Discussion about a Synth Voices discussion

[Brister]

@Bparticle

I was toying with the idea of starting a thread that only contains synth voice custom units

Thats a great idea - I think that would be really useful, I love to try out all of these excellent units but often forget about them. A central repository would be perfect

[anon83620728]

Don’t forget you can view by tag:

Topics tagged custom-unit

[Bparticle]

Oh yes, for sure. I was more thinking along the lines of a discussion thread that is purely focused on synth voices, with the relevant custom units shared in one place.

[iiii]

Could also be a page on the wiki?

[gnomedrone]

Awesome unit. Thanks for sharing!

[hyena]

thanks for givin’ it a go!

[anon83620728]

We discussed this before, and yes - absolutely! However there was a general consensus that until the firmware stabilises there’s not much point in putting all that effort in and the tagged posts are a good enough solution for now

Shrugs… if someone wants to setup and maintain the wiki page and the units there then I say go for it - I’d just say it’s probably worth thinking about before committing

[hyena]

agree with @anon83620728 , i am not sure i’d be able to maintain my existing units over major firmware changes in a regular way. my 2 cents: i find the tagging system good enough for now

[iiii]

I’d be open to taking that on, I would also find it useful. Feels like a contribution I can make to give back for all the help I’ve received. @Bparticle maybe we can tag team it?

[odevices]

There is a small issue. Pretty soon I’m going to get rid of the “custom unit” nomenclature because really all units are customizable and the current system of calling everything a custom unit obfuscates the fact that you are really just sharing “unit presets”.

Case in point:

Binaural beats unit

Hi @Bparticle I’ve just had the time now to have a look at this and I’m only getting a single channel loading ie hard pan left. I’m opening it in a stereo custom unit and both channels are showing but there is only a sine in the left channel. Am i missing something? I can see no evidence of the 2 bands.

Also, the Custom Unit will be replaced by 2 different container units: Effect Container (basically the current Custom Unit) and Source Container (just like a Custom Unit that ignores its input), so that people don’t have to do workarounds like insert blocking VCAs. I’m still undecided on the naming.

[mopoco]

IO-container vs. O-Container
InOut Container vs. Out Container

EDIT: @odevices

@odevices

Effect Container (basically the current Custom Unit) and Source Container (just like a Custom Unit that ignores its input)

also:
pass-through container vs. blocking container.

‘source’ and ‘effect’ don’t seem to be unambiguous enough, which is probably the source
of Brian’s undecidedness… i’d prefer the naming would tell the user what is actually different
between the two types of container,
i.e. accepting vs. ignoring/blocking signal inputs from the left to the container in the chain

[Bparticle]

Oh look, it’s a Synth Voices thread!

As a convention, could we decide to have a little demo for each voice we share so we can more easily browse and find what we’re looking for? Also, would it be beneficial to decide what a synth voice actually is? Do “drone” voices count? Or for example: minimal controls required are 1 tune control and 1 Gate control.

I will look into my own repository and see if there are shareable voices I can make a little demo for later today.

[Bparticle]

This is a Two Band synth voice preset called “Straight Shooter” because it’s a pretty straight, no modulation sort of arcade game type voice with a higher pitched channel and a sub. You can mute any of the two bands from the main controls (mute 1 and mute 2). Super simple, but I like these sort of "pre-patched fixed architecture voices to load up and throw in a patch. No filter by the way! In the demo there is some reverb and I add a little delay later on.

Made for v0.4.11, I should also mention CPU load here I think. Let me check and come back later. EDIT: it’s 5%

straight_shooter.unit (18.6 KB)

ER-301 - Straight Shooter

[mopoco]

@Bparticle

Oh look, it’s a Synth Voices thread!

actually, and with the exception of @Bparticle’s contribution, this seems to be
the “Thread about a Synth Voices Thread”

i’d love to see both: One thread dicussing the conventions for another thread discussing
“Synth Voice Presets”.

inspired by @Joe’s thread

https://forum.orthogonaldevices.com/t/some-new-units-to-share/

i’d suggest
the first post in that thread could then list available presets alphabetically containing the already suggested data:

• name.unit = download link
• name-manual.txt = downloadlink with detailed instructions (idea boroughed from CardOne-project)
• shortest possible description of the character (e.g. minimal, granular, drone)
• preset-type according to the current unit naming on the wiki (e.g. quicksave/chain/3-band/manual grains)
• compatibility to FW-versions
• CPU-load
• screenshot of the UI
• contents of zipped packages (libs/presets/samples…)
• required additional libs/presets/samples
• video and/or audio demos

is something missing in this list?

@Bparticle

Also, would it be beneficial to decide what a synth voice actually is?

i’d say: yes! though i’d opt for a minimalistic and wide definition. something
along the lines of “Anything goes, as long as it is audible”.

@Bparticle

minimal controls required are 1 tune control and 1 Gate control.

i’d say: no! i remember voice presets that merely required a single trigger to go off.
and they were perfectly marvelous. don’t want to rule out necessary requirements
in general, though. maybe a voice should require some control that could start and stop it?
(which could also be a volume fader that is preset at an inaudible level…)

[anon83620728]

Awesome

[Bparticle]

So, since @mopoco had some valid points, I went ahead and renamed this thread. Let’s start a new final and official one now

@mopoco

is something missing in this list?

Nope, I think it is comprehensive to say the least Although, to share all this information in the thread introduction I think will be cluttering up that post. Not sure if that’s what you were suggesting? I’m thinking when many different people will be sharing their patches, unlike Joe’s thread who is the only author. A list with alphabetical patches with a very short description of its character I think should suffice, with a download link and a link to the actual post that contains all the extensive information + sound examples, demos and so forth?

Let’s take my patch as an example:

• Straight Shooter
  Dual oscillator classic - Two band preset 5% CPU
  download :
  straight_shooter.unit (18.6 KB)

info : Discussion about a Synth Voices discussion - #13 by Bparticle

Could anyone come up with a list of synth voice “genres” or categories. That might be helpful…

[anon83620728]

Are you sure the wiki wouldn’t be a better place for this?

I don’t know if you have noticed or not, but on longer threads only a handful of posts are shown at a time, it’s a bit weird. The wiki will be where these things should reside eventually, so seems to make more sense to me and you can format them with more options at your disposal.

[Bparticle]

True, but that’s what the introduction post would be for, to have an overview of the patches that have been shared in the thread. I’m more interested in having this on the forum, personally, because I like a discussion to arise from posts that are shared between us, also suggestions and ideas from others should actually improve the quality of the patches, and know I will learn more if it’s organized like that I feel the wiki should be where finished stuff resides, how-to’s, instructions, the manual. Not necessarily what the community produces.

[anon83620728]

I have my doubts, I think it will quickly become unmanageable (how to track discussion of one custom unit in amongst them all for example?), but sure, I’m not trying to dissuade you, go for it!

p.s. there are already patches there see here:

http://wiki.orthogonaldevices.com/index.php/ER-301#User_Contributed_Custom_Units

[Bparticle]

Wouldn’t it compare to the share you music thread? There is a lot of cross-talk going on there but it doesn’t bother me at all. As long as you reply to the right person. Also Discourse is now even showing the replies to a certain post right underneath if you click on the expand icon (sometimes, usually…)

Maybe we can have a best synth voice poll in the thread and the winners go to the wiki