Discussion about a Synth Voices discussion

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

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Donā€™t forget you can view by tag:

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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.

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Could also be a page on the wiki?

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Awesome unit. Thanks for sharing!

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thanks for givinā€™ it a go!

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

Shrugsā€¦ if someone wants to setup and maintain the wiki page and the units there then I say go for it - Iā€™d just say itā€™s probably worth thinking about before committing :slight_smile:

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agree with @anon83620728 , i am not sure iā€™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 :slight_smile:

Iā€™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 Iā€™ve received. @Bparticle maybe we can tag team it?

There is a small issue. Pretty soon Iā€™m going to get rid of the ā€œcustom unitā€ 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 ā€œunit presetsā€.

Case in point:

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 donā€™t have to do workarounds like insert blocking VCAs. Iā€™m still undecided on the naming.

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

EDIT: @odevices

also:
pass-through container vs. blocking container.

ā€˜sourceā€™ and ā€˜effectā€™ donā€™t seem to be unambiguous enough, which is probably the source
of Brianā€™s undecidednessā€¦ iā€™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

Oh look, itā€™s a Synth Voices thread! :slight_smile:

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 weā€™re looking for? Also, would it be beneficial to decide what a synth voice actually is? Do ā€œdroneā€ 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.

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This is a Two Band synth voice preset called ā€œStraight Shooterā€ because itā€™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: itā€™s 5%

straight_shooter.unit (18.6 KB)

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actually, and with the exception of @Bparticleā€™s contribution, this seems to be
the ā€œThread about a Synth Voices Threadā€ :relaxed:

iā€™d love to see both: One thread dicussing the conventions for another thread discussing
ā€œSynth Voice Presetsā€.

inspired by @Joeā€™s thread

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

iā€™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/samplesā€¦)
  • required additional libs/presets/samples
  • video and/or audio demos

is something missing in this list?

iā€™d say: yes! though iā€™d opt for a minimalistic and wide definition. something
along the lines of ā€œAnything goes, as long as it is audibleā€.

iā€™d say: no! i remember voice presets that merely required a single trigger to go off.
and they were perfectly marvelous. donā€™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 levelā€¦)

Awesome :wink:

So, since @mopoco had some valid points, I went ahead and renamed this thread. Letā€™s start a new final and official one now :crazy_face:

Nope, I think it is comprehensive to say the least :wink: Although, to share all this information in the thread introduction I think will be cluttering up that post. Not sure if thatā€™s what you were suggesting? Iā€™m thinking when many different people will be sharing their patches, unlike Joeā€™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?

Letā€™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 ā€œgenresā€ or categories. That might be helpfulā€¦ :thinking:

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Are you sure the wiki wouldnā€™t be a better place for this?

I donā€™t know if you have noticed or not, but on longer threads only a handful of posts are shown at a time, itā€™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.

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True, but thatā€™s what the introduction post would be for, to have an overview of the patches that have been shared in the thread. Iā€™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 itā€™s organized like that :slight_smile: I feel the wiki should be where finished stuff resides, how-toā€™s, instructions, the manual. Not necessarily what the community produces.

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, Iā€™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

Wouldnā€™t it compare to the share you music thread? There is a lot of cross-talk going on there but it doesnā€™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, usuallyā€¦)

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