tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-52225205008379406832024-03-14T03:44:18.364+00:00synthesizerwritermusic and pictures from music and picturesSynthesizerwriterhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13668943829180629830noreply@blogger.comBlogger207125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5222520500837940683.post-55028720161985348982022-08-07T22:15:00.001+01:002022-08-07T22:15:12.817+01:00How to create Pianobook.co.uk 'Extras'<p>For the whole month of August, I've been voted into the prestigious role of 'Samplist of the Month' for Pianobook.co.uk by the eponymous Discord community, and I wanted to mark it with <b>something special</b>...</p><p>So on the 1st of August, I published two new sample packs of virtual instruments on Pianobook.co.uk: 'Deimos Strings', and 'Fairy Piano Extras'. The following day I published a second experimental sampled choir virtual instrument called 'Dan Time 2', but that's another story entirely.</p><h3 style="text-align: left;">Deimos Strings</h3><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEitdEpKD5mFs38pvJXL3lcIqk6CwgLDUEtCfWeDjlt3pWPYFxbFy7Vc6PTw5Ty61W3AozGrj3_nc8LHBQNamObyVjR2p-BdYzYPLGxE4_cYX6divCVcdKhb6xk39MeZkCcU8ZRpP0QYi6Z529LGaHN3xcXhFzhWdpnyQaClr1_GE6P2aicAI0n5kmKO-w/s1638/DS-UI.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="816" data-original-width="1638" height="318" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEitdEpKD5mFs38pvJXL3lcIqk6CwgLDUEtCfWeDjlt3pWPYFxbFy7Vc6PTw5Ty61W3AozGrj3_nc8LHBQNamObyVjR2p-BdYzYPLGxE4_cYX6divCVcdKhb6xk39MeZkCcU8ZRpP0QYi6Z529LGaHN3xcXhFzhWdpnyQaClr1_GE6P2aicAI0n5kmKO-w/w640-h318/DS-UI.jpg" width="640" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Not one of the moons of Mars...</td></tr></tbody></table><p>Deimos Strings is string pads produced digitally, but with a lot of the characteristics that people normally associate with analogue synthesis. At its heart are a dual filter and a quad chorus effect, and there's a bug in the filter control XML, but it sounds interesting, so I have left it in! The quad chorus also has a slight volume dip as you increase the modulation depth, but this is easily compensated for by using the Expression control. There are quite a few presets, and there's an amazing demo from <a href="https://soundcloud.com/bemused-2/inside-the-mind-of-dk?utm_source=clipboard&utm_medium=text&utm_campaign=social_sharing" target="_blank">Bemused on SoundCloud</a>. </p><p><span style="font-family: inherit;">But the 'special' bit is the other release:</span></p><h3 style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">Fairy Piano Extras</span></h3><p><span style="font-family: inherit;">I've been doing a lot of reviewing at the quieter end of the Pianobook.co.uk review queue - where the sample packs of virtual instrument with no or very few reviews live. I try to review any <a href="https://www.decentsamples.com/product/decent-sampler-plugin/" target="_blank">Decent Sampler</a> submissions, and I have now done quite a few reviews! </span></p><p><span style="font-family: inherit;">One thing that I often do in my reviews is suggest little additions or modifications to the XML file that is the .dspreset file that defines a Decent Sampler preset. Often this is just turning on looping so that you get interesting syncopation during the release phase of the envelope, but sometimes I get inspired and do lots more modifications. And then I had an idea...</span></p><p style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><i><b>Why not make these 'Extra' presets available to everyone on Pianobook.co.uk?</b></i></span></p><p><span style="font-family: inherit;">Which is what 'Fairy Piano Extras' is - three additional presets for my pre-existing 'Fairy Piano' sample pack, but going slightly beyond just making a few changes to the values of the controls. In an 'Extra', anything is allowed, except changing the samples, and you need to get the permission and final approval of the original publisher of the sample pack, of which more in a moment... So you could do things like:</span></p><p><span style="font-family: inherit;">- Transpositions in round-robins for Victor Borge soundalikes, automatic inversions, and more, </span></p><p><span style="font-family: inherit;">- Micro-tuning in round-robins for subtle detunes or crazy 'honky-tonk' wobbles,</span></p><p><span style="font-family: inherit;">- Dynamic tweaks, inversions, layering and other sample playback modifications,</span></p><p><span style="font-family: inherit;">- New controls for new features! Want to add a High-Pass Filter? Easy! Want to be able to change the Reverb Room Size? Easy? Make a menu to turn looping on and off? Needs a bit of care, but do-able! In Fairy Piano Extras, the 'Drone' preset has new additional controls that weren't needed in the original Fairy Piano:</span></p><p><span style="font-family: inherit;"><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg6O3eb0XPSt_kZ2MgGc_XR9wGVveGneIPDDT-30c3uyGCI9XxX4UY_ms_985BrsHfjQkpZJgibX-u_zr-Snopv5s6dLtXEo8YFdNvqF6xpJ36EwUtVguvgfEMwkZV9SXESyOV2aF-mewk_5wY2C-xgEu1i7OL3IU91_Y6f6P06Gz_tOQ976ZpQauOD2Q/s1637/FPD-UI%202.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="817" data-original-width="1637" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg6O3eb0XPSt_kZ2MgGc_XR9wGVveGneIPDDT-30c3uyGCI9XxX4UY_ms_985BrsHfjQkpZJgibX-u_zr-Snopv5s6dLtXEo8YFdNvqF6xpJ36EwUtVguvgfEMwkZV9SXESyOV2aF-mewk_5wY2C-xgEu1i7OL3IU91_Y6f6P06Gz_tOQ976ZpQauOD2Q/w640-h320/FPD-UI%202.jpg" width="640" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">The Fairy Piano Drone User Interface - can you spot the design influence?</td></tr></tbody></table></span></p><p><span style="font-family: inherit;">Because it makes drone sounds, the percussive, fast attack and slow decay envelope that works for piano, isn't really suitable, so I replaced it with and ASR (Attack-Sustain-Release) envelope, where the attack and decay are linked together. The triple chorus is a step towards the quad chorus used in Deimos Strings - remember that I do everything in little steps... Anyway, Fairy Piano Drone is a very different instrument to the basic Fairy Piano...</span></p><p><span style="font-family: inherit;">So that's what Extras are all about - remixing, customising, tweaking, and sometimes, completely reworking the user interface, functionality and sound of a sample pack or virtual instrument!</span><span style="font-family: inherit;"> </span></p><p><span style="font-family: inherit;">Now my Fairy Pianos Extras is unusual, because it is me 'remixing' my own sample pack, so it works slightly differently to the more usual case - where another person produces an Extras pack for a samplist's sample pack, so let's look at that scenario first...</span></p><h3 style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">How Do Extras Work?</span></h3><p><span style="font-family: inherit;">Extras are just ordinary .dspreset files, but made by someone other than the original samplist. They are in an additional folder/directory inside the main sample pack. So for a Decent Sampler sample pack called 'Piano Buck', then the ordinary main folder/directory would look like this:</span></p><p><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiLsXsw-0s-tB7SSLwqGKaU77CF0z1prMcV1KMjKcSqJEqYsJlIhcr-dIXtpvB4cAqE0ZXHhR3_3fY85m7sHgEAfXflE1ejEM-h0MEYzh01Btz6oa7yFQL4ChZPDrF0ko9HIzKhefj7M0ViGt8QRDdBsn2pUDShGaDfVwV8pcMyJiuIKud8RN7pWA6zAQ/s623/PBE01.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="467" data-original-width="623" height="480" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiLsXsw-0s-tB7SSLwqGKaU77CF0z1prMcV1KMjKcSqJEqYsJlIhcr-dIXtpvB4cAqE0ZXHhR3_3fY85m7sHgEAfXflE1ejEM-h0MEYzh01Btz6oa7yFQL4ChZPDrF0ko9HIzKhefj7M0ViGt8QRDdBsn2pUDShGaDfVwV8pcMyJiuIKud8RN7pWA6zAQ/w640-h480/PBE01.jpg" width="640" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">An ordinary Decent Sample folder/directory...</td></tr></tbody></table></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">So there is the 'Piano Buck.dspreset' file, that is used by Decent Sample to define the basic preset for the virtual instrument, the README.txt file, and the two folders: Samples and resources. If this was a Native Instruments Kontakt-compatible folder, then there would be some additional folders and files inside as well, but for clarity, I'm just showing the Decent Sampler files.</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">For Extras, then you will find an 'Extra' folder/directory inside the main one: </div><br /><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh3RaD4Hzdr8MwmS78qK9hVVXu-eMrPSEZrwyDU7zi8-tNxX2GYw1U4UK9yGKpExtXwMyIQCp7T6tgZvKqthG41tnE9mxZ5ZJGIatiHuwTe7WwYr8AyWug8lDwJHLh2AdgOjfPdUBt5RKaF_1Af3DVcWAoMBsY-MtwZe9WScimmALfURA-gA09WKB1eSw/s772/PBE02.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="772" data-original-width="734" height="640" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh3RaD4Hzdr8MwmS78qK9hVVXu-eMrPSEZrwyDU7zi8-tNxX2GYw1U4UK9yGKpExtXwMyIQCp7T6tgZvKqthG41tnE9mxZ5ZJGIatiHuwTe7WwYr8AyWug8lDwJHLh2AdgOjfPdUBt5RKaF_1Af3DVcWAoMBsY-MtwZe9WScimmALfURA-gA09WKB1eSw/w608-h640/PBE02.jpg" width="608" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">A Decent Sampler folder/directory with Extras inside</td></tr></tbody></table><p><span style="font-family: inherit;">All of the extras are in the '<name> Extras' folder/directory - synthesizerwriter (of course!) in this case. If you get Extras from other people, then this keeps them nice and tidy. Note that the additional presets all end with initials ('sw' for synthesizerwriter in this case). Also notice the two JPEG files - these are the background graphics for Decent Sampler (probably saying something like: 'An Extra from synthesizerwriter'), and you will need to make sure that the 'bgImage=' path in the .dspreset points to that graphics file - it isn't in the resources folder/directory! </span></p><p><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjN1SkmFlgWA1UiNgYqufZvGrgejx1fwDEu5LvCQvIpK2V5tkBdqqG7WHqtCTqHBnQcKR8LFGd4GqsnjSTIMCGDdR8uFNOvQ3q9xP8CbV4LyNiS0zFeZ2f5F5hz1oQjMYHm7Z_x8PSb_v-4xr6qISjhpfQqQPYkse5K8eUwXASo0AbwMSJ_vCe8RToXQw/s1435/PBE05.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="136" data-original-width="1435" height="60" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjN1SkmFlgWA1UiNgYqufZvGrgejx1fwDEu5LvCQvIpK2V5tkBdqqG7WHqtCTqHBnQcKR8LFGd4GqsnjSTIMCGDdR8uFNOvQ3q9xP8CbV4LyNiS0zFeZ2f5F5hz1oQjMYHm7Z_x8PSb_v-4xr6qISjhpfQqQPYkse5K8eUwXASo0AbwMSJ_vCe8RToXQw/w640-h60/PBE05.jpg" width="640" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">The background graphics are in the same folder as the .dspreset files...</td></tr></tbody></table></p><p>One more thing needs to be done during the development of the Extras presets. You need to add a modification to every path= element in your .dspreset files:</p><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg1cBkH9IpKPeJLgXBAU2ge7147JmENeFtvtK_aRfdiBAHY1KGAh3YxBjkmnMFcmCY2oieasqAXlSjLE5bY_OmzX8-1CVgGVnCZbgqj45AtiHqC0l84zXp7EBzYdGq3Zg_PpXDjUbmqBbA0CQ2CFwKpvccLYEuJfCveSBFSBunyMFUJi7Usrsg5zT0Ucg/s1010/PBE04.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="156" data-original-width="1010" height="98" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg1cBkH9IpKPeJLgXBAU2ge7147JmENeFtvtK_aRfdiBAHY1KGAh3YxBjkmnMFcmCY2oieasqAXlSjLE5bY_OmzX8-1CVgGVnCZbgqj45AtiHqC0l84zXp7EBzYdGq3Zg_PpXDjUbmqBbA0CQ2CFwKpvccLYEuJfCveSBFSBunyMFUJi7Usrsg5zT0Ucg/w640-h98/PBE04.jpg" width="640" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Add ../ to the start of the paths...</td></tr></tbody></table><p>Adding '../' to the start of every path (before the Samples/ bit), tells Decent Sampler where to find the samples! This is because the Extras presets are in a sub-folder/directory to the main one, and so the '../' goes up one level and then back into the Samples folder/directory. So an Extras pack contains just the .dspreset files and the background graphics. You can add a README.txt file if you want, although the best place for any information about the presets in the Extras pack is inside the main README.txt file, so all that the samplist needs to do is add the contents of your README.txt to their main README.txt file. </p><p>And that's it. You have made an Extras pack, and people who download it will now have access to all of the new 'Extra' presets!</p><h3 style="text-align: left;">Permission</h3><p>The first thing that you need to do if you want to make an Extras pack is to contact the original samplist and ask for permission to use their samples to make a 'derived work'. Yep, that sounds like a legal phrase because it is - the original samplist of the samples owns the copyright on the audio content in those samples, and so it is only polite and proper to get their permission in order for you to use their material. And remember, the samplist needs to add your Extras folder to their download, so they are in control! If they don't like your Extras, then they don't get added to the download...</p><p><i>(For samplists, then they retain final control over what Extras are published, and when, and by whom. Plus, best of all, once a sample pack has been published, then you can upload a new zip file at any time, so the samplist decides when to do an update, when to add Extras, etc. Once the sample pack is published by Pianobook.co.uk, the samplist has control over what is in it.)</i></p><p>If you don't get permission, then don't even start to make an Extras pack - try another samplist!</p><h3 style="text-align: left;">Inside Fairy Piano Extras</h3><p>As I said earlier, doing your own Extras is slightly different. It doesn't really make sense to have a separate folder - unless you have very different .dspresets. In the case of Fairy Piano Extras, then the Drone version, the reverse version and the inverse version are all very different, with major changes to the functionality. Luckily, the samples are tiny, and so they can be included, but if the samples were large then this would be a problem and the approach described above would be better.</p><h3 style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">Special!</span></h3><p><span style="font-family: inherit;">So that's Extras. I think they are pretty special! I think they give Pianobook.co.uk new functionality that turns it into something even more interesting...</span></p><p><span style="font-family: inherit;">If you go to <a href="https://www.pianobook.co.uk/profile/imperfectdrummer/" target="_blank">The Imperfect Drummer's Pianobook profile page</a>, then you will find his excellent '<a href="https://www.pianobook.co.uk/packs/moms-1974-baby-grand/" target="_blank">Mom's 1974 Baby Grand</a>' sample packs, and if you download the Decent Sampler version, then you will find 12 additional .dspresets - Extras created by me! Enjoy!</span></p><p><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi0UaLXUkfC6V-efNwVsH3rlPSE4Z9UMklsFnvBdUDpONE1AT0-Z63cr4h5ODP6LqTgMXanx25mqJIHYeQJxBh-y7H22qN8sV1MM1MP1rmb-kwrVyewNveNauySfBQCtAJAi6BqOeCxrJlB1K4qcnQ4EJybROaBGqMrA3UT-2j0OObU76l2x10n6G68cA/s1639/extra%20ui.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1217" data-original-width="1639" height="476" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi0UaLXUkfC6V-efNwVsH3rlPSE4Z9UMklsFnvBdUDpONE1AT0-Z63cr4h5ODP6LqTgMXanx25mqJIHYeQJxBh-y7H22qN8sV1MM1MP1rmb-kwrVyewNveNauySfBQCtAJAi6BqOeCxrJlB1K4qcnQ4EJybROaBGqMrA3UT-2j0OObU76l2x10n6G68cA/w640-h476/extra%20ui.jpg" width="640" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">One of the Extras for Mom's 1974 Baby Grand...</td></tr></tbody></table><br /></p><p><span style="font-family: inherit;">---</span></p><div><span style="font-family: inherit;"><p><span style="font-family: inherit;">If you find my writing helpful, informative or entertaining, then please consider visiting this link:</span></p><div style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; orphans: auto; text-size-adjust: auto; widows: auto;"><div style="font-size: 18.72px; font-weight: 700;"><span style="font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: small;"><a class="bmc-button" href="https://teespring.com/en-GB/stores/synthesizerwriters-store" target="_blank"><span style="margin-left: 5px;">Synthesizerwriter's Store</span></a> (New 'Modular thinking' designs now available!)</span></span></div><p style="font-size: 18.72px; font-weight: 700;"></p><div style="font-size: 18.72px; font-weight: 700;"><div style="margin: 0px;"><span style="font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: small;"><a class="bmc-button" href="https://www.buymeacoffee.com/synthwriter" target="_blank"><img alt="Buy me a coffee" src="https://www.buymeacoffee.com/assets/img/BMC-btn-logo.svg" /><span style="margin-left: 5px;">Buy me a coffee</span></a> (Encourage me to write more posts like this one!)... or...</span></span></div><div><span style="font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: small;"><br /></span></span></div></div></div></span></div><div><a href="https://ko-fi.com/W7W5BM4JX" target="_blank"><img alt="Buy Me a Coffee at ko-fi.com" border="0" height="36" src="https://cdn.ko-fi.com/cdn/kofi3.png?v=3" style="border: 0px; height: 36px;" /></a> (Encourage me via a different route entirely...)</div><div><br /></div><div>Or just tell someone else that there's this amazing blog about hi-tech music...</div><div><br /></div><div><br /></div>Synthesizerwriterhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13668943829180629830noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5222520500837940683.post-84648120697745477992022-06-29T00:05:00.005+01:002022-06-29T00:05:22.624+01:00Moving a Power Switch from the Rear Panel of a Device... <p>I have been gradually refining my live rig, and something unexpected has started to irk me. So I made a workaround, maybe a fix, and now I'm going to share it with you.</p><h3 style="text-align: left;">Power Switches</h3><p>I was going to say that everything had them, but one of the interesting features of many guitar pedals is that almost all of them do not have power switches - instead, you insert or remove the (more or less standard) barrel connector that carries the power.</p><p>But apart from that, then I am very used to having to reach behind gear to access the power switch, which is usually (but not always, of course) on the right hand side (from the front), close to the power input connector (which isn't standardised very well at all...). Yep, muscle memory means that my hands know where the switch is, and all I do is reach over and around and down and... ah, there it is!</p><p>Which is fine, except when it isn't. And after putting it off for ages, I finally succumbed to the amazing piece of modern-take on vintage classic gear that is Yamaha's Reface CP .</p><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhkQ0XXmyUIepAg_CVzUgxFOZe63BdfQMS2g1_xft31WuLb9hfl3fyWAG5cAycty5zpvm2Ok7arJMy49GtmBnqvGaSAwy5N4RO31naI360X2qAZB1wYGb4NrmpOJktW8MkhBKQHiYVS8P3nFhAn6EcGE6SRj2a8mRYZn-ehRtZZx_hCGcruyxIIf9Theg/s1200/main_visual_a51caf31fd8b56f8298e34b078d2b133.webp" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="500" data-original-width="1200" height="266" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhkQ0XXmyUIepAg_CVzUgxFOZe63BdfQMS2g1_xft31WuLb9hfl3fyWAG5cAycty5zpvm2Ok7arJMy49GtmBnqvGaSAwy5N4RO31naI360X2qAZB1wYGb4NrmpOJktW8MkhBKQHiYVS8P3nFhAn6EcGE6SRj2a8mRYZn-ehRtZZx_hCGcruyxIIf9Theg/w640-h266/main_visual_a51caf31fd8b56f8298e34b078d2b133.webp" width="640" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">https://uk.yamaha.com/en/products/music_production/synthesizers/reface/reface_cp.html</td></tr></tbody></table><p>I'm not going to do a full review here, but... Whilst sturdily built, it is considerably lighter than a vintage electric piano, and way, way lighter than three electric pianos! It is lots smaller than a Clavinet or a CP-70 electric grand piano! It doesn't need tuning. It is very quiet and very low noise in terms of the audio output! It has built-in effects that are perfect and contemporary with the keyboard sounds! Oh, and 128 note polyphony! The digital delay is like a looper! The sounds are very authentic, imho. </p><p>I would say that it can be battery powered as well, but that is completely out of context for this blog post!</p><p>(I have to say that the Reface CS is also very appealing as well, for many and different reasons.) </p><p>Anyway, it has a power switch on the rear panel. But unfortunately, having shoe-horned it into exactly the perfect place in my keyboard rack, there's a problem. The 37mm aluminium tube above it, which has my mixers and sub-mixers on it, is so close that it isn't actually possible to get my fingers up and over and around and down to access the power switch. I've done all sorts of little incremental shuffles, like anyone with a tube-based keyboard stand does whenever they get new gear, but all in vain. I can't get enough of a gap to get at the power switch!</p><p>I considered buying a remote-controlled mains switch for the wall wart power supply, you know, the sort of trendy 'smart home' device that is used for controlling things like lights or hi-fi, or for saving power when standby consumes too much electricity, but these all seemed expensive, and awkward (Do I really want to use a mobile phone to turn a musical instrument on and off via Bluetooth or WiFi?). And they all seemed to use energy in stand-by mode as well, which seemed like a recursive trip into a sustainability hell. </p><p>At moments like this, resorting to old fashioned technology is often worth considering. A quick search told me that you could get single-ended 'pigtail' cables intended for security camera installations that had male or female barrel connectors on them. Combined with a switch and a tiny box intended for electronics, I had everything I needed to make a device that is 'electrical' rather than 'electronic', and all that it does is move a switch from the rear panel of my Reface CP to the side, where my fingers can get to it very easily. </p><p>Simple, easy to make, and it improves the usability of my keyboard rig immensely. I'm considering making a few more...</p><h3 style="text-align: left;">The Components</h3><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh_r7UvVwQ4NxcirXZNryD10YB3vpLANnXkoVu0Xtp9LrWFDmSKlT3_DJJghUX4aOUedRZ7UINnDJI0WS3ONlhxsEue2ARl8XfJJgGy9nY5KJL4En-hVmp8y7wznwVB3OYPzf3DMaxZQTeFj0j5GSq60avyHYI8TJ8H3RL0qYmR3FDSySVhPLv4Rm6svQ/s1080/03s.