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Synthesis Method Details

tonebursttoneburst
edited February 2013 in Technical details and features
Hi, this project looks very exciting!

I'm wondering if you'd care to share any more details on the various types of drum-synthesis on offer, and the various editable parameters for each type.

Cheers,

a|x (also on Mutable Instruments forum)

Comments

  • julianjulian
    you are lucky that I already made some sketches this weekend ;)
    the structure may change a little bit, and not everything is shown.
    but to give you an idea the machine has

    3x good for kick, tom, 808 cowbells
    image

    1x classic snare/clap
    image

    1x fm snare/clap
    image

    1x hihat
    image
    hh with 2 sequencer tracks with different adjustable decay times for open/closed hh


  • tonebursttoneburst
    Ah, cool, thanks for the quick reply, and the diagrams.
    So each patch/kit has a fixed number of slots for each synthesis type, does it?

    There was some mention of sample-playback capabilities on another thread. How does that fit in with the scheme of things? Would you have either a completely synthesised or a completely sample-based kit, or would some mixing-and-matching be possible between the two types (as in the Machindrum)?

    a|x
  • julianjulian
    edited February 2013
    It's not slot based.
    The different models are currently fixed to a seq track.
    track 1-3 drum, track 4 snare, track 5 clap, track 6+7 hh
    otherwise morphing and patch organisation becomes quite complicated.
    the different models are still a relict from the beginning. before optimizing the code I wasn't able to give each voice a multimode filter and had to do a lot of compromises. For example the 3 drum voices had no filter, hihat and snare had no distortion... by optimizing a lot of the code the voices could become more similar to each other. but some differences still remain.

    slots may be an option for future versions, but is not high on my priority list.

    regarding samples - classic drum sampler functionality not included.. the transient generator uses very short samples to produce different click/attack sounds. And there is a bonus waveform in the OSC section quite similar to a 909 crash ;) but its mainly a synthesis instrument.

    I just added the 909 crash because it is hard to synthesize and I like the sound.
  • julianjulian
    I'll have to see how much flash is left after finishing the 1st firmware version.
    I have 1MB flash memory in total on the hardware.
    The remaining flash might be used for samples one day (as additional OSC waveform)
    but again this is a feature for the future ;)
  • tonebursttoneburst
    I see. Will there be a method for saving and recalling 'kits'? I mean, could you save all the patch parameters for the sounds on a set of 6 tracks as a single entity, for later recall?

    a|x
  • julianjulian
    edited February 2013
    sure.
    thats what the sd-card is for.
    patch loading is quite fast, too.
    can be done on the fly while playing.
    you can also load 2 'kits' and morph between their parameters.
  • tonebursttoneburst
    edited February 2013
    Ah, I see- that's what the morph control does... cool!
    Is it also possible to save/recall individual sounds, as well as complete kits? Is it possible, if so, to morph between two patches for a given individual track?

    Sorry to fire all these questions at you...

    a|x
  • tonebursttoneburst
    edited February 2013
    Incidentally, the Waldorf Attack/RackAttack has a 909-style hihat waveform sample (but you probably knew that already).

    a|x
  • julianjulian
    hehe funny :)
    never played with an attack.

    at the moment only complete kits can be loaded/saved
    morphing between individual tracks is not possible directly, but you could save your kit and only alter the settings for one track, then use this new kit as morph destination.
  • tonebursttoneburst
    edited February 2013
    I see.

    You should try Attack, it's pretty cool. Funnily enough, it's the only example I know of of a VST that turned into an actual hardware device. The software version is still available as part of the now very reasonably-priced (because very old, I suspect)  Waldorf Edition

    You might find PDF available from here interesting. There's a block diagram of the synthesis signal flow, and tutorials on programming emulations of sounds from various classic drumboxes.

    Audio demos here.

    a|x
  • tonebursttoneburst
    edited February 2013
    The basic signal-flow looks more complicated than any of your drum synth types, but there is only the single model. It's able to produce a wide variety of different sounds, though, including all the standard drum and percussion types, and even bass patches.

    Because all sounds are produced using the same synthesis method, it does struggle to produce really convincing emulations of specific sounds from particular vintage boxes, which suspect may be why the product never really took off. It can sound very good though, on it's own terms.

    a|x
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