FXpansion releases Cypher2

[Tj Shredder]

Paraphonic in MPE should not be a huge problem. If the filter is strictly linear, it should sound the same if you spend a filter per voice, if not you could still have one filter for all voices.

Perhaps, but in any case it's not just about the filters. If you can tell me how to polyphonically pitch-bend a phase-locked divide-down oscillator model without breaking everything, I'm all ears.

It's also a more fundamental question of what the synth should do.. Amber's sound is its divide down oscillator, formant filter and chorus unit. All of these are monophonic. What should they do in response to polyphonic pressure or slide gestures?

Make the synthesized strings come to life, like a real acoustic string orchestra of course!
Synth strings are modeled on real strings, so go back to the original inspiration and draw from there!
Combine your results with an upgraded synth string engine (original Amber wasn't that great in terms of chorus), and you'll have something interesting which no one else has.

I agree, these old string engines had been made out of lack of resources and happened to have some results which had been interesting, but not all of them. A divide down oscillator is the boring part, there is no life in the chords and they tend to be out of tune if you make them equal tempered. I could imagine to have still divide down oscillators, but let them produce subharmonics (remember the subharmonium?) controlled by aftertouch, but have one of those for each voice.
You might want to give such an Amber inspired instrument a new name though, it won’t be the same anymore...
Think in multiple monophonic Ambers, but with the option to move any paraphonic part past the mix of the voices...

[HunterKiller]

Good post mate. Yes, big difference between attempting a faithful emulation of a particular hardware string synth or two; and true innovation, requiring R&D, and coming up with something that is truly new, useful for decades and beautiful to behold.

People love string synths, but they want more control to shape the sound in more detail, to give it its own identity, in terms of their own work. Both in the timbre generation stage and during performance.

Strings are a sensitive, emotional instrument, they are not so much about weird and "out there" textures, so that at least gives you some focus on the "why" and the "where" in terms of the new Amber.

That overall gives you some idea of how to use the ROLI keyboards in a more interactive manner with a string instrument.

[aMUSEd]

Paraphonic in MPE should not be a huge problem. If the filter is strictly linear, it should sound the same if you spend a filter per voice, if not you could still have one filter for all voices.

Perhaps, but in any case it's not just about the filters. If you can tell me how to polyphonically pitch-bend a phase-locked divide-down oscillator model without breaking everything, I'm all ears.

It's also a more fundamental question of what the synth should do.. Amber's sound is its divide down oscillator, formant filter and chorus unit. All of these are monophonic. What should they do in response to polyphonic pressure or slide gestures?

Make the synthesized strings come to life, like a real acoustic string orchestra of course!
Synth strings are modeled on real strings, so go back to the original inspiration and draw from there!
Combine your results with an upgraded synth string engine (original Amber wasn't that great in terms of chorus), and you'll have something interesting which no one else has.

I agree, these old string engines had been made out of lack of resources and happened to have some results which had been interesting, but not all of them. A divide down oscillator is the boring part, there is no life in the chords and they tend to be out of tune if you make them equal tempered. I could imagine to have still divide down oscillators, but let them produce subharmonics (remember the subharmonium?) controlled by aftertouch, but have one of those for each voice.
You might want to give such an Amber inspired instrument a new name though, it won’t be the same anymore...
Think in multiple monophonic Ambers, but with the option to move any paraphonic part past the mix of the voices...

Something that adopts more of a Swarm approach to multiple string voices would be cool way to do MPE.

[Tj Shredder]

Cool - If you begin to think about it and leave the original idea just as a starting point, inspiration will flow and lead to something totally new, but still based on its former DNA...
I think I could patch something like that together in the Grid...

[aMUSEd]

https://shop.timexile.com/products/sloo

[lagavulin16]

@lagavulin16 you did..? Nothing came through to me.

The main reason a refreshed Amber hasn't seen the light of day yet is that it's inherently difficult to square its paraphonic nature with the MPE (= MIDI Polyphonic Expression) technology which is the backbone of ROLI's product line. (Amber's filters are monophonic, and its oscillator is a divide-down type - making something which properly respects this legacy while also allowing full expressiveness from a Seaboard or Lightpad is extremely challenging).

Developments on TransMod synths continue - have any of you tried out ROLI Studio Player which combines Strobe2, Cypher2 & Equator with a very unique arpeggiator/chorder and secondary effects chain?