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="508" data-original-width="1080" height="302" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh_r7UvVwQ4NxcirXZNryD10YB3vpLANnXkoVu0Xtp9LrWFDmSKlT3_DJJghUX4aOUedRZ7UINnDJI0WS3ONlhxsEue2ARl8XfJJgGy9nY5KJL4En-hVmp8y7wznwVB3OYPzf3DMaxZQTeFj0j5GSq60avyHYI8TJ8H3RL0qYmR3FDSySVhPLv4Rm6svQ/w640-h302/03s.jpg" width="640" /></a></div><p>It's a very short list. Two pigtails, one of each gender. A SPST switch (for some applications, then a DPDT switch would isolate both power rails), and a tiny black plastic box. I also used some heat-shrink tubing to cover all the soldered joints. </p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEigS5qAKJbm7nM0jOrTDMF8UkFE6CI0L_uWYqZaBq1VNgXDEhFN5dIwTcB0BucryOApOagIGK8WqVHFQbrcgh7y44qlH-6836iYeB9blKH9HY5Wl0XKT1aguOF8F7EQ-SgEnseid9YHn6zWFhqsDZHmMSPlHt6GWMApawNiLGHv5SMgJ9SxkAtJN6ETGw/s1080/04s.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="519" data-original-width="1080" height="308" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEigS5qAKJbm7nM0jOrTDMF8UkFE6CI0L_uWYqZaBq1VNgXDEhFN5dIwTcB0BucryOApOagIGK8WqVHFQbrcgh7y44qlH-6836iYeB9blKH9HY5Wl0XKT1aguOF8F7EQ-SgEnseid9YHn6zWFhqsDZHmMSPlHt6GWMApawNiLGHv5SMgJ9SxkAtJN6ETGw/w640-h308/04s.jpg" width="640" /></a></div><br /><p>Three small holes need to be drilled in the box for the switch, and the two pigtails. I didn't put grommets on the pigtail holes. I used a Dremel to remove some of the plastic on the lid so that it was not held proud by the body of the switch.</p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjet32zMd2gqre4JnXm52uHo1JnpeQPTDpoHfq4gRry_jIrgfeNNRbeFDAUYnVky5mQFbtocfkI8SajOUuIIEBzU7mOrddHeaTxV1I-GVheoYDGZ6niB41PnbRaHqzdFtrA6tbs7L0kxd6JmGi8gp8H_UnJoS4PxqnzAMtPXm3uddcVFfisfoVNqJVSmQ/s1080/05s.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="810" data-original-width="1080" height="480" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjet32zMd2gqre4JnXm52uHo1JnpeQPTDpoHfq4gRry_jIrgfeNNRbeFDAUYnVky5mQFbtocfkI8SajOUuIIEBzU7mOrddHeaTxV1I-GVheoYDGZ6niB41PnbRaHqzdFtrA6tbs7L0kxd6JmGi8gp8H_UnJoS4PxqnzAMtPXm3uddcVFfisfoVNqJVSmQ/w640-h480/05s.jpg" width="640" /></a></div><div><br /></div>Here's the completed switch, all sealed up in the box (snap-fit).<div><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgZjVtMyreWq3ins70V1wFoOtctumpSD9sWC3AxNtG3DT6qYZ1jXmnCmcpE-1yZFP6qEGuB_IkDYAx6P_B0yxIqclpafGRQhpqfnDr0Mn6aoCF06bLUibN09kEIvD2osSoOY533d5JqRAATU0pRQL-FdSYGThpeN8BBMKuMmfxkZNgXaSnqHhT9MZCFOA/s1080/06s.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="810" data-original-width="1080" height="480" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgZjVtMyreWq3ins70V1wFoOtctumpSD9sWC3AxNtG3DT6qYZ1jXmnCmcpE-1yZFP6qEGuB_IkDYAx6P_B0yxIqclpafGRQhpqfnDr0Mn6aoCF06bLUibN09kEIvD2osSoOY533d5JqRAATU0pRQL-FdSYGThpeN8BBMKuMmfxkZNgXaSnqHhT9MZCFOA/w640-h480/06s.jpg" width="640" /></a></div><br /><p>And the final assembly, on one side of the Reface CP. I used Blu-Tak (other slightly sticky stuff is available) to hold the box in place. The barrel connector that connects to the power connector was inserted, and a multimeter was used to check yet again that I had the correct polarity on the switched barrel connector. Once I was happy, then I connected the new switched barrel connector into the Reface CP, and turned the new switch on. After a few seconds, the Reface CP powered up and worked as usual.</p><p>Success!</p><p>As with any user-modification, even one like this where the device is not opened up or altered in any way, you should still take care, check everything at least twice, and make sure that polarities are the same (don't reverse anything.) You do anything like this at your own risk!</p><p><span style="font-family: inherit;">---</span></p><div><span style="font-family: inherit;"><p><span style="font-family: inherit;">If you find my writing helpful, informative or entertaining, then please consider visiting this link:</span></p><div style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; orphans: auto; text-size-adjust: auto; widows: auto;"><div style="font-size: 18.72px; font-weight: 700;"><span style="font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: small;"><a class="bmc-button" href="https://teespring.com/en-GB/stores/synthesizerwriters-store" target="_blank"><span style="margin-left: 5px;">Synthesizerwriter's Store</span></a> (New 'Modular thinking' designs now available!)</span></span></div><p style="font-size: 18.72px; font-weight: 700;"></p><div style="font-size: 18.72px; font-weight: 700;"><div style="margin: 0px;"><span style="font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: small;"><a class="bmc-button" href="https://www.buymeacoffee.com/synthwriter" target="_blank"><img alt="Buy me a coffee" src="https://www.buymeacoffee.com/assets/img/BMC-btn-logo.svg" /><span style="margin-left: 5px;">Buy me a coffee</span></a> (Encourage me to write more posts like this one!)... or...</span></span></div><div><span style="font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: small;"><br /></span></span></div></div></div></span></div><div><a href="https://ko-fi.com/W7W5BM4JX" target="_blank"><img alt="Buy Me a Coffee at ko-fi.com" border="0" height="36" src="https://cdn.ko-fi.com/cdn/kofi3.png?v=3" style="border: 0px; height: 36px;" /></a> (Encourage me via a different route entirely...)</div><div><br /></div><div>Or just tell someone else that there's this amazing blog about hi-tech music...</div><div><br /></div><div><br /></div></div>Synthesizerwriterhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13668943829180629830noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5222520500837940683.post-2604860222506531422022-06-28T15:41:00.023+01:002022-07-12T21:51:06.699+01:00Looping in Decent Sampler - a quick look<p>Loops in audio seem to confuse people, based on the questions that I get asked... The problem seems to be that people have got very used to a world in which looped audio is very common, but the way that it is produced is not very common. If you look at the humble <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/WAV" target="_blank">WAV file</a> as a multi-platform, generic way to store audio, then what it contains is just a digitised version of the audio. Playing back that file just reproduces the audio from the beginning to the end - if this was the previous century then a good analogy would be a <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tape_recorder" target="_blank">tape recorder</a> (or even a <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cassette_tape" target="_blank">cassette recorder</a>), where the audio is stored electro-magnetically on a long piece of magnetic tape. </p><p>Plain ordinary WAVs don't have loop points, but you can add custom 'chunks' inside the WAV file that add information about the loop points - <a href="https://www.wavosaur.com/" target="_blank">Wavosaur</a> or <a href="https://www.bjoernbojahr.de/endlesswav.html" target="_blank">Endless Wav2</a> are just two examples of the many ways to add loops points that get stored as chunks in a WAV file... </p><p>Most of the basic players that play WAVs just play the audio from the beginning to the end - because that's how most people are going to want to hear the audio inside the WAV file. The important numbers that you need to know are how fast the samples happen (so you know how to reconstruct the audio), and how many samples there are (so you know when to stop!). So for a short fragment of digital audio that samples the audio 44,100 times per second (CDs use this rate, for example), then a WAV file containing that one second of recorded audio is going to have 44,100 samples. In a minute, then that's going to be 60 x 44,100 samples (which is just over 2.6 million), and for an hour, then that's 60 x 60 x 44,100, which is nearly 160 million samples.</p><p>The 44,100 number comes from a requirement for digital audio to be compatible with the PAL and NTSC television systems - see<a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/44,100_Hz" target="_blank"> this Wikipedia article </a>for more detail. Sampling at 44.1 kHz means that the highest frequency that can be recorded is at just over 20 kHz, which is the highest frequency that young humans can hear (this frequency reduces with age, exposure to loud sounds for long periods of time, and other factors...).</p><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgloU8qq7ooBInNgbXlbLaNioQkEerQN56ck0P8xLh_fC6ceB3pbD4hFp6p7gFFl0U3aGY_7Lb-pXfZEfKIqGDbCZJc-W863EmA5Rl0liH_LaC5FquQS3t_Euuon4rAE3n-ZEHeSRvz_UW4wrcgoJyMQwWJgwvT8b_Ma0Xj1sr4GkFtX0pVXTsGhCzxeA/s1080/Slide2.jpeg" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="424" data-original-width="1080" height="252" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgloU8qq7ooBInNgbXlbLaNioQkEerQN56ck0P8xLh_fC6ceB3pbD4hFp6p7gFFl0U3aGY_7Lb-pXfZEfKIqGDbCZJc-W863EmA5Rl0liH_LaC5FquQS3t_Euuon4rAE3n-ZEHeSRvz_UW4wrcgoJyMQwWJgwvT8b_Ma0Xj1sr4GkFtX0pVXTsGhCzxeA/w640-h252/Slide2.jpeg" width="640" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">One second of digital audio<br /></td></tr></tbody></table><p>In 2022, most of the digital audio that you will encounter in electronic musical instruments will probably have been sampled at at least 44.1 kHz (44,100 times per second), or 48 kHz, but some audio is sampled at higher rates: twice (96 kHz) and four times (192 kHz) the 48 kHz rate. If you are going to be working with samples, then that 44.1 kHz and time relationship is very important to know when you are trying to get your head around the length of samples, because it links the numbers of samples with time:</p><p style="text-align: center;"><b><i><span style="font-size: medium;">One second of audio sampled at 44.1 kHz is stored as 44,100 samples...</span></i></b></p><p>The resulting bandwidth is always less than half the sampling rate - see <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sampling_(signal_processing)" target="_blank">Nyquist, Shannon et al</a> for more details. But basically, you need at least two samples to be able to reconstruct one cycle of an audio waveform, and so for a 44.1 kHz sampling rate, you can get a bandwidth from DC to about 20 kHz. </p><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgYDT-otE5f3uCl71lRivWQuaZz0yLyKYERmkjru4i46bUhyYFvOJDOI2h_gkI3ReMha2E--5zSRLk9RIyMrJpG3vrDlJeiCFEo6dkaDfalzaSYDtME9GPeYdISwGa8xj9lBM54h7NvoEshwpQoJBQx64oWIAiacky56BwhxvA-IUESdtDpNveoT7S--Q/s1080/slide%2011.jpg" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="512" data-original-width="1080" height="304" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgYDT-otE5f3uCl71lRivWQuaZz0yLyKYERmkjru4i46bUhyYFvOJDOI2h_gkI3ReMha2E--5zSRLk9RIyMrJpG3vrDlJeiCFEo6dkaDfalzaSYDtME9GPeYdISwGa8xj9lBM54h7NvoEshwpQoJBQx64oWIAiacky56BwhxvA-IUESdtDpNveoT7S--Q/w640-h304/slide%2011.jpg" width="640" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Bandwidth is less than half the sample rate...</td></tr></tbody></table><p>It is worth thinking about the scale of digitised audio. A single cycle of 11 kHz (okay, a very high pitched sound!) will only contain 4 samples when it is sampled at 44.1.kHz, but it is also very short in terms of time. You need to zoom out about 11,000x to get to one second of time. You can see this when you are doing audio editing: When you have a few seconds of audio displayed on the screen, then you have to do a lot of zooming (tens of thousands of times) if you want to be able to see the individual samples in a waveform (and vice-versa). </p><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhtqR4-2uOzo-yrPlhaD04Se_TnURZyhTeAMSM2mJ1ologqgcRBlIJ-P5L8uv3M1dkAkFCe1SOiGmjdTXiHQXVfzqk-S0vNahr83ALBumPfs0B68MhphPXorA6KWEPIOonA0ynQVaLzSoYtgcnA2OEVthl4EOeXwERttvGmMVGtOY1Ia43F1_7Zh6tVnw/s1080/Slide1.jpeg" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="608" data-original-width="1080" height="360" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhtqR4-2uOzo-yrPlhaD04Se_TnURZyhTeAMSM2mJ1ologqgcRBlIJ-P5L8uv3M1dkAkFCe1SOiGmjdTXiHQXVfzqk-S0vNahr83ALBumPfs0B68MhphPXorA6KWEPIOonA0ynQVaLzSoYtgcnA2OEVthl4EOeXwERttvGmMVGtOY1Ia43F1_7Zh6tVnw/w640-h360/Slide1.jpeg" width="640" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">A single cycle is very short in comparison to time...<br /></td></tr></tbody></table><p>More sophisticated WAV players and samplers will need additional information beyond the sample rate and length numbers in order to provide more sophisticated control over the playback. One of the basic things that can be controlled is looping. At its simplest, a loop is just the same piece of audio, repeated over and over again. So a one second piece of audio sampled at 44.1 kHz will repeat every one second (1 Hz). But if you only play the last half of that one second, then because it is half as long, it will loop twice as quickly, and so will repeat at 2 Hz. In order to specify exactly what is meant by 'the last half', then we need some additional numbers: in this case, it is the start of the loop. Since we specified half way, then that is going to be 22,050 samples from the start. The end of the loop, in this case, is going to be at the end of the piece of digital audio, and so will be at 44,100 samples. So the numbers that specify this looped piece of audio will be:</p><p>Sample Rate:<span> <span> </span>44.1 kHz</span></p><p><span>Sample length: <span> </span>1 second = 44,100 samples</span></p><p><span>Start of loop: <span> <span> </span></span>22,049 samples</span></p><p><span>End of loop: <span> <span> </span></span>44,099 samples</span></p><p><span>End of sample:<span> </span><span>44,099 samples</span></span></p><p></p><i><div><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjibCZqKfntmOy2pSYdXsnbvAfyHclPyt2vEKz9Cg36uI9PA113bGmN-U5D7MQTu1ICaJyfTn_hxFYXuvgWjmCyx_9w-Uoj20ktN6kP9naIJvfeqFZthPqkybq1S_pD7-L1JDqkFuO8f36gWvDBEeqTU4WtYFmgiuU5m76PgzKbzHR0Hz_n4naGHQLzUg/s1080/Slide3.jpeg" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="608" data-original-width="1080" height="360" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjibCZqKfntmOy2pSYdXsnbvAfyHclPyt2vEKz9Cg36uI9PA113bGmN-U5D7MQTu1ICaJyfTn_hxFYXuvgWjmCyx_9w-Uoj20ktN6kP9naIJvfeqFZthPqkybq1S_pD7-L1JDqkFuO8f36gWvDBEeqTU4WtYFmgiuU5m76PgzKbzHR0Hz_n4naGHQLzUg/w640-h360/Slide3.jpeg" width="640" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">A half second loop...</td></tr></tbody></table></div><div><i><br /></i></div>Note that because samples are numbered starting at zero, then the numbers are actually 1 smaller than you might expect!</i><div><br /><div>One use for loops is to play a sound continuously when a key is held down on a keyboard - known as the 'sustain' part of the sound. Without looping then you would have to store very long pieces of audio so that you could hold a key down for a long time. But with looping, then a portion of the audio can be repeated continuously whenever a key is held down, and the audio that needs to be stored can be much shorter. So the numbers used to specify where this 'sustain' loop starts and end would be, are known as the start and end points of the sustain loop.<p></p><p>If we wanted to loop just the middle part of the one second sample that we have been using as an example, then the start and end point might be 11,025 samples, and the end of the loop might be 33,075 samples. Note that the start and end points for the loop have to be 'inside' the total sample length, so those numbers can't be less than zero, or bigger than 44,100 in this case.</p><p>More sophisticated sample players can have additional loops - one use might be to produce audio when you release a key on a keyboard - known as the 'release' part of the sound. Again, you might want that sound to take a long time to fade away, and having a loop of audio means that you can have the long fade without having to store very long pieces of audio. The numbers used to specify where this 'release' loop starts and end would be known as the start and end points of the release loop.</p><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgnoGPgdPoemS2PwGbLHynN-XRSy2cMR7dsB72zBpa6ujGRuWtAuK6vba61yqYUTeT7oRRTZDYFfr8g79B8StCpDAVPDP4SCg-EeUMY24nYPmB_lQ8yLjCpDypV-jqqxLtgVSn5OFOPGgHShbxOK0W-mXr0G1pk44GmBZJjLKs1lnd1_xXMA_PFNdHgtQ/s1026/Slide12.jpg" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="502" data-original-width="1026" height="314" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgnoGPgdPoemS2PwGbLHynN-XRSy2cMR7dsB72zBpa6ujGRuWtAuK6vba61yqYUTeT7oRRTZDYFfr8g79B8StCpDAVPDP4SCg-EeUMY24nYPmB_lQ8yLjCpDypV-jqqxLtgVSn5OFOPGgHShbxOK0W-mXr0G1pk44GmBZJjLKs1lnd1_xXMA_PFNdHgtQ/w640-h314/Slide12.jpg" width="640" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Loop start and end points have to be 'inside' the sample!</td></tr></tbody></table><p>Note that the release loop points also have to be 'inside' the total length of the sample. Also note that the sustain and release loops could be the same piece of audio, which would loop during the sustain part of the sound, and then loop again during the release part of the sound. </p><p>Without the loops, the audio in this example would play for just one second. With a sustain loop, then it would play for as long as the key was held down on the keyboard. For a release loop, then it would play for as long as the release time is set. </p><p>It is also possible to have 'attack' loops, where a portion of the audio is looped when a key is first pressed, and the sound goes from zero to maximum volume - this is called the 'attack' part of the sound. Some sounds drop down from that maximum to a lower 'sustain' level - pianos are a good example: they start out loud, but then slowly drop down to a quieter level. This 'decay' part of the sound can be produced using a 'decay' loop. </p><p>A sound recorded to use loops for the attack, decay, sustain and release parts of a sound could be very short in actual length, but the loops would enable the attack, decay, sustain and release times to be as long as required. In the 1980s, several manufacturers of electronic musical instruments used this way of storing samples so that the playback time could be changed (so you could have long attacks and releases, or long decays, or long sustain), but the actual sample lengths could be kept very short because the memory required was very expensive. Sample rates were also much lower in the 80s - 22.05 kHz was quite popular in some musical instruments and especially computers, and 11.025 kHz was also used (which will have an audio bandwidth of about 5 kHz - only slightly better than a telephone). The basic sample rate for telephones back then was 8 kHz, and the audio bandwidth was from 300 Hz to 3.4 kHz... not ideal for music! In 21st Century devices, storing long samples is not expensive, and so loops tend to be used mostly for the sustain and release parts of a sound. </p><p>It is worth reiterating that without loops, then digital audio replay happens without any flexibility of the length of the sustain or release time for a sound. It is only the widespread use of sample replay technology that has given us a world where an ordinary person expects that a sampled digital audio sound will keep playing for as long as you hold a key down on a keyboard. For people born before the middle of the 20th Century, for an electro-mechanical instrument like a Mellotron, which uses lengths of magnetic tape (not loops) to replay sounds, then it is obvious that the tape length has to be finite, and so you can only hold the keys of a Mellotron down for something like seven or eight seconds. In contrast, organs could (and still can) sustain a note as long as necessary, because the sound is generated inside the organ rather than being replayed from a stored (non-looped) recording.</p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><iframe allowfullscreen="" class="BLOG_video_class" height="353" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/k-UJl1pR-gA" width="615" youtube-src-id="k-UJl1pR-gA"></iframe></div><h3 style="text-align: left;">Decent Sampler</h3><p>Dave Hilowitz's Decent Sampler is a software sample player that can play back WAV files, and can play back sustain and release loops from inside those WAV files. The sustain loop start and end points can be specified inside the WAV file, or as part of an XML .dspreset file that Decent Sampler reads in order to know how to play the samples for a specific sound. </p><p>Decent Sampler is designed to read two different types of WAV file:</p><p>- multiple single WAV files containing a single sample, or </p><p>- one big continuous WAV file (made up of concatenated audio samples) where the WAVs inside are referenced as start points, plus end points. This is what Christian Henson (and Pianobook.co.uk) calls <a href="https://www.pianobook.co.uk/resources/monolith/" target="_blank">a Monolith file</a> - you have a template on your DAW, and a voice track prompts you to play notes (on a piano, for example), and so you end up with a series of audio samples separated by silence (or whatever your recording system records when there is no audio, which probably is just the noise floor - so it is actually useful to have these gaps between samples because they are the raw material for Noise Reduction...), where the start point of each sample is gong to be close to wherever the voice prompt was (plus reaction time and any latency in the piano or synth...), and can even be partly or completely automated (do all of them assuming the reaction times and latency are going to be consistent). So if you look at a .dspreset XML file intended for use with a Monolith file, then there will be one sample file, and the start points will be the offsets into that file, whilst the lengths will be the length of each of the samples (minus 1). Yep, samples start at zero.</p><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg5WYiZlmFurfmvdXAvdGMnHQJtsKViwky_28bwctoI1CSZcE7YR6Rab62Vy4rIcwIeyjQCcy9GjdMVvrnNO8RMsQt-rhRqgKEpi88Vl6NV-QAqFfj4sx6KsSlCzfY2XTOxGXoJE5cMn8SvyW5znARVkrok6ZCTnaSK5tTJog6r308dLHCl4VQ5WReevg/s1080/Slide4.jpeg" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="608" data-original-width="1080" height="360" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg5WYiZlmFurfmvdXAvdGMnHQJtsKViwky_28bwctoI1CSZcE7YR6Rab62Vy4rIcwIeyjQCcy9GjdMVvrnNO8RMsQt-rhRqgKEpi88Vl6NV-QAqFfj4sx6KsSlCzfY2XTOxGXoJE5cMn8SvyW5znARVkrok6ZCTnaSK5tTJog6r308dLHCl4VQ5WReevg/w640-h360/Slide4.jpeg" width="640" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Inside a 'Monolith' file</td></tr></tbody></table><p>Monolith files are great for people who want to automate as much of the sampling process as possible. So, if you want to sample a piano with a small interval (for example, thirds), how many velocity layers you want, how many beats you want to hold the note down (sustain time), etc., then you can use a template file that tells you when to play a specific note, and you just record everything as one large WAV file. The Monolith file that you get at the end has all the separate samples inside it, one after the other. There are various ways to edit files like this that enable multiple edits to be made at once, which can reduce the preparation time a lot! </p><p>Decent Sampler can also use .AIFF files...