a feedback loop involving delays on the order of a few samples (at 44.1 or whatever sample rate). There are filters and other effects that can only be implemented with access to such fine-grained micro delays. Users have access to such effects only insofar as they are embedded into the modules you provide.

The technical issues around this are interesting to me, but I was primarily asking whether you as a sound-designer can feel limited by this aspect, or whether the existing modules already tend to capture what you would want to do at the micro level.