Hypersaw Symphony, orchestral analog-emulated synthesizer

[mystran]

I'm thinking of swapping out the oscillators for Xoxos Ellipsoid. Is there a way to @ someone?

Ellipsoid would allow me to design a sin to square, sin to saw, sin to tri oscillator, trisaw, PWM as well, which will be really nice for the morph modulation. It almost covers every shape. Currently the oscillators are kinda boring and don't sound quite give the 'Chaos' sound I'm looking for.

Sadly I have absolutely no idea about Ellipsoid whatsoever... and it sadly appears somewhat difficult to find out more at this point in time (xoxos website's gone, KVR account's gone).

[Architeuthis]

viewtopic.php?p=6653826#p6653826

https://www.desmos.com/calculator/lx2a3bjrxv

https://github.com/RobinSchmidt/RS-MET/ ... ors.h#L288

Code: Select all

double ellipse(double phase, double A, double B_sin, double B_cos, double C)
{
	double sin_x, cos_x;
	sinCos(phase*TAU, &sin_x, &cos_x);

	double sqrt_val = sqrt(pow(A + cos_x, 2) + pow(C*sin_x, 2));
	double out = ((A + cos_x)*B_cos + (C*sin_x)*B_sin) / sqrt_val;

	return out;
}

Edit: Not sure if Robin will see this, but I think he did the math for pseudo-antialiasing. Since the waveform can go from sin to whatever, you can limit the variables so it stays mostly anitaliased.

[Architeuthis]

It was brought to my attention that SoEm Chaos would be a more useful product if it was designed to stay in tune and have consistent timbre.

I'll have to make another plugin call it SoEm ChaosTuned and design it so you only go out of tune when you turn up or down some clearly labeled parameters, and the other advantage is that I can have parameters specifically for causing the two oscillators to beat against each other (be slightly out of tune) creating sonic movement, flutters, gurgles, etc. Have that beating frequency consistent across the keyboard by specifying a beat frequency and frequency ratios rather than exact frequency offsets which are ~~not~~ useful for consistency but not easy to use.

Edit: Also, I realize Chaos could stand to be more consistent across the keyboard. Somehow the filters aren't tracking well.

[Architeuthis]

Sorry, this is not an update post, but an update about future updates. I had been exploring various plugin solutions, various compilers, considering CLAP, etc. so I haven't had time to work on the VSTs I've promised to release.

Today I got back into the swing of things, so, updates are coming soon.

I wasn't going to release the hypersaw module for free, but...

I am a bit confused, which plugin is the hypersaw synth? Or its not uploaded to the google drive yet?

...because I got Adam Szabo's attention, I feel compelled to release it for free. Some years ago I eagerly awaited Adam's release of his JP6K because it promised to be the ultimate supersaw synth. Now the tables have turned, correct me if I'm wrong, Adam awaits my take on the ultimate supersaw. So, I will release the "core" module version (no UI, no modulation options) so that at least everyone can have a demonstration of it. Even without UI or modulation, it will be musically viable and useful in your DAW, because the amp envelope is built into the individual sawtooth voices... ok so technically that's envelope modulation... whatever! It will be limited in that the per-sawtooth envelope is not very flexible, but that is by design, that is how core works, it doesn't need to be flexible. The full synth will of course have a traditional envelope on top of the core envelope so that you can do all the things you'd want to with a supersaw.

thx.

Edit: Hey Mr. Szabo, It's been 12 years since our conversation about the perfect supersaw. I still have the emails in my gmail.

[adamszabo]

Now the tables have turned, correct me if I'm wrong, Adam awaits my take on the ultimate supersaw.

Well, whenever I see anything about supersaw, you automatically have my attention

Edit: Hey Mr. Szabo, It's been 12 years since our conversation about the perfect supersaw. I still have the emails in my gmail.

Time flies doesnt it! Sometimes way too fast!

[Architeuthis]

Want to update everyone on my progress. I am now coding the vst tech demo for the hypersaw which I will release for Windows for free, hopefully within a week.

