Saike's workshop [ JSFX | Synth | Creative FX | Nonlinear Filters ]

[sai'ke]

Originally Posted by dupont

On OSX 5K screen SEQ5 font is too small and there are no controls at the bottom.

https://drive.google.com/file/d/1Y8J...ew?usp=sharing

The font size should be fixed in v0.65.

What do you mean no controls at the bottom? Do you mean that they're greyed out? It's because the delay effect is disabled in the screenshot.

I've added two new features to seqs over the weekend.

- One is better serialization of the pattern data. Before it was all stored, now the zeros are run length encoded which should save you some diskspace.
- The second is a sampler track. You can record into up to 8 samples now with seqs and play them back at will. The samples will also be saved with presets (though you can opt out of this in the row's settings if you want to save disk space). This feature was added mainly for messing with beats, but I bet you could come up with other creative uses of it too. Treat this feature as beta for now.
- Also optimized the regular playback. Should take a bit less CPU now.
- Improved cross fades to use a nicer windowing function.



Happy sequencing!

[vitalker]

Originally Posted by sai'ke

I've added two new features to seqs over the weekend.

Looks awesome!

[dupont]

Originally Posted by sai'ke

The font size should be fixed in v0.65.

What do you mean no controls at the bottom? Do you mean that they're greyed out? It's because the delay effect is disabled in the screenshot.

Happy sequencing!

Thanks for fixing and the new feature.
I don't know how to enable delay effect !

[sai'ke]

Originally Posted by dupont

Thanks for fixing and the new feature.
I don't know how to enable delay effect !

Click the little power button corresponding to its strip. See GIF below:

[Vagelis]

Originally Posted by sai'ke

- The second is a sampler track. You can record into up to 8 samples now with seqs and play them back at will. The samples will also be saved with presets (though you can opt out of this in the row's settings if you want to save disk space). This feature was added mainly for messing with beats

Kind of a slicer awesome! So now would be extremely nice if we had option to choose different directions for the playhead (forward,backward, forw-back,random)

[J.Purcell]

Been playing with Reflectosaurus for about an hour, just throwing random samples at it - brilliant work

[sai'ke]

Originally Posted by J.Purcell

Been playing with Reflectosaurus for about an hour, just throwing random samples at it - brilliant work

Glad you like it. If you feel like sharing some presets, I'd be happy to include them in the default preset list.

[sai'ke]

Originally Posted by Vagelis

Kind of a slicer awesome! So now would be extremely nice if we had option to choose different directions for the playhead (forward,backward, forw-back,random)

I'm a bit on the fence on this. I agree that it may be nice to have, but it doesn't fit the mold of the setup that well.

I don't like the idea of having a separate row for it, because it needs to be hooked directly to the blocks that control playback (because I need to know where to put the playhead from a coding perspective).

One option could be that after 1-8, you have 1-8 reverse or something like that (considering reversal is more rare, having them a little further away is probably fine).

Or that some of these things become modulation targets (so basically settings in the strip). I don't know yet. I have to think about it. I'd like to mull that over a bit before deciding, since once you put something out there, people start depending on it, and you should strive not to break people's workflows

[Vagelis]

Hi Saike, regarding playhead direction, i was talking for generic mode, similar as it is now where it goes forward(main playhead), but with more direction modes e.g to select from a menu (reverse, ping-pong and random) without modulation or a separate row.

[dupont]

Originally Posted by sai'ke

Click the little power button corresponding to its strip. See GIF below:

How to make an effect last longer than a step ?

[strachupl]

Saike FM Filter 2

Bug - 2 LFO shapes.

False alarm, nevermind. I had old version not updated.

[dupont]

How to make an effect longer than on step for example like pitch shifter effect on this gif ?

[sai'ke]

Originally Posted by dupont

How to make an effect longer than on step for example like pitch shifter effect on this gif ?

Click and drag multiple blocks. If you don't want it to retrigger on each step, set the mode to legato in the control bar.

I will write a manual this weekend.

[dupont]

Originally Posted by sai'ke

Click and drag multiple blocks. If you don't want it to retrigger on each step, set the mode to legato in the control bar.

I will write a manual this weekend.

I think there is UI glitches on OSX because I can see vertical lines between each step when I click and drag.
that's why I undestood at first the steps where not linked together.

Cool plugin anyway, working with it for my next techno track.
It reminds me "glitch" plugin.

[sai'ke]

Originally Posted by dupont

I think there is UI glitches on OSX because I can see vertical lines between each step when I click and drag.
that's why I undestood at first the steps where not linked together.

Cool plugin anyway, working with it for my next techno track.
It reminds me "glitch" plugin.

