One Synth Challenge #192: Six Sines by BaconPaul (johnkhf Wins!)

[Hanz Meyzer]

A solo is a good idea and is on the list. I was honestly just gonna put a little solo button below the power button in the mixer list.

Nice This synth is getting more and more impressive. I like how even let's call it simple algorithmic additions can highly increase the feature set and possibilities already. So weird that no other FM synth provides these options.

[] Peter:H []

A solo is a good idea and is on the list. I was honestly just gonna put a little solo button below the power button in the mixer list.

Lately I thought about a multi-output option, what if you could optionally route each of the six op sum also to different outputs? Then you could do various layering stuff, or even use effect post- and cross-processing. I don't even think this would harm cpu load in any way, even unison cost would be the same... Maybde I am wrong.

Hm, I think I saw "Six Sines 6 Outs" in my Plugin list.
Don't know whether this is only available in the vst3 plugin available ... one vst3 file can host different plugins.

[Hanz Meyzer]

Oooh, you are right, sorry for the confusion...

[baconpaul]

Hm, I think I saw "Six Sines 6 Outs" in my Plugin list.
Don't know whether this is only available in the vst3 plugin available ... one vst3 file can host different plugins.

Yeah if you use the nightly, the CLAP, AUv2 and VST3 all have two plugins, "Six Sines" and "Six Sines, Seven Outs". The second has, well, seven outs! The unison controls also let you choose to mute voices on various outputs in that topology.

I really have to write a manual one day.....

oh and it is a different plug-in because there *is* a cpu impact, but not a huge huge one. To generate the other outputs you have to run a downsampler for each output as opposed to for just the main output (since the engine runs at an oversample rate and downsamples the sum). So it's not free to generate the unmixed outputs at host sample rate.

[baconpaul]

Nice This synth is getting more and more impressive. I like how even let's call it simple algorithmic additions can highly increase the feature set and possibilities already. So weird that no other FM synth provides these options.

One of the reasons I wrote six sines, as I mentioned on the README, was that a (really great, friendly, and helpful) closed source dev I chat with made a comment, roughly, like "the least commercial offering I can think of is a 6 op pure fm matrix synth". And so when I was de-slumping by doing the first six sines sprint, I thought "ha lets see if --- was right".

I concluded

1. commercially --- was right. The commercial viability of six sines is low. It is too geeky. It doesn't have a cutoff knob to do filter sweeps which you can drag in a YT video etc....
2. but musically folks who are deep into synthesis don't mind the very mechanical approach as evidenced by you all (and others) making amazing tracks with it
3. And so this is actually a pretty good example of where open source works, in that ideas feed back without a real ROI constraint and so I can do things like take a rainy thursday night and add a few new FM modes, and people are happy (upthread noise excepted) and do something fun with it.

I've said it before (like https://juce.com/made-with-juce/baconpa ... izer-team/) but the luxury and privilege i have on this project is to ship code without thinking about those economics.

So perhaps that's sort of an answer?

but also, i think most of the other fm synths have a solo button already. so perhaps i'm just spewing nonsense on a forum. LOL

[whatevergeek]

Here's my submission. Hoping to update if further later. This is version 1.1
https://soundcloud.com/whatevergeek/six ... v11-osc192

# of instances of the synth (Six Sines): 14
the DAW: Ableton
Other Plugins:
Compressor - MCompressor (MeldaProduction)
Limiter - Unlimited (Sonic Anomaly)

[Hanz Meyzer]

Nice submissions!

@baconpaul What about a noise waveform, or a set of those?

[baconpaul]

@baconpaul What about a noise waveform, or a set of those?

rather than a noise waveform, the technique to use is to set the feedback up high with the feedback overdrive button (the 10x button) which will drive most of the waveforms into noise easily at high self modulation

[IV!]

You added a new GUI template so quickly! Could you consider creating a horizontal variant of "Sources Above Matrix" GUI template, where the "edit" window is located not at the bottom, but on the left?

Not for idle curiosity. On my laptop with a 15.6" screen (probably the most common diagonal for laptops) I can set the maximum zoom to 90% so that the whole synthesizer goes in, and it turns out to be very small and my eyes hurt after an hour of looking at knobs. If there was a horizontal option, I could have chosen a larger zoom. I ask you very much to do it, if it is rational in terms of time.

[baconpaul]

The problem with that horizontal version is the width of the bottom panel needs to stay the same so it would make the UI incredibly wide. I've thought about it some but dont have a good answer.

The request to flip the top and bottom as an option was literally 10 lines of code and required no new layout anywhere.

So your request is reasonable, but really not easy, since I'd have to re-lay out all those screens (unless theres a layout you can put together in photoshop or paint or whatever where everything is the same size more or less and positioned better)

[IV!]

The problem with that horizontal version is the width of the bottom panel needs to stay the same so it would make the UI incredibly wide. I've thought about it some but dont have a good answer.

The request to flip the top and bottom as an option was literally 10 lines of code and required no new layout anywhere.

So your request is reasonable, but really not easy, since I'd have to re-lay out all those screens (unless theres a layout you can put together in photoshop or paint or whatever where everything is the same size more or less and positioned better)

So I need to take a screenshot and make a side "edit" screen variants for all types of knobs?

I think that on each type of lower screen, you can conditionally draw a line in the middle, and everything on the left will be on top in the vertical version, and everything on the right will go under them.

I just can't imagine what parts your GUI is made of. For example, Nakst has a Skin Template, where there is a background picture, that containing almost everything except animated elements. Is it also in Six Sines?

[Andreya_Autumn]

I just can't imagine what parts your GUI is made of. For example, Nakst has a Skin Template, where there is a background picture, that containing almost everything except animated elements. Is it also in Six Sines?

Basically, everything that's in a box with a header over it (source, main, matrix etc) is a component, and everything you see inside of those (labels, buttons, dials sliders etc) is a child component. The sine graphic top left, preset scroller/main menu thing, and level meters are also components.

Children can all be sized and positioned freely inside their parent components, and the parents can be positioned freely inside the whole window.

Does that answer your question?

[baconpaul]

Yeah but the bottom panel layouts are real work to change

And so “just” making them vertically stacked is hard work

If there’s a layout which doesn’t change the size and shape of the bottom panel it is easy enough. But changing the bottom panel to another shape… work

[Hanz Meyzer]

@baconpaul maybe still also noise oscs wouldn't hurt, and maybe more precise for coloration?

[baconpaul]

@baconpaul maybe still also noise oscs wouldn't hurt, and maybe more precise for coloration?

So there's a bit of an aesthetics of the project here.

Every sound the thing makes is made entirely by combinations of sines or wavetables created algebraically from sines and constants and phase.

So you are correct a noise osc would help! As would a filter bank! And some effects!

But just from a design perspective, I've decided that's not this project. This project is a pure play audio rate intermodulation of waves generated from sines and combinations thereof.