Xhip Synthesizer v8.1 (alpha & RC)

[aciddose]

I do think it's a combination of issues. One is that Xhip definitely lacks some important features required to make great flute sounds. For example creating a good breath attack timbre is near impossible currently due to both the type of noise generator, type of envelopes/modulators and type of filters present. Another is the oscillator unison feature I talked about in a previous post ... currently the detune is set by a function, but there is no reason it shouldn't be possible to generate "false harmonics" and produce an additive synthesis effect by manually specifying oscillator unison frequencies and amplitudes. The typical spectra of a flute timbre could easily be approximated using additive synthesis, but is nearly impossible using a single oscillator or oscillators and filter as Xhip currently uses. This could be accommodated for by using layering, to give four oscillators and four filters in parallel combined with maybe a third layer dedicated entirely to the breath attack/sustain timbre.

Flutes are a famous instrument to model in a modular synthesizer, I believe because the flexibility is required.

https://www.phys.unsw.edu.au/music/flut ... nB/A4.html

A quadratic rather than sigmoid waveshaper mode could be applied to achieve variations in timbre (compare the first example timbres versus the final "soft" timbre), but even given that the spectra could be reproduced perfectly (I have no doubt a great approximation is trivial) the breath timbre would be more difficult with a single voice.

So, ultimately there are a very large number of small changes and new features that could allow Xhip to produce better flutes and many other timbres. The original 1999 "Acid Tracker" synthesizer used a quadratic shaping function x*(2-|x|) rather than the sigmoid (1+d)*x/(|x|+d), so I've wanted to add that much softer function for quite some time. The old "sine" waveform applied a tweaked version of that quadratic function with bias to the triangle waveform and had a much more interesting flute-like spectrum than the current sine function.

It's definitely an issue I'll need to apply some focused study toward solving, and so for now it's likely best to just "let it be". Adding too many things to the to do list makes it never grow any shorter

[aciddose]

Here's a fair sound:


Of course when I say "flute" I'm not talking about synthesizer tones, I mean something you could confuse a real flutist into believing it was actually someone playing a physical flute

[aciddose]

https://soundcloud.com/xhip/cubank-flute
Here you can tell the waveshaper is too sharp, the input waveform (triangle) has too many harmonics, only odd and at the wrong slope (1/n^2) to start with, the filter slope (12 dB) is too steep, the noise is uniform rather than gaussian, the noise is white instead of pink, and the envelopes just aren't exactly right. Especially I feel there is a major limitation with the waveshaper and 2nd filter to shaping the timbre very carefully as required for this sound. The phaser I used as suggested in the video for overall "pipe tone", but the pitch/frequency needs to key follow which isn't currently possible with Xhip. Ideally it would be possible to map using the routing page, key to effect parameters and have the phaser frequency-track the keyboard at nearly 100% (98%?)

https://soundcloud.com/xhip/cubank-flute4

Further tweaks, I keep bouncing back and forth between a good even-odd-harmonic balance and a focused base "sine" tone just like usual. I never seem to find a very satisfying balance with something like velocity controlling the timbre. So I tend to think in terms of maybe the solution is simply a two-voice layer, where velocity cross-blends between the "soft" timbre and the "harmonic" timbre presets.

https://soundcloud.com/xhip/cubank-fluteprovement

I quieted the epiano and bell timbre quite a bit too. I hate that sensation of "over-tweaking" where you swear you had it sounding really good, then adjusted things and ruined it lol. I saved some presets though so I'll give it another attempt later on maybe.

https://soundcloud.com/xhip/cubanm-epiano-flute-deux

Maybe I'm just being way too picky. I'm pretty sure it can be improved a lot still though.

https://soundcloud.com/xhip/cubanm

[GeoffreyMcJefferson]

Has xhip been abandoned? The site hasn't been online for a while now...

[Mutant]

Has xhip been abandoned? The site hasn't been online for a while now...

Aciddoses last post on KVR was on May 30, i hope he is OK.

[aciddose]

Not abandoned, just not the focus of my attention. Ultimately the older alpha versions do 99% of what I actually want to use a plug-in for. There are many issues that need to be worked out and the list of things needing work or to be fixed has grown faster than I could actually accomplish the work. The server was something I started back in 1998 or so using a lightweight HTTP server when geocities was no longer effective. When I looked at whether maintaining the server actually served any purpose (unserver?) I couldn't identify much reason to continue.

The latest version of the code probably needs some very focused months of effort invested. As with many of us, I'm sure, when I look at my list of things I need to do there are many far higher priority elements there. I do not think I'll ever entirely abandon the project and so in time there is always a chance I'll come back to it. Most of all, I actually enjoy sitting down to work on programming projects (not always Xhip!) as a hobby purely for my own enjoyment. I've found the current situation with the software scene in general to be very depressing. When I look at for example windows 12 (ha ha) or some similarly blurry image in the distant future masked by fog it truly reminds me more of a scene from a horror film than anything else.

Negativity unneeded though, since the older version, Xhip 8 - works great!

[Mutant]

Nice to know you are alive.

[audiojunkie]

Agreed! That Acidose is alive and well is the most important thing.

[glokraw]

A fun project would be to have some pi computer velcro-mounted on or under a midi controller or rompler/synth etc, autobooting an ssd launching linux audio and xhip, with some handy little monitor that could rest where the player desired, yankee ingenuity coming into play...and a little mixer blending whatever was at hand.

[mjolnir]

I just tried this synth 1 minute ago on Linux. THIS IS GREAT. I remember the 32-bit Windows one many years ago. Thanks for keeping going on the development of xHip. I had forgotten that this used to be one of my main synths! Thanks for Linux support and thanks for having stereo sound possibilities. I will definately be using this in my productions again. Loads up in Reaper Linux just fine. Awesome.

And thanks for the polyphony controls too; set to whatever your CPU can handle--so nice!

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