u-he

Elektronisch · Post by **Elektronisch** » Tue Jul 31, 2018 10:21 am

Urs wrote:Re TX81z: No worries. There's no "hidden vintage FM machine" coming to Hive.

Ok, the plot thickens. By now I'm convinced that the dough rises, I can say for sure that the following concept will make it into Hive 1.2.

If it wasn't all obvious by now: It'll load wavetables in the same format as Serum (.wav files with up to 256 frames x 2048 samples per cycle). GUI-wise, all it needs is another entry in the waveform list and a panel in the hexagon which lets you browse & load wavetable files, set the WT position and add modulation. It's very simple. No editors, no bloat. Just a drop down to choose between various interpolation methods for smoother or more vintage sound (which are applied in realtime). As far as I can tell, there's only minimal CPU hit. The most expensive interpolator costs less than twice as much as Hive currently does while a simple crossfade interpolator is barely noticed.

We are using Serum and Zebra to create content. WaveEdit and others work as well, but some need adjustments - Serum and Zebra "just work". We've fitted Zebra 2.8 with an option to "record" an oscillator /w OscFX into memory, and save to .wav. This also is utterly simple and surprisingly good. We might release that as well, maybe as a special download, it'll work with the demo version. It'll even work with Zebralette, provided someone (we?) add it to the UI.

In addition to .wav files, there'll be *hold your breath* .uhm files. These are normal text files which contain scripted wavetables based on simple, yet powerful commands. You can for instance import two cycles from any .wav file in the same directory and create a pretty spectacular morphing transition between them. The Sync and FM examples I've posted are merely test runs of the scripting engine. It can do things which one simply cannot do in other tools. In my mind I call it "Waveshop". More examples will follow.

All of this is "hidden". It takes no UI space unless you want it to. It extends Hive in sonic territories far beyond my own expectation (considering that wavetables were always a tad meh for me).

I need another week or two to refine it, and then we need to wait for our graphics artists to come back from vacation (and finish ZebraHZ 2.

Wow this is incredible!

Any "test" look at zebra hz ?

Teksonik · Post by **Teksonik** » Tue Jul 31, 2018 12:35 pm

Urs wrote: I can say for sure that the following concept will make it into Hive 1.2.

It'll load wavetables in the same format as Serum (.wav files with up to 256 frames x 2048 samples per cycle).

Ok NOW you're talking. Although I own several other Wavetable synths this feature will be most welcome in Hive and open up a lot of new sound possibilities.

Urs · Post by **Urs** » Tue Jul 31, 2018 1:04 pm

Elektronisch wrote:Any "test" look at zebra hz ?

Not yet... but our artists is working against the time, it's his last week before his summer vacation.

Urs · Post by **Urs** » Tue Jul 31, 2018 1:06 pm

Teksonik wrote:
Urs wrote: I can say for sure that the following concept will make it into Hive 1.2.

It'll load wavetables in the same format as Serum (.wav files with up to 256 frames x 2048 samples per cycle).
Ok NOW you're talking. Although I own several other Wavetable synths this feature will be most welcome in Hive and open up a lot of new sound possibilities.

It's only logical innit? People want waveforms, so we let them add however many they like. You already have the Galbanum wavetables? Use them! You have done tables for Serum? Use them!

Simple as that

EvilDragon · Post by **EvilDragon** » Tue Jul 31, 2018 1:22 pm

And of course all of that stuff will be coming to Zebra, yeah?

But probably not Z2?

Urs · Post by **Urs** » Tue Jul 31, 2018 1:46 pm

EvilDragon wrote:And of course all of that stuff will be coming to Zebra, yeah? But probably not Z2?

Probably not Z2.

The concept for Z3's Geo/SpectroBlend modes is about creating keyframes which the engine can then interpolate (morph, rather) between.

If Z3 can load full wavetables like Hive, those won't be editable. Simply, because editable wavetables need to be saved with preset, and I don't want 16MB preset files. Instead, there might be a "make editable" button which then extracts a number of keyframes to build a closest-possible derivative which works with the keyframing method. (keyframe wavetables can freely be arranged in time then, I suppose).

nilhartman · Post by **nilhartman** » Tue Jul 31, 2018 1:53 pm

So basically, I also now have to purchase Hive?

Urs, I’m extremely curious about this scripting engine, that sounds so promising !

Do you think it’d be easy to go into such sonic territories : ? I’m totally obsessed by this LP and his sound-palette (he relies a lot on additive synthesis from what I’ve read) and got close with Bazille and Zebra... but anything a bit more erm controllable would be amazing.

I’ve always felt like I won’t need Hive (being a huge fan of Diva, Bazille and Zebra), but it seems like 1.2 will turn Hive into something else entirely.

Urs · Post by **Urs** » Tue Jul 31, 2018 2:30 pm

nilhartman wrote:Do you think it’d be easy to go into such sonic territories

Similar, but maybe not as dynamic. In the end, wavetables are like samples - one-dimensional. Which I always found meh about them.

The scripting engine performs expensive operations which can not be done in realtime and spits out the result into a wavetable.

Shiek927 · Post by **Shiek927** » Tue Jul 31, 2018 3:01 pm

Holy moley :'D.

This goes far beyond what I imagined Hive would end up doing! I hoped there would be some 'lite' wavetable-esque kind of features or taking some pages from Reveal Sound Spire to be a more flexible subtractive synth. But full-blown loading and wavetable features practically make it a second synth and huuuuugely expand what it's capable of. Needless to say, Dubstep and bass-music producers wanna give it a second look because Hive sounds like it's about to get huge.

Urs · Post by **Urs** » Tue Jul 31, 2018 3:53 pm

Here's another experiment with the scripting engine... couple of lines for a pretty rich pad type of thing.

https://u-he.com/music/HiveMorph.mp3

mholloway · Post by **mholloway** » Tue Jul 31, 2018 4:20 pm

Wow and I already LOVED Hive..... amazing news.

Shiek927 · Post by **Shiek927** » Tue Jul 31, 2018 7:38 pm

Urs wrote:Here's another experiment with the scripting engine... couple of lines for a pretty rich pad type of thing.

https://u-he.com/music/HiveMorph.mp3

Oh my gosh, I loooove this psuedo "vintage digital" sound :'D. The 90's geek in me is loving this

Dasheesh · Post by **Dasheesh** » Tue Jul 31, 2018 8:20 pm

Shiek927 wrote:
Urs wrote:Here's another experiment with the scripting engine... couple of lines for a pretty rich pad type of thing.

https://u-he.com/music/HiveMorph.mp3
Oh my gosh, I loooove this psuedo "vintage digital" sound :'D. The 90's geek in me is loving this

yep. nailing that 90’s vibe. loving the filth. the dirt is where all the interpretation happens.

Dasheesh · Post by **Dasheesh** » Tue Jul 31, 2018 8:25 pm

I’m going to take that statement further, because it’s not about the dirt. it’s about the interpretation. the interpretation just happens to reside in the distortion. about being an individual with a voice. it’s about expressing self. this is capturing that vibe pretty well IMO. it’s like i’ve always said (and many others) Urs knows what sounds good.

Urs · Post by **Urs** » Tue Jul 31, 2018 8:44 pm

Hahaha, and here I sit trying to figure out how to get rid of the artifacts

(these aren't really artifacts, they're merley perceived things... like talking about detune laws)

u-he

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