</p><h3 style="text-align: left;">The '1, 10, 100, 1000...' principle</h3><p>For smaller projects, then individual WAV files can be used instead. If you have a Kalimba with 12 notes, then twelve sample files are pretty easy to manage. There's a principle called the '1, 10, 100, 1000 principle': if you are asked to, for example, sort 1 number into numerical order, then it is trivial - it is already in the right order. Sorting 10 numbers is going to take you a few seconds, but it won't be very difficult. However, sorting 100 numbers into order is going to take you a while, and you might not be very enthusiastic about doing it. But 1,000 numbers is rather different again - you aren't going to want to do it for free, it is going to take a while, and you will need to do some planning and work out a system to make it easy and reduce errors. A lot of people just don't want to do the 1,000 sort, and some are equally uncooperative about the 100. So 1,000 is some sort of built-in human limit. As for sorting 10,000 numbers, then almost everyone won't even start the sorting process without strong motivation of some sort (money, fame...)</p><p>So a project with more than 100 samples is going to need to be sorted into groups, which could be notes, or velocity layers, or some other parameter. Finding an approach that reduces that big number to something more manageable (like, nearer to 10-ish) becomes very important.</p><p>If you think about it, the Monolith system kind of hides the actual number of samples, or doesn't make the actual number quite as obvious because there's a single file with all of the WAVs inside it. And there are various 'do lots of edits at once' shortcuts that can be applied in a pro audio editor to make processing all of those WAVs easier.</p><h3 style="text-align: left;">How to Improve Noise Reduction...</h3><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjZIMO67-h7LpAkZXo1efDc4mKpCF6OaEymGeg238AD5FAA8odcrg_3zed10n9SXGUyvgXgeTNFxFReOwGX40b1KyqcQkGhZJhDrjLuIQeU7U3nF79_nEDxtrOEH9WxYAXNYWlLRr4MXtp9u_2ijP67rBaNjDdmEQz3ZRsZqW18iLFbBfSJYFKzBCB60w/s1080/Slide5.jpeg" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="608" data-original-width="1080" height="360" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjZIMO67-h7LpAkZXo1efDc4mKpCF6OaEymGeg238AD5FAA8odcrg_3zed10n9SXGUyvgXgeTNFxFReOwGX40b1KyqcQkGhZJhDrjLuIQeU7U3nF79_nEDxtrOEH9WxYAXNYWlLRr4MXtp9u_2ijP67rBaNjDdmEQz3ZRsZqW18iLFbBfSJYFKzBCB60w/w640-h360/Slide5.jpeg" width="640" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Noise Reduction<br /></td></tr></tbody></table><p>One thing that you can do with a Monolith file (or actually, any directory/folder of individual samples) to make it easier for you (or other people) to process it with a Noise Reduction Utility, is to record one extra sample - of nothing! Yep, just record nothing as the very last sample, and this can then be used as the 'reference' background sample by the Noise Reduction Utility. In a Monolith file, it can be the very last sample, whilst in a directory/folder structure of individual samples you could have a directory/folder called 'Background Noise' with a sample called 'Background Noise.wav' inside it.</p><p>When you record this nothing file, you should make it in exactly the same way as the previous samples, except that you don't play the actual note, hit the piano key, blow the trumpet, bang the drum, etc. But remember to record several seconds of nothing - this helps the noise reduction to work better. Also, don't adjust anything when you do this recording of 'nothing'. Don't turn the microphone you were using off, don't turn that buzzy light off, don't turn that ever-so-quiet fan off, don't turn the fridge off where you store the drinks, don't change any levels or EQ in the mixer or the audio interface... In other words, don't change anything from how you recorded the actual samples. What you want is all the background noise that is lurking behind the actual samples, so that the noise reduction can then remove it. If the noise reduction software doesn't have a good reference of what the background noise is like in your recording environment, then how does it know what to remove? </p><h3 style="text-align: left;">Inside Decent Sampler</h3><p>I started out calling this section 'In Decent Sampler', but that doesn't read well! To control loops inside Decent Sampler, there are a few parameters that you need to add to the <group> element.</p><p>The basic <groups> element looks like this:</p><div style="font-family: Menlo, Monaco, "Courier New", monospace; font-size: 12px; line-height: 18px; white-space: pre;"><div><span style="background-color: black;"> <span style="color: maroon;"><groups></span></span></div><div><span style="background-color: black;"> <span style="color: maroon;"><group</span> <span style="color: red;">volume</span>=<span style="color: blue;">"0.0dB"</span> </span></div><div><span style="background-color: black;"><span style="color: red;"><span> </span><span> </span><span> </span><span> </span>pan</span>=<span style="color: blue;">"0"</span> </span></div><div><span style="background-color: black;"><span style="color: red;"><span> </span><span> </span><span> </span><span> </span>trigger</span>=<span style="color: blue;">"attack"</span> </span></div><div><span style="background-color: black;"><span style="color: red;"><span> </span><span> </span><span> </span><span> </span>loopCrossfade</span>=<span style="color: blue;">"4000"</span> </span></div><div><span style="background-color: black;"><span style="color: red;"><span> </span><span> </span><span> </span><span> </span>loopEnabled</span>=<span style="color: blue;">"true"</span> </span></div><div><span style="background-color: black;"><span style="color: red;"><span> </span><span> </span><span> </span>loopCrossfadeMode</span>=<span style="color: blue;">"equal_power"</span> <span style="color: maroon;">></span></span></div><div><span style="background-color: black;"> <span style="color: maroon;"><sample</span> <span style="color: red;">path</span>=<span style="color: blue;">"Samples/sample1.wav"</span> </span></div><div><span style="background-color: black;"><span style="color: red;"> tuning</span>=<span style="color: blue;">" 0.000"</span> </span></div><div><span style="background-color: black;"><span style="color: red;"><span> </span><span> </span><span> </span><span> </span><span> </span>rootNote</span>=<span style="color: blue;">"60"</span> </span></div><div><span style="background-color: black;"><span style="color: red;"><span> </span><span> </span><span> </span><span> </span><span> </span>loNote</span>=<span style="color: blue;">"0"</span> </span></div><div><span style="background-color: black;"><span style="color: red;"><span> </span><span> </span><span> </span><span> </span><span> </span>hiNote</span>=<span style="color: blue;">"105"</span> </span></div><div><span style="background-color: black;"><span style="color: red;"><span> </span><span> </span><span> </span><span> </span><span> </span>loVel</span>=<span style="color: blue;">"1"</span> </span></div><div><span style="background-color: black;"><span style="color: red;"><span> </span><span> </span><span> </span><span> </span><span> </span>hiVel</span>=<span style="color: blue;">"127"</span> </span></div><div><span style="background-color: black;"><span style="color: red;"><span> </span><span> </span><span> </span><span> </span><span> </span>start</span>=<span style="color: blue;">"0"</span> </span></div><div><span style="background-color: black;"><span style="color: red;"><span> </span><span> </span><span> </span><span> </span><span> </span>end</span>=<span style="color: blue;">"440999"</span> </span></div><div><span style="background-color: black;"><div><span><span style="color: red;"><span> </span><span> </span><span> </span><span> </span><span> loopS</span>tart</span>=<span style="color: blue;">"0"</span> </span></div><div><span><span style="color: red;"><span> </span><span> </span><span> </span><span> </span><span> loopE</span>nd</span>=<span style="color: blue;">"440999"</span> </span></div></span></div><div><span style="background-color: black;"><span style="color: red;"><span> </span><span> </span><span> </span><span> </span><span> </span>tags</span>=<span style="color: blue;">"0"</span> <span style="color: maroon;">/></span></span></div><div><span style="background-color: black;"> <span style="color: maroon;"></group></span></span></div><div><span style="background-color: black;"> <span style="color: maroon;"></groups></span> </span></div></div><p><span style="background-color: black;">I </span>have deliberately wrapped the text so that it works well on a narrow 'blog' layout! In a normal text editor, the lines of XML will be much wider, and without all of those line feeds!</p><p>The <groups> element is the container for all of the samples, which are in one or more <group> elements. All of the parameters that are in the <group> could also have been in the <groups> element, and then they would apply to all of the <group> elements inside the <groups> element. This time I have greyed out all of the parameters that are important, but not relevant to looping. So it now looks like this:</p><div style="font-family: Menlo, Monaco, "Courier New", monospace; font-size: 12px; white-space: pre;"> <span style="color: maroon;"><groups </span><span style="color: #999999;"><span>volume</span>=<span>"0.0dB"</span> </span></div><div style="font-family: Menlo, Monaco, "Courier New", monospace; font-size: 12px; white-space: pre;"><span style="color: #999999;"><span> pan</span>=<span>"0"</span></span> </div><div style="font-family: Menlo, Monaco, "Courier New", monospace; font-size: 12px; white-space: pre;"><span style="color: red;"> trigger</span>=<span style="color: blue;">"attack"</span> </div><div style="font-family: Menlo, Monaco, "Courier New", monospace; font-size: 12px; white-space: pre;"><span style="color: red;"> loopCrossfade</span>=<span style="color: blue;">"4000"</span> </div><div style="font-family: Menlo, Monaco, "Courier New", monospace; font-size: 12px; white-space: pre;"><span style="color: red;"> loopEnabled</span>=<span style="color: blue;">"true"</span> </div><div style="font-family: Menlo, Monaco, "Courier New", monospace; font-size: 12px; white-space: pre;"><span style="color: red;"> loopCrossfadeMode</span>=<span style="color: blue;">"equal_power" </span><span style="color: maroon;">></span></div><div style="font-family: Menlo, Monaco, "Courier New", monospace; font-size: 12px; white-space: pre;"> <span style="color: maroon;"><group</span><span style="color: maroon;">></span></div><div style="font-family: Menlo, Monaco, "Courier New", monospace; font-size: 12px; white-space: pre;"> <span style="color: maroon;"><sample</span> <span style="color: red;">path</span>=<span style="color: blue;">"Samples/sample1.wav"</span> </div><div style="font-family: Menlo, Monaco, "Courier New", monospace; font-size: 12px; white-space: pre;"><span style="color: red;"> </span><span style="color: #999999;"><span>tuning</span>=<span>" 0.000"</span> </span></div><div style="font-family: Menlo, Monaco, "Courier New", monospace; font-size: 12px; white-space: pre;"><span style="color: #999999;"><span> rootNote</span>=<span>"60"</span> </span></div><div style="font-family: Menlo, Monaco, "Courier New", monospace; font-size: 12px; white-space: pre;"><span style="color: #999999;"><span> loNote</span>=<span>"0"</span> </span></div><div style="font-family: Menlo, Monaco, "Courier New", monospace; font-size: 12px; white-space: pre;"><span style="color: #999999;"><span> hiNote</span>=<span>"105"</span> </span></div><div style="font-family: Menlo, Monaco, "Courier New", monospace; font-size: 12px; white-space: pre;"><span style="color: #999999;"><span> loVel</span>=<span>"1"</span> </span></div><div style="font-family: Menlo, Monaco, "Courier New", monospace; font-size: 12px; white-space: pre;"><span style="color: #999999;"><span> hiVel</span>=<span>"127"</span></span> </div><div style="font-family: Menlo, Monaco, "Courier New", monospace; font-size: 12px; white-space: pre;"><span style="color: red;"> start</span>=<span style="color: blue;">"0"</span> </div><div style="font-family: Menlo, Monaco, "Courier New", monospace; font-size: 12px; white-space: pre;"><span style="color: red;"> end</span>=<span style="color: blue;">"440999"</span> </div><div style="font-family: Menlo, Monaco, "Courier New", monospace; font-size: 12px; white-space: pre;"><div><span><span style="color: red;"><span> </span><span> </span><span> </span><span> </span><span> loopS</span>tart</span>=<span style="color: blue;">"0"</span> </span></div><div><span><span style="color: red;"><span> </span><span> </span><span> </span><span> </span><span> loopE</span>nd</span>=<span style="color: blue;">"440999"</span> </span></div></div><div style="font-family: Menlo, Monaco, "Courier New", monospace; font-size: 12px; white-space: pre;"><span style="color: red;"> </span><span style="color: #999999;"><span>tags</span>=<span>"0"</span></span> <span style="color: maroon;">/></span></div><div style="font-family: Menlo, Monaco, "Courier New", monospace; font-size: 12px; white-space: pre;"> <span style="color: maroon;"></group></span></div><div style="font-family: Menlo, Monaco, "Courier New", monospace; font-size: 12px; white-space: pre;"><span style="color: maroon;"><span> </span><span> <group></span><br /></span></div><div style="font-family: Menlo, Monaco, "Courier New", monospace; font-size: 12px; white-space: pre;"><span style="color: maroon;"><span><span> </span><span> </span><span> More samples... (ending in </span></span></span><span style="color: red;">tags</span>=<span style="color: blue;">"1" </span><span style="color: maroon;">) </span><span style="color: maroon;"> </span></div><div style="font-family: Menlo, Monaco, "Courier New", monospace; font-size: 12px; white-space: pre;"><span style="color: maroon;"><span> </span><span> </span></group></span></div><div style="font-family: Menlo, Monaco, "Courier New", monospace; font-size: 12px; white-space: pre;"><div><span style="color: maroon;"> <group><br /></span></div><div><span style="color: maroon;"> More samples... </span><span style="color: maroon;">(ending in </span><span style="color: red;">tags</span>=<span style="color: blue;">"2" </span><span style="color: maroon;">) </span></div><div><span style="color: maroon;"> </group></span></div><div><span style="color: maroon;"> . . .</span></div></div><div style="font-family: Menlo, Monaco, "Courier New", monospace; font-size: 12px; white-space: pre;"> <span style="color: maroon;"></groups></span> </div><div style="white-space: pre;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span></div><p style="text-align: left; white-space: pre;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">So you can apply parameters to either everything (<groups>) or to just a single <group> element. </span></p><p style="text-align: left; white-space: pre;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">You </span><span style="font-family: inherit;">can have multiple samples inside a group, of course.</span></p><p style="text-align: left; white-space: pre;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">The relevant parameters for looping at the <group> or <groups> level are these:</span></p><div style="font-family: Menlo, Monaco, "Courier New", monospace; font-size: 12px; white-space: pre;"><span style="color: red;">trigger</span>=<span style="color: blue;">"attack"</span> </div><div style="font-family: Menlo, Monaco, "Courier New", monospace; font-size: 12px; white-space: pre;"><span style="color: red;">loopCrossfade</span>=<span style="color: blue;">"4000"</span> </div><div style="font-family: Menlo, Monaco, "Courier New", monospace; font-size: 12px; white-space: pre;"><span style="color: red;">loopEnabled</span>=<span style="color: blue;">"true"</span></div><div style="font-family: Menlo, Monaco, "Courier New", monospace; font-size: 12px; white-space: pre;"><span style="color: red;">loopCrossfadeMode</span>=<span style="color: blue;">"equal_power"</span></div><div style="font-family: Menlo, Monaco, "Courier New", monospace; font-size: 12px; white-space: pre;"><span style="color: blue;"><div style="color: black;"><span><span style="color: red;"><span>loopS</span>tart</span>=<span style="color: blue;">"0"</span> </span></div><div style="color: black;"><span><span style="color: red;"><span>loopE</span>nd</span>=<span style="color: blue;">"440999"</span> </span></div></span></div><div style="font-family: Menlo, Monaco, "Courier New", monospace; font-size: 12px; white-space: pre;"><span style="background-color: black; color: white;"><br /></span></div><div style="white-space: pre;"><span><span><span style="background-color: black; color: white; font-family: inherit;">Which control if you want to have a sustain loop (triggered by a MIDI Note On message/event being </span></span></span></div><div style="white-space: pre;"><span><span><span style="background-color: black; color: white; font-family: inherit;">received </span></span></span></div><div style="white-space: pre;"><span style="background-color: black; color: white; font-family: inherit;"><span><span><span>by Decent Sampler), or a release loop (triggered </span></span></span><span>by the release), the cross-fade length (in samples), if </span></span></div><div style="white-space: pre;"><span style="background-color: black; color: white; font-family: inherit;"><span>looping is enabled, and the way that the cross-fading </span><span>is done ('equal power' keeps the apparent volume </span></span></div><div style="white-space: pre;"><span style="background-color: black; color: white; font-family: inherit;">constant during the cross-fade).</span></div><div style="white-space: pre;"><span><span><span style="background-color: black; color: white; font-family: inherit;"><br /></span></span></span></div><div style="white-space: pre;"><span><span style="background-color: black; color: white; font-family: inherit;">The relevant parameters for looping inside a sample are:</span></span></div><div style="font-family: Menlo, Monaco, "Courier New", monospace; font-size: 12px; white-space: pre;"><span style="color: blue;"><span style="color: black; font-family: Times; font-size: medium;"><br /></span></span></div><div style="font-family: Menlo, Monaco, "Courier New", monospace; font-size: 12px; white-space: pre;"><span style="color: blue;">(Well, obviously the </span><span style="color: red;">Sample</span><span style="color: blue;"> itself!)</span></div><div style="font-family: Menlo, Monaco, "Courier New", monospace; font-size: 12px; white-space: pre;"><span style="color: blue;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="color: blue;"><div style="color: black; font-family: Menlo, Monaco, "Courier New", monospace; font-size: 12px; white-space: pre;"><span style="color: red;">start</span>=<span style="color: blue;">"0"</span> </div><div style="color: black; font-family: Menlo, Monaco, "Courier New", monospace; font-size: 12px; white-space: pre;"><span style="color: red;">end</span>=<span style="color: blue;">"440999"</span> </div><div style="color: black; font-family: Menlo, Monaco, "Courier New", monospace; font-size: 12px; white-space: pre;"><div><span><span style="color: red;"><span>loopS</span>tart</span>=<span style="color: blue;">"0"</span> </span></div><div><span><span style="color: red;"><span>loopE</span>nd</span>=<span style="color: blue;">"440999"</span> </span></div></div><div style="color: black; font-family: Menlo, Monaco, "Courier New", monospace; font-size: 12px; white-space: pre;"><br /></div></span><span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="white-space: pre;">Which set the start and the end of the loop. You can have multiple samples inside a group, of course. </span></span></div><div><span style="font-family: inherit;">And each of those samples can have different start and end points...</span></div><div style="font-family: Menlo, Monaco, "Courier New", monospace; font-size: 12px; white-space: pre;"><br /></div><div style="font-family: Menlo, Monaco, "Courier New", monospace; white-space: pre;"><span style="font-family: Times; white-space: normal;">If the sample was a Monolith WAV file, then the start and end parameters might well be very large numbers: in the hundreds of thousands, millions, or even tens of millions of samples. In this example, the sample is ten seconds long, and so contains 441,000 samples. Remember that because the first sample is sample zero, then the last sample is sample 440999, and the length is 441,000 samples. </span></div><div style="font-family: Menlo, Monaco, "Courier New", monospace; font-size: 12px; white-space: pre;"><span style="font-family: Times; font-size: medium; white-space: normal;"><br /></span></div><div style="font-family: Menlo, Monaco, "Courier New", monospace; font-size: 12px; white-space: pre;"><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiyvqyblXW2m1ZmP3JL_fmmbKlr9OrBRpjYw6Hw1bouqRRwZxiMJW8Fol00qWTsX3nBKV7DKCSwrQCJfAwj0mHcaKlSBbUksBM6XUGcu1a4HKinaqREX4khA3ZDArNpEpf07l3Gv32a9yKyGs1GmLTMK3aL5uH5tthxZqxGSvVBTE_nxGp639-UqlLahQ/s1080/Slide6a.jpg" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="608" data-original-width="1080" height="360" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiyvqyblXW2m1ZmP3JL_fmmbKlr9OrBRpjYw6Hw1bouqRRwZxiMJW8Fol00qWTsX3nBKV7DKCSwrQCJfAwj0mHcaKlSBbUksBM6XUGcu1a4HKinaqREX4khA3ZDArNpEpf07l3Gv32a9yKyGs1GmLTMK3aL5uH5tthxZqxGSvVBTE_nxGp639-UqlLahQ/w640-h360/Slide6a.jpg" width="640" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Times;">A one second sample being played back...</span></td></tr></tbody></table></div><span style="text-align: center;"><div><br /></div></span></div><div><div>So far, the loop has been the whole of the sample. This is easy to set up and edit - but a loop can be part of a sample (and only a party of it - you cannot have the loop start and end points outside of the sample itself!)</div><div><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi8NBPVnK2RChWqiMcXObfZdZpvk7xTBq3qKDKlpiVc24C3dKMvXPpaQzKQdhzqnqcSNHmeTLQ_SooIxUtqFaYR-rQQs4m7cH9YyDspZzAiiWEeGpzR6KCXgfwdItTzHE0P4q7i9OdG8afv0nR1ZQd12vt8PsZM7_CAxkLiYsnNyndFxEjX9XTTx71i_A/s1080/Slide6b%20loop.