Current Launch v2 - A new instrument platform by Minimal Audio

[jbraner]

I finally got a chance to fire up the demo yesterday.
There certainly is a lot in there, but it's pretty easy to find your way around.

There was already a discussion about the presets a while back - but I just found most of them to be way "too much". Everything doesn't need 2 wavetables, a sample and a grain processor and a sub - heaped with 5 FX
The lead presets are more like pads and the arp ones are all over the place.
I don't think you can play more than one key at a time for most of them.
A lot of them have different parts in them, playing at different intervals, so again these are not going to work most of the time without a little "tuning" up for whatever I need.
I just think I'd need to prune down any of these presets to be able to actually use it - but the good thing is that it's not hard to do that.

I also think it's very weird that the arpeggiator is locked in to a "key", so you can only play 7 out of the 12 notes whenever you use the arpeggiator. This is normal for the "chord" module but not the arpeggiator. I've never seen anything like this.

I really want to like current, so I'm going to play with it some more, and I sent a couple of emails to support and got replies really quickly. Jake said they're going to include a "chromatic" mode for the arpeggiator in future, and maybe there will be some simpler presets (I think this has already been mentioned) to play with too. I'd rather "enhance" a preset to work for me, than have to thin them out.

It is really good that we can talk to the guys at Minimal - and they seem to care about what we think - so I'm just sayin...

There *are* some really nice sounds in there though.

[Ou_Tis]

I finally got a chance to fire up the demo yesterday.
There certainly is a lot in there, but it's pretty easy to find your way around.

There was already a discussion about the presets a while back - but I just found most of them to be way "too much". Everything doesn't need 2 wavetables, a sample and a grain processor and a sub - heaped with 5 FX
The lead presets are more like pads and the arp ones are all over the place.
I don't think you can play more than one key at a time for most of them.
A lot of them have different parts in them, playing at different intervals, so again these are not going to work most of the time without a little "tuning" up for whatever I need.
I just think I'd need to prune down any of these presets to be able to actually use it - but the good thing is that it's not hard to do that.

I also think it's very weird that the arpeggiator is locked in to a "key", so you can only play 7 out of the 12 notes whenever you use the arpeggiator. This is normal for the "chord" module but not the arpeggiator. I've never seen anything like this.

I really want to like current, so I'm going to play with it some more, and I sent a couple of emails to support and got replies really quickly. Jake said they're going to include a "chromatic" mode for the arpeggiator in future, and maybe there will be some simpler presets (I think this has already been mentioned) to play with too. I'd rather "enhance" a preset to work for me, than have to thin them out.

It is really good that we can talk to the guys at Minimal - and they seem to care about what we think - so I'm just sayin...

There *are* some really nice sounds in there though.

Care to name any that we can preview on Minimal Audio's presets page?

[jbraner]

You mean "nice sounds"?
There are lots of cool wavetables and samples

[Minimal Audio]

Yeah -- we're happy to make simpler patches, they're still nice and also we can do more of them in a pack.

This is the most recent pack we've added which has "simpler" patches -- the next batches of stuff will get significantly tuned back as well as we start to hit simpler categories like "keys" etc

https://www.minimal.audio/stream/curren ... /haze-pads

[Minimal Audio]

It's also worth mentioning that a lot of presets default at their "max" -- and tuning back the macro controls will bring them to a simpler place, everything has pretty deep macro controls

[jbraner]

Yeah -- we're happy to make simpler patches, they're still nice and also we can do more of them in a pack.

This is the most recent pack we've added which has "simpler" patches -- the next batches of stuff will get significantly tuned back as well as we start to hit simpler categories like "keys" etc

https://www.minimal.audio/stream/curren ... /haze-pads

Great! Thanks - I'll check it out

It's also worth mentioning that a lot of presets default at their "max" -- and tuning back the macro controls will bring them to a simpler place, everything has pretty deep macro controls

ooh I hadn't thought of that.

I just think it's so much easier to pile something on than to peel away. All those layers make it less and less able to fit in to what *this song* needs.

Macros is a good way to go though.

[Ou_Tis]

Do most of the patches already have MPE controls assigned to parameters? Someone on KVR claimed the MPE implementation is second only to Equator2, which is the main thing that has me interested in this synth.

[Minimal Audio]

Do most of the patches already have MPE controls assigned to parameters? Someone on KVR claimed the MPE implementation is second only to Equator2, which is the main thing that has me interested in this synth.

I don't have a clear count on the exact number of presets with advanced key modulation setup -- but if it is setup out of the gate, then it works in MPE. Most presets have the mod wheel setup which will remap into slide in MPE mode. Here's how they change based on the mode:

[D Halgren]

Do most of the patches already have MPE controls assigned to parameters? Someone on KVR claimed the MPE implementation is second only to Equator2, which is the main thing that has me interested in this synth.

