AudioThing Wurly - Vintage Electric Piano, Wurlitzer Plugin - Update v1.1

[audiothing]

OK I actually figured out what the problem was! So my sustain pedal tends to send random messages when it's fully up between 0 and 6 or so and apparently Wurly seems to consider any non-zero message from CC64 as the pedal being all the way down. For people who don't have a continuous sustain pedal this shouldn't be a problem. Ideally though I think it should change somewhere closer to the middle of the range, though I just put a plugin behind Wurly that maps lower values to zero.

OK I see. Wurly responds to half-pedal values. It's similar to an acoustic piano, although not as "deep" as an effect. But I don't understand why your sustain pedal sends random values

[audiothing]

It's got a handle. Carry on baggage!

[Nameerf]

First impression AudioThing Wurly vs Arturia Wurli V3 using a MIDI file of Ray Charles' What'd I Say. When playing single notes both emulations sound good, but when many notes are playing at the same time, the transients of Wurli V3 sound less sharp, even with dynamics turned down. Wurly does this better imo.

Thank you! I've had the idea of developing a Wurlitzer plugin for a long time. Before starting development, I tried to demo and listen to as many software options as I could find (even resurrecting my old Nord Electro 3). The main test, besides actually playing each one, was using the MIDI file for Ray Charles's "What'd I Say." It's a really good benchmark, even though he was playing a Wurlitzer 120.

Do a 100 series next please if you can obtain those pianos. I agree with these fellas that they have a desirable sound and character:

I'm not familiar with the 140 (never seen one in Australia!) but you can get very close to the 120 sound by turning the decay way down and playing with the pickup height and distance...

[Lotuz2019]

I'm not familiar with the 140 (never seen one in Australia!) but you can get very close to the 120 sound by turning the decay way down and playing with the pickup height and distance...

If you have made a good '120' preset, please share.

[Nameerf]

I'm not familiar with the 140 (never seen one in Australia!) but you can get very close to the 120 sound by turning the decay way down and playing with the pickup height and distance...

If you have made a good '120' preset, please share.

I've just been playing with trying to get the "What'd I Say" sound here - if attaching this works..? I can't say it's perfect but it sounds pretty close to me!

[Lotuz2019]

I'm not familiar with the 140 (never seen one in Australia!) but you can get very close to the 120 sound by turning the decay way down and playing with the pickup height and distance...

If you have made a good '120' preset, please share.

I've just been playing with trying to get the "What'd I Say" sound here - if attaching this works..? I can't say it's perfect but it sounds pretty close to me!

I'll give it a try tomorrow. Thanks!

[Niowiad]

Is anyone actually getting "stereo" from the STEREO speaker option? It still sounds mono here
Of course I'm talking about STEREO and 100% mix.

I like using direct 99% of the time anyway, but I'm still wondering if that's how it's supposed work on the plugin.

[audiothing]

I've just been playing with trying to get the "What'd I Say" sound here - if attaching this works..? I can't say it's perfect but it sounds pretty close to me!

Wow, that's pretty close indeed!
By the way, you can also copy and paste the presets directly as text (instead of attaching a file) by clicking on the options menu and selecting "Preset Copy/Paste".
It might be quicker for sharing presets.

[audiothing]

Is anyone actually getting "stereo" from the STEREO speaker option? It still sounds mono here
Of course I'm talking about STEREO and 100% mix.

I like using direct 99% of the time anyway, but I'm still wondering if that's how it's supposed work on the plugin.

Ouch, that's a bug. It looks like the channels are mixed back to mono again regardless. I'll fix it and prepare an update for next week. Sorry about that!

[audiothing]

Ok, I've just added a beta version (v1.0.1) to the user area. We'll test it further before updating.

[Lotuz2019]

I've just been playing with trying to get the "What'd I Say" sound here - if attaching this works..? I can't say it's perfect but it sounds pretty close to me!

I compared your preset to IK Multimedia's Wurly Model 120. AudioThing's Wurly is based on the much improved 200 series and therefore can't replicate the 120 entirely (especially those characteristic overtones), but the rest of the sound does come close (after boosting the low frequencies).

Add a little amp noise...

Thinking about giving myself a father's day present.

[Lotuz2019]

By the way, you can also copy and paste the presets directly as text (instead of attaching a file) by clicking on the options menu and selecting "Preset Copy/Paste".
It might be quicker for sharing presets.

Let me try this with these two 140-ish sounding presets.