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="608" data-original-width="1080" height="360" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi8NBPVnK2RChWqiMcXObfZdZpvk7xTBq3qKDKlpiVc24C3dKMvXPpaQzKQdhzqnqcSNHmeTLQ_SooIxUtqFaYR-rQQs4m7cH9YyDspZzAiiWEeGpzR6KCXgfwdItTzHE0P4q7i9OdG8afv0nR1ZQd12vt8PsZM7_CAxkLiYsnNyndFxEjX9XTTx71i_A/w640-h360/Slide6b%20loop.jpg" width="640" /></a></div><div><br /></div><div>In the example shown above, the sample starts at 0, and ends at 440,999, so it is 10 seconds long. But the start of the loop is at 221,000 samples and ends at 400,999 samples. So it plays almost all of the second half of the sample - just under 5 seconds. For a lot of sustained sounds, this is often the sort of arrangement that you will find - the first half of the sample is the 'attack' sound, possibly with a pitch change up to the final pitch (brass or strings can do this, for example), whilst the second half contains the sustain sound, which is mostly looped. Pianos and other instruments that have long decays can be tricky to loop because they do not always end up at a steady sustain level - they just keep getting quieter when you hold the keys down. You can set an envelope with a very low sustain level, and a very long decay to emulate this behaviour, but the sustain loop will need to be edited to keep a constant volume (a long cross-fade is one technique that can be used, compression is another). Note that the sample is being altered here, so that it can then be modified by the envelope. The ultimate result of this would be samples that have constant volume, and where the volume over time is controlled solely by the envelope - which is how synthesizers work. In a synthesizer, the oscillators make a sound the whole time (you could think of them as always being in loop mode!), and the only way to stop the sound is to apply an envelope and a VCA (or the digital equivalent.) </div><div><br /></div><div>As mentioned above, one extreme approach, that was used in the past, was to have samples as 4 (or more) loops, one for each stage of the envelope (Attack, Decay, Sustain, Release), and this blended together sampling and synthesis into a hybrid form. Modern sample players tend to just have looped sustain segments. </div><div><br /></div><div>You probably saw the 'loopEnabled="True' parameter. This is just an on/off switch for looping. But loopCrossfade and loopCrossfadeMode are more geeky parameters, and people often find crossfades confusing. So here goes with trying to make a simple explanation...</div><div><br /></div><div>A cross-fade is exactly like that side-to-side slider that DJs use - it fades between two different audio sources. Because in the real world, solutions are rarely as straight-forward as they might appear, then trying to keep the volume constant as you blend from one to the other is tricky - especially because it depends on the audio itself. What works for sine waves is probably not going to work quite as well on heavily compressed audio.</div><div><br /></div><div>But in a sample, there's an added complication - the time that it takes to go from one audio source to the other. Engineers tend to name things for what they do, so this is called the crossfade time. The thing is, how can it possibly do that? If I have two samples that are both 10 seconds long, how do I fade from one to the other (and later on, back to the first one again, and repeat...) - However long it takes, whilst both audio tracks are playing, then they must be overlapped - otherwise the fade can't happen. As a result, the time for the cross-fade to happen has to be stolen from the audio samples... (Strap in, because this is going to be mind-warping...)</div><div><br /></div><div>So if it takes a second for the crossfade to happen, then that has to start one second before the initial sample finishes, which is at 9 seconds through the first sample. The second sample then plays for one second, until the initial sample is completely faded out, and the we get 8 seconds of the second sample, before the initial sample needs to start fading in again. So even though we have 20 seconds of audio, we can't play more than 9 seconds of the initial sample before we need to start fading to the second sample, and after 9 seconds of the second sample, we are starting to fade back to the initial sample again. So that's only 18 seconds out of twenty that are looped. </div><div><br /></div><div><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjRlE-ZV0T8J3ksoF2NFhTJyXIntgez4q7dJH8nU6_9cQpGL-5gCrb8HrWi8PgYNjPvHAfQpjv2oyJ_qLg-JxTOaCsb4GWPkFdVWf3_aa3Zd8-bQfVmmUNdG699kEuSs_wztxI8u6zx236Sdm6JVdyrF3repSfIKAgmDy46OeVOPDpsU7xx-83iJVSyBg/s1080/Slide7.jpeg" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="608" data-original-width="1080" height="360" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjRlE-ZV0T8J3ksoF2NFhTJyXIntgez4q7dJH8nU6_9cQpGL-5gCrb8HrWi8PgYNjPvHAfQpjv2oyJ_qLg-JxTOaCsb4GWPkFdVWf3_aa3Zd8-bQfVmmUNdG699kEuSs_wztxI8u6zx236Sdm6JVdyrF3repSfIKAgmDy46OeVOPDpsU7xx-83iJVSyBg/w640-h360/Slide7.jpeg" width="640" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">A one-second cross-fade...</td></tr></tbody></table><p>If the crossfade time is longer, then the actual time playing just the samples gets shorter and shorter. With a crossfade time of 5 seconds, we get five seconds of the initial sample, then a crossfade for 5 seconds, and then we immediately need to start crossfading back to the initial sample. So the only pristine bit of audio is the very first five seconds of the initial sample. Everything after that is just pure crossfade, all the time. </p><p></p><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhIjW83nK5h8NodI4VsJl1jHrplp2vXbHRC1EwzVUjE-Vf5xNJtFBSCVRJHF1TWtV5jLEFUJqbqzo7__C0_9X4PjF3uHcf1pUlyAZ_NSpPC6LWRKRKgp3xe23waHL4L-nqlyfTmGwmQE9iWJfeXcxUdvo4PGQPF6aBK_eHQszdP5JSPzfJJ90Jr6ds_Ow/s1080/Slide13.jpeg" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="608" data-original-width="1080" height="360" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhIjW83nK5h8NodI4VsJl1jHrplp2vXbHRC1EwzVUjE-Vf5xNJtFBSCVRJHF1TWtV5jLEFUJqbqzo7__C0_9X4PjF3uHcf1pUlyAZ_NSpPC6LWRKRKgp3xe23waHL4L-nqlyfTmGwmQE9iWJfeXcxUdvo4PGQPF6aBK_eHQszdP5JSPzfJJ90Jr6ds_Ow/w640-h360/Slide13.jpeg" width="640" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">A five-second cross-fade...<br /></td></tr></tbody></table><br />If we wanted a cross-fade that was longer than 5 seconds, then we would need to overlap three samples instead of just two... (which can get complex) In most ordinary applications, the cross-fade is limited to half of the sample length. So for a ten second loop, this will be 220,500 samples, and since we need to subtract one because of the sample numbering starting at zero, then we would have a start of 220,499 samples, an end of 440,999 samples and a length of 441,000 samples. <p></p><p>So here's that XML fragment again:</p><div style="font-family: Menlo, Monaco, "Courier New", monospace; font-size: 12px; white-space: pre;"><div> <span style="color: maroon;"><groups </span><span style="color: #999999;"><span>volume</span>=<span>"0.0dB"</span> </span></div><div><span style="color: #999999;"><span> pan</span>=<span>"0"</span></span> </div><div><span style="color: red;"> </span><span style="color: #999999;"><span>trigger</span>=<span>"attack"</span></span> </div><div><span style="color: red;"> loopCrossfade</span>=<span style="color: blue;">"220499"</span> </div><div><span style="color: red;"> loopEnabled</span>=<span style="color: blue;">"true"</span> </div><div><span style="color: red;"> loopCrossfadeMode</span>=<span style="color: blue;">"equal_power" </span><span style="color: maroon;">></span></div><div> <span style="color: maroon;"><group</span><span style="color: maroon;">></span></div><div> <span style="color: maroon;"><sample</span> <span style="color: red;">path</span>=<span style="color: blue;">"Samples/sample1.wav"</span> </div><div><span style="color: red;"> </span><span style="color: #999999;"><span>tuning</span>=<span>" 0.000"</span> </span></div><div><span style="color: #999999;"><span> rootNote</span>=<span>"60"</span> </span></div><div><span style="color: #999999;"><span> loNote</span>=<span>"0"</span> </span></div><div><span style="color: #999999;"><span> hiNote</span>=<span>"105"</span> </span></div><div><span style="color: #999999;"><span> loVel</span>=<span>"1"</span> </span></div><div><span style="color: #999999;"><span> hiVel</span>=<span>"127"</span></span> </div><div><span style="color: red;"> start</span>=<span style="color: blue;">"0"</span> </div><div><span style="color: red;"> end</span>=<span style="color: blue;">"440999"</span> </div><div><div><span><span style="color: red;"><span> </span><span> </span><span> </span><span> </span><span> loopS</span>tart</span>=<span style="color: blue;">"0"</span> </span></div><div><span><span style="color: red;"><span> </span><span> </span><span> </span><span> </span><span> loopE</span>nd</span>=<span style="color: blue;">"440999"</span> </span></div></div><div><span style="color: red;"> </span><span style="color: #999999;"><span>tags</span>=<span>"0"</span></span> <span style="color: maroon;">/></span></div><div> <span style="color: maroon;"></group></span></div><div><span style="color: maroon;"><span> </span><span> <group></span><br /></span></div><div><span style="color: maroon;"><span><span> </span><span> </span><span> More samples... (ending in </span></span></span><span style="color: red;">tags</span>=<span style="color: blue;">"1" </span><span style="color: maroon;">) </span><span style="color: maroon;"> </span></div><div><span style="color: maroon;"><span> </span><span> </span></group></span></div><div><div><span style="color: maroon;"> <group><br /></span></div><div><span style="color: maroon;"> More samples... </span><span style="color: maroon;">(ending in </span><span style="color: red;">tags</span>=<span style="color: blue;">"2" </span><span style="color: maroon;">) </span></div><div><span style="color: maroon;"> </group></span></div><div><span style="color: maroon;"> . . .</span></div></div><div> <span style="color: maroon;"></groups></span> </div></div><h3 style="text-align: left;">Sample Lengths</h3><p>If you don't specify the start and end of a sample loop, then Decent Sampler looks inside the WAV file for a chunk that specifies the start and end loop points. If it doesn't find that chunk, then it uses the start and end of the sample itself. If Decent Sampler doesn't know where the start and end of a sample or a loop are, then this can be bad. It seems that one of the problems with DS versions 1.5.0 to 1.5.5 was connected with start and end points... </p><p>One mitigation that I try to remember to use is to add the length of the sample (minus 1) to the end of all of the samples in the 'Samples' directory/folder. If I am going to be using looping then I also move some of the loop parameters into the sample element as well. So if we now look at the modified XML fragment:</p><div style="font-family: Menlo, Monaco, "Courier New", monospace; font-size: 12px; white-space: pre;"> <span style="color: maroon;"><groups </span><span style="color: #999999;"><span>volume</span>=<span>"0.0dB"</span> </span></div><div style="font-family: Menlo, Monaco, "Courier New", monospace; font-size: 12px; white-space: pre;"><span style="color: #999999;"><span> pan</span>=<span>"0"</span></span> </div><div style="font-family: Menlo, Monaco, "Courier New", monospace; font-size: 12px; white-space: pre;"><span style="color: red;"> </span><span style="color: #999999;"><span>trigger</span>=<span>"attack"</span></span> </div><div style="font-family: Menlo, Monaco, "Courier New", monospace; font-size: 12px; white-space: pre;"><span style="color: red;"> loopCrossfadeMode</span>=<span style="color: blue;">"equal_power" </span><span style="color: maroon;">></span></div><div style="font-family: Menlo, Monaco, "Courier New", monospace; font-size: 12px; white-space: pre;"> <span style="color: maroon;"><group</span><span style="color: maroon;">></span></div><div style="font-family: Menlo, Monaco, "Courier New", monospace; font-size: 12px; white-space: pre;"> <span style="color: maroon;"><sample</span> <span style="color: red;">path</span>=<span style="color: blue;">"Samples/sample1_440999.wav"</span> </div><div style="font-family: Menlo, Monaco, "Courier New", monospace; font-size: 12px; white-space: pre;"><span style="color: red;"> </span><span style="color: #999999;"><span>tuning</span>=<span>" 0.000"</span> </span></div><div style="font-family: Menlo, Monaco, "Courier New", monospace; font-size: 12px; white-space: pre;"><span style="color: #999999;"><span> rootNote</span>=<span>"60"</span> </span></div><div style="font-family: Menlo, Monaco, "Courier New", monospace; font-size: 12px; white-space: pre;"><span style="color: #999999;"><span> loNote</span>=<span>"0"</span> </span></div><div style="font-family: Menlo, Monaco, "Courier New", monospace; font-size: 12px; white-space: pre;"><span style="color: #999999;"><span> hiNote</span>=<span>"105"</span> </span></div><div style="font-family: Menlo, Monaco, "Courier New", monospace; font-size: 12px; white-space: pre;"><span style="color: #999999;"><span> loVel</span>=<span>"1"</span> </span></div><div style="font-family: Menlo, Monaco, "Courier New", monospace; font-size: 12px; white-space: pre;"><span style="color: #999999;"><span> hiVel</span>=<span>"127"</span></span> </div><div style="font-family: Menlo, Monaco, "Courier New", monospace; font-size: 12px; white-space: pre;"><div><span style="color: red;"> loopCrossfade</span>=<span style="color: blue;">"220499"</span> </div><div><span style="color: red;"> loopEnabled</span>=<span style="color: blue;">"true"</span> </div></div><div style="font-family: Menlo, Monaco, "Courier New", monospace; font-size: 12px; white-space: pre;"><span style="color: red;"> start</span>=<span style="color: blue;">"0"</span> </div><div style="font-family: Menlo, Monaco, "Courier New", monospace; font-size: 12px; white-space: pre;"><span style="color: red;"> end</span>=<span style="color: blue;">"440999"</span> </div><div style="font-family: Menlo, Monaco, "Courier New", monospace; font-size: 12px; white-space: pre;"><div><span><span style="color: red;"><span> </span><span> </span><span> </span><span> </span><span> loopS</span>tart</span>=<span style="color: blue;">"0"</span> </span></div><div><span><span style="color: red;"><span> </span><span> </span><span> </span><span> </span><span> loopE</span>nd</span>=<span style="color: blue;">"440999"</span> </span></div></div><div style="font-family: Menlo, Monaco, "Courier New", monospace; font-size: 12px; white-space: pre;"><span style="color: red;"> </span><span style="color: #999999;"><span>tags</span>=<span>"0"</span></span> <span style="color: maroon;">/></span></div><div style="font-family: Menlo, Monaco, "Courier New", monospace; font-size: 12px; white-space: pre;"> <span style="color: maroon;"></group></span></div><div style="font-family: Menlo, Monaco, "Courier New", monospace; font-size: 12px; white-space: pre;"><span style="color: maroon;"><span> </span><span> <group></span><br /></span></div><div style="font-family: Menlo, Monaco, "Courier New", monospace; font-size: 12px; white-space: pre;"><span style="color: maroon;"><span><span> </span><span> </span><span> More samples... (ending in </span></span></span><span style="color: red;">tags</span>=<span style="color: blue;">"1" </span><span style="color: maroon;">) </span><span style="color: maroon;"> </span></div><div style="font-family: Menlo, Monaco, "Courier New", monospace; font-size: 12px; white-space: pre;"><span style="color: maroon;"><span> </span><span> </span></group></span></div><div style="font-family: Menlo, Monaco, "Courier New", monospace; font-size: 12px; white-space: pre;"><div><span style="color: maroon;"> <group><br /></span></div><div><span style="color: maroon;"> More samples... </span><span style="color: maroon;">(ending in </span><span style="color: red;">tags</span>=<span style="color: blue;">"2" </span><span style="color: maroon;">) </span></div><div><span style="color: maroon;"> </group></span></div><div><span style="color: maroon;"> . . .</span></div></div><div style="font-family: Menlo, Monaco, "Courier New", monospace; font-size: 12px; white-space: pre;"> <span style="color: maroon;"></groups></span> </div><p>It now becomes much easier to seer what the highest number that can be used for the end point is (440999!), but also keeping the cross-fade time below half of that is easy. Also, you can turn looping on or off 'per sample'!</p><h3 style="text-align: left;">Looping Samples for Sustained Pads</h3><p>I'm now going to enter dangerous territory, because there are lots of ways of doing this, lots of opinions on the 'correct' way to do it, and lots of myths and pseudo-science. But this is what I do to prepare samples for looping - specifically, pad sounds. There can be a different approach for percussive sounds (I may have mentioned my big split of sounds into two categories: percussive and sustained?) </p><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEifK7kW5yPNX9hyUBIbUIkY57Y3Hq428Tk6ewmJO2rYNnWRwtH9J-e5VjVSZrynHhSd3-Yo1FdHN8JFwI1r_Friup-JCnLrKaxOqdWYF_ucVMmdl5-pLYFfMRV05AanMJe328PHY8EvKJnyryverps9ZNtR6jn7UP0Hrj8H2Tnt_tH1IwUJBCuRNQAJUw/s2962/A01%20-%202%20sines%20composite.jpg" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1627" data-original-width="2962" height="352" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEifK7kW5yPNX9hyUBIbUIkY57Y3Hq428Tk6ewmJO2rYNnWRwtH9J-e5VjVSZrynHhSd3-Yo1FdHN8JFwI1r_Friup-JCnLrKaxOqdWYF_ucVMmdl5-pLYFfMRV05AanMJe328PHY8EvKJnyryverps9ZNtR6jn7UP0Hrj8H2Tnt_tH1IwUJBCuRNQAJUw/w640-h352/A01%20-%202%20sines%20composite.jpg" width="640" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">A 'silent' loop join for a sound with 2 sine waves...</td></tr></tbody></table><br />So the above composite screen capture shows a waveform of two sine waves, slightly detuned from each other - see the DC bump in the spectrum on the left... The sample is 1 second long, and the two ends are shown in the two boxes on the right. So the loop 'join' is between the end and the start - in that purply-grey area. Note that both waveforms are at zero. If you were to print out the image, then you could cut out the two waveforms and they would join up smoothly across the join. </div><div><br /></div><div>(Just a brief aside here, on numbers and representations of audio. I'm going to be jumping back and forth between audio waveforms and their digital equivalent, as you would find inside a computer or synthesizer. I'm also going to treat the numbers in the digital waveform as if they were an actual waveform - so when I talk about a 'zero crossing', then it could be in an actual audio waveform, where there really is a horizontal zero volts axis, or a digital audio waveform (just a bunch of numbers) where there is still a zero axis, but it is just numbers and no real voltages are involved. After spending a lot of my life jumping in and out of real audio and digital audio, I am rather comfortable in both domains. In the end, samples of audio waveforms are just numbers.)<br /><p>Ah, zero crossings. Not magic, and not special, imho, but... convenient. So below is what lots of people will tell you is how to do a glitchless loop:</p><p> </p><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiKmOvt1hZu1aOdDyfkcacO3o5F7KwiXwp6u6Y-TvrNUriQMkncifE3ZTaF57GyEdMfZ1zaI-k3b8RCQuPqjrFYLvAdiKHwbK56OJOzL0wjeCn39Qw-L8irY-0sAK5JMUdursGCdQAGC2brOvfd8-j0NnPtz4IEEXOeMfRzqxuu2vzNZXA2S_C43FaF9A/s1080/Slide14.jpeg" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="608" data-original-width="1080" height="360" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiKmOvt1hZu1aOdDyfkcacO3o5F7KwiXwp6u6Y-TvrNUriQMkncifE3ZTaF57GyEdMfZ1zaI-k3b8RCQuPqjrFYLvAdiKHwbK56OJOzL0wjeCn39Qw-L8irY-0sAK5JMUdursGCdQAGC2brOvfd8-j0NnPtz4IEEXOeMfRzqxuu2vzNZXA2S_C43FaF9A/w640-h360/Slide14.jpeg" width="640" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">A 'zero-crossing' loop join...</td></tr></tbody></table><br /><p></p><p>In this case, then both ends of the waveform are at crossing the zero axis (the horizontal line cross the diagram), and so have the same value. But this time the join is not smooth - there's a sudden change in direction: a discontinuity. Does this matter? Let's artificially generate a discontinuity and see what happens:</p><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh1HnNJ_wmp3YQlUJ_6BKBWp9nthL7yGa6mkK003LWEVXGm9CHJ-NVwSuaj9TVRcnJrHt93dT2o0vgRDJMmfKi3NaaIz3bpNrD8VF3q-clnAbRw9RRtIEQCZPZkgrMFuhSSR49quE9TgwgNjYTMynpG7I25R57leVGGPACHGrOC92wq8xIyU0KG7EnxBw/s2925/A03%20-%20impulse%201.jpg" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1637" data-original-width="2925" height="358" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh1HnNJ_wmp3YQlUJ_6BKBWp9nthL7yGa6mkK003LWEVXGm9CHJ-NVwSuaj9TVRcnJrHt93dT2o0vgRDJMmfKi3NaaIz3bpNrD8VF3q-clnAbRw9RRtIEQCZPZkgrMFuhSSR49quE9TgwgNjYTMynpG7I25R57leVGGPACHGrOC92wq8xIyU0KG7EnxBw/w640-h358/A03%20-%20impulse%201.jpg" width="640" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">A single discontinuity..<br /></td></tr></tbody></table><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div>The waveform above is several seconds of zero, but with two samples nearly at maximum. The resulting spectrum is pretty much white noise. This is when you get a click in audio, but happening all the time....</div><div><br /><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgezAKz5QpBQh9rJYx5xPA7-3Fhz-bBzeMohPMDVANoPmbVO52Z1rHK6jdGsek9z1AT2KjOJvKgbf3hlLAf9tdPF6rtjXTs3Cw6hl8axSNoXUqyqH5GTN6Yru7c2E_HEiXY_hyXzcSUpTRNgzvLXEzoyWrLHtL-ghRxVJtCU9CB3gj0NBZHcWZva84d9Q/s2925/A04%20-%20impulse%20mismatch.jpg" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1647" data-original-width="2925" height="360" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgezAKz5QpBQh9rJYx5xPA7-3Fhz-bBzeMohPMDVANoPmbVO52Z1rHK6jdGsek9z1AT2KjOJvKgbf3hlLAf9tdPF6rtjXTs3Cw6hl8axSNoXUqyqH5GTN6Yru7c2E_HEiXY_hyXzcSUpTRNgzvLXEzoyWrLHtL-ghRxVJtCU9CB3gj0NBZHcWZva84d9Q/w640-h360/A04%20-%20impulse%20mismatch.jpg" width="640" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">A double discontinuity..</td></tr></tbody></table><br /><p>When the waveform is several seconds of zero, and then a maximum negative sample followed immediately by a maximum positive sample, then you have the worst possible mismatch of signals (+ to -), and this time, the spectrum is high frequency noise at around the half sample rate = 22.05 kHz. </p><p>So, sharp changes/corners in the waveform are not good. They create bursts of noise in the audio - which usually sound like clicks. So how do you get rid of these sharp changes or corners? You match the slope of the waveform at that point. Here's a diagram that shows, in bright purple, the direction (slope) that the waveform would continue in if it stopped bending as it passed through zero. it's a bit like a tangent to the curve at the zero point.