Also, I will be releasing the explanation on how it works. This is because if I don't, then people will just steal and copy from me. I'd rather just give it out. I just ask that if you are discussing the history of the hypersaw, where it first appeared, perhaps in a video or in a manual, that you mention my company. Other than that, everyone can implement it in their synths and not need mention my company.

I think my hypersaw tech demo will go viral, every synthesizer will have to include it after I release it, because if a synth doesn't have that feature, it will be considered a missing feature by users.

Edit: Also, I'm thinking of naming my workhorse synth HySyN or HYSYN. What do you think?

[Architeuthis]

omg I can't call my synthesizer symphonic unless it has polyphonic portamento or some way to portamento to different chords easily. damn. Imagine how epic that would sound with supersaws and hypersaws. Not only that, those transitions would be humanized so not all pitches arrive at the same time, so it sounds more orchestral and organic.

edit: what about a simple implementation where you put each voicing on another midi channel and so the polyphonic portamento can figure out which notes need to transition where... and if you put two or more notes on the same midi channel, the synth will somehow know what to do, and add more notes in to compensate.

[Architeuthis]

I'm also going to write down another idea so I remember it: Ghost notes in monophony mode.

I think I will have a "ghost note envelope" where you can set how you want ghost notes to play. A ghost note is any time you need more than 1 note to play while in monophonic mode.

I stumbled upon the usefulness of this when I attempted to do polyphony with a monophonic synthesizer. It helps to quickly be able to do some chords on your monophonic synth and yet it will remain sounding monophonic, sometimes you just need an extra few notes here and there and don't want to switch to polyphony just for that.

[adamszabo]

I think only deal with one problem at a time. Finish the hypersaw code first, then worry about the polyphony stuff later on.

[Architeuthis]

My week is up in 3 days. Let's see if I can get it done on time.

[Tj Shredder]

what about a simple implementation where you put each voicing on another midi channel and so the polyphonic portamento can figure out which notes need to transition where... and if you put two or more notes on the same midi channel, the synth will somehow know what to do, and add more notes in to compensate.

That is called MPE, its mandatory nowadays anyway and if you base the development on CLAP, you can allow any parameter to be controlled per voice...
Without MPE it would miss the most important feature to get me interested...
Playing those polyphonic bends is actually very possible on a LinnStrument for example. Keyboards don't fit well for expressive playing...

[briefcasemanx]

MPE is not mandatory nowadays, not even close.

[Tj Shredder]

For me and anybody who ever touched an expressive controller it is! Sound-wise its the difference between dead and alive…

[Architeuthis]

I'll be adding all important midi features and taking feature requests, no need to worry.

[Architeuthis]

PROGRESS:

• [x] Noise generator
• [x] OnePoleFilter
• [x] Linear smoother
• [x] Sample and Hold
• [x] Oscillators (I think I will go with DSF oscillators that I setup for morphing between sine-saw-square, sounds very organic because it's not via crossfading but via harmonic adjustments. Or I can go with PolyBLEP which has more waveforms and PWM.)
• [ ] Random Walk (requires linear smoother, S&h, noise generator, and [optionally] filters)
• [ ] LinearEnvelope (optional for the hypersaw, but this may become a new standard to have built into both hyper and supersaw because of how much better it is to envelope individual sawtooths rather than the whole thing. It doesn't make sense to do the whole thing if your goal is orgasnicness, acousticness, etc.)
• [ ] Hypersaw (requires [optionally] linear envelope, random walk, oscillators)

I need to get the next 2 classes done and finally I will have all the ingredients to make a Hypersaw.

Edit: Ok, here's the first clue on the Hypersaw on how it works. Having a really nice random walk is going to decide how nice the Hypersaw sounds. Ideally it would be a super smooth antialiased kind of noise that can go from barely wobbling or drifting up and down slowly or white noise and everything in between. My random walk is pretty good, but not perfect, which means getting the hypersaw to not sound too gritty is slightly more difficult.

There's a few other issues with my limited DSP skills that when I release the details of the Hypersaw, I bet someone will come around and improve it further.

Edit: Adam Szabo, if you want to take a stab at guessing guessing the main difference between a supersaw and hypersaw, write your answer here. Me asking this question is even a clue in itself. There's a very distinct but very simple difference.