One Synth Challenge #178: Vaporizer2 by Vast Dynamics (Exponent1 Wins!)

[NeuKatalYst]

Hello friends! I want to remind everybody (or inform those who don't know) that I have 50 custom wavetables that I've confirmed work with this synth. Enjoy! https://www.mediafire.com/file/czrh397r ... d.zip/file

[Hanz Meyzer]

Hey, recent version now seems to be apple silicon native! Downloaded from GitHub.

[Parduz]

To avoid what you rightly point out to be a flaw in my method, only deleting the sustain point will work, resulting in an AD envelope. Any ADR will have the same issue.

Yes, it's not well named. I meant that purely operationally: when I select the ADR template in Vaporizer2, I get an envelope without a sustain point.

Thank to you both.
I didn't even looked at the envelope points, as I thought that a Release ramp is .... "universally" supposed to start from whatever level the sound is at the key-release moment. Maybe i've just worked only with synths built in that way.

Thanks again

[Hanz Meyzer]

Hi, how do I control the keyfollow of a filter? Is it wired with 100% by default, so I need to add a keytrack mod source with -100%, if I don't want keyfollow? Or if it is vice versa, how do I add 100% keyfollow?

The filter section really sounds outstandingly nice!

[ZioMau]

Hi everybody,
...one thing:
can i use factory presets if they use the (not allowed) sampler only (i.e.: PN Bright House Piano) ?
sorry if you already asked or explained this..
Ciaoo

[ELEX]

Hi everybody,
...one thing:
can i use factory presets if they use the (not allowed) sampler only (i.e.: PN Bright House Piano) ?
sorry if you already asked or explained this..
Ciaoo

I think you answered your own question already there. The not allowed sampler is exactly that, in any patch. Regular rules regarding samplers apply, afaik.

[NeuKatalYst]

Hi everybody,
...one thing:
can i use factory presets if they use the (not allowed) sampler only (i.e.: PN Bright House Piano) ?
sorry if you already asked or explained this..
Ciaoo

I think you answered your own question already there. The not allowed sampler is exactly that, in any patch. Regular rules regarding samplers apply, afaik.

Yup, unless specified: during Apricot's month, its stock samples were allowed, but no external ones.

[FrogsInPants]

Hi everybody,
...one thing:
can i use factory presets if they use the (not allowed) sampler only (i.e.: PN Bright House Piano) ?
sorry if you already asked or explained this..
Ciaoo

No. Sampler-based presets are not allowed. The special rules do not make any distinction between imported and factory samples:

Sampler use: Use of the Sampler is not allowed for this challenge.

However, for wavetables it seems there is a distinction made:

Wavetables use: Wavetables are allowed, but imported tables should not be used for straight sample playback, i.e. to replicate recorded instruments or vocal phrases directly, but rather to synthesise, morph and mangle single cycle waveforms.

That seems to allow the option to use factory wavetables with words like "dance" and "vaporizer" however one sees fit.

[ZioMau]

Well,
Ok...i'll go anyway without sampler, but...damn...in my opininion Vaporizer with third parts add-ons is about 1Gb and many things are weird to handle (velocity at first), the fx seems to me not so good. Tons of waves and presets...but i found more musicality in other beasts like Surge or simply in Synth One...Pneuma, in Full bucket synths and many other lighter vsts. Too heavy for what it offers...for me.

Ciaooo

[NeuKatalYst]

Well,
Ok...i'll go anyway without sampler, but...damn...in my opininion Vaporizer with third parts add-ons is about 1Gb and many things are weird to handle (velocity at first), the fx seems to me not so good. Tons of waves and presets...but i found more musicality in other beasts like Surge or simply in Synth One...Pneuma, in Full bucket synths and many other lighter vsts. Too heavy for what it offers...for me.

Ciaooo

To be fair, the rules allow commercial rule-following plugins this month. That's honestly my own plan: get some basic sound and modulation from the synth itself, and pretty it all up with external effects - without going overboard, of course.

[doctorbob]

... and pretty it all up with external effects - without going overboard, of course.

Pretty much what I will do ... most of the presets are not very interesting and/or harsh. There seems to be enough scope in the synth to make some decent sounds - just hope it's "predictable" in actual use.
dB

[FrogsInPants]

Hi, how do I control the keyfollow of a filter? Is it wired with 100% by default, so I need to add a keytrack mod source with -100%, if I don't want keyfollow? Or if it is vice versa, how do I add 100% keyfollow?

Without modulators, the filter cutoff is constant (not keytracked). Simple. After that, things become a bit of a mess. Here's what I've found.

The key tracking modulator is weird. In bipolar mode, it gives a minimum value for note number 23 (B-1 in Vaporizer2's octave numbering), and a maximum value for note number 83 (B4). In unipolar mode, the range is from 53 (F2) through 83 (B4). If you want key tracking outside that range, you can't have it.

Now comes the really unfortunate part. With a linear modulator signal (curve=0 on the keytracker), the modulation of the cutoff frequency responds linearly in frequency, not in pitch. As far as I've been able to find, there is no way to set it to modulate by semitones. The best you can do is tweak the modulator's curve to roughly approximate an exponential, but it's really rough. I certainly can't get it to the precision necessary to tune a filter acceptably across more than two notes. (If someone discovers a way to put the modulator into semitone mode, please report back. )

For instance, if you add a keytrack modulator to the cutoff, it defaults to bipolar, 100%, covering the entire range of the filter from 20Hz to 28kHz. The center note F2 will give you a cutoff of ~14kHz, and each note will step it up or down by ~466Hz. This is a useless range for pretty much anything, so you'll have to reduce the modulator's value substantially to get anything close to usable values. About 6.84% gives you a 5 octave range corresponding to the key tracker's minimum and maximum notes, but again, getting the modulator response to anything better than an extremely rough approximation of an exponential curve seems hopeless.

If you also need an envelope modulation on top of the keytracking, it seems to get even weirder. I don't understand how modulators are interacting with each other at all. If I add a second modulator, the cutoff changes even if the second modulator on its own contributes no modulation. My best guess is it's recalculating the total modulation range, and that alters the amount of modulation the keytracker applies for the same value.

[Korg Supporter]

An early entry has arrived. Challenged myself to make a one-instance track within an hour. Hope you enjoy it. The wavetable used was hand-drawn by me in Icarus.

https://soundcloud.com/jack-frost7/korg ... e-instance

[Negoba]

Is anyone else having this synth crash Reaper (which no plugin I've used ever has done before). It happens on specific presets, pretty sporadically. I've had fair luck turning off the GUI and sticking to safe patches. However, a friend of mine who was hoping to try this out was having much worse trouble to the point that the plugin was almost unusable. (He has the new version, we're both on Windows.)

I've certainly had the crackles and pops with too much CPU usage, but no complete crashes.

[maxym.srpl]

After installation:
1. The standalone version runs fine, but
2. In the Reaper, the Vaporizer sees no factory presets at all
3. the path of the vst3 file looks strange: VASTvaporizer2.vst3\VASTvaporizer2.vst3\Contents\x86_64-win\

Presets are located in the location selected during installation (it's my custom path). Where does the plunging look for presets (if not for the path set during the installation?)