The 200 version:

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?>

<Wurly_SETTINGS WurlyType="0.0" SpeakerType="OFF" SpeakerMix="1.0" Detune="0.0"
Tune="0.5" PickupHeight="0.578125" PickupDistance="0.08843749761581421"
PickupKeyTracking="1.0" PickupReed="0.8050625324249268" EnvelopeDecay="0.5002187490463257"
EnvelopeRelease="0.5" EnvelopeRandomness="0.0" EnvelopeVelocityCurve="0.4945312440395355"
NoisesHammer="0.0331718735396862" NoisesKeyUp="0.03243750706315041"
ClankLevel="0.09929687529802322" ClankKeyTracking="0.0" ClankVelocityCurve="0.7431562542915344"
PedalStomp="0.2096093595027924" PedalHarp="0.2506250143051147"
PedalByKey="0.5" TremoloAmount="0.0" TremoloSpeed="0.5" MasterVolume="1.0"
MasterTone="0.6520000100135803" DSPBypass="1.0" Version="1.0.1"/>

The 200A version:

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?>

<Wurly_SETTINGS WurlyType="1.0" SpeakerType="OFF" SpeakerMix="1.0" Detune="0.0"
Tune="0.5" PickupHeight="0.578125" PickupDistance="0.08843749761581421"
PickupKeyTracking="1.0" PickupReed="0.8050625324249268" EnvelopeDecay="0.5002187490463257"
EnvelopeRelease="0.5" EnvelopeRandomness="0.0" EnvelopeVelocityCurve="0.4945312440395355"
NoisesHammer="0.037171870470047" NoisesKeyUp="0.03200000151991844"
ClankLevel="0.09929687529802322" ClankKeyTracking="0.0" ClankVelocityCurve="0.7431562542915344"
PedalStomp="0.2096093595027924" PedalHarp="0.2506250143051147"
PedalByKey="0.5" TremoloAmount="0.0" TremoloSpeed="0.5" MasterVolume="0.8999999761581421"
MasterTone="0.656000018119812" DSPBypass="1.0" Version="1.0.1"/>

[audiothing]

By the way, you can also copy and paste the presets directly as text (instead of attaching a file) by clicking on the options menu and selecting "Preset Copy/Paste".
It might be quicker for sharing presets.

Let me try this with these two 140-ish sounding presets.

The 200 version:

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?>

<Wurly_SETTINGS WurlyType="0.0" SpeakerType="OFF" SpeakerMix="1.0" Detune="0.0"
Tune="0.5" PickupHeight="0.578125" PickupDistance="0.08843749761581421"
PickupKeyTracking="1.0" PickupReed="0.8050625324249268" EnvelopeDecay="0.5002187490463257"
EnvelopeRelease="0.5" EnvelopeRandomness="0.0" EnvelopeVelocityCurve="0.4945312440395355"
NoisesHammer="0.0331718735396862" NoisesKeyUp="0.03243750706315041"
ClankLevel="0.09929687529802322" ClankKeyTracking="0.0" ClankVelocityCurve="0.7431562542915344"
PedalStomp="0.2096093595027924" PedalHarp="0.2506250143051147"
PedalByKey="0.5" TremoloAmount="0.0" TremoloSpeed="0.5" MasterVolume="1.0"
MasterTone="0.6520000100135803" DSPBypass="1.0" Version="1.0.1"/>

The 200A version:

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?>

<Wurly_SETTINGS WurlyType="1.0" SpeakerType="OFF" SpeakerMix="1.0" Detune="0.0"
Tune="0.5" PickupHeight="0.578125" PickupDistance="0.08843749761581421"
PickupKeyTracking="1.0" PickupReed="0.8050625324249268" EnvelopeDecay="0.5002187490463257"
EnvelopeRelease="0.5" EnvelopeRandomness="0.0" EnvelopeVelocityCurve="0.4945312440395355"
NoisesHammer="0.037171870470047" NoisesKeyUp="0.03200000151991844"
ClankLevel="0.09929687529802322" ClankKeyTracking="0.0" ClankVelocityCurve="0.7431562542915344"
PedalStomp="0.2096093595027924" PedalHarp="0.2506250143051147"
PedalByKey="0.5" TremoloAmount="0.0" TremoloSpeed="0.5" MasterVolume="0.8999999761581421"
MasterTone="0.656000018119812" DSPBypass="1.0" Version="1.0.1"/>

Cool! I prefer the 200 version! Sounds really good, thanks for sharing!

[Lotuz2019]

Glad you like it.

In general I like the 200 more than the brighter 200A, but I'm sure there will be occasions when the 200A will fit a track better. So thanks for doing two models in one VSTi. And before the release I wasn't too excited when you told you were going to do the 200/200A instead of the 100 series, but I really like how you did it.

Instead of the onboard 'vibrato' people should try Things - Motor. That one is an underrated gem.

[audiothing]

Glad you like it.

In general I like the 200 more than the brighter 200A, but I'm sure there will be occasions when the 200A will fit a track better. So thanks for doing two models in one VSTi. And before the release I wasn't too excited when you told you were going to do the 200/200A instead of the 100 series, but I really like how you did it.

Instead of the onboard 'vibrato' people should try Things - Motor. That one is an underrated gem.

Thank you!!

Yeah, Things Motor + Wurly is a very good combo, also to get a proper "vibrato" (I really can't stand the mislabeling on the hardware )