One Synth Challenge #174: InfernalSynth by sjoerdvankreel

[violator_alba]

With regard to modwheel, my limited understanding is that it would generally be made available as a modulation source but not tied to anything in particular (unless you want to design it that way). I've not encountered any hardware controllers with specific panning controls (again limited experience) so I just assume that would be something you'd assign to a random knob or just automate.

[sjoerdvankreel]

Thanks. I'll go with modwheel, volume, channel pressure and pitch wheel for now. Easy to add more later as long as there's not too much of them.

[VCA-089]

https://soundcloud.com/vca-089/infravol ... n-planet-x

"Since Humanity has gone into space we have discovered hundreds of new worlds. Most of them are lifeless wastelands of dust, ice, volcanic lava and all sorts of things. There were no signs of life in the universe, even the simplest one, not to mention any kind of "organized civilizations"...
And now we stumble upon this strange desolated world full of ancient ruins. God only knows what we would find here..."

This synth reminds me a bit of 90's rackmount synths with a small display and several buttons to edit the sound. Those instruments were pretty feature packed, but their interfaces were usually described as "operating system from hell". I think I could guess why this synth is called "Infernal".

Unfortunately, my CPU isn't capable enough to handle at least two or three instances of this synth, so I decided to make a one instance entry this time.

I made different sounds for all four oscillators with filters and shapers. Than I used audio routing mixer to bring sounds in and out through-out the track. This synth has a potential to become fully multitimbral (but sending audio to individual output is not possible with VST3 I guess).

1 instance of "Infernal synth" used to create a track.

Produced in FL Studio 21

Used plugins:

Native effects:

x5 Parametric EQ 2
x4 Reeverb 2
x4 Delay 3
x1 Wave Candy
x1 dB Meter

VST effects:

x1 AdHd "Leveling Tool"
x2 Thomas Mundt "LoudMax"

Master chain:

TDR "Nova"
Limiter No6

Total:

x1 Generators
x24 Effects
x3 MIDI Patterns
x10 Mixer Tracks
No Audio
x21 Automation Clips

[sjoerdvankreel]

@VCA-089

Hey!

<< operating system from hell
Yeah it's crowded. Really don't see how to substantially improve though, without dropping lots of functionality.

<< Unfortunately, my CPU isn't capable enough to handle at least two or three instances
Indeed it's not optimized, but I can run at least a dozen and probably more on just-above-commodity hardware (its my work laptop from 2 or 3 years old, so nothing special). Did you disable all the stuff you don't use? E.g. all oscs/lfos etc still take up cpu when enabled, even if not routed anywhere. If so, i'm curious as to what is your hardware?

<< This synth has a potential to become fully multitimbral
Sounds interesting, what does that mean exactly?

<< so I decided to make a one instance entry this time
So this is basically just 1 patch? Really impressed!

-cheers, Sjoerd

[eightmeow]

This synth crashes Cantabile, which is what I tried to use as a host to see what the synth sounds like. I was able to patch it in, but when I tried to open the plugin's UI, it crashed the host.

Edit: It also crashes Reaper. I just installed Reaper. It is the only thing else I have that will use VST3.

[eightmeow]

Thanks for the hints. I found the reason of the problem. I did not copy the folders with presets and skins.

Reaper skins or synth skins? I just installed both; have no clue what you're talking about. The synth crashes Reaper.

[sjoerdvankreel]

@ eightmeow

<< This synth crashes Cantabile
I'm trying it out ATM, but i can't even get it to show up in cantabile.

<< It also crashes Reaper
Did you copy the full folder including themes and presets etc (i.e. not only the dll?)

[Edit] For a default setup you should copy the "InfernalSynth1.2.vst3" folder including all subfolders to c:\program files\common files\vst3.

[eightmeow]

Did you copy the full folder including themes and presets etc (i.e. not only the dll?)

[Edit] For a default setup you should copy the "InfernalSynth1.2.vst3" folder including all subfolders to c:\program files\common files\vst3.

I ran the installer. The one at the top of the table, since that's the most recent. NOW I know what it means by instrument only LOL. It installed ONLY the VST. I will run the next installer in the table.

[sjoerdvankreel]

Yeah for reaper you should just go with 1.2. The instrument only is a hack to make renoise and fruity happy. [Edit]: no clue about cantabile, but if you have troubles in reaper, please tell.

[eightmeow]

Yeah for reaper you should just go with 1.2. The instrument only is a hack to make renoise and fruity happy. [Edit]: no clue about cantabile, but if you have troubles in reaper, please tell.

Thanks for your help, I got it running in Reaper with the full folder installed. It no longer crashes Cantabile, but the UI won't open for the synth, either. It may need the instrument-only thing, but I'm not worried about it. Going with Reaper now.

[sjoerdvankreel]

Have to ask - how did you got it to be recognized in cantabile in the first place, even without showing the ui? When i do insert->plugin->all plugins, it got zero to show. That's not only infernal, i also got surge xt and some default steinberg stuff installed.

[Korg Supporter]

<< This synth has a potential to become fully multitimbral
Sounds interesting, what does that mean exactly?

It means that the same synth or instance of a synth can use multiple sounds at once. They can be split, layered, or played via separate MIDI channels. It's how so many workstations in the 80s and 90s used different sounds simultaneously.

[eightmeow]

Have to ask - how did you got it to be recognized in cantabile in the first place, even without showing the ui? When i do insert->plugin->all plugins, it got zero to show. That's not only infernal, i also got surge xt and some default steinberg stuff installed.

For me, it does show in the "all plugins" list, as well as the instruments list. Before I copied the whole folder, it wasn't showing as an instrument but I could find it by name. I find Cantabile's plugin lists to be unreliable, so I'm accustomed to looking for things by name.

Edit, oh, you mean it shows NO plugins? You may have to change the plugin path, Tools -> Options -> Plugin options. It actually lets you specify multiple folders. And then Tools -> Scan plugin folders.

[sjoerdvankreel]

@ eightmeow
Thanks, i'll give it another try.

@ Korg Supporter

<< split, layered, or played via separate MIDI channels
That seems difficult. Very cool, but, hard to pull off. For example infernal is atm limited to a single input channel (polyphonic nonetheless, but, single channel). I take it that lets you control osc1 and osc2 separately? Is this a common feature in softsynths?

[eightmeow]

Have to ask - how did you got it to be recognized in cantabile in the first place, even without showing the ui?

If you're curious, I put the instrument-only fix in the same folder as the full download, and tried again with Cantabile, and it DOES open the instrument UI now. So, add Cantabile to your list of hosts that need the fix.