Screenshot (of the lines)?

[dupont]

Originally Posted by sai'ke

Screenshot (of the lines)?

https://drive.google.com/file/d/1DS-...ew?usp=sharing
pitch shifter raw : click and drag
Degrade raw : clic on each step

Another request : can you make obvious the "12" icon in the modulator line, when off it is invisible.

[sai'ke]

Originally Posted by dupont

https://drive.google.com/file/d/1DS-...ew?usp=sharing
pitch shifter raw : click and drag
Degrade raw : clic on each step

Another request : can you make obvious the "12" icon in the modulator line, when off it is invisible.

Thanks, that helps.

I made some changes in v0.66 that should improve alignments somewhat. Could you take another screenshot? I don't have a retina display to test on, so I rely on artificially upscaling the JSFX.

[ErBird]

I was messing with the tone stack plugin and noticed the various amps weren't giving me the sound I was expecting.

Comparing the curves with Duncan Tone Stack Calculator, you can see the curves are shifted frequency-wise so that the mid-scoops aren't centered in the right location.

A Fender should have its baseline mid-scoop at ~500 HZ, whereas yours is closer to 1000 Hz.

[dupont]

Originally Posted by sai'ke

Thanks, that helps.

I made some changes in v0.66 that should improve alignments somewhat. Could you take another screenshot? I don't have a retina display to test on, so I rely on artificially upscaling the JSFX.

That's OK now.
12 icon is still too dark

https://drive.google.com/file/d/1kx7...ew?usp=sharing

[sai'ke]

Originally Posted by ErBird

I was messing with the tone stack plugin and noticed the various amps weren't giving me the sound I was expecting.

Comparing the curves with Duncan Tone Stack Calculator, you can see the curves are shifted frequency-wise so that the mid-scoops aren't centered in the right location.

A Fender should have its baseline mid-scoop at ~500 HZ, whereas yours is closer to 1000 Hz.

Oh wow, thank you Erbird! I'm a doofus. I notice that I was missing a factor of two in the code gen script that I wrote to do this transform for me. I personally don't use that plugin that much, so that's probably why I never noticed.

I was also puzzled why I didn't notice this before, because I had confirmed the spectra on the Python side as well. Turns out I was missing a factor two in two places

It should be an easy fix. I will update it tonight and introduce a legacy parameter. I'll also visually inspect the response this time.

Thanks again for being vigilant. Would you like to do QA on more of my plugs? I'd really appreciate it.

[dupont]

SEQ5

I noticed audio glitches with pitch shifter with a sine wave audio.

[sai'ke]

Originally Posted by dupont

SEQ5

I noticed audio glitches with pitch shifter with a sine wave audio.

If you explain a bit more, I'd be able to tell whether that is either a bug or a known behaviour.

For every report, please try to list at least the following information.
- What were you trying to do when it happened?
- What you expected would happen and what happened exactly.
- Ideally, attach a file that reproduces the problem or shows me an example of it happening.

The more information I have, the higher the odds of getting your problem fixed.

I wouldn't expect the pitch shifter to be distortion free, since it's a WSOLA algorithm. It works by doing tiny crossfades on sped up audio, where it tries to phase match the crossfaded section. This will never be perfect and always have some artefacts. What is possible is that you hear that every N cycles, it happens to fall in an unlucky spot which leads to it not being able to phase align as well.

For sine wave inputs, I would really recommend not using a pitch shifter, but just manipulating the frequencies in whatever plugin you're using to generate the sine wave.

Can you record an example or send me a reaper file that shows them then I can confirm whether it is indeed slight misalignments, or something more sinister. Also were any other effects within SEQS active at the same time?

[dupont]

Originally Posted by sai'ke

If you explain a bit more, I'd be able to tell whether that is either a bug or a known behaviour.

For every report, please try to list at least the following information.
- What were you trying to do when it happened?
- What you expected would happen and what happened exactly.
- Ideally, attach a file that reproduces the problem or shows me an example of it happening.

The more information I have, the higher the odds of getting your problem fixed.

I wouldn't expect the pitch shifter to be distortion free, since it's a WSOLA algorithm. It works by doing tiny crossfades on sped up audio, where it tries to phase match the crossfaded section. This will never be perfect and always have some artefacts. What is possible is that you hear that every N cycles, it happens to fall in an unlucky spot which leads to it not being able to phase align as well.

For sine wave inputs, I would really recommend not using a pitch shifter, but just manipulating the frequencies in whatever plugin you're using to generate the sine wave.

Can you record an example or send me a reaper file that shows them then I can confirm whether it is indeed slight misalignments, or something more sinister. Also were any other effects within SEQS active at the same time?