I don't have a clear count on the exact number of presets with advanced key modulation setup -- but if it is setup out of the gate, then it works in MPE. Most presets have the mod wheel setup which will remap into slide in MPE mode. Here's how they change based on the mode:

What if I want the mod wheel separate from slide? Global vs per note modulation?

[Minimal Audio]

Do most of the patches already have MPE controls assigned to parameters? Someone on KVR claimed the MPE implementation is second only to Equator2, which is the main thing that has me interested in this synth.

I don't have a clear count on the exact number of presets with advanced key modulation setup -- but if it is setup out of the gate, then it works in MPE. Most presets have the mod wheel setup which will remap into slide in MPE mode. Here's how they change based on the mode:

What if I want the mod wheel separate from slide? Global vs per note modulation?

I'd have to double check since it's been a bit since working on these but I don't believe the mod wheel is part of the MPE spec. I believe we have it setup though that mod wheel also controls it in MPE mode so either will work (would need to double check the behavior exactly) . Global vs per note modulation depends on your controller and DAW -- but for instance in Ableton, they have a part of their midi clips called note expression where you can add and edit all the per note functionality. -- if you find ways to improve MPE support though definitely let us know.

Edit: Yeah I just double checked, the mod wheel also works in MPE mode

[D Halgren]

Do most of the patches already have MPE controls assigned to parameters? Someone on KVR claimed the MPE implementation is second only to Equator2, which is the main thing that has me interested in this synth.

I don't have a clear count on the exact number of presets with advanced key modulation setup -- but if it is setup out of the gate, then it works in MPE. Most presets have the mod wheel setup which will remap into slide in MPE mode. Here's how they change based on the mode:

What if I want the mod wheel separate from slide? Global vs per note modulation?

I'd have to double check since it's been a bit since working on these but I don't believe the mod wheel is part of the MPE spec. I believe we have it setup though that mod wheel also controls it in MPE mode so either will work (would need to double check the behavior exactly) . Global vs per note modulation depends on your controller and DAW -- but for instance in Ableton, they have a part of their midi clips called note expression where you can add and edit all the per note functionality. -- if you find ways to improve MPE support though definitely let us know.

Edit: Yeah I just double checked, the mod wheel also works in MPE mode

As far as I know, and the way it works on just about every other MPE synth, the mod wheel (CC1) is on channel 1, and is separate from slide (CC74). I prefer to have it that way. I wasn't asking for an explanation of global vs per note modulation, I was stating that I like to have both options at the same time.

[Minimal Audio]

Ohh I got it apologies I misunderstood — I believe it’s the same as equator. We did check how Roli was handling it since they made the spec as well as contributed the implementation back to the JUCE framework

[D Halgren]

Ohh I got it apologies I misunderstood — I believe it’s the same as equator. We did check how Roli was handling it since they made the spec as well as contributed the implementation back to the JUCE framework

No problems. A lot of MPE synths have the mod wheel globally on the control channel (MIDI channel 1) and Slide per note. Check out Plasmonic if you get a chance. Maybe, if you could detach the mod wheel from the Slide in MPE so that it could be used to control a macro instead. Also, I would prefer the MPE setting to be global instead of per preset. It gets tiring having to turn it on for every new preset. Just a thought

[dionenoid]

...

I'll ask again because last time i didn't get an answer : How does one uninstall Current from their system ?

There's no uninstaller, and neither Windows nor uninstall programs show Current in the uninstall list.

[grabauf]

I'll ask again because last time i didn't get an answer : How does one uninstall Current from their system ?

There's no uninstaller, and neither Windows nor uninstall programs show Current in the uninstall list.

You can find the instructions in the FAQ: https://www.minimal.audio/support

How can I uninstall your software?

macOS

Delete the Component, VST, and VST3 files in:
Mac HD/Library/Audio/Plug-Ins/Components
Mac HD/Library/Audio/Plug-Ins/VST
Mac HD/Library/Audio/Plug-Ins/VST3

Delete the Product's AAX file in:
Mac HD/Library/Application Support/Avid/Audio/Plug-Ins

Delete the Product's folders found in:
Mac HD/Library/Application Support/Minimal
Mac HD/Users/Shared/Minimal


Windows

Delete the Product's .dll (VST) file in:
C:\Program Files\VSTPlugins

Delete the Product's VST3 file in:
C:\Program Files\Common Files\VST3

Delete the Product's AAX file in:
C:\Program Files\Common Files\Avid\Audio\Plug-Ins

Delete the Product's folders found in:
C:\Program Files\Minimal
C:\ProgramData\Minimal (ProgramData is a hidden folder)