Pseudo Polyphony with the current firmware? Any ideas?

So until the Polyphonic sampler unit arrives (hopefully in the next update!)
would it be possible to create a pseudo polyphonic sample playback custom unit with the current firmware?

This is what i want to do.
I want to use one CV / Gate channel to trigger a range of different samples.

Each note (CV Value) would be mapped to a different sample.
I don’t need to trigger more than one sample at a time but when I trigger the sample I want to be able to trigger another sample and the tail of the previous sample will continue to play and not get cut off by the new sample (pseudo polyphony).

So would it be possible using units in the current firmware to achieve this?

Ideally it would be great to have an individual sample player for each sample instead of having to spend a bunch of time on the computer creating a long wav file with all of the individual samples pre chosen and then having to set the slice points in the 301 for all of these individual samples.

I don’t think that its currently possible to be able to switch between sample players with the current units available, but maybe someone out smarter than I knows of a way?

Just to recap.

Gate / CV comes in * and depending on the CV value it will trigger one of several sample players, then when the the next Gate / CV comes in with a different CV value it will trigger a different sample player and the previous sample players release will still play out and not get cut off by the new one.

Thanks in advance!

Duophony workaround(*) in a nutshell:

  1. Assign the same sample to two Sample Player units that are behind Mixers.
  2. Using Joe’s sequential switch in a 2 stage configuration, trigger one Sample Player on even triggers and the other Player on odd triggers.
  3. Route the slice CV to both Sample Player units.

For more polyphony, add more Sample Players and stages to the sequential switch.

(*) This is just a workaround. Naturally, the plan is to provide a more convenient way to get the same result.

4 Likes

Thanks Brian! watching Joe’s sequential switch video now!

I was just formulating my own question about this when Discourse told me @sunshinelover had already done that quite effectively. What’s the status for this unit? Is the “Duophony workaround in a nutshell” still the way to go?

Couldnt you also just have 4 instances of the sample player on the 4 outs and then just control them through the inputs?

Or is the poly sample player about doing this all out of one out?

Seems kind of like a redundant thing to have a poly sample player but I’m probably missing something.

For this Psuedo polyphony I was thinking something in a similar vein to how MI Rings works, where the tail of the previous note continues and doesn’t get cut off by the proceeding note, think this would be very nice for sample instruments.
It should be possible to make a custom unit now that does this with two (or more) sample players loaded with the same sample with some switching that goes between one player to the next per note.

1 Like

Example of multiple sample instrument here

1 Like

Yeah so with what I was saying you just add envelopes to VCAs after those sample players and viola the notes will carry on for as long as you set the release time to per envelope.

I think sunshinelover is wanting overlapping voices from one stream of triggers. Which requires Shifty-like voice allocation as described earlier in this thread, and not simply an envelope with release.

1 Like

Yeah I see that now. Guess I totally flew over the intention there. Whoops!

I think the Intellijel Plonk has this kind of polyphonic as well. The previous tone would just mix into the next one, which gives a nice, natural feeling to the composition.

I do this a lot. I use Teletype as a kind of sequential switch to fire 4 voices of my guitar synth built in the ER301. Each voice is in a separate mixer. Works great. It’s a sound I’m exploring a lot.

12 Likes

That’s really lovely @burn

1 Like

That sounded great, @Burn. I’d definitely be interested in knowing more about the guitar synth you built in the ER-301 if you feel like sharing. :slight_smile:

1 Like

Its really simple to be honest Joe. It comes from the old ‘junglist’ days where we used to separate the initial transient ‘hit’ and sustained note into separate samples and only pitch the sustained part, crossfading over the two. Both elements are from the Adventure Kid waveforms that have been flying around for years. That and trying to make a natural sounding envelope does 90% of the work.

I worked on a commercial guitar modelling project many years ago and still have the IR files that we made from all of the guitar bodies and pickups we recorded. But to be honest, a bit of EQ is just as good. It’s not bringing that much to the party. I’ve had just as good guitar-sim results from Rings and Shapeshifter with no IR involvement at all. With your eyes closed you could easily mistake them for the Banshees or the Cocteau Twins.

I do put things through ‘real’ guitar effects though, which does add a lot. I guess they are made to make bad guitars sound better :slight_smile:

Lots of Chase Bliss and Fairfield Circuitry pedals. The secret sauce is the rare Montreal Assembly Count To 5 pedal which is a really organic grainy sounding delay/looper.

As with most things, a lot of time, a bit of patience and an attention to detail is rewarding.

Thanks very much for your videos! I’ve learned a lot from your explorations!

4 Likes

Yes it would be great if there was a sample unit that allowed overlapping tails of notes!
Unfortunately one of the limitations of using CV & Gate is only one note triggered at a time so if the release portion of a sample could be extended it would sound great.
With Midi there isn’t that limitation.

Okay, the video along with this explanation really piqued my interest… any way we can talk you into sharing a quicksave or custom unit? :slight_smile:

2 Likes

I’m half way through making an album with these sounds but when I’m finished I’m going to open source the whole thing, so I’ll ping you a msg when done.

2 Likes

Sounds great! And of course, not everything needs to be made public, everybody needs their own bag of tricks. :slight_smile: But thanks for the thought!

1 Like

I have watched Joe’s video a few times and I’m still trying to understand how this switch would solve the poly-sample-problem. It seems to me that opening and closing the VCA’s for several mixer channels with a voltage source (being the internal since wave, or an external step sequencer) is not what we’re after at all. On the contrary, I want those mixer channels (containing identical sample players) to be open at all times and mixed with the others, but triggered and sequenced separately and sequentially so that each sample player can finish the particular sample it was sequenced to play and ring out and overlap each other to create this organic poly-sound I think we’re after. @Burn seemed to have nailed this in his video, though. Did you use this sequential setup to achieve the effect?

P.s. I haven’t actually tried out Joe’s patch, because I’m too busy exploring other units and aspects of the ER-301, but I keep thinking about this issue, and can’t seem to find a way in.