I sent you a .RPP in PM.

[sai'ke]

Originally Posted by dupont

I sent you a .RPP in PM.

Thank you! I was lacking smoothing for the on/off on the pitch shifter and degrader. Added some.

[sai'ke]

Originally Posted by ErBird

I was messing with the tone stack plugin and noticed the various amps weren't giving me the sound I was expecting.

Comparing the curves with Duncan Tone Stack Calculator, you can see the curves are shifted frequency-wise so that the mid-scoops aren't centered in the right location.

A Fender should have its baseline mid-scoop at ~500 HZ, whereas yours is closer to 1000 Hz.

Alright, I've decided to give the tone stacks a bit more love.

I've added the proper scaling to the tone stacks which should make their frequency response match a lot better (there's a hidden slider that will allow you to get the old behaviour back, if that's what you want). It's not an exact match (there's some warping that I do not correct for), but it's pretty close. I have no idea what happened with the Dumble Rock though. I must have grabbed the wrong eqns for that one. I need to have a look at it later, but if I reintroduce it, I will introduce it as a "new" model, since people might depend on this one already :/

I've also switched them from a Direct Form I to a Transposed Direct Form II; which solves a lot of the stability issues the previous setup had under parameter modulation. Finally, there was a bug in the part which estimates the gain compensation to use. I forgot to reset the filter used for that (oops).

I hope it's a bit more usable now. Please let me know if there are any more obvious problems.

[ErBird]

Originally Posted by sai'ke

Oh wow, thank you Erbird! I'm a doofus. I notice that I was missing a factor of two in the code gen script that I wrote to do this transform for me.

Even the King of JSFX is a doofus sometimes (rarely I'm sure). Makes me feel a little better.

And NP. I know the *big 3* tone stacks well so I could tell something was off. Interesting that the curves are pretty much intact, just shifted.

Originally Posted by sai'ke

Thanks again for being vigilant. Would you like to do QA on more of my plugs? I'd really appreciate it.

I'll keep an eye out for anything fishy. Gladly. I've been meaning to use your plugins more often. Especially the expanded Yutani and this new sequencer thingy.

Though something that keeps me away from GUI'd JSFX is the lack of text input on the controls. I actually prefer the standard sliders for this reason.

Are you open to hearing about peculiarities that aren't necessarily bugs?

[taji]

New to Amaranth, and the popup tips help a lot! Still had a few questions:

- What's the state of development? Is it done? :-)
- It only plays sound when reaper is playing? Why? is there a way to trigger sounds with just a midi note?
- I noticed when I right click on the wave view that vertical lines are added (0, 1, etc). What do they do? And what are they for?

[sai'ke]

Originally Posted by ErBird

Even the King of JSFX is a doofus sometimes (rarely I'm sure). Makes me feel a little better.

And NP. I know the *big 3* tone stacks well so I could tell something was off. Interesting that the curves are pretty much intact, just shifted.

They were probably a bit squished at the top too. But that's probably far less noticeable.

I'll keep an eye out for anything fishy. Gladly.

I'd appreciate it!

I've been meaning to use your plugins more often. Especially the expanded Yutani and this new sequencer thingy.

Though something that keeps me away from GUI'd JSFX is the lack of text input on the controls. I actually prefer the standard sliders for this reason.

Yeah. Adding some sort of text input field widget is still on my backlog. That sort of stuff is just kind of a pain in JSFX and not very fun to code. I'm also dreading the day I have to backport it everywhere. But one day I'll probably bite the bullet .

In the case of Yutani though, I don't think you'd want to see a Yutani where every setting was a slider! You'd get something like 200+ sliders

Are you open to hearing about peculiarities that aren't necessarily bugs?

Sure. I'm definitely curious about them. I can't promise I can do much about them. It depends a little on whether the legacy mode can be preserved somehow for people who already depend on it (sound familiar?! ).

But even in those cases where it'd be difficult to change, it'd be interesting to note them as things to consider next time.

[sai'ke]

Originally Posted by taji

New to Amaranth, and the popup tips help a lot! Still had a few questions:

- What's the state of development? Is it done? :-)

Not quite, but I'm having some trouble finding time to add things
I'll try and make sure that I don't make breaking changes anymore though.

- It only plays sound when reaper is playing? Why? is there a way to trigger sounds with just a midi note?

It should respond to MIDI notes.

Actually, I just tested, and it does respond to MIDI notes, but apparently only when REAPER is playing. I'll fix that tomorrow, because that's a bug.

- I noticed when I right click on the wave view that vertical lines are added (0, 1, etc). What do they do? And what are they for?