</p><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjbCnz6qetBh4au75ImJ7WswY3acM9Srclw7Q3hD2tc1kYTJ0gahKWlX12RmQIp9jRgLRP8KIQULYmT97zNwIFCWd69TGdCPgChaiYVhDkfz5wpUAjvrCmAL8bUoNJ-JFEJ7J63JHnC6cn2ixvuX8DXJFk0gV9YQLfMw5tuNlsBjO2Y_AA8wcIswiG_QQ/s1080/Slide15.jpeg" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="608" data-original-width="1080" height="360" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjbCnz6qetBh4au75ImJ7WswY3acM9Srclw7Q3hD2tc1kYTJ0gahKWlX12RmQIp9jRgLRP8KIQULYmT97zNwIFCWd69TGdCPgChaiYVhDkfz5wpUAjvrCmAL8bUoNJ-JFEJ7J63JHnC6cn2ixvuX8DXJFk0gV9YQLfMw5tuNlsBjO2Y_AA8wcIswiG_QQ/w640-h360/Slide15.jpeg" width="640" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Where do the waveforms want to go?</td></tr></tbody></table><br /><p>As you can see, the end of the sample, on the right, wants to go upwards at a very steep angle. In contrast, the start of the sample, looks as if it expects the signal preceding it to be much lower. When they meet at the zero crossing, the mis-match of directions means that lots of frequencies are needed to suddenly change direction, and this causes an audible click.</p><p>Ideally, when two waveforms are joined, then the two curves should join up as if they were one continuous curve. Here's a diagram showing that:</p><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEja5ArEfCYmJnA6wHXOI0MW_XO-YbOTPthB3kfrr_BI2cwSAGN-V4Cuo5jGJUA492Ai2X1terkp5dOSyFimb76-4tgpyFZvP_sdJRY5jdfY85mp4AWOpWkUj-KmcFKHPaHAi9TkCfH6TAFoqewHTtSmAXXZKBSG3kC4SDRV55aPOYOJAtEB1lh--lesZw/s1080/Slide16.jpeg" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="608" data-original-width="1080" height="360" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEja5ArEfCYmJnA6wHXOI0MW_XO-YbOTPthB3kfrr_BI2cwSAGN-V4Cuo5jGJUA492Ai2X1terkp5dOSyFimb76-4tgpyFZvP_sdJRY5jdfY85mp4AWOpWkUj-KmcFKHPaHAi9TkCfH6TAFoqewHTtSmAXXZKBSG3kC4SDRV55aPOYOJAtEB1lh--lesZw/w640-h360/Slide16.jpeg" width="640" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Waveforms going in the same direction at the join...</td></tr></tbody></table><br />Now the two direction arrows are going in opposite directions, and so not only is the join at the same voltage (zero), but the curve is smooth as well. This sort of join does not click. Well, it clicks a lot less!</div><div><br /></div><div>However, finding a place where the two waveforms are zero AND are going to join up as a smooth continuous curve without any sharp changes or corners, is not easy! </div><div><br /></div><div>I use a simple trick to get around this problem. I do a fast fade from one waveform to zero at the zero crossing point, followed by a fast fade up from zero to the other waveform. This forces things so that the direction of both waveforms is horizontal - that is, they are almost at zero volume at the join, and they are pointing in the same direction as each other. Here's what this looks like:</div><div><br /></div><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjGY5ZqmxrC1XpVvGxnrq9wsPeiTKoNj0lrCQQ6PKstP4KMdgfihwWCBTY6C3dU31TpqO4KSm82teBIESHBLD2rrwcrM0cpMJ4GbsypddTyahuZYEFBc6c5hePdM7hFxT5qiklqph_Agqc9pROBZ_FPqxnBvuS6hqpb2BxCQAJozpESHoCdPTAvuEJxVg/s1080/Slide17.jpeg" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="608" data-original-width="1080" height="360" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjGY5ZqmxrC1XpVvGxnrq9wsPeiTKoNj0lrCQQ6PKstP4KMdgfihwWCBTY6C3dU31TpqO4KSm82teBIESHBLD2rrwcrM0cpMJ4GbsypddTyahuZYEFBc6c5hePdM7hFxT5qiklqph_Agqc9pROBZ_FPqxnBvuS6hqpb2BxCQAJozpESHoCdPTAvuEJxVg/w640-h360/Slide17.jpeg" width="640" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">A fast-fade</td></tr></tbody></table><div><br /></div><div> The two triangles are the the volume envelopes of the fast-fade, and the two bright purple arrows are now horizontal, so the waveforms are very smooth as they join. Also, when you have added a fade like this at the start and end of a sample, then you don't need to worry about the direction that the waveform is going in - you just need to fade it to zero volume for long enough for the direction of the curve to be horizontal, and that is easy - just fade it to zero volume at the join. So the curve is smooth at the join, and there is no click. Again, you may get a very quiet click because there's still some relatively high frequencies required to get those sharp bends around zero.</div><div><br /></div><div>One final thing to think about is the phase of the waveform. Note that the end of the sample (on the left hand side) has a positive half-cycle, followed by a negative half cycle. Then there is the join, after which the start of the sample has a positive half-cycle, followed by a negative half-cycle. So the half-cycles go positive, negative, positive, negative, and so on. This means that everything is symmetrical around the join, and this also helps to prevent any clicks.</div><div><br /></div><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEju44cgIR66SU-AOs9s2oFVpyDnAvCaU0XogHRjaSZuozu8oqw0a3F7hn7sfB2PlJiQ5LhWuZnRQgvdboHeOQ_SZrI4uwhwDKzYtb_za8mKXXDClel8PbaxgIHbFfTY8W_c0KtVZ--6fndaSpVD-tUjClx17qGCoFS0bG6ODGOSS9pouAMNRU7qFTMP8Q/s3628/A05%20fast%20fades.jpg" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1563" data-original-width="3628" height="276" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEju44cgIR66SU-AOs9s2oFVpyDnAvCaU0XogHRjaSZuozu8oqw0a3F7hn7sfB2PlJiQ5LhWuZnRQgvdboHeOQ_SZrI4uwhwDKzYtb_za8mKXXDClel8PbaxgIHbFfTY8W_c0KtVZ--6fndaSpVD-tUjClx17qGCoFS0bG6ODGOSS9pouAMNRU7qFTMP8Q/w640-h276/A05%20fast%20fades.jpg" width="640" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Fast fades at the start and end of a sample...</td></tr></tbody></table><div><p>And that's how I join two waveforms. I do a fast fade out at the end (a few milliseconds), and a fast fade-in at the start (a few milliseconds). I also make sure that the slopes of the two ends are the same - pointing in the same direction. I also look backwards and forwards in time so that I make sure that the phase is opposite: a positive end connects to a negative start, and vice-versa. So the start is at zero, and the end is at zero, both waveforms are pointing horizontally, and the phases of the half-cycles either side of the join are opposite. What your ears hear is a cross-fade that is faster than the human hearing system can respond to (the human ear needs something like 10 milliseconds to detect an event), and so you don't hear anything. So there is very little to create a click, and your ears would not be able to hear it even if there was!</p><p>This is not a perfect solution to looping a sample! If the start of the sample and the end of the sample have very different timbres, then your ear is going to detect the sudden change of timbre at the loop point. For this, you need to slowly cross-fade (the time must still be less that half the sample length, of course!) from one sample to the other, so that you smear the change in timbre over time, and your ear will not hear it - because the timbre will be the same on either side of the join! When the timbre is similar on either side of the join, then you can do a fast-fade...</p><p>If you look at most of the samples that I use for pads in Decent Sampler, then they will have fast fades at the start and end, exactly like this. In fact, I do exactly the same for percussive samples, because if you loop a percussive sound, you do not want a click just as it loops! The only time that I don't use these fast fades is when I have a waveform that exactly fits into the sample length with an integer number of cycles. You can see this in the 2 sine wave example at the beginning of this section - the two waveforms are both at zero, and are both travelling in opposite directions, so the bright purple arrows would be pointing in exactly opposite directions, and so there is no need for a fast fade! The join is silent, seamless, and inaudible!</p><h3 style="text-align: left;">Some looping scenarios</h3><p>Now that you know how to loop samples, here are some scenarios for using looped samples:</p><p>First, two samples used for the sustain and release segments of a sound:</p><div style="font-family: Menlo, Monaco, "Courier New", monospace; font-size: 12px; white-space: pre;"> <span style="color: maroon;"><groups </span><span style="color: #999999;"><span>volume</span>=<span>"0.0dB"</span> </span></div><div style="font-family: Menlo, Monaco, "Courier New", monospace; font-size: 12px; white-space: pre;"><span style="color: #999999;"><span> pan</span>=<span>"0"</span></span> </div><div style="font-family: Menlo, Monaco, "Courier New", monospace; font-size: 12px; white-space: pre;"><span style="color: red;"> loopCrossfadeMode</span>=<span style="color: blue;">"equal_power" </span><span style="color: maroon;">></span></div><div style="font-family: Menlo, Monaco, "Courier New", monospace; font-size: 12px; white-space: pre;"> <span style="color: maroon;"><group</span><span style="color: maroon;">></span></div><div style="font-family: Menlo, Monaco, "Courier New", monospace; font-size: 12px; white-space: pre;"> <span style="color: maroon;"><sample</span> <span style="color: red;">path</span>=<span style="color: blue;">"Samples/SampleA_440999.wav"</span> </div><div style="font-family: Menlo, Monaco, "Courier New", monospace; font-size: 12px; white-space: pre;"><span style="color: red;"> </span><span style="color: #999999;"><span>tuning</span>=<span>" 0.000"</span> </span></div><div style="font-family: Menlo, Monaco, "Courier New", monospace; font-size: 12px; white-space: pre;"><span style="color: #999999;"><span> rootNote</span>=<span>"60"</span> </span></div><div style="font-family: Menlo, Monaco, "Courier New", monospace; font-size: 12px; white-space: pre;"><span style="color: #999999;"><span> loNote</span>=<span>"0"</span> </span></div><div style="font-family: Menlo, Monaco, "Courier New", monospace; font-size: 12px; white-space: pre;"><span style="color: #999999;"><span> hiNote</span>=<span>"105"</span> </span></div><div style="font-family: Menlo, Monaco, "Courier New", monospace; font-size: 12px; white-space: pre;"><span style="color: #999999;"><span> loVel</span>=<span>"1"</span> </span></div><div style="font-family: Menlo, Monaco, "Courier New", monospace; font-size: 12px; white-space: pre;"><span style="color: #999999;"><span> hiVel</span>=<span>"127"</span></span> </div><div style="font-family: Menlo, Monaco, "Courier New", monospace; font-size: 12px; white-space: pre;"><span style="color: red;"><span> </span><span> </span><span> </span><span> </span><span> </span>trigger</span>=<span style="color: blue;">"attack"</span> </div><div style="font-family: Menlo, Monaco, "Courier New", monospace; font-size: 12px; white-space: pre;"><div><span style="color: red;"> loopCrossfade</span>=<span style="color: blue;">"220499"</span> </div><div><span style="color: red;"> loopEnabled</span>=<span style="color: blue;">"true"</span> </div></div><div style="font-family: Menlo, Monaco, "Courier New", monospace; font-size: 12px; white-space: pre;"><span style="color: red;"> start</span>=<span style="color: blue;">"0"</span> </div><div style="font-family: Menlo, Monaco, "Courier New", monospace; font-size: 12px; white-space: pre;"><span style="color: red;"> end</span>=<span style="color: blue;">"440999"</span></div><div style="font-family: Menlo, Monaco, "Courier New", monospace; font-size: 12px; white-space: pre;"><span style="color: blue;"><div style="color: black;"><span><span style="color: red;"><span> </span><span> </span><span> </span><span> </span><span> loopS</span>tart</span>=<span style="color: blue;">"0"</span> </span></div><div style="color: black;"><span><span style="color: red;"><span> </span><span> </span><span> </span><span> </span><span> loopE</span>nd</span>=<span style="color: blue;">"440999"</span> </span></div></span></div><div style="font-family: Menlo, Monaco, "Courier New", monospace; font-size: 12px; white-space: pre;"><span style="color: red;"> </span><span style="color: #999999;"><span>tags</span>=<span>"0"</span></span> <span style="color: maroon;">/></span></div><div style="font-family: Menlo, Monaco, "Courier New", monospace; font-size: 12px; white-space: pre;"> <span style="color: maroon;"></group></span></div><div style="font-family: Menlo, Monaco, "Courier New", monospace; font-size: 12px; white-space: pre;"><span><div style="color: black;"> <span style="color: maroon;"><group</span><span style="color: maroon;">></span></div><div style="color: black;"> <span style="color: maroon;"><sample</span> <span style="color: red;">path</span>=<span style="color: blue;">"Samples/SampleB_440999.wav"</span> </div><div style="color: black;"><span style="color: red;"> </span><span style="color: #999999;"><span>tuning</span>=<span>" 0.000"</span> </span></div><div style="color: black;"><span style="color: #999999;"><span> rootNote</span>=<span>"60"</span> </span></div><div style="color: black;"><span style="color: #999999;"><span> loNote</span>=<span>"0"</span> </span></div><div style="color: black;"><span style="color: #999999;"><span> hiNote</span>=<span>"105"</span> </span></div><div style="color: black;"><span style="color: #999999;"><span> loVel</span>=<span>"1"</span> </span></div><div style="color: black;"><span style="color: #999999;"><span> hiVel</span>=<span>"127"</span></span> </div><div style="color: black;"><span style="color: red;"> trigger</span>=<span style="color: blue;">"release"</span></div><div style="color: black;"><span style="color: red;"><span> </span><span> </span><span> </span><span> </span><span> </span>loopEnabled</span>=<span style="color: blue;">"false"</span> </div><div style="color: black;"><span style="color: red;"> start</span>=<span style="color: blue;">"0"</span> </div><div style="color: black;"><span style="color: red;"> end</span>=<span style="color: blue;">"440999"</span> </div><div><span style="color: red;"><span> attack</span><span>=</span></span><span style="color: #2b00fe;">"0.1"</span></div><div style="color: black;"><span style="color: red;"> decay</span>=<span style="color: blue;">"2.0"</span></div><div><span><span style="color: red;"> sustain</span><span style="color: #2b00fe;">="0.0<span>"</span></span></span></div><div><span><span><span style="color: red;"> release</span><span style="color: black;">=</span><span style="color: #2b00fe;">"2.0"</span></span></span></div><div style="color: black;"><span style="color: red;"> </span><span style="color: #999999;"><span>tags</span>=<span>"1"</span></span> <span style="color: maroon;">/></span></div><div style="color: black;"> <span style="color: maroon;"></group></span></div></span></div><div style="font-family: Menlo, Monaco, "Courier New", monospace; font-size: 12px; white-space: pre;"><span style="color: maroon;"><span> </span><span> <group></span><br /></span></div><div style="font-family: Menlo, Monaco, "Courier New", monospace; font-size: 12px; white-space: pre;"><span style="color: maroon;"><span><span> </span><span> </span><span> More samples... (ending in </span></span></span><span style="color: red;">tags</span>=<span style="color: blue;">"1" </span><span style="color: maroon;">) </span><span style="color: maroon;"> </span></div><div style="font-family: Menlo, Monaco, "Courier New", monospace; font-size: 12px; white-space: pre;"><span style="color: maroon;"><span> </span><span> </span></group></span></div><div style="font-family: Menlo, Monaco, "Courier New", monospace; font-size: 12px; white-space: pre;"><div><span style="color: maroon;"> <group><br /></span></div><div><span style="color: maroon;"> More samples... </span><span style="color: maroon;">(ending in </span><span style="color: red;">tags</span>=<span style="color: blue;">"2" </span><span style="color: maroon;">) </span></div><div><span style="color: maroon;"> </group></span></div><div><span style="color: maroon;"> . . .</span></div></div><div style="font-family: Menlo, Monaco, "Courier New", monospace; font-size: 12px; white-space: pre;"> <span style="color: maroon;"></groups></span> </div><div style="font-family: Menlo, Monaco, "Courier New", monospace; font-size: 12px; white-space: pre;"><br /></div><div><span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="white-space: pre;">Sample A is used for the sustain loop, so it is triggered by the start of a MIDI Note On event, which </span></span></div><div><span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="white-space: pre;">is the start of the 'attack' segment of the sound . Sample B is used for the release loop, so it is triggered </span></span></div><div><span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="white-space: pre;">by the end of a note event, when a </span></span><span style="font-family: inherit; white-space: pre;">MIDI Note Off event is received, when the 'release' segment of the </span></div><div><span style="font-family: inherit; white-space: pre;">sound starts. </span></div><div><span style="font-family: inherit; white-space: pre;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="font-family: inherit; white-space: pre;">Sample B can be set to loop - but I could not find out how to get the envelope to reach the Release stage, so </span></div><div><span style="font-family: inherit; white-space: pre;">it plays the loop for a long time if you set the Sustain to 1.0... So I resorted to specifying a complete </span></div><div><span style="font-family: inherit; white-space: pre;">envelope ADSR and turning off looping. (This does mean that you can make DS instruments that play</span></div><div><span style="white-space: pre;">until you load another preset, or quit them...)</span><span style="font-family: inherit; white-space: pre;">It also means that release samples should be percussive rather than sustained sounds...</span></div><div><span style="font-family: inherit; white-space: pre;"><br /></span></div><div style="text-align: left;">I have not been able to find out how you can control sample B's ADSR parameters...</div><div style="text-align: left;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhz26d7ymsCWVeQ2ZAhLHV6tW6luD6GDAE6Ad1FPaki7ozYmJSZfD10tgDLGJmTp6xZ1ZuHv296NoR3BhyHO2YJK-FyC3uuaGvi2l-LG5fqMsE1WgZaDfeDqCQ2KMyx1ZNc3sNiKiKuCmb2Woq-Wizk3zaU8fqtcc-_HyGFzv1YjqZgFAjYQrCVqJqWwQ/s1080/slide%208%20no%20loop.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="608" data-original-width="1080" height="360" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhz26d7ymsCWVeQ2ZAhLHV6tW6luD6GDAE6Ad1FPaki7ozYmJSZfD10tgDLGJmTp6xZ1ZuHv296NoR3BhyHO2YJK-FyC3uuaGvi2l-LG5fqMsE1WgZaDfeDqCQ2KMyx1ZNc3sNiKiKuCmb2Woq-Wizk3zaU8fqtcc-_HyGFzv1YjqZgFAjYQrCVqJqWwQ/w640-h360/slide%208%20no%20loop.jpg" width="640" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><div style="clear: both; text-align: left;">Alternatively, a single sample might contain two different loops inside it - let's keep calling them sample A and B for simplicity. This time the XML code looks like this: </div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><div style="font-family: Menlo, Monaco, "Courier New", monospace; font-size: 12px; text-align: left; white-space: pre;"> <span style="color: maroon;"><groups </span><span style="color: #999999;"><span>volume</span>=<span>"0.0dB"</span> </span></div><div style="font-family: Menlo, Monaco, "Courier New", monospace; font-size: 12px; text-align: left; white-space: pre;"><span style="color: #999999;"><span> pan</span>=<span>"0"</span></span> </div><div style="font-family: Menlo, Monaco, "Courier New", monospace; font-size: 12px; text-align: left; white-space: pre;"><span style="color: red;"> loopCrossfadeMode</span>=<span style="color: blue;">"equal_power" </span><span style="color: maroon;">></span></div><div style="font-family: Menlo, Monaco, "Courier New", monospace; font-size: 12px; text-align: left; white-space: pre;"> <span style="color: maroon;"><group</span><span style="color: maroon;">></span></div><div style="font-family: Menlo, Monaco, "Courier New", monospace; font-size: 12px; text-align: left; white-space: pre;"> <span style="color: maroon;"><sample</span> <span style="color: red;">path</span>=<span style="color: blue;">"Samples/SampleA_881999.wav"</span> </div><div style="font-family: Menlo, Monaco, "Courier New", monospace; font-size: 12px; text-align: left; white-space: pre;"><span style="color: red;"> </span><span style="color: #999999;"><span>tuning</span>=<span>" 0.000"</span> </span></div><div style="font-family: Menlo, Monaco, "Courier New", monospace; font-size: 12px; text-align: left; white-space: pre;"><span style="color: #999999;"><span> rootNote</span>=<span>"60"</span> </span></div><div style="font-family: Menlo, Monaco, "Courier New", monospace; font-size: 12px; text-align: left; white-space: pre;"><span style="color: #999999;"><span> loNote</span>=<span>"0"</span> </span></div><div style="font-family: Menlo, Monaco, "Courier New", monospace; font-size: 12px; text-align: left; white-space: pre;"><span style="color: #999999;"><span> hiNote</span>=<span>"105"</span> </span></div><div style="font-family: Menlo, Monaco, "Courier New", monospace; font-size: 12px; text-align: left; white-space: pre;"><span style="color: #999999;"><span> loVel</span>=<span>"1"</span> </span></div><div style="font-family: Menlo, Monaco, "Courier New", monospace; font-size: 12px; text-align: left; white-space: pre;"><span style="color: #999999;"><span> hiVel</span>=<span>"127"</span></span> </div><div style="font-family: Menlo, Monaco, "Courier New", monospace; font-size: 12px; text-align: left; white-space: pre;"><span style="color: red;"> trigger</span>=<span style="color: blue;">"attack"</span> </div><div style="font-family: Menlo, Monaco, "Courier New", monospace; font-size: 12px; text-align: left; white-space: pre;"><div><span style="color: red;"> loopCrossfade</span>=<span style="color: blue;">"0"</span> </div><div><span style="color: red;"> loopEnabled</span>=<span style="color: blue;">"true"</span> </div></div><div style="font-family: Menlo, Monaco, "Courier New", monospace; font-size: 12px; text-align: left; white-space: pre;"><span style="color: red;"> start</span>=<span style="color: blue;">"0"</span> </div><div style="font-family: Menlo, Monaco, "Courier New", monospace; font-size: 12px; text-align: left; white-space: pre;"><span style="color: red;"> end</span>=<span style="color: blue;">"440999"</span> </div><div style="font-family: Menlo, Monaco, "Courier New", monospace; font-size: 12px; text-align: left; white-space: pre;"><div><span><span style="color: red;"><span> </span><span> </span><span> </span><span> </span><span> loopS</span>tart</span>=<span