Phonon Polyfreq (Reminds me of NI Skanner)

[kraster]

I love this thing.

It's a lot weirder than a lot of other granular.

It definitely leans more into the Denis Gabor/Curtis Road grains as particles.

It makes some amazingly weird noises.

[polyfreq]

I'm so glad you like it and appreciate the depth!

It has been so much fun developing it and progressively blowing my mind at how much crazier it was turning out than even what I had expected... I prototyped and released this as a Pure Data patch many years ago (it's now all quite optimised c++ and with many many more features) - and I had been sitting on this project for ages, noticing that while so many other granular synths have been released, my version still had unique aspects to it... so I just had to build it and see what it could be... and I'm glad I did! There's just so much to get out of different ways of modulating grains with high precision

anyhow I'll go back to listening (and developing) mode (oh and make some more videos, a longer manual, new features... etc etc), but you know where to find me if you want to say hi - just come visit at polyfreq.com

[Funky40]

Hi, gave the demo a spin. Agreed, the sound engine has a good sound quality to it.



What i don`t understand is:
- why does the sample window not have any basic sample edit capabilities inclouded like, start- end- point definition, etc. ?

In my world dealing with such tools is it a natural given to just experiment around. In your world it`s not ?
How could i know wich sample works, which sample i`ll like ? How could i know that upfront ?....especially at early days with such a tool.

I personally *want* to be able to just drag and drop ANY sample lying around, and see with what i end up with.
Sample start- end- point definition is for that type of work just a -very basic- requirement and foundation.

I mean, my SSD is just a plain mess of thousands of samples, and sample-grooves and what not. You folks might live in a different -much more sober- universe. But i don`t, haha.


So, can you plase add there some better functionality ?
And with "that" also zoom- in and out functionalitys.

[pekbro]

The start is always 0 and the end is always 1. You can use the offset to move away from them. Definitely some more sampler like control would be cool, though you can control it like that already.

[Funky40]

I`m aware of the offset knob. That`s a different thing.

i use to play with Halion7 otherwise when it comes to jam with one single sample.
They`ve donne it right.

What i`m refering to is basic "audio editor" functionality.
It`s in my opinion just mandatory to have for such tools.

With these creative samplers, literally everything starts with the sample selection....and by "working on the fly". That`s how i see it....and how my "jam with a sample" universe works.
You folks seem to differ.

you folks might even know upfront which samples work, and how it has to be cut to make it work. Looks like i`m noob, cause i at least don`t.
I`m required to experiment my way up, until things fit

[pekbro]

Well, this is probably the time to make those feature requests. Personally, I prefer it to be lean and high-performance. Steinberg's stuff relies on a pretty serious media backend to work so well, one that few companies have a counterpart for.

[Funky40]

Personally, I prefer it to be lean and high-performance.

me too !


To be able to click into the sample ( the visualisation of the sample) does not complicate anything.
What would complictae or distract things is, IF there were no sample visualisation available at all. "Then" would this sampole window have to be added bevore the features i request could be added. But that`s not the case here ! Not anything. The sample window IS already there.


All it takes are some more handles to be able to grab a start- or end- point.
These handles won`t hurt anybody.
You have such in any DAW in any Audio clip. Do these hurt you or anybody else ? I doubt it.
So, what you are saying is -looking from there/ to me- like ....wait, what,...what are you trying to defend here at all.

It has also nothing to do with steinberg. Halion7 was just an example brought for those who work with Halions Granu VCO. I`ve seen many small guys tools, many M4L devices, who do have these basic sample edit functions. ( i just had no names ready, other than Hal7) So that`s not something that requires higher coding skills.

The Zoom- in/out functionality would "then" come in next as a feature request. This sort of follows the first one automatically. But also nothing that small guys not alreday have implemented on the get go, developing their tools.

It`s plain amateurism to me to "Not" incloude such features.
And to defend such "unbaked corners" makes to me no sense at all.
I`m personally ALL in for sleek, clear, and quick to operate tools.
I have conceptionlsied gear myself. I can easily see if feature requests infer quick operation or not.
Here it`s the contrary. My feature request IS "a" basement for quick operation.

Steinberg, beeing a big company with an underlying foundation plays a role when we look at the soundquality of what we can do with Halion7, and hown it can sound.....i ONLY use the Granu VCO / and ONLY for one-sample play usages vs. Hal7.....i do nothing else with Halion7 btw. .

HAL7 has an outstanding soundquality. You see it once you realtime-play "force" it.
The thing with this sample play tool here, Phonon, is:
It effectivly has a good sound quality too !
It`s not your standard sounding "something", ........like: " probably based on some standard code you can find online for free, then just create a nice GUI around it. Donne ! SELL !" / there are too many of such tools. plain waste of money / Phonon does NOT fall into that category !
Otherwiose i`d not bother to post here anything............/ i make FRs when things ARE good in fact.


This tool here is actually really good ! And can play with those big players vs. sound quality !
Which makes it something really interesting.

Anyway.......

[polyfreq]

Thanks for sharing your thoughts on this! I’m here and listening for feature requests (even if I may not always comment) and I agree that some sample editing features will help usability a lot. I’m not sure yet how extensive I would get with this but there is already some basic functionality like automatic peak amplitude normalization. I will look into adding some kind of start/end point and zoom which will certainly be useful and can be done within current GUI without too much added complexity. Can’t make any promises on schedule but I am keen to continue improving Phonon, as well as looking at new features and products.
Thanks again for sharing this helpful feedback.
Nick / PolyFreq

[billinder33]

The last thing I need is another instrument, but this one looks tasty. Agreed that some sampler style controls would make sense.

Quick Question, can you drag/drop a sample or does it require folder browsing?

[tlvid]

The last thing I need is another instrument, but this one looks tasty. Agreed that some sampler style controls would make sense.

Quick Question, can you drag/drop a sample or does it require folder browsing?

Drag and drop works perfectly.

[tlvid]

Thanks for sharing your thoughts on this! I’m here and listening for feature requests (even if I may not always comment) and I agree that some sample editing features will help usability a lot. I’m not sure yet how extensive I would get with this but there is already some basic functionality like automatic peak amplitude normalization. I will look into adding some kind of start/end point and zoom which will certainly be useful and can be done within current GUI without too much added complexity. Can’t make any promises on schedule but I am keen to continue improving Phonon, as well as looking at new features and products.
Thanks again for sharing this helpful feedback.
Nick / PolyFreq

Is there any chance you could send an email to customers when you release updates? Also the release notes aren't showing on the download page for me - just the two download links. Thanks!

[iowastate89]

Maybe live sampling as a feature? Might be a big ask but I've seen some other granular plugins handle it

[Funky40]

Thanks for sharing your thoughts on this! I’m here and listening for feature requests (even if I may not always comment) and I agree that some sample editing features will help usability a lot. I’m not sure yet how extensive I would get with this but there is already some basic functionality like automatic peak amplitude normalization. I will look into adding some kind of start/end point and zoom which will certainly be useful and can be done within current GUI without too much added complexity.

Glad you understand my point. Yes, useability, .....speed of workflow.

I find it so important with this type of tools to just work your way up by experimenting, rather than -sort of- beeing forced to have clear ideas, a clear plan, then you`d load completly pre-prepared samples and `d work from there. ....all by plan.
But how can we work just by plan with such tools ? I at least can`t. Experimenting is key.
yes, no overcomplication required. Just as you just mentioned yourself. That will be fine.

You mentioned diving into the "subtleties".
This is definitly audible while playing with Phonon in certain more extrem settings.
The real appeal with this type of tools starts when some sound subtelties become present. For example vs. small grain sizes. But mostly vs. dynamic changes vs. parameters. There is alots to be had in regards to the achivable soundquality.

This is definitly perceivable while playing with Phonon that you took your time and gave this things some special attention. We like that

Thanks for caring ! That`s much appreciated

[scott_free]

Phonon Feature Requests

1. Add a Scale Quantizer option for grain pitch that snaps each grain’s pitch to notes within a selected musical scale or mode.

2. Per-Grain FX

Per-Grain Filter: A simple resonant filter (LP/HP/BP) per grain with cutoff and resonance. Combined with pitch and length modulation, this enables powerful spectral sculpting inside the granular engine.

Per-Grain Delay / Short Reverb / Diffuse: Very short per-grain delay or diffusion. Adds shimmer, and space.

[dieterlaser]

Phonon Feature Requests

1. Add a Scale Quantizer option for grain pitch that snaps each grain’s pitch to notes within a selected musical scale or mode.

Oh, that would be nice. Maybe supporting the MTS-ESP

https://oddsound.com/usingmtsesp.php