Ah yes. That's correct. They are for finding your way in the envelopes. I often had trouble finding where in the envelope corresponds to where in the sample, so I added those.

If you link up position to an envelope (right mouse button on the modulator box), then select 1 or 2. Then left mouse to drag a range. Then you will see lines appear in the envelope. Those lines correspond to the lines you added in the main view. Kind of like landmarks. The plan was to start allowing to snap to them too, but I haven't had time to implement that part yet.

[taji]

Good to know. And thanks for the quick response. :-)

[dupont]

Originally Posted by sai'ke

Thank you! I was lacking smoothing for the on/off on the pitch shifter and degrader. Added some.

That's better now, thanks for your work.

[dupont]

How do I split the midi note range so some notes can be used to change SEQ5 pattern without trigerring the vstinstrument which is placed before SEQ5 on the same track ?

[sai'ke]

Originally Posted by dupont

How do I split the midi note range so some notes can be used to change SEQ5 pattern without trigerring the vstinstrument which is placed before SEQ5 on the same track ?

Don't know. Depends on the plugin you're using whether they support such a thing?

If not, you can always just put SEQS on a separate track and send the audio to that track only while recording MIDI on both tracks. Then on the synth track add a MIDI note filter to filter out the range that you want to use for SEQS.

[foxAsteria]

Originally Posted by dupont

How do I split the midi note range so some notes can be used to change SEQ5 pattern without trigerring the vstinstrument which is placed before SEQ5 on the same track ?

Probably a few JS already doing that, but I still use this, which is quick and easy: https://www.kvraudio.com/product/mid...er-by-eareckon

[sai'ke]

Originally Posted by taji

Good to know. And thanks for the quick response. :-)

Should be fixed now.

Also, I added the wah filter and boneray to the tone stacks, since they weren't on the DIY site last time I checked
Note that the wah is just the frequency response, not the envelope follower, though it's tempting to make a separate plugin that does that

[dupont]

Originally Posted by foxAsteria

Probably a few JS already doing that, but I still use this, which is quick and easy: https://www.kvraudio.com/product/mid...er-by-eareckon

there is this solution but how can I set SEQ5 midi bus ?

[sai'ke]

Originally Posted by dupont

there is this solution but how can I set SEQ5 midi bus ?

SEQS listens to all MIDI notes. You can set which note it starts triggering at by clicking the note and then playing one. This will become the note that sets it to pattern 0. Every semitone up will be one pattern higher.



If it's not responding to MIDI then the notes are not getting to SEQS. Possibly whatever you have in front isn't properly forwarding them.

[dupont]

OK, but if I set vital plugin 1 in buss 1 and if it was possible to set SEQ5 in buss 2 on the same track, I could then be abble to play vital in the C1-C3 range on buss 1 and Vital patterns change via C#3-C4 range on buss 2.
Hope this is clearer.

[sai'ke]

Originally Posted by dupont

OK, but if I set vital plugin 1 in buss 1 and if it was possible to set SEQ5 in buss 2 on the same track, I could then be abble to play vital in the C1-C3 range on buss 1 and Vital patterns change via C#3-C4 range on buss 2.
Hope this is clearer.

SEQS doesn't support using other MIDI busses. What's the issue with just using two tracks that you send me MIDI to?

Have the MIDI be generated or recorded on one track (Track 1).
From that track send the first MIDI channel to Vital (Which is on track 2).
And send the second MIDI channel to SEQS (Track 3).
Then from the vital track send audio to the SEQS track (Track 2 -> Track 3). And turn off the master send.

Now everything should work. If necessary, add a MIDI note filter on the vital track.

[taji]

Originally Posted by sai'ke

Should be fixed now.

Pulled down latest. First let me say this thing is a beast. :-). It takes a bit of tweaking but I'm definitely getting amazing sounds out of it and the envelope automation is crazy awesome. And my cpu (HP i7 Core) is only at 2%!

I see your bug fix is working, but I'm still a bit confused. Now the play head is engaged all the time. When I drag a wave file into the view, it starts making noise if the wave file is big enough. Is there a way to configure it so that the play head only engages and emits sound when I send a midi note to it? Maybe as a toggle feature?

I've figured out a work around. I position the play head just outside of the audible audio area and then set ENV1 to the Position parameter. Then when I hit a note, the play head traverses into the audible audio and sound appears.

One other request: Can you modify the envelope parameters so that they are automate-able as parameters inside Reaper? I want to control the envelope start and stop points for each envelope via a Reaper LFO.

Of course, no worries if it's a no go on the requested changes. :-). Getting a lot of great mileage out of this already!