style="color: blue;">"0"</span> </span></div><div><span><span style="color: red;"><span> </span><span> </span><span> </span><span> </span><span> loopE</span>nd</span>=<span style="color: blue;">"440999"</span> </span></div></div><div style="font-family: Menlo, Monaco, "Courier New", monospace; font-size: 12px; text-align: left; white-space: pre;"><span style="color: red;"> </span><span style="color: #999999;"><span>tags</span>=<span>"0"</span></span> <span style="color: maroon;">/></span></div><div style="font-family: Menlo, Monaco, "Courier New", monospace; font-size: 12px; text-align: left; white-space: pre;"> <span style="color: maroon;"></group></span></div><div style="font-family: Menlo, Monaco, "Courier New", monospace; font-size: 12px; text-align: left; white-space: pre;"><span style="color: maroon;"><div style="color: black;"> <span style="color: maroon;"><group</span><span style="color: maroon;">></span></div><div style="color: black;"> <span style="color: maroon;"><sample</span> <span style="color: red;">path</span>=<span style="color: blue;">"Samples/SampleA_881999.wav"</span> </div><div style="color: black;"><span style="color: red;"> </span><span style="color: #999999;"><span>tuning</span>=<span>" 0.000"</span> </span></div><div style="color: black;"><span style="color: #999999;"><span> rootNote</span>=<span>"60"</span> </span></div><div style="color: black;"><span style="color: #999999;"><span> loNote</span>=<span>"0"</span> </span></div><div style="color: black;"><span style="color: #999999;"><span> hiNote</span>=<span>"105"</span> </span></div><div style="color: black;"><span style="color: #999999;"><span> loVel</span>=<span>"1"</span> </span></div><div style="color: black;"><span style="color: #999999;"><span> hiVel</span>=<span>"127"</span></span> </div><div style="color: black;"><span style="color: red;"> trigger</span>=<span style="color: blue;">"release"</span></div><div style="color: black;"><span style="color: red;"> loopEnabled</span>=<span style="color: blue;">"false"</span> </div><div style="color: black;"><span style="color: red;"> start</span>=<span style="color: blue;">"441000"</span> </div><div style="color: black;"><span style="color: red;"> end</span>=<span style="color: blue;">"881999"</span> </div><div style="color: black;"><div><span><span style="color: red;"><span> </span><span> </span><span> </span><span> </span><span> loopS</span>tart</span>=<span style="color: blue;">"0"</span> </span></div><div><span><span style="color: red;"><span> </span><span> </span><span> </span><span> </span><span> loopE</span>nd</span>=<span style="color: blue;">"881999"</span> </span></div></div><div style="color: black;"><span style="color: red;"><span> attack</span><span>=</span></span><span style="color: #2b00fe;">"0.1"</span></div><div style="color: black;"><span style="color: red;"> decay</span>=<span style="color: blue;">"2.0"</span></div><div style="color: black;"><span><span style="color: red;"> sustain</span><span style="color: #2b00fe;">="0.0<span>"</span></span></span></div><div style="color: black;"><span><span><span style="color: red;"> release</span>=<span style="color: #2b00fe;">"2.0"</span></span></span></div><div style="color: black;"><span style="color: red;"> </span><span style="color: #999999;"><span>tags</span>=<span>"1"</span></span> <span style="color: maroon;">/></span></div><div style="color: black;"> <span style="color: maroon;"></group></span></div></span></div><div style="font-family: Menlo, Monaco, "Courier New", monospace; font-size: 12px; text-align: left; white-space: pre;"><span style="color: maroon;"><span> </span><span> <group></span><br /></span></div><div style="font-family: Menlo, Monaco, "Courier New", monospace; font-size: 12px; text-align: left; white-space: pre;"><span style="color: maroon;"><span><span> </span><span> </span><span> More samples... (ending in </span></span></span><span style="color: red;">tags</span>=<span style="color: blue;">"1" </span><span style="color: maroon;">) </span><span style="color: maroon;"> </span></div><div style="font-family: Menlo, Monaco, "Courier New", monospace; font-size: 12px; text-align: left; white-space: pre;"><span style="color: maroon;"><span> </span><span> </span></group></span></div><div style="font-family: Menlo, Monaco, "Courier New", monospace; font-size: 12px; text-align: left; white-space: pre;"><div><span style="color: maroon;"> <group><br /></span></div><div><span style="color: maroon;"> More samples... </span><span style="color: maroon;">(ending in </span><span style="color: red;">tags</span>=<span style="color: blue;">"2" </span><span style="color: maroon;">) </span></div><div><span style="color: maroon;"> </group></span></div><div><span style="color: maroon;"> . . .</span></div></div><div style="font-family: Menlo, Monaco, "Courier New", monospace; font-size: 12px; text-align: left; white-space: pre;"> <span style="color: maroon;"></groups></span> </div><div style="font-family: Menlo, Monaco, "Courier New", monospace; font-size: 12px; text-align: left; white-space: pre;"><br /></div><div style="font-family: Menlo, Monaco, "Courier New", monospace; text-align: left; white-space: pre;"><span style="font-family: Times; white-space: normal;">This time, the sustain loop has no cross-fade, and so there will be fast fades at the start and end of that part of the composite Sample A&B sample, whereas Sample B doesn't loop, and instead is just a percussive release sound... </span></div><div style="font-family: Menlo, Monaco, "Courier New", monospace; font-size: 12px; text-align: left; white-space: pre;"><span style="font-family: Times; font-size: medium; white-space: normal;"><br /></span></div></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjWetYpaIRYRPExGwACwBD0p4PBSXKITWVP-unIABUyJ6AosM2lX-R8DRBCjMxYkY4dk0W9YJ_AZ_r1IHSzbBD1QP-qtCQzvqMHUOBLnMjeI5KHGbdLiimU6s9kPp9J48wKsG3iEzL--5AHG1MzsVYJiBWdCWTU7DPCY9jsIJKd6AUGWXd0dSrdJub_AA/s1080/slide%209%20no%20loop.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="448" data-original-width="1080" height="266" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjWetYpaIRYRPExGwACwBD0p4PBSXKITWVP-unIABUyJ6AosM2lX-R8DRBCjMxYkY4dk0W9YJ_AZ_r1IHSzbBD1QP-qtCQzvqMHUOBLnMjeI5KHGbdLiimU6s9kPp9J48wKsG3iEzL--5AHG1MzsVYJiBWdCWTU7DPCY9jsIJKd6AUGWXd0dSrdJub_AA/w640-h266/slide%209%20no%20loop.jpg" width="640" /></a></div></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">Note that I said that the sustain sample starts when a MIDI Note On event occurs, and so an ADSR envelope starts as that sample plays. But when the end of the note happens, and a Note Off event occurs, then the envelope moves to the release segment for the sustain sample, but a new envelope starts for the release sample, which has now started playing. So there are two envelopes, and they can overlap...</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEile5ur191IXT-UfhjPyNUCLSJp4GUW-viQeho48vlNpIsSWvghYOM1_t6P5QUJa3-BLUM4pM656FxzTbdQXjG2zPACLYqI93Tpz1k8d25NoeID10LzogQhhNYDIeYak7hkNcaIhEWSVd7V1qUHP8aQz_A_yoa88nS6mSI39KkGzAimhSMLydR2RQ2YEg/s1080/slide%2010%20no%20loop.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="608" data-original-width="1080" height="360" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEile5ur191IXT-UfhjPyNUCLSJp4GUW-viQeho48vlNpIsSWvghYOM1_t6P5QUJa3-BLUM4pM656FxzTbdQXjG2zPACLYqI93Tpz1k8d25NoeID10LzogQhhNYDIeYak7hkNcaIhEWSVd7V1qUHP8aQz_A_yoa88nS6mSI39KkGzAimhSMLydR2RQ2YEg/w640-h360/slide%2010%20no%20loop.jpg" width="640" /></a></div><p>Release samples are interesting. They are normally used for the sound made when the mechanics producing a sound stop - when you 'release' the key and let it go back to its quiescent state... In a piano, it is the sounds made by all the levers in the 'action' as they return to the default position, ready to propel the hammer at the strings when the key is played again. In a harpsichord, it is the sound made by the jack as it comes to rest against the string when you let the key spring back up. So these are often quite short, quiet sounds in real instruments - which doesn't mean that they have to be!</p><p>There does seem to be a limitation on the sort of envelopes that you can use for 'Release' samples in Decent Sampler. I have only been able to get AD envelopes to work correctly - it seems that the Sustain part of the envelope does not end, and so you never get to the release segment of the envelope. For most samples that you will use for release sounds, then this should not be a problem - just set the sustain to 0.0, and the decay so that it lasts long enough form the release sound to be audible. </p><p>So how do you control the envelope of a release sample? You probably don't need to have full ADSR controls in the UI, and maybe even no UI controls at all? Here's a quick fix - put the envelope controls inside the <group>:</p><div style="font-family: Menlo, Monaco, "Courier New", monospace; font-size: 12px; white-space: pre;"><span style="background-color: black;"> <span style="color: maroon;"><group</span><span style="color: maroon;">></span></span></div><div style="font-family: Menlo, Monaco, "Courier New", monospace; font-size: 12px; white-space: pre;"><span style="background-color: black;"> <span style="color: maroon;"><sample</span> <span style="color: red;">path</span>=<span style="color: blue;">"Samples/SampleB_881999.wav"</span></span></div><div style="font-family: Menlo, Monaco, "Courier New", monospace; font-size: 12px; white-space: pre;"><span style="background-color: black;"><span style="color: red;"> volume</span><span>=</span><span style="color: blue;">"-30.0dB</span> </span></div><div style="font-family: Menlo, Monaco, "Courier New", monospace; font-size: 12px; white-space: pre;"><div style="line-height: 18px;"><span style="background-color: black;"><span style="color: red;"><span> </span><span> </span><span> </span><span> </span><span> </span>attack</span>=<span style="color: blue;">"0.1"</span> </span></div><div style="line-height: 18px;"><span style="background-color: black;"><span style="color: red;"> decay</span>=<span style="color: blue;">"1.0"</span> </span></div><div style="line-height: 18px;"><span style="background-color: black;"><span style="color: red;"> sustain</span>=<span style="color: blue;">"0.0"</span></span></div><div style="line-height: 18px;"><span style="background-color: black;"><span style="color: red;"> release</span>=<span style="color: blue;">"5.0"</span> </span></div></div><div style="font-family: Menlo, Monaco, "Courier New", monospace; font-size: 12px; white-space: pre;"><span style="background-color: black;"><span style="color: red;"> </span><span style="color: #999999;"><span>tuning</span>=<span>" 0.000"</span> </span></span></div><div style="font-family: Menlo, Monaco, "Courier New", monospace; font-size: 12px; white-space: pre;"><span style="background-color: black; color: #999999;"><span> rootNote</span>=<span>"60"</span> </span></div><div style="font-family: Menlo, Monaco, "Courier New", monospace; font-size: 12px; white-space: pre;"><span style="background-color: black; color: #999999;"><span> loNote</span>=<span>"0"</span> </span></div><div style="font-family: Menlo, Monaco, "Courier New", monospace; font-size: 12px; white-space: pre;"><span style="background-color: black; color: #999999;"><span> hiNote</span>=<span>"105"</span> </span></div><div style="font-family: Menlo, Monaco, "Courier New", monospace; font-size: 12px; white-space: pre;"><span style="background-color: black; color: #999999;"><span> loVel</span>=<span>"1"</span> </span></div><div style="font-family: Menlo, Monaco, "Courier New", monospace; font-size: 12px; white-space: pre;"><span style="background-color: black;"><span style="color: #999999;"><span> hiVel</span>=<span>"127"</span></span> </span></div><div style="font-family: Menlo, Monaco, "Courier New", monospace; font-size: 12px; white-space: pre;"><span style="background-color: black;"><span style="color: red;"> trigger</span>=<span style="color: blue;">"release"</span> </span></div><div style="font-family: Menlo, Monaco, "Courier New", monospace; font-size: 12px; white-space: pre;"><div><span style="background-color: black;"><span style="color: red;"> loopCrossfade</span>=<span style="color: blue;">"220499"</span> </span></div><div><span style="background-color: black;"><span style="color: red;"> loopEnabled</span>=<span style="color: blue;">"true"</span> </span></div></div><div style="font-family: Menlo, Monaco, "Courier New", monospace; font-size: 12px; white-space: pre;"><span style="background-color: black;"><span style="color: red;"> start</span>=<span style="color: blue;">"44100"</span> </span></div><div style="font-family: Menlo, Monaco, "Courier New", monospace; font-size: 12px; white-space: pre;"><span style="background-color: black;"><span style="color: red;"> end</span>=<span style="color: blue;">"881999"</span> </span></div><div style="font-family: Menlo, Monaco, "Courier New", monospace; font-size: 12px; white-space: pre;"><span style="background-color: black;"><div><span><span style="color: red;"><span> </span><span> </span><span> </span><span> </span><span> loopS</span>tart</span>=<span style="color: blue;">"0"</span> </span></div><div><span><span style="color: red;"><span> </span><span> </span><span> </span><span> </span><span> loopE</span>nd</span>=<span style="color: blue;">"440999"</span> </span></div></span></div><div style="font-family: Menlo, Monaco, "Courier New", monospace; font-size: 12px; white-space: pre;"><span style="background-color: black;"><span style="color: red;"> </span><span style="color: #999999;"><span>tags</span>=<span>"1"</span></span> <span style="color: maroon;">/></span></span></div><div style="font-family: Menlo, Monaco, "Courier New", monospace; font-size: 12px; white-space: pre;"><span style="background-color: black;"> <span style="color: maroon;"></group></span></span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">Remember that the name 'release' really means 'Note Off' - a sample that plays when a MIDI Note Off message is received by Decent Sampler. So the 'release' in the envelope, and the 'release' in the 'trigger=' are two different things!</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">If you do want to have UI controls then you will need to add them in the <tab> section inside the <ui> section. Here's some experimental code for the decay parameter, which I seem to use a lot for release samples...:</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><br /></div><div style="font-family: Menlo, Monaco, "Courier New", monospace; font-size: 12px; line-height: 18px; white-space: pre;"><div><span style="background-color: black;"> <span style="color: maroon;"><control</span> <span style="color: #999999;">x="490" </span></span></div><div><span style="background-color: black; color: #999999;"> y="60" </span></div><div><span style="background-color: black; color: #999999;"> parameterName="Decay" </span></div><div><span style="background-color: black; color: #999999;"> type="float" </span></div><div><span style="background-color: black; color: #999999;"> minValue="0.01" </span></div><div><span style="background-color: black; color: #999999;"> maxValue="30.0" </span></div><div><span style="background-color: black; color: #999999;"> value="0.5" </span></div><div><span style="background-color: black; color: #999999;"> trackForegroundColor="FFCCFFCC" </span></div><div><span style="background-color: black; color: #999999;"> trackBackgroundColor="FF000000" </span></div><div><span style="background-color: black; color: #999999;"> width="30" </span></div><div><span style="background-color: black; color: #999999;"> height="75" </span></div><div><span style="background-color: black; color: #999999;"> style="linear_vertical"></span></div><div><span style="background-color: black;"> <span style="color: maroon;"><binding</span> <span style="color: red;">type</span>=<span style="color: blue;">"amp"</span> <span style="color: red;">level</span>=<span style="color: blue;">"group"</span> <span style="color: red;">position</span>=<span style="color: blue;">"1"</span> <span style="color: red;">parameter</span>=<span style="color: blue;">"ENV_DECAY"</span><span style="color: maroon;">/></span></span></div></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><span style="background-color: black;"><span style="font-family: Menlo, Monaco, "Courier New", monospace; font-size: 12px; white-space: pre;"> </span><span style="color: maroon; font-family: Menlo, Monaco, "Courier New", monospace; font-size: 12px; white-space: pre;"></control></span> </span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><div class="separator" style="clear: both;">The 'position="1"' in the <binding> needs to match to the 'tags="1"' in the <group> for this example. Notice that the type is 'amp', and the level is 'group', and so the tags= becomes the position. </div><div class="separator" style="clear: both;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both;">So that's a slightly longer 'quick look' at looping in Decent Sampler. I'm planning to do more about how you control samples via UI controls, because that's a related subject that seems to confuse people.</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both;"><p><span style="font-family: inherit;">---</span></p><div><span style="font-family: inherit;"><p><span style="font-family: inherit;">If you find my writing helpful, informative or entertaining, then please consider visiting this link:</span></p><div style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; orphans: auto; text-size-adjust: auto; widows: auto;"><div style="font-size: 18.72px; font-weight: 700;"><span style="font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: small;"><a class="bmc-button" href="https://teespring.com/en-GB/stores/synthesizerwriters-store" target="_blank"><span style="margin-left: 5px;">Synthesizerwriter's Store</span></a> (New 'Modular thinking' designs now available!)</span></span></div><p style="font-size: 18.72px; font-weight: 700;"></p><div style="font-size: 18.72px; font-weight: 700;"><div style="margin: 0px;"><span style="font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: small;"><a class="bmc-button" href="https://www.buymeacoffee.com/synthwriter" target="_blank"><img alt="Buy me a coffee" src="https://www.buymeacoffee.com/assets/img/BMC-btn-logo.svg" /><span style="margin-left: 5px;">Buy me a coffee</span></a> (Encourage me to write more posts like this one!)... or...</span></span></div><div><span style="font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: small;"><br /></span></span></div></div></div></span></div><div><a href="https://ko-fi.com/W7W5BM4JX" target="_blank"><img alt="Buy Me a Coffee at ko-fi.com" border="0" height="36" src="https://cdn.ko-fi.com/cdn/kofi3.png?v=3" style="border: 0px; height: 36px;" /></a> (Encourage me via a different route entirely...)</div><div><br /></div><div>Or just tell someone else that there's this amazing blog about hi-tech music...</div><div><br /></div><div><br /></div></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both;"><br /></div></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><br /><p><br /></p><p> </p></div><br /></div></div>Synthesizerwriterhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13668943829180629830noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5222520500837940683.post-8285005404806304312022-06-04T16:16:00.008+01:002022-06-06T12:53:02.181+01:00Outreach - What I try to do for education...<p>Yep, I do other things! This blog is only part of my outreach activities...</p><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg-xiOVob4gce9C1cEI-4mh6J4_cWSQyOvmMwEKJs5HKumtY6WhloS1i-E5DiOe7xqS57SVotvI274wADmiDVZGncMjTk49IBT8MNyeOTVvIdFzOuqlJ7EVlZYCJNkcSVJJyXQtoptpMeaEmcMxnrGaPBUW98P3baCC0ZaQAXhZL4pvrFPTygF0TRLoUw/s1920/Composite%201920.jpg" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1462" data-original-width="1920" height="488" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg-xiOVob4gce9C1cEI-4mh6J4_cWSQyOvmMwEKJs5HKumtY6WhloS1i-E5DiOe7xqS57SVotvI274wADmiDVZGncMjTk49IBT8MNyeOTVvIdFzOuqlJ7EVlZYCJNkcSVJJyXQtoptpMeaEmcMxnrGaPBUW98P3baCC0ZaQAXhZL4pvrFPTygF0TRLoUw/w640-h488/Composite%201920.jpg" width="640" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="text-align: left;">Synthesizerwriter at the Suffolk Show 2022 (The badge is deliberate - the 2020 and 2021 shows didn't happen for some reason...)</span></td></tr></tbody></table><p>For the last day of May, and the first day of June, 2022 (that's the 31st of May and the 1st of June, just to be sure...), I was at the Suffolk Show, on the '<a href="https://innovationmartlesham.com/" target="_blank">Innovation Martlesham</a>' technology innovation stand (huge thanks to BT (the telco, not Brian Transeau)), trying to inspire young minds to take up a career in technology. My aim was to get kids to think about sound in a different way, and so I had a ‘3D Sound Box’ interactive exhibit, where you put your hands into a box, moved a controller around, and put some headphones on (with other people listening in on other headphones (parents, siblings, etc.)). As you moved the controller, the sound changed in subtle and complex ways, and the reaction was uniformly amazing - eyes opened wide, smiles appeared on faces, and parents ended up dragging the kids away some time later. ‘Cool!’ was the standard comment.</p><p>People totally comprehended that when you moved the controller so that it pointed in a particular direction, you get a particular sound, and that you could blend from one sound to another by moving the controller to another position. Several people said that they were expecting just a few sounds and a simple mix between them, and they were not expecting a complex morphing from one sound to another...</p><p>Behind the scenes, a <a href="https://store.djtechtools.com/collections/midi-fighters-midi-fighter-accessories/products/midi-fighter-3d" target="_blank">DJ Tech Tools MIDI Fighter 3D</a> provided the position controller, with two additional infra-red position sensors providing Left-Right and Backwards/Forwards control. The position vectors were fed into <a href="https://www.ableton.com/en/" target="_blank">Ableton Live</a>, where a custom MaxForLive script changed the rather strange outputs into more understandable controls suitable for controlling parameters (The MIDI Fighter 3D is designed for finger drumming!). These parameters were then used to control the positioning of the four source units in the convolution triangle in <a href="https://www.spitfireaudio.com/shop/a-z/bt-phobos/" target="_blank">Phobos from Spitfire Audio</a> (and BT, (Brian this time!)