It was "lawrence_fx", who I had emailed the same question to just over a year ago. He gave me some top secret information:

"I'm afraid we're unable to share any information regarding current Amber2 development, but I can say that we're hard at work on the next big FXpansion product."



Look, I know you're owned by Roli now and it's logical that they want everything you put out to take advantage of the functionality that Roli offers, which goes beyond other controllers. This doesn't change the fact that Amber is probably my favorite plugin ever. The only issue I ever had with it was CPU usage (a product of the era it came out and the hardware I have available to me, no doubt).

Have you considered releasing an amber2 with two modes - one would basically be the old amber, perhaps with more efficient code or some other means of reducing CPU load, and another one that takes the string synth in a bizarre direction where it's no longer representative of an old string synth but lets you use the Roli hardware to warp things? A divide down on each key pressed (so four keys pressed, four virtual divide down synths are playing at the same time and mixed together), chorus increases with aftertouch/the harder you press as a sort of vibrato, etc? I'd buy it for the basic one so long as it has those Juno strings and other presets I love, and I'm sure a lot of people would have fun with the updated one.

I've owned synth squad pretty much since it came out and I've been waiting for Amber2 since before Strobe2 came out. I've bought and tried out every vintage string synth I can find but nothing else compares!

[Echoes in the Attic]

Any progress on fixing the bug where the modulation is erased when moving a parameter over its modulation range?

[TIMT]

Only just found out about the whole ROLI takeover when i was looking to install Maul again,checked to see if there was any updates i missed out on only to be greeted with the fact it's now discontinued.......would just like to give ROLI a nice big hand for killing any future real development that doesn't serve their devices/agenda was really looking forward to seeing successors to Tremor,Bloom,Maul,Etch(own em all)

[Angus_FX]

@aMUSEd - interesting sounding beast there (I'd expect nothing less from Tim). I wonder if it's based on Anarchy Sound Software's pioneering work on swarm oscillators?

@lagavulin16 Some interesting ideas there, certainly - although a full divider on each key pressed with multiple instances of the chorus would max out an entire machine. I suspect these days though it'd be possible to get the formant filter to run polyphonically without too much trouble, maybe some halfway house is possible there.

[masterhiggins]

I also love Amber and miss it on my system. I removed the original synth squad bundle because it has a show-stopping bug that effectively ruins any session. Not sure why Amber has to cater to the Roli seaboard architecture, though. Geist and BFD most certainly don’t cater to it. I think the market for a less seaboard-centric version could sell quite well. Is it more of an OCD thing for all the synths to be unified into the seaboard?

[himalaya]

Just a tip for the synth-string lovers: Cypher 2 has a bunch of synth string presets. Give them a go. One of them tries to emulate my Arp Solina (and makes a mess out of it )

[Dasheesh]

cypher: i still haven't figured out the morph section, or how it handles detune. the modulation rings need to be better defined because accidentally assigning or changing modulation is all too easy. one of the most capable synthesizers ever though.

[Echoes in the Attic]

cypher: i still haven't figured out the morph section, or how it handles detune. the modulation rings need to be better defined because accidentally assigning or changing modulation is all too easy. one of the most capable synthesizers ever though.

I'm not quite comfortable with the modulation assigning either. I was thinking a nice addition would be a modulation assign button so that when you click a mod source, clicking and dragging the parameter assigns modulation, so you don't have to click the outer ring and can't accidentally drag the main parameter. Would be especially nice for using a touch screen. There could also be an opposite mode where you can only adjust the parameter, not the modulation, even when the mod assignments are visible (because you clicked the source). And of course there should still be a mode where it functions as it does now where you can adjust the parameter in the middle and the modulation on the edges. I t could be something like Default (no assigning), Mod assign lock (dragging parameter adjusts modulation), and Combo (as it is now where you can adjust the parameter and the mod amount).

I'd just really like a mod assign mode where I can just drag anywhere on the parameter (like with Bitwig), and not have to touch the little outer ring.

[Echoes in the Attic]

Any progress on fixing the bug where the modulation is erased when moving a parameter over its modulation range?

....ahhhem.... cough cough.....

[mladi]

"Together with ROLI, we'll keep pushing the boundaries of innovation in audio software development. We're looking forward to integrating our technologies over the long term — while continuing to develop and support the FXpansion products that you know and love."

from 2016..