KVR Audio

aciddose · Post by **aciddose** » Sat Aug 15, 2015 3:06 pm

If I actually sat down and worked eight hours per day, I'd be done in two to four weeks.

There is no real need for a list, what I have on the site is the list. There is nothing else and will be nothing else.

The alpha version is not for general use. If people haven't been reading the info on the page I might regret posting this thread.

Partially completed such as the "route" section. It isn't saved in presets or projects and doesn't fully work yet.

The alpha version is whatever I happened to last compile that seemed not to crash or have any really major issues. This is the version I use myself for my own music, when I rarely find motivation to do anything musical these days.

I've been trying to spend more time working on music stuff to motivate myself to work on projects like Xhip but it has been difficult. I built a tremolo pedal to use with my Rhodes, but that doesn't really tie in to plugins very much

zerocrossing · Post by **zerocrossing** » Sat Aug 15, 2015 4:06 pm

aciddose wrote:The alpha version is not for general use. If people haven't been reading the info on the page I might regret posting this thread....

...Partially completed such as the "route" section. It isn't saved in presets or projects and doesn't fully work yet.

The alpha version is whatever I happened to last compile that seemed not to crash or have any really major issues. This is the version I use myself for my own music, when I rarely find motivation to do anything musical these days.

I've been trying to spend more time working on music stuff to motivate myself to work on projects like Xhip but it has been difficult. I built a tremolo pedal to use with my Rhodes, but that doesn't really tie in to plugins very much

I think what you're suffering from is the erosion of the term "alpha" and "beta" when used in software development. I constantly see people releasing "betas" where they are trying to still add features. I've always adhered to the definition that "beta" was feature complete, and "alphas" were... well what you released. Which is fine, but I don't think the general public understands it these days.

Have fun with your tremolo. Sometimes there is nothing better than some old acoustic-electric beast and a pedal.

aciddose · Post by **aciddose** » Sat Aug 15, 2015 4:14 pm

I actually started out wanting to get an opto-tremolo like the Wurlitzer 200a by improving the waveforms in my plugin. Then I realized it would be far easier to just plug some components in a breadboard and solder the thing up and plug it in.

During the process of going from prototype to semi-function to my current "maybe if I change this and that and add some buffers" I've been able to experience more variations on tremolo than I ever would have in software.

So maybe it does tie in to plugins in some ways. When I ever get around to actually upgrading the plugin I'll certainly have loads more ideas for it.

Like the cool effect when you play really hard and you get the distortion when the LFO is attenuating the volume. I don't have the slightest clue how to even do that or how it works.

scintillator · Post by **scintillator** » Sat Aug 15, 2015 4:27 pm

So will Xhip ever get out of alpha?

(I'm not pushing you, just asking, if you have any idea about that.)

Frantz · Post by **Frantz** » Sat Aug 15, 2015 5:12 pm

scintillator wrote:So will Xhip ever get out of alpha?

No. Remember aciddose works very long hours, seven days a week, posting on KVR. There is no time for anything else.

scintillator · Post by **scintillator** » Sat Aug 15, 2015 5:17 pm

Frantz wrote:
scintillator wrote:So will Xhip ever get out of alpha?
No. Remember aciddose works very long hours, seven days a week, posting on KVR. There is no time for anything else.

Funny thing, in my previous post I was going to pull the same argument but thought again. It seems that some things are obvious, though.

@aciddose: please finish your synth, buddy. Yes, really!

aciddose · Post by **aciddose** » Sat Aug 15, 2015 9:35 pm

I was going to add:

Stop posting on KVR!

After "stop watching TV!" but since KVR isn't a habit, it's a choice. I could quit at any time. I didn't need to mention it.

scintillator · Post by **scintillator** » Tue Aug 18, 2015 9:41 am

On a serious note, the text is barely legible on most backgound colours. Maybe you could change text colour with background or provide separate options. Oh, and some of the backgrounds are a bit strange for my taste. So maybe there's some space for improvement there.

aciddose · Post by **aciddose** » Tue Aug 18, 2015 9:55 am

I don't really understand what you mean. "Some of the backgrounds" ? Which ones?

The bitmap is here:
http://i.imgur.com/YkmxN6s.png

This is the same bitmap used in the plugin. The plugin generates a background with a slight intensity gradient (or optional color gradient), overlays the above bitmap and then any additional controls/text.

Which text would I change the color of? Any suggestions? You mean the text built in to the png I linked, right?

I'd be happy to make any changes to the background, you could even provide your own and I could add an option to completely over-ride it inside the plugin. I've been meaning to add such basic skinning features although I've wanted to focus on the core stuff first.

scintillator · Post by **scintillator** » Tue Aug 18, 2015 10:05 am

If you look at this image, you'll see blurred grey text with shadow on a grey background. The greys - on text and background - are too close to each other, which makes the text barely legible (for me).

I don't have Xhip installed right now (sorry! will fix this ASAP), but when I demoed it a few days ago, as I said most of the choices made the text hard to read. The grey of the text blends with and almost disappears into the background. That's why I suggested different text colour as a separate option.

The text on the white (light grey) part of the panel is problematic too, so... and the shadows don't help either.

I don't think I'll be able to provide my background at this stage (sorry, it's a mess here) but what I said could be of some help to you.

scintillator · Post by **scintillator** » Tue Aug 18, 2015 10:08 am

OK, last try: white text on grey background and grey text on white background should be FINE. And no shadow.

aciddose · Post by **aciddose** » Tue Aug 18, 2015 10:08 am

I added the shadows actually to make the situation better rather than worse, although I can see what you mean!

I should try using a shadow without blur to increase the contrast as much as possible, and make the shadow darker. Perhaps centered on the text rather than offset to create the best possible contrast.

I only have the bitmaps, not the original vector files. I could probably recreate the vectors using a tool like GIMP, I can have a look at it and see if I can come up with something.

scintillator · Post by **scintillator** » Tue Aug 18, 2015 10:10 am

Please do something about it. This will make Xhip better.

scintillator · Post by **scintillator** » Tue Aug 18, 2015 10:53 am

Another way to do it is the Synth1 way - separate RGB for text and background. But I suppose that's too much coding/changes, i.e. not an option.

aciddose · Post by **aciddose** » Tue Aug 18, 2015 12:29 pm

That's already how it works, no code required.

The issue is simply that the text on the background is part of the background (the png I linked) and I can't "remove" the text from a bitmap or change anything about it.

That's why the result of adding the shadow isn't very good. I had to use image processing to achieve the effect.

New Xhip alpha