!) (I use a lot of stuff from Spitfire Audio!). Ableton was sending a C3 drone note to Phobos, and it was set up to produce very different sounds for each of the extreme positions, with Ableton also adding a controlled low pass filter on one axis. The output of Phobos was then tweaked further, ending up in the <a href="https://envelop.us/page/tools" target="_blank">Envelop</a> Spatial audio plug-in, and the final audio was delivered to stereo headphones using binaural processing. The convolution synthesis in Phobos was a key part of making this different to ‘four sounds in space that you mix between’ - which is what was apparently expected. (A couple of people wanted the standard ’sound rotating around your head’ binaural demo, so I had a Live Set for that as well!)</p><h3 style="text-align: left;">The MIDI Fighter 3D</h3><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEigXYwna7fw51kTJzOtzGGzBOjZomju7wgmThzKVjB80oJafl5JsmL2lYMKChemEb5JGProZu5wTDJtdT3B6HnEWtT3DiBGnCZS5mq0fFwkQMw_hJeY5RiHRDP_jWicfuCx4jMmwjSIce3rvO8Mx_3cvyDf-LonX6LaqCkYIePaQh5XUp7PJUPZLN6sCA/s1024/DJTTFighter.jpg" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="842" data-original-width="1024" height="526" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEigXYwna7fw51kTJzOtzGGzBOjZomju7wgmThzKVjB80oJafl5JsmL2lYMKChemEb5JGProZu5wTDJtdT3B6HnEWtT3DiBGnCZS5mq0fFwkQMw_hJeY5RiHRDP_jWicfuCx4jMmwjSIce3rvO8Mx_3cvyDf-LonX6LaqCkYIePaQh5XUp7PJUPZLN6sCA/w640-h526/DJTTFighter.jpg" width="640" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">The DJ Tech Tools MIDI Fighter 3D MIDI Controller</td></tr></tbody></table><p>The MIDI Fighter 3D is a finger drumming MIDI controller that has 16 expensive, high quality, 'arcade-console' style buttons/switches that are designed for long life and consistent operation in punishing situations - several millions of pushes (5 million+ in this case). Elektron have similar switches on their gear where the buttons are going to be 'mashed' a lot in normal use. In contrast, ordinary 'click' switches are small, very low cost, and are made of a metal dome that collapses when you press it, and have a life of a few tens of thousands of clicks for the cheapest, with over a hundred thousand clicks for the more expensive versions. </p><p>(The rubbery buttons that you find on a lot of gear are called membrane switches, and here the flexible bit deforms when you press it, which pushes a piece of conductive plastic (containing lots of carbon, so it looks black) onto a printed circuit board, and so makes a connection. These are very low cost, are easy to light up with LEDs, and are easy to replace (you just replace the sheet of flexible stuff and all those little blobs of conductive plastic), which is a good thing because they can wear out with a lot of use, and they don't like dust or ash or powders, and they are not very consistent in operation - you know how some of them can deform is strange ways, and sometimes get stuck? As for computer keyboard switches, then that's a whole topic all to itself!)</p><p>But this isn't a blog on switches! What the MIDI Fighter 3D also has, and the reason for the '3D' part of the name, is a 3D accelerometer which can detect movement on 3 axes: x, y and z. There are several modes of operation, but the one I used was the 'Edge Tilt' mode.In this mode, if you tilt the MIDI Fighter 3D, then it outputs MIDI Continuous Controller / Control Change (CC) messages that indicate how much it has been tilted relative to each of the four bottom edges. </p><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg8A9yVEad1goPe7aPI4Yhg_QJhxAL2uOVRNrrOPmC5Pca2OR7BjIb0KpxtGAZRndP9hgy_9_H91ShdUVlHsJFtuHuLyRxsMMY9Ze1BRTV-awusVKJR4djLfiLHg1r5QzeQ7u7ME_tcBV2v8eqEWhsvB5zXUmyAbw2eNXAZdfhALeb0erbQzSC-sO4lIA/s640/Slide2s.jpg" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="360" data-original-width="640" height="360" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg8A9yVEad1goPe7aPI4Yhg_QJhxAL2uOVRNrrOPmC5Pca2OR7BjIb0KpxtGAZRndP9hgy_9_H91ShdUVlHsJFtuHuLyRxsMMY9Ze1BRTV-awusVKJR4djLfiLHg1r5QzeQ7u7ME_tcBV2v8eqEWhsvB5zXUmyAbw2eNXAZdfhALeb0erbQzSC-sO4lIA/w640-h360/Slide2s.jpg" width="640" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Rotation on the right hand edge...</td></tr></tbody></table><br />So for the right hand edge, CC0 (zero) outputs a value of 0 (zero) when the MIDI Fighter 3D is horizontal (on a table, for example), and 127 when rotated clockwise by 90 degrees, so it is vertical.<div><br /></div><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg--GUQ6-vH7Kg3V7fQTRORyvCD7wVZTetCe96iN1n_Jlg1G5NhaSxm3A1l1cuPq4FRYdEvvOWWPw9POXtu_mUTvffmL2c9zAXAb6Ns06sBMeQkv-Kp9-9OlSJRYGQuXaa1v9WY59p1YKoBXWZXZMRRf0Y5Ovd4zWuOC5C5X5-PHrApRzlFCdgUFgASoA/s640/Slide3s.jpg" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="360" data-original-width="640" height="360" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg--GUQ6-vH7Kg3V7fQTRORyvCD7wVZTetCe96iN1n_Jlg1G5NhaSxm3A1l1cuPq4FRYdEvvOWWPw9POXtu_mUTvffmL2c9zAXAb6Ns06sBMeQkv-Kp9-9OlSJRYGQuXaa1v9WY59p1YKoBXWZXZMRRf0Y5Ovd4zWuOC5C5X5-PHrApRzlFCdgUFgASoA/w640-h360/Slide3s.jpg" width="640" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Rotation on the left hand edge...</td></tr></tbody></table><br /><div>The left hand edge is similar, except that this time it is CC2, and it is anti-clockwise rotation that outputs a value of 0 (zero) when horizontal, and 127 when vertical. There is a small 'dead zone' (settable in the Utility software (Mac and Windows) that lets you set a range where small tilts from the horizontal do not output CC messages. </div><div><br /></div><div>For finger drumming applications, where you place the MIDI Fighter 3D on a surface and tap the buttons, then tilting the box along one of the edges feel very natural, and the box has rounded rubber feet that make this very easy to accomplish. But if you pick up the MIDI Fighter 3D, then you can tilt it in any direction, and so having the edges as the reference points doesn't make much sense. Also, you can tilt it either way because there isn't any surface getting in the way. There isn't a 'free space' mode, although there is a mode where you can also detect rotation, but that requires you to press a button each time you want to know what the orientation of the MIDI Fighter 3D is... </div><div><p>So, I wrote a little utility, in MaxForLive, that takes the CC messages, and processes them so that when you hold it in your hands instead of being on a surface, then it combines the 4 controller messages (CC0, 1, 2, and 3) so that they are combined into just a pair of messages where you can go from vertical, through horizontal and back to vertical again with a single continuous clock-wise (or anti-clockwise) movement, and the result is a 'Composite' controller message that goes from o to 127 (with a small 'dead zone' as it goes through horizontal). This works for left and right, as well as forward and backwards, so you get two composite controllers.</p><p></p><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEijyf6V-c4lVc4IB7vXtdi2VtlKev9fbS5vU4bj6gPp67XjtZMRH_6TCzibZ0HYAzsd7AuSiaNuRd-q6oc65MQMISml_0ICnSsm5kQl45xCYVS9DxxkIO96eRfXPR4-jqngM-XpBDOgRxg9efnRqHGwbT6fuSNSbD_1IW_imvOWSDTQVK0oXJjBTIrFmA/s640/Slide4s.jpg" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="360" data-original-width="640" height="360" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEijyf6V-c4lVc4IB7vXtdi2VtlKev9fbS5vU4bj6gPp67XjtZMRH_6TCzibZ0HYAzsd7AuSiaNuRd-q6oc65MQMISml_0ICnSsm5kQl45xCYVS9DxxkIO96eRfXPR4-jqngM-XpBDOgRxg9efnRqHGwbT6fuSNSbD_1IW_imvOWSDTQVK0oXJjBTIrFmA/w640-h360/Slide4s.jpg" width="640" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">A Composite CC made up of CC0 and CC2 (or 1 and 3)</td></tr></tbody></table><br />The 'inverse' composite controllers are also output from the Utility, so you get pairs of CC messages that go from 0-127, and 127-0, simultaneously, depending on how much you have tilted the MIDI Fighter 3D away from the horizontal. Not only does this feel 'right' when you hold it in your hands, but it allows you to control two different parameters as if the MIDI Fighter 3D was a cross-fader - but one that works in two dimensions instead of just one. <p></p><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgyRps85ainbr3GLIvPwNxeOUkbJzh-KYmE7BeLEsGZZ5gPAuu97QUSluwPmJgQNuevpwf-1P_X8M9mEZAxpW9SuGd6OK1dWyOjPyt-G-da16GBW_OSSNT3xVH1IKWv2LHckCPDt3uw7anvHcnDQuHgbgDuV0s0Ee9CQ_jPx2Td_y8SqEni8uLNy41sKQ/s934/MIDIccTWEAK01.jpg" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="193" data-original-width="934" height="132" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgyRps85ainbr3GLIvPwNxeOUkbJzh-KYmE7BeLEsGZZ5gPAuu97QUSluwPmJgQNuevpwf-1P_X8M9mEZAxpW9SuGd6OK1dWyOjPyt-G-da16GBW_OSSNT3xVH1IKWv2LHckCPDt3uw7anvHcnDQuHgbgDuV0s0Ee9CQ_jPx2Td_y8SqEni8uLNy41sKQ/w640-h132/MIDIccTWEAK01.jpg" width="640" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">The MIDIccTWEAK Utility written in MaxForLive...</td></tr></tbody></table><p>The MaxForLive Utility, MIDIccTWEAK, will work with any source of CC messages, and provides offset and gain control, plus inversion for the basic CC messages, then the paired 'composite' controllers, and finally paired 'composite' controllers using the 'other' pairing - for this application, it uses position sensors at 90 degrees to each other, instead of being on opposite sides of the MIDI Fighter 3D. That's 12 mappable outputs from the four CC sources. </p><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg12InDwSW5WCTgr8tAyj3TLI4dAcRL54Bs_r0t8OT3lxepvIdHg00s_qQrNvGFE0UEl7kNPUlyUlTpFbsRALTEQuoFgR5y2kYr79MImyWzI4MYAKKa_Nssg8p8p9Y8Xamujhzc4ORr-jRUkxqaWgqgK_ZbJNjv87hrlnWM00CWBiUnw8R4R3ac-ISW1w/s1920/Slide1-3D.jpeg" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1080" data-original-width="1920" height="360" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg12InDwSW5WCTgr8tAyj3TLI4dAcRL54Bs_r0t8OT3lxepvIdHg00s_qQrNvGFE0UEl7kNPUlyUlTpFbsRALTEQuoFgR5y2kYr79MImyWzI4MYAKKa_Nssg8p8p9Y8Xamujhzc4ORr-jRUkxqaWgqgK_ZbJNjv87hrlnWM00CWBiUnw8R4R3ac-ISW1w/w640-h360/Slide1-3D.jpeg" width="640" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">What can the MIDIccTWEAK Utility do?</td></tr></tbody></table><p>The MIDIccTWEAK Utility can be downloaded from <a href="https://maxforlive.com/library/device.php?id=8199" target="_blank">MaxForLive.com...</a></p><h3 style="text-align: left;">Inside the M4L code...</h3><p>A couple of interesting things came up whilst programming MIDIccTWEAK, although neither of them are clever or unusual, which is usually when I include more details. Nope, in this case it was an interesting option and a potential trap for the unwary. Here's a fragment of the M4L code:</p><p><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgTSpowE7aT_dbJs_Wj6J2buseCugBv1OSPZu516PXa9e7MKC_PJ99TwbmxejAhEK73tHAkQhMWPagmUHs-tNFEuxaBk5eKsEMiRV_b5WySg-Yz-jH1VelQd5owJ_hRGY5UQUw7UIDqD2xW2Jf4iwxJIN0fnSUcCvbb54Uenzg9dnH1s3ukQlbMzFlfxg/s608/cc-selector-m4l.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="397" data-original-width="608" height="418" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgTSpowE7aT_dbJs_Wj6J2buseCugBv1OSPZu516PXa9e7MKC_PJ99TwbmxejAhEK73tHAkQhMWPagmUHs-tNFEuxaBk5eKsEMiRV_b5WySg-Yz-jH1VelQd5owJ_hRGY5UQUw7UIDqD2xW2Jf4iwxJIN0fnSUcCvbb54Uenzg9dnH1s3ukQlbMzFlfxg/w640-h418/cc-selector-m4l.jpg" width="640" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Part of the M4L 'code' for MIDIccTWEAK...</td></tr></tbody></table></p><p>Now, most of this is perfectly ordinary: a MIDI In (...and an Out to provide a 'Thru' to the next MIDI device in the chain...), a MIDI Parse object to decode the MIDI messages, and a Route object to extract just the MIDI CCs that we are interested in. But note those 'change' objects - this was me testing out an idea to try to ensure that the MIDI bandwidth consumed by Controllers was minimised. The 'change' object filters out any repetitions of the same number, and so this code was imported from a prototype M4L device where I was monitoring several MIDI Controller hardware devices to see what their outputs looked like... </p><p>I was expecting to see some repetitions of the same controller value in the Controller Messages, and yes, I know that the alternative name for Continuous Controller messages is 'Control Change' messages, but I was still curious to see what actually happened. It turns out that everything that I looked at sent streams of messages of changes to MIDI Control values, and even when the faders, rotary controls, levers, and other physical controls where moved very slowly, then repetitions were still filtered out just about all of the time. In the past, I have seen at least one Mod Wheel where careful positioning of the wheel would produce continuous messages with two slightly different values, but not recently. I have talked about this before in this blog, but it is always interesting to see just what the difference in values (the 'delta') is in reality. Theoretically, it should be one, but this uses lots of MIDI bandwidth, and rapid changes of controller value are going to create long streams of controller messages that will just clog things up. So a more sensible approach would be to send controller messages at fixed intervals of time, so that there is lots of detail for slow movements, and less detail for fast movements. I suspect there is a 'rule of thumb' set of values for timing, but I have never done deep enough research into this. let me know if you want me to revisit MIDI Controllers and look at this aspect of them. </p><p>What ought to be useful about the 'route' object is the final output, where any messages that don't match a CC number are dumped - an 'else' or 'other' or 'default' output (it depends on which programming languages you are familiar with!). But I haven't ever needed a 'Controllers you haven't selected' detector. I suppose you could use it to look for unusual activity from controller numbers that shouldn't be outputting anything, but it just seems to be something that should have a use, but I haven't stumbled across it yet.</p><p>More interesting, and not restricted to only this M4L object, is a potential trap for then unwary. Look at the right most input and output - at the top, you have the number box for selecting which controller the 'route' object should be matching, and underneath, you have the 'Other' output, for when no Controller number message matches the specified numbers. Whoa! </p><p><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjpCS2zJhkArrB9F33el9zA2rBbWlkrfB_GLBM8OXBr1e9S2XCJP-Q_wlVllI9SZ-w8MnusBkQkkAAsVChd9CFRSZFGR3iA4Sjn37IyXfesshOwheS9GOhU3dXR5Do3nEaq8QjDOKGoF1bQGofMrcw2MCKMth1ciuoOvhx8Ez0KhMrU7Djb6RCZZHdnEA/s608/cc-selector-m4l-trap.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="397" data-original-width="608" height="418" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjpCS2zJhkArrB9F33el9zA2rBbWlkrfB_GLBM8OXBr1e9S2XCJP-Q_wlVllI9SZ-w8MnusBkQkkAAsVChd9CFRSZFGR3iA4Sjn37IyXfesshOwheS9GOhU3dXR5Do3nEaq8QjDOKGoF1bQGofMrcw2MCKMth1ciuoOvhx8Ez0KhMrU7Djb6RCZZHdnEA/w640-h418/cc-selector-m4l-trap.jpg" width="640" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">A potential trap for the unwary...</td></tr></tbody></table><br />Actually, those number boxes, which control the matches that appear at the outputs, are offset by one horizontally - to the left (because of the input on the top of the 'route' object). The second input determines what comes out of the first output of the 'route' object, and so on across the object. Lots of MaxForLive object are like this, when you look for it, and it is one of the things that you need to watch out for, especially when you extend object boxes very wide, as here (or wider!), so that you can keep all of the parallel output paths nest and tidy. If the left hand edge is off-screen, and you only look at the right hand edge, then the number box looks like it ought to be controlling the output underneath it - so the implied connection inside the yellow circle is not correct!</p><p>The MIDIccTWEAK Utility can be downloaded from <a href="https://maxforlive.com/library/device.php?id=8199" target="_blank">MaxForLive.com...</a></p><h3 style="text-align: left;">Multiple controls</h3><p>Inside the '3D Sound Box' used in the interactive exhibit, there are additional infra-red position sensors that are used to detect side-side movement (used to control left-right panning), and vertical (up/down) movement (used to control the overall tone of the audio), so there are at least four separate independent ways that you can control things just by picking up the MIDI Fighter 3D and moving it around inside the box.</p><p></p><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEid35J4ub3h8QqpZ8mKR28r7O95bvqvXhCeImEMrr0CpggAiXHhOY2OIu2RRpO_TvqVJE3rBCPS9Scz3A9fRBX8X8CDZUf9Rr4TTf44TWVEDlV0OTR4pBZamG-7i56s6YDthAZ-EgbK80GW-ZeuNOCig2qTlrLBOOMMl4E5AieJO9diwFgizzvCxX_3Vw/s640/3DSB.jpg" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="543" data-original-width="640" height="544" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEid35J4ub3h8QqpZ8mKR28r7O95bvqvXhCeImEMrr0CpggAiXHhOY2OIu2RRpO_TvqVJE3rBCPS9Scz3A9fRBX8X8CDZUf9Rr4TTf44TWVEDlV0OTR4pBZamG-7i56s6YDthAZ-EgbK80GW-ZeuNOCig2qTlrLBOOMMl4E5AieJO9diwFgizzvCxX_3Vw/w640-h544/3DSB.jpg" width="640" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">The 3D Sound Box...</td></tr></tbody></table><br />You can just see the MIDI Fighter 3D resting on the raised floor of the 3D Sound Box in the photo above. <p></p><h3 style="text-align: left;">Sound Generation</h3><p>There was quite a lot of sound design behind the sounds that were produced. I wanted something subtle, sophisticated and very controllable, and I definitely didn't want to have a 'sound going round your head'-type of binaural demonstration, because those have always felt gimmicky and not very real world - I can't recall a real musical performance where position was that important or centre stage, with the exception of <a href="http://www.muzines.co.uk/articles/tim-souster-electronic-music-composer/2638" target="_blank">Tim Souster's</a> 0dB concert at the Royal Northern College of Music in Manchester, in the late 1970s (and I was there!), where there was a lot of performing 'in the round'...</p><p>Instead, I chose a drone sound, and mapped the MIDI Fighter and the up/down sensor to changing the timbre of that sound. I used the <a href="https://www.spitfireaudio.com/shop/a-z/bt-phobos/" target="_blank">Spitfire Audio / BT 'Phobos'</a> polyconvolution synthesis virtual instrument to generate the sounds, inside Ableton Live. Four Source Units provided the inputs to three convolution synthesizers, with the controllers moving the four sources around in the convolution triangle. I also added a filter control so that anti-clockwise rotation changed the cut-off frequency of a low-pass filter (a cliche, I know, but it was very popular!), and added in some percussive sounds when the controller was tilted all the way backwards. All in all, there were lots of different timbres and smooth blends between them as you moved the MIDI Fighter 3D around inside the box.</p><p>I added a little bit of reverb to provide additional spatialisation, and then passed the various audio outputs into the headphones via <a href="https://envelop.us/page/tools" target="_blank">Envelop</a> binaural plug-ins. I used a <a href="https://www.studiospares.com/headphones-and-speakers/headphone-amps-and-splitters/studiospares-har60-6-channel-headphone-amplifier-459480.htm" target="_blank">Studiospares HAR-60 six channel headphone amplifier</a> to drive six pairs of headphones - and <a href="https://www.studiospares.com/" target="_blank">Studiospares</a> gave me an amazing deal for buying <a href="https://mackie.com/en/products/headphones/mc-series-headphones" target="_blank">Mackie</a> closed-back headphones in bulk!</p><p>People rapidly got how it worked! There's something about moving your hands making a sound change that activates a kinetic spatial memory thingy inside your head, and when the changes are complex and involving, then you get lost inside the soundscape. In a world where people don't seem to listen hard to music any longer, it was amazing to see people concentrating on what they were hearing. one pair of headphones was used by the 'driver', whilst the other headphones allowed other people (parents, friends, etc.) to listen in. In many cases, passive listening resulted in them wanting to 'have a go' as well!</p><p>Talking to parents, they were expecting 120 bpm, 4/4 EDM, and were totally surprised that someone would instead demonstrate something which was subtle, deep, sophisticated and sounded high quality - I explained that the core of the sound came from one of the top sample library companies in the world… So the sound design that I did worked very nicely. Kids (and their parents) loved the exhibit - one family said that it was the best thing they had seen (heard!) all day! </p><h3 style="text-align: left;">Outreach</h3><p>The success of an interactive exhibit like this is about reaction at the time, and then about follow ups. In the two days, I got huge numbers of smiles ('This is the first time I've seen a smile like that for ages!' was one parent's comment...) and a universal 'Cool!' reaction from just about everyone, especially young kids. I have been invited to schools to do more demos, asked by a local media group if I would be interesting in a collaboration, and the local university is also interested in talking to me more about this type of interaction and how to programme it. </p><p>So, my grateful thanks to <a href="https://www.spitfireaudio.com/shop/a-z/bt-phobos/" target="_blank">Spitfire Audio and BT for Phobos</a>, because it was a key part of a very successful exhibit that may well have influenced more than 100 young minds into thinking about sound in a different way. Also thanks to <a href="https://www.ableton.com/en/" target="_blank">Ableton for Live</a>, and especially MaxForLive, a toolkit that I use all the time! Thanks to the amazing guys at <a href="https://store.djtechtools.com/" target="_blank">DJ Tech Tools</a> for their <a href="https://store.djtechtools.com/collections/midi-fighters-midi-fighter-accessories/products/midi-fighter-3d" target="_blank">MIDI Fighter 3D</a> controller. Thanks to <a href="https://www.studiospares.com/headphones-and-speakers/headphone-amps-and-splitters/studiospares-har60-6-channel-headphone-amplifier-459480.htm" target="_blank">Studiospares</a> for a beautifully thought-out headphone amplifier. And finally, thanks to <a href="https://envelop.us/page/tools" target="_blank">Envelop</a> for making spatial audio so accessible in Ableton Live! Oh, and thanks again to BT (the telco) and <a href="https://innovationmartlesham.com/" target="_blank">Innovation Martlesham</a> for making this all possible!</p><div><span style="font-family: inherit;">---</span></div><div><span style="font-family: inherit;"><p><span style="font-family: inherit;">If you find my writing helpful, informative or entertaining, then please consider visiting this link:</span></p><div style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; orphans: auto; text-size-adjust: auto; widows: auto;"><div style="font-size: 18.72px; font-weight: 700;"><span style="font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: small;"><a class="bmc-button" href="https://teespring.com/en-GB/stores/synthesizerwriters-store" target="_blank"><span style="margin-left: 5px;">Synthesizerwriter's Store</span></a> (New 'Modular thinking' designs now available!)</span></span></div><p style="font-size: 18.72px; font-weight: 700;"></p><div style="font-size: 18.72px; font-weight: 700;"><div style="margin: 0px;"><span style="font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: small;"><a class="bmc-button" href="https://www.buymeacoffee.com/synthwriter" target="_blank"><img alt="Buy me a coffee" src="https://www.buymeacoffee.com/assets/img/BMC-btn-logo.svg" /><span style="margin-left: 5px;">Buy me a coffee</span></a> (Encourage me to write more posts like this one!)... or...</span></span></div><div><span style="font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: small;"><br /></span></span></div></div></div></span></div><div><a href="https://ko-fi.com/W7W5BM4JX" target="_blank"><img alt="Buy Me a Coffee at ko-fi.com" border="0" height="36" src="https://cdn.ko-fi.com/cdn/kofi3.png?v=3" style="border: 0px; height: 36px;" /></a> (Encourage me via a different route entirely...)</div><div><br /></div><div>Or just tell someone else that there's this amazing blog about hi-tech music...</div><div><br /></div><div><br /></div></div>Synthesizerwriterhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13668943829180629830noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5222520500837940683.post-64087542048261100522022-05-29T11:52:00.003+01:002022-05-30T07:23:53.306+01:00The Zoom MS-70CDR MultiStomp Multi-Effects Pedal Arrived!<p>The pandemic must have been tricky for the Zoom Corporation (the web-site is at: <a href="https://zoomcorp.com/en/gb/">https://zoomcorp.com/en/gb/</a> ), the Japanese manufacturer of a wide range of hi-tech audio devices from field recorders thru multi-track recorders to guitar multi-effects units. The world added a new verb: 'to zoom' to mean using videoconferencing, via the USA's Zoom Video Conferencing, Inc. (the web-site is at <a href="https://zoom.us">https://zoom.us</a> ) company, and so there are now two 'Zooms': one for audio, and one for video. </p><p>In the pro-audio world, Zoom is synonymous with field recorders (alongside Tascam, another Japanese company), and in the guitar effects world (plus synths at line level, of course!) for a range of multi-effects devices. If like me, you have also been using videoconferencing a lot more over the last couple of years, then the double use of the same word has probably been intriguing. At times like this, I refer back to one of those useful sayings:</p><p style="text-align: center;"><i><b>'The Universe is NOT stranger than you can imagine. </b></i></p><p style="text-align: center;"><i><b>It is stranger than you are CAPABLE of imagining...'</b></i></p><p>Which puts me in my place very firmly. </p><p>One thing which I was capable of doing was ordering a <a href="https://zoomcorp.com/en/gb/multi-effects/multistomp-pedals/ms-70cdr/" target="_blank">Zoom MS-70CDR</a> multi-effects pedal as part of my ongoing investigation into obtaining a dual modulation effects pedal. It all started when I looked at the <a href="https://www.gfisystem.com/" target="_blank">GFI System</a> <a href="https://www.gfisystem.com/synesthesia" target="_blank">Synesthesia</a> and was very impressed with what it could do, but I was intrigued that there wasn't a stereo version. The vast majority of my pedals are stereo, mainly because most of my synths and drum machines are stereo (with some glorious exceptions, of course!), and so except for specialist uses (my <a href="https://www.vintagesynth.com/yamaha/tx7.php" target="_blank">Yamaha TX7</a> processing via a <a href="https://www.valeton.net/GP_100.html" target="_blank">Valeton GP-100</a> multi-pedal intended for guitars), I tend to only research stereo pedals when I'm looking to satiate my GAS (Gear Acquisition Syndrome, for which pedals are my 'relatively low-cost' mitigation... well, that's my rather weak excuse, at least...)...</p><p>There has been a lot of news about 'Supply Chain Difficulties' for several months now, and for a while, it looked like the <a href="https://zoomcorp.com/en/gb/multi-effects/multistomp-pedals/ms-70cdr/" target="_blank">Zoom MS-70CDR</a> had been affected. My back order kept getting updated with a new 'slip' of a month or so, and it looked like I wouldn't be getting one until the end of June 2022, assuming that more slip didn't occur. So it was a very pleasant surprise when I got a package from Andertons (I have bought an alarming quantity of stuff from them, over the years...) in May, some time before their estimate. Excellent!</p><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgpT7mNNq8wWKS0RlQm108fAQ7hfvn0DKYUHydNYa3BkxGufUZcvxdMXGAgEBYZKRZ8fdmjMdYVIaKyeUUjHQY1f5cd64wWq5FyDqdw9aQnhAD3iJakOyRqrUKTTjMWABodQmSIiKBdTC6FZKn6JDKdNexvinanbezwih6DQWs6X26Gh2wyZxsriMSyGQ/s640/lights01.jpg" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="237" data-original-width="640" height="238" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgpT7mNNq8wWKS0RlQm108fAQ7hfvn0DKYUHydNYa3BkxGufUZcvxdMXGAgEBYZKRZ8fdmjMdYVIaKyeUUjHQY1f5cd64wWq5FyDqdw9aQnhAD3iJakOyRqrUKTTjMWABodQmSIiKBdTC6FZKn6JDKdNexvinanbezwih6DQWs6X26Gh2wyZxsriMSyGQ/w640-h238/lights01.jpg" width="640" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">https://zoomcorp.com/en/gb/multi-effects/multistomp-pedals/ms-70cdr/</td></tr></tbody></table><h3 style="text-align: left;">The Zoom MS-70CDR</h3><p>The <a href="https://zoomcorp.com/en/gb/multi-effects/multistomp-pedals/ms-70cdr/" target="_blank">MS-70CDR</a> 'MultiStomp' is pretty much a 'classic' in synthesizer circles. When I posted a Tweet on Twitter about my search for a dual stereo modulation pedal, then it was 'up front and centre' in the feedback that I got. Which is of course, why I ordered one! I should probably point out that this isn't me following the 'YouTube Influencer' Play-Book, because I'm nowhere near from getting even the required minimum number of subscribers and viewing time... I just think that when something is a 'classic', then it is probably worth looking at. As a subscriber to Ricky Tinez's YouTube Channel ( https://www.youtube.com/c/RickyTinez ), then I concur with his philosophy:</p><p style="text-align: center;"><i><b> 'Share the Knowledge. Share the Love. Knowledge is Power. Peace.' </b></i></p><p>(...and I've exchanged emails with him in the past - on a different topic...) </p><p>I have to admit, the <a href="https://zoomcorp.com/en/gb/multi-effects/multistomp-pedals/ms-70cdr/" target="_blank">Zoom MS-70CDR</a> is small, has an 'unusual 'User Interface', and is a complete bargain in comparison to most of my other 'boutique' pedals - it was only slightly more expensive than the 'budget' Joyo Vision pedal which I also really liked. Am I growing out of high-end pedals? </p><p>The Zoom MS-70CDR (I'm already bored with typing that every time, so I'm going to shorten it to MS-70!) has an LCD display, which is unusual at the lower end of the market. The display tends to focus on graphics rather than text and numbers, which is refreshingly different - I'm kind of reminded of Elektron's use of graphics on displays (and the irony of the opposite end of the price spectrum doesn't escape me!). When you power it up, you get some animations, and end up at a box that shows the number and name of the current patch/preset ('patch' seems like the better word...). You then get a graphic representing the 'pedal' that is in one of the six 'slots' that the MS-70 provides - virtually of course. </p><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgxeZgcjlo7EEcldKjCo6eAuIQ78kGHTQESjg7DaeA-PImugDS0kfa2ApMQCidMkgpv5AP2hFSzruMGMJ6F1rzvVt3dkfnq-A4Fygkm-PVZwRpBDCebki0mgsk7h25v68tXwlQjzwWIPIw6TjVXpTH8iofOyelfGZybm5SUPcM-MBupnFDHt_Yq0PXGVw/s266/display02.jpg" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="142" data-original-width="266" height="342" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgxeZgcjlo7EEcldKjCo6eAuIQ78kGHTQESjg7DaeA-PImugDS0kfa2ApMQCidMkgpv5AP2hFSzruMGMJ6F1rzvVt3dkfnq-A4Fygkm-PVZwRpBDCebki0mgsk7h25v68tXwlQjzwWIPIw6TjVXpTH8iofOyelfGZybm5SUPcM-MBupnFDHt_Yq0PXGVw/w640-h342/display02.jpg" width="640" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">https://zoomcorp.com/en/gb/multi-effects/multistomp-pedals/ms-70cdr/</td></tr></tbody></table><p></p><p>So the basic metaphor is a pedal-board, which is perfect for a multi-effect device that is effectively a pedal-board inside a pedal. Moving between 'pedals' in the pedal-board is done by using the buttons that are in a ring around the big chrome foot-switch that activates or bypasses the effect (of which more later). The box that he MS-70 came in has a sticker for version 2.0 of the firmware, which announces that there are 137 effects inside! This is a lot of effects, and is probably a response to the well-known 'secret' software that allows you to access effects from any of the Zoom MS pedal range (You can find out about <a href="https://youtu.be/Ul-BYkV3PSk" target="_blank">it on YouTube</a>...). More recently, '<a href="https://tonelib.net/tonelib-zoom.html" target="_blank">ToneLib Zoom</a>' provides online computer-editing and cloud storage of patches...</p><p></p><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhCu6xIvRSHtsq4fDWyKcvo6yneHSapoZdt40Xd15cxsNm290WSzSu6FIrrdoHuPBtkIHfRhuZzL9mWzA4g_OCzt2923Q_tdCXHfIwXPDQQRb5iPXs9sRSdqDpaRTH_qEipAQbJznGFohN3CqN1Yq0H0hEgsjlYESQ5fnO6a_J24RSgMawBG2Cv2_OLqA/s1600/CDR_Icons1.png.1600x0_q80_crop-smart_size_canvas_upscale.png" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="191" data-original-width="1600" height="76" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhCu6xIvRSHtsq4fDWyKcvo6yneHSapoZdt40Xd15cxsNm290WSzSu6FIrrdoHuPBtkIHfRhuZzL9mWzA4g_OCzt2923Q_tdCXHfIwXPDQQRb5iPXs9sRSdqDpaRTH_qEipAQbJznGFohN3CqN1Yq0H0hEgsjlYESQ5fnO6a_J24RSgMawBG2Cv2_OLqA/w640-h76/CDR_Icons1.png.1600x0_q80_crop-smart_size_canvas_upscale.png" width="640" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">137 effects is a lot!</td></tr></tbody></table><br /><p></p><p>I mentioned six slots for effects, and this is where things move from advertising hyperbole to the slightly more mundane real world. One of those slots is used up for a Bypass/Effect 'Line Selector' function, so there are really five slots for effects - which is still a lot! If you don't have the Line Selector in your patch, then the effects is on all the time - until you select another patch. You could always have a patch stored which is just a bypass, of course. So let's call it 'six' slots, but five if you want a bypass. Of course, as with all digital pedals, there is a limit to how much processing can be achieved by the internal chips, and so that wonderful caveat of 'up to' applies to the six or five. If you use a complex effect that uses lots of processing power, then you may not be able to fill all five slots - but, having said that, I was able to put multiple chorus effects, reverbs and other effects, and the processing restriction warning didn't pop up very often. </p><p>There are three rotary controls, of which the middle one is the 'Memory' or Patch Select control. This gives access to a list of the effects (you click to activate the rotary control, twist it to select an effect, and click to select the effect (and click again to exit back to the main 'pedal-board' view), so this is easy and quick - arguably faster and easier than some of my boutique pedals!) . The rotary control on the left is a traditional 'Menu' button, which gives access to various pedal management functions like settings, deleting effects or patches, etc. The rotary control on the right turns the display into a tabbed page view showing up to three named rotary control graphics (pie charts), which the rotary controls can control. </p><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhK--eqDFoUj6SLpbLzK5La0S5MPe5hFFFE9IFSqVHUJ7ScJHKY8tEBazhWLr4pXZp4pcowap9MVF8DYr9glD9pZNO5wZYVUPf7FuflG9bGTdQaKHGmjA9ZjXa7l87wXn7ttxGKpSBXoIJbNOHWd50Xj-EpVJHzqNhbhzqQyFIdB7tAVmloqOy830Qhow/s593/ms-70cdr_topHalf.png.0x1600_q80_crop-,scale_size_canvas.png" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="489" data-original-width="593" height="528" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhK--eqDFoUj6SLpbLzK5La0S5MPe5hFFFE9IFSqVHUJ7ScJHKY8tEBazhWLr4pXZp4pcowap9MVF8DYr9glD9pZNO5wZYVUPf7FuflG9bGTdQaKHGmjA9ZjXa7l87wXn7ttxGKpSBXoIJbNOHWd50Xj-EpVJHzqNhbhzqQyFIdB7tAVmloqOy830Qhow/w640-h528/ms-70cdr_topHalf.png.0x1600_q80_crop-,scale_size_canvas.png" width="640" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">https://zoomcorp.com/en/gb/multi-effects/multistomp-pedals/ms-70cdr/</td></tr></tbody></table><br /><p>Again, having a click on the rotary control itself is quick and very convenient. I've got very used to doing mental gymnastics with using multiple foot-switches to do things on my other boutique pedals, so this was a refreshing change! Everything you need to do with fine-tuning an effect is done with these three soft-controls (rotary plus click) and it works very nicely indeed! I'm explaining all of this because it really isn't obvious until you have used an MS-70, so all of the graphic labels make perfect sense when you know what they mean, but at fist glance, you may not understand what everything does - I certainly looked at lots of photos of MS-70s and didn't 'get' what was going on with the controls!</p><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjMo2oVvRLehPlKWlpSEevA5Xm8oQ8dTfFxa1z3we90ABBsPN_uTtCNYF8Q0s3sB5PrZpN6gLsRepAoGIPgJ5UT5GmdAXDySxJU0mLIuNEY7cYbat_pnPhE4ww4TMh3tjersUTSJsPSPHdAWfIWm0eKwao5K9NFPOS1Nat-BLAm9-RdjBGv0fM_SGlIAQ/s2233/MS-70CDR_rear.jpg.0x1600_q80_crop-,scale_size_canvas.jpg" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1600" data-original-width="2233" height="458" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjMo2oVvRLehPlKWlpSEevA5Xm8oQ8dTfFxa1z3we90ABBsPN_uTtCNYF8Q0s3sB5PrZpN6gLsRepAoGIPgJ5UT5GmdAXDySxJU0mLIuNEY7cYbat_pnPhE4ww4TMh3tjersUTSJsPSPHdAWfIWm0eKwao5K9NFPOS1Nat-BLAm9-RdjBGv0fM_SGlIAQ/w640-h458/MS-70CDR_rear.jpg.0x1600_q80_crop-,scale_size_canvas.jpg" width="640" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">https://zoomcorp.com/en/gb/multi-effects/multistomp-pedals/ms-70cdr/</td></tr></tbody></table><br /><p><br /></p><p>Power is from the standard barrel connector, USB (Mini!), or batteries!</p><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEix-_ebPTfai-ntS4N3iBYycA67C7efm1udUXC6kkRL8l_dq4Oyo65_FzFcKAQLQCkVD3L3UMDTUGDWiVDZCY2uXXdq7O5q_DtCsSTiYFGPOOsuyau5R1FWRHaycz3EgPSYgHKjeUXyA9HQ05ho6jPNynPFU8Nzo6XOeQR2ouksKzNc0wl_znHpyf_R4g/s2246/MS-70CDR_battery_box.jpg.0x1600_q80_crop-,scale_size_canvas.jpg" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1497" data-original-width="2246" height="426" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEix-_ebPTfai-ntS4N3iBYycA67C7efm1udUXC6kkRL8l_dq4Oyo65_FzFcKAQLQCkVD3L3UMDTUGDWiVDZCY2uXXdq7O5q_DtCsSTiYFGPOOsuyau5R1FWRHaycz3EgPSYgHKjeUXyA9HQ05ho6jPNynPFU8Nzo6XOeQR2ouksKzNc0wl_znHpyf_R4g/w640-h426/MS-70CDR_battery_box.jpg.0x1600_q80_crop-,scale_size_canvas.jpg" width="640" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">https://zoomcorp.com/en/gb/multi-effects/multistomp-pedals/ms-70cdr/</td></tr></tbody></table><br /><p>I mentioned ToneLib Zoom, the freeware editor/librarian for macOS and Windows, and I have to say that I really liked it! I used version 4.3.1, and it was easy to use, and links to a forum/community of shared patches.</p><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiOhfeMsYlPMG0vDB4ukZRLRd8Rt8dYPwg1lZ4klNKkhMUKMn7m__haRYfxl65yFiJi-Wvgi39psmGRsPdItx8bModueEqpovSQ4iVZrCx-10WZ2_LSldXVEzmKCy0qTo1DXnwwMluMHL5KiJpMzZHUp2mAW5s9n-p8qBqTJ_XcW5wytazzf0WipYr_bg/s4113/tonelibzoom01.jpg" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="2096" data-original-width="4113" height="326" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiOhfeMsYlPMG0vDB4ukZRLRd8Rt8dYPwg1lZ4klNKkhMUKMn7m__haRYfxl65yFiJi-Wvgi39psmGRsPdItx8bModueEqpovSQ4iVZrCx-10WZ2_LSldXVEzmKCy0qTo1DXnwwMluMHL5KiJpMzZHUp2mAW5s9n-p8qBqTJ_XcW5wytazzf0WipYr_bg/w640-h326/tonelibzoom01.jpg" width="640" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">https://tonelib.net/tonelib-zoom.html</td></tr></tbody></table><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">ToneLib Zoom is free, shows the complete chain of effects (all six slots), and the far right has all of the 137 official effects divided into three categories. I couldn't resist stretching the factory default 'C D R' patch with a bit more chorus, so above is my 'C D R !' patch where there are four 'StereoCho' stereo chorus effects in series, as well as the Delay and Hall Reverb.</div><br /><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiIl51gnR-G0ZXffEW_kZqI26sLv8DVclpxW93JNgXNFTaDmlwtuqAWodTM4CtliduVeUbu_8wd6ly2Rj87_X-uYlu6Bl2gk21gQn8xdfg-_BuK0DhdYfa38lfQdeYXAFYlyjk5q11aTmnZ_lxf0JYrG1ReA8_-BmxMEepyB8Uz_geTyKMB5x5yUbIMOg/s3050/tonelibzoom02.jpg" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="716" data-original-width="3050" height="150" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiIl51gnR-G0ZXffEW_kZqI26sLv8DVclpxW93JNgXNFTaDmlwtuqAWodTM4CtliduVeUbu_8wd6ly2Rj87_X-uYlu6Bl2gk21gQn8xdfg-_BuK0DhdYfa38lfQdeYXAFYlyjk5q11aTmnZ_lxf0JYrG1ReA8_-BmxMEepyB8Uz_geTyKMB5x5yUbIMOg/w640-h150/tonelibzoom02.jpg" width="640" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">https://tonelib.net/tonelib-zoom.html</td></tr></tbody></table><br /><p>Here's another of my patches for the MS-70 that I edited in ToneLib Zoom. '6ChorusMR' has six chorus effects (two different effects in three pairs) and sounds amazing! I've always like chorus... </p><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjMz1VkGReoE3xUW51ysRner346eLMPz032gGwbLyF_QhB1-4O5R1ZzcNcDXatgRUwRqFnpYiqoo0vBKWZVBGoqT-Nh0tJqpCtN0de5lFaJuKiG00xvipbczV0apisWVNrhmjWBK09932Z-UB6KM-FToUwPOrkKPEXbCywGIMWQE4YIXPN2Enj0GqOItw/s3047/tonelibzoom03.jpg" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="719" data-original-width="3047" height="152" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjMz1VkGReoE3xUW51ysRner346eLMPz032gGwbLyF_QhB1-4O5R1ZzcNcDXatgRUwRqFnpYiqoo0vBKWZVBGoqT-Nh0tJqpCtN0de5lFaJuKiG00xvipbczV0apisWVNrhmjWBK09932Z-UB6KM-FToUwPOrkKPEXbCywGIMWQE4YIXPN2Enj0GqOItw/w640-h152/tonelibzoom03.jpg" width="640" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">https://tonelib.net/tonelib-zoom.html</td></tr></tbody></table><br /><p>Here's the 'C D R !' patch modified by replacing one effect with the 'LineSel' Bypass/Effect switcher, which enables the foot-switch. As I said, using the middle rotary control allows rapid selection of patches, including a bypass one if you program it, and so you don't need to have the LineSel in the chain of effects, and that sixth slot can be very useful!</p><p>There are three categories of effect in the MS-70CDR: Chorus, Delay and Reverb. Whilst I might have been distracted by the Reverb sections (with the ParticleR granular effect especially), it is the Chorus section that is most relevant to the Dual Stereo Modulation goal, and there are plenty of effects in this category: more than 40 chorus, tremolo, chopper, phaser, vibrato, detune, ensemble, flanger, pitch-shifter, ring-mod, panner, and rotary-speaker effects. So there is enormous scope for multiple modulation effects using the six (five) slots, especially as the modulation effects do nto seem to have high processing demands (unlike reverb!). </p><p>I will save some of my effects patches to the ToneLib Zoom cloud storage area...</p><h3 style="text-align: left;">Size considerations</h3><p>The Zoom MS-70CDR is small, but note those stereo jack sockets on either side (boutique pedals tend to put all the sockets on the rear panel...). If you put straight jack plugs into them, then you get this:</p><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhyQwoUGUSO1oZ9O67dqIrXTXqzjiZL-nzuzh89wktVEBRa1TRo5VT4k_ksFC9jV4egjb32ZS7ZgBOc8VFS9kmPWAiKFhaUGl0uC2AQLAStJUi9YjexyAgAtL0we_x8hneaJLeObNwjaUuNKlhWr3EYhOvrjs1mbuNJgI6y3lIcUHAi6zAbvQCfU4NP8g/s1731/MS-70CDR_L_R.jpg.0x1600_q80_crop-,scale_size_canvas.jpg" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1600" data-original-width="1731" height="592" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhyQwoUGUSO1oZ9O67dqIrXTXqzjiZL-nzuzh89wktVEBRa1TRo5VT4k_ksFC9jV4egjb32ZS7ZgBOc8VFS9kmPWAiKFhaUGl0uC2AQLAStJUi9YjexyAgAtL0we_x8hneaJLeObNwjaUuNKlhWr3EYhOvrjs1mbuNJgI6y3lIcUHAi6zAbvQCfU4NP8g/w640-h592/MS-70CDR_L_R.jpg.0x1600_q80_crop-,scale_size_canvas.jpg" width="640" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">https://zoomcorp.com/en/gb/multi-effects/multistomp-pedals/ms-70cdr/</td></tr></tbody></table><br /><p>By the time you have factored in chunky jack plugs, decent strain relief, not over-stressing the cables by over-bending them (tight bend radii are bad!), and the MS-70CDR's 75mm width, then you are talking a total width of about 200mm, which is wider than my Empress Reverb! So you might like to consider some right angle jack plugs (note the close spacing of the sockets, which can rule out some right-angle jack plugs!) or some right angle jack-to-jack adapters - I bought some from Amazon and they help a lot in keeping things more compact, although the routing of the cables can require some planning...</p><h3 style="text-align: left;">Dual Stereo Modulation Effects Pedal</h3><p>I started out looking for a dual stereo modulation effects pedal, and the Zoom MS-70CDR provides up to six effects, which is kind of 3x what I was looking for! Quality-wise, then the modulation and delay effects sound very good, whilst the reverbs are okay, but do not sound as sophisticated as some high-end pedals (like the Empress Reverb). But for the price, I didn't have any problem with the sound, and in fact, I rather liked using multiple chorus effects (six in a chain is shown above!) to get deep and complex chorus effects (beyond 'triple' chorus!), as well as reverbs (I chained 3 ModVerbs in series, for example) to get very thick sounding ambient reverb effects, and I went further into ