Free VSTi Sampler : TX16Wx 0.9beta *update 11*

[elcallio]

Hello there.

This is a sampler instrument I've been tinkering with for 2+ years, with pauses for up to a year. Now its finally beta-ready I think. It's a multitimbral sampler with multiple outs, graphical keymapping edit, sampling and sampler editor.
I created it for several reasons:

• I don't really like the huge disk-streaming sample library players. I wanted something that felt like my favourite hardware sampler - the Yamaha TX16W with NuEdge Typhoon.
• I wanted something with an open file format that would not lock me and project made with it in forever. Seems all instruments, free or otherwise, use closed, undocumented disk formats. Well, not anymore.
• Its fun!

So, here it is: TX16Wx Software Sampler v0.9b

Main view:

Sample editor:

Keyboard mapping:


Features:

• Unlimited multi-timbral operation
• 128 voice polyphony
• 16 modulation slots per voice
• 24dB resonant filter
• Two LFO + Two modulation envelopes per voice
• Polyphonic glide
• Built-in sample editor
• Actually samples! Record straight into the sampler.
• Graphical keyboard mapping editor
• 4 Stereo + 8 Mono outputs
• 16 mappable controllers for automation
• Multiple loop definitions per wave
• Individual outs for keyboard groups (drums)
• Multiple keyboard scales
• Multiple trigger modes
• Mono/Poly/Legato operation
• Preview loaded programs and samples in your song before loading
• WAV/AIFF/AIFC/SoundFont 2 support
• Reads Typhoon compressed AIF files
• 100% documented XML-based sound file format. Anyone can write conversion tools.
• Low CPU usage
• Fully native, optimized for SSE2.
• 64-bit support

Again, this is beta software. I take no responsability for damage or disappointment you might suffer should you try to use it. That being said, I really hope some people find this useful. Feedback is most appreciated.

You can download the plugin from http://tx16wx.blogspot.com/. The download package has a PDF user manual attached.

Please let me know what you think, and any bugs or suggestions you might have.


Update 2011-08-25
v0.9.01

• Added drag & drop support for waves, programs and performances
• Fixed graphics bug when editing group name in group list editor
• Keyboard mapping editor can now edit select parameters for multiple groups at a time
• Fixed tempo-synced LFO position offset
• Added global settings + dialogs for import of already loaded items

Update 2011-08-29
v0.9.02

• Added indicators to groups in keymap editor on noteon trigger
• Added quick select mode. When holding any mode selector key depressed and playing Midi notes, the matching groups and splits will be selected in a rotating fashion
• Reworked sample auto-layout to give better results
• Fixed "wave start" group attribute not saved correctly in programs

Update 2011-09-05
v0.9.03

• Added loop start & end modulation
• Added glide modulation
• Made mono mode handle held notes correctly
• Fixed broken XSD definitions for polyphonic modes
• Fixed wave start modulation units
• Fixed "goto" in sample editor
• Fixed sample editor update on drag&drop of samples
• Tweaked resonance of filter to be a little less loud&aggressive.
• Reduced automatable program slots to 32
• Added 48 assignable automation parameters

Update 2011-09-08
v0.9.04

• Added quickstart guide
• Fixed group separate messing up splits
• Fixed file selector graphics messed up on WinXP
• Fixed missing waves breaking load of host plugin data
• Fixed newly sampled waves not saved in host plugin data
• Fixed crash on wave preview in split
• Fixed wave load play looping
• Fixed frozen modulation of volume, pan and pitch cancelled by non-frozen
• Oneshot voices now always retrigger, even in Mono mode
• Fixed crash when saving empty wave
• Fixed race+crash with all notes off

Update 2011-09-09(!)
v0.9.05

• Fixed outputs not detected correctly in FL Studio and others
• Fixed graphics glitch in key mapping editor
• Added support for sustenuto (sustain) and damper (hold) pedal

Update 2011-09-13
v0.9.06

• Improved robustness for loading WAV/AIFF/Soundfonts/FXB
• Added drag&drop of banks
• Improvements and fixes to soundfont import
• Fixed failure to load FXB/programs with splits without assigned waves
• Fixed crash when loading WAV with trailing junk data
• Fixed AEG:level1 and glide parameter not loaded/saved correctly
• Fixed XSD typos
• Fixed AIFF files loaded as "unknown"
• Fixed not detecting need to rename+resave waves
• Fixed Soundfont drag&drop not working correctly
• Fixed UI refresh when deleting last program

Update 2011-10-02
v0.9.07

• Added "slice" functionality
• Added auto slicing via "beat detector"
• Added auto slicing via "equal parts" split
• Added auto layout of slices + midi file export
• Added loop crossfading
• Added tempo detection + loading of Acid information
• Added support for loading Yamaha TX16W OS waves
• Added support for saving sound data in host project directory (when supported by host)
• Added sampling start on host transport start (sample on play)
• Fixed ui refresh on XP

Update 2011-10-23
v0.9.08

• Names of performances/programs are now tied to file names, i.e saving item as new file will modify the name.
• Added choke groups. Also removed "Mono/P" and "Legato/P" since these can easily be implemented through choke groups.
• Loop start/end modulation is now per sample (was fixed on note-on)
• Added support for ReaPeaks wave cache files to speed up drawing large waves.
• Load / Drag and drop of performances and programs now accept more than one file.
• External controllers with offset now auto-scales to keep full parameter range (i.e setting offset 63 effectively maps controller to <-1 - 1> range).
• Made VU meters more accurate
• Added support for bipolar automation parameters.
• Fixed bug in group "separate" operation
• Fixed layout of large number of slices
• Fixed bugs in file loading path resolve
• Fixed various memory leaks
• Fixed various races in delete operations
• Fixed race in program preview
• Fixed oneshot AEG bug
• Fixed missing group name escape in txprog
• Fixed XSD typos
• Fixed numeric performance/program selector response

Update 2011-11-01
v0.9.09

• Added Loop Direction modulation
• Added LFO trigger control (can now choose to retrigger or operate in continuous mode)
• Added limited switchable font & color for main view parameters
• Improved sound item modification tracking
• Fixed assigning individual outputs to groups
• Fixed AEG Attack/Time modulation, was barely noticable
• Fixed draw error in wave editor on XP

Updater 2011-11-05
v0.9.10

• Fixed broken sample view drawing + made more accurate
• Fixed normalization rounding issue
• Fixed wav save data truncation
• Fixed crash when preview playing in sample editor while playing keyboard

Updater 2011-11-07
v0.9.11

• Fixed velocity/key range as modulation source
• Fixed bugs with inverse velocity sensitivity - did not load, nor sound correct.
• Fixed reapeaks creation bug causing mipmaps becoming overlapped

[Axis1~SL61]

You can download the plugin from http://tx16wx.blogspot.com/ (http://tx16wx.blogspot.com/). The download package has a PDF user manual attached.

Looks promising -- I just downloaded it right now and will try it later as soon as possible. Thanks and welcome to kvr.

[marce]

It looks very interesting!

Hello there.

[*]I don't really like the huge disk-streaming sample library players. I wanted something that felt like my favourite hardware sampler - the Yamaha TX16W with NuEdge Typhoon.

So, it is supposed to load all in ram? how you will deal with large files/samples? or it is intended for little instruments?

[bpblog]

looks interesting! here's a clickable link:

You can download the plugin from http://tx16wx.blogspot.com/.

[No_Use]

[*]Actually samples! Record straight into the sampler.

This feature alone (which I miss from many other 'samplers') will make me check this one out.

Thanks a lot for sharing your work.

Any info on what will be your further plans with it ?

Do you continue development (bugfixes etc.) or do you provide it as is ?
Will it stay free or will it be payware at some point ?

[elcallio]

marce: Well, yes, it keeps stuff in ram, so it is limited to "small" soundsets, i.e a few Gigabytes. Again, its a sampler, not a library player. I thought of adding streaming etc while I built it, but it is a feature I've never used, so I find it hard to motivate me.

No_Use: I will fix any bugs that are found, and I will also keep adding features. One top feature is actually improve the SF2 import. Its kind of rudimentary. Also, in the future I'm seriously thinking of redoing the whole UI to a more "software" style, maybe using QT or similar. The current UI is built with VSTUI, which apart from quite a few bugs, also restricts what you can do quite a bit.

I have no plans on making this payware. If, by popular demand or acts of god or whatever, this would happen anyway, I would make the current (as in latest before that) version Open Source so as to not burn anyone using it.

[Northwood Mediaworks]

Looks cool, a quick start guide would be nice, I've just skimmed the manual, it will take some considerable reading to get a sound up and running.

Thanks for sharing this.

[marce]

Im playing with it. I like it. The soundfont import is a little "primitive", i mean, soundfonts will not play like they are intended. Is more a start point for a sample you have, but then you need to re-program the release times, and that.

In the keymap editor i miss some kind of indicator ala shortcircuit or kontakt, that show you what layer are you playing in your keyboard.

Also i miss some polyphony selector, specially for monophonic instruments.

The assignment of parameters "mod" is very usefull.

There are some quirks proper from a beta, like the text editing of the right panel out of place when you double click to edit it.

Im not sure how to edit the wave files still.

About the sample feature: Can it only record a wave file and then you map it, or can it record several wave files and assign them to layers according to their volume?



It looks like a nice sampler!

[thecontrolcentre]

Looks interesting, and great that it actually samples ... is there any way to download it without having to open a Google account?

[marce]

Your first bug report

Testing it with Cantabile Lite: If you clear a bank while it is sounding (you have pressed keys in your keyboard) it will crash.

[elcallio]

Im playing with it. I like it. The soundfont import is a little "primitive", i mean, soundfonts will not play like they are intended. Is more a start point for a sample you have, but then you need to re-program the release times, and that.

Yes. On my todo list to actually map all SF2 generators as close as possible. I think that's top prio for .9.01.

In the keymap editor i miss some kind of indicator ala shortcircuit or kontakt, that show you what layer are you playing in your keyboard.

Yes, not sure how it should look though. Perhaps just a 'blip' in the group list.

Also i miss some polyphony selector, specially for monophonic instruments.

All groups can be set to either poly, mono or legato mode. Or is this not what you mean?

There are some quirks proper from a beta, like the text editing of the right panel out of place when you double click to edit it.

Oooh, that's new. Here it looks fine (not surprising). Could you do a screenshot? Don't know what would cause that bug...

Im not sure how to edit the wave files still.

Check the manual for some description of wave editing. Suggestions on improvement to that is good as well.

About the sample feature: Can it only record a wave file and then you map it, or can it record several wave files and assign them to layers according to their volume?

Right now, it samples one wave, and that is it. It cannot even auto-layout waves that are already loaded. And the reason for that is simply that there are no Combo-boxes in VSTGUI.
I'm gonna have to roll my own proper box...

It looks like a nice sampler!

Thank you!

[Northwood Mediaworks]

Looks interesting, and great that it actually samples ... is there any way to download it without having to open a Google account?

I used http://tx16wx.blogspot.com/ and no need to login!

[phreaque]

Wow classy vintage looking GUI.. Good job indeed.

[marce]

Hi! Thanks your answers.

About Poly, i found it like you said. But, if i correctly understand, you cant set the poly for a multiple selection? I mean, how can you quickly select all the groups and set them to Mono, by example?

About the layer indicator, here is how shortcircuit and kontakt manage it:





And here is the quirk with the text:

[thecontrolcentre]

Looks interesting, and great that it actually samples ... is there any way to download it without having to open a Google account?

I used http://tx16wx.blogspot.com/ and no need to login!

When I click on the download link I'm asked to login to Google Docs.