PLASMONIC - A new synth from Brian Clevinger

[zerocrossing]

I wish AAS would get their act together regarding MPE support, but I guess it isn’t a priority for them.

You could end that sentence after “together.” I’ve long given up on them. Their slight repackaging of plugins as “updates” is pathetic. Shame.

Right now I mostly turn to my Continuum (and soon Osmose) for physical modeling. Also the resonator oscillators in the Quantum. I’m hoping that Plasmonic will offer a really excellent software-only alternative with full MPE support.

Man, I almost bit on the Osmose... I hesitated because I really love having a 61 key controller with polyphonic aftertouch. I use a Rise 49 for MPE. If the Osmose was 61 keys, it would have been a no brainer. Of course, as soon as the intro price for the Osmose was over, my GEM S2 decided to sh!t the bed and stop sending aftertouch. Off to the repair shop for a 3 month vacation, and a $375 repair bill for resoldering bad traces on the aftertouch board. It’s now safe and sound back in my studio, but I think the good money would have been to sell it as-is and put that money, and the money I would have spent on repairs, into the Osmose. I don’t really have a hardware synth that does physical modeling, and that would have been a nice addition. Oh well. Maybe if things improve around Christmas I’ll pick one up if they’re available. Some guy here was trying to sell his pre-order, but he wanted to make too much money off it.

[scott_free]

Man, I almost bit on the Osmose... I don’t really have a hardware synth that does physical modeling, and that would have been a nice addition.

Have checked out the ContinuumMini?  It utilizes the EaganMatrix, which is the same sound engine used in both the larger Continuums and the Osmose.  The ContinuumMini has "robust bidirectional implementation of MPE and MPE+", so it can be fully integrated with a Rise-49.  It looks like a good option.

[zerocrossing]

Man, I almost bit on the Osmose... I don’t really have a hardware synth that does physical modeling, and that would have been a nice addition.

Have checked out the ContinuumMini?  It utilizes the EaganMatrix, which is the same sound engine used in both the larger Continuums and the Osmose.  The ContinuumMini has "robust bidirectional implementation of MPE and MPE+", so it can be fully integrated with a Rise-49.  It looks like a good option.

Yeah, I'm thinking about that one too, though space is a problem even for something that small. I still like to have a keyboard for a lot of sounds and that S2 is pretty big.

[zerocrossing]

There aren't that many physical modelling synths around with MPE implementations. I would buy a license for Chromophone 2 in an instant if it would have some MPE capabilities. Madrono labs comes in the picture but I don't know them.
High hopes here for Plasmonic

From a personal communication with Brian :
“Yes, MPE control sources will be assignable to almost all parameters.

I’m looking forward to hearing what MPE players will do with Plasmonic!”

https://madronalabs.com/

It’s Madrona Labs, and they are excellent in every way. Aside from their hardware MPE instrument, Soundplane, they’re probably best known for Aalto, which is an MPE enabled “west coast” style (synthesis made famous by Buchla that uses complex oscillators and control instead of basic subtractive synthesis) semi-modular polyphonic synth that’s one of the best of it’s kind. I’m less familiar with their Physical Modeling/Granular synth, Kaivo. I passed on it... for some reason. I can’t quite remember why. I know I didn’t have a Roli Rise at the time, so maybe I just felt like it wasn’t something I’d use a lot. I have no idea how Plasmonic will compare to Kaivo, but I imagine it’ll be easily as good, but different. I’ll probably end up with both at some point, as MPE has become really important to me and I’m always on the hunt for good instruments.

i'll echo those sentiments re: Madrona Labs ...
first class product , from basically a one man show ...
quite fond of aalto , on the fence about kaivo , looking forward to sumu ...

Ah, I just installed Kaivo... I can't even comfortably run it on my i7 with hardly any other plugins running! Hard pass, until I upgrade.

[psynical]

For MPE and physmod, Cypher2 does a really respectable job... and it's also a joy to program once you get the hang of it.

[gentleclockdivider]

Don't rule out reaktor's primary modal bank module , up to 10,000 band pass filters can be used ( that's then thousand )
The module got introduced in reaktor 5.5 ( together with the sniebank ) and it souds great , it does need some preparation
Prism ensemble is a good showcase for what the module is capable of

Afaik , falcon only has karplus strong synthsesis and no modal filter bank

[David]

For MPE and physmod, Cypher2 does a really respectable job... and it's also a joy to program once you get the hang of it.

Had no idea Cypher2 offered PModeling, cool! What do they call it? I've never seen any direct mention of that option in the promos, etc.

[David]

Now that this thread has apparently morphed into one on Physical Modeling instruments and developments in general (quite usefully, I think), here's some further (sadly Mac only) grist:

Includes a link to free AU/vst:


About a 15€ device:

[Ah_Dziz]

Doesn’t look especially appealing. I love absynth and physical modeling though so I will definitely give it a try.

[gunnar]

There is some new Info from Brian that the GUI from the intro videos was far from the finished project and that in the end ut will have an appealing look.

[gunnar]

UI questions
I’ve gotten a number of questions about the graphic interface recently, so I thought it would be good to address them here so that everybody can read it.



I’ve always been the kind of person who hates showing my work before it’s finished, but the crowdfunding approach requires showing off work in progress so people know it’s real!



At the time I made the intro video I knew the visual interface was far from what the finished product would be, but I decided to present it anyway in order to get things off the ground. By release time it will have a comfortable workflow and an engaging look.



Some of my UI priorities are:

* controls are as large as is practical (easy to click and look at), precise and legible

* everything is ideally no more than one click away

* keep the use of tabs to a minimum

* minimize navigation, keep as much as possible on one page



Plasmonic has tons of parameters, so this is a challenge, but I’m confident it’ll turn out nice.



Although it looks much better now than in the intro video, I don’t think it’s appropriate to show it off presently since it will probably go through a lot of changes before release.



Thanks to everyone who has written, I really appreciate your input!

[David]

(psst!) I don't care at all about any of these comments and druthers; I'm buying no matter what.

[gunnar]

(psst!) I don't care at all about any of these comments and druthers; I'm buying no matter what.

I apologize sir for my posting and beg you to ignore it.
Wish you a jolly good evening

[David]

(psst!) I don't care at all about any of these comments and druthers; I'm buying no matter what.

I apologize sir for my posting and beg you to ignore it.
Wish you a jolly good evening

And the same to you, sir, with very best wishes:) (I guess no expression of appreciation goes unpunished on KVR~sorry!)

[psynical]

Hopefully moving forward, the folks here will have a better understanding of what 'work in progress' means... the UI was obviously a rough sketch and nowhere near final. Most developers will focus their efforts on the code and functionality before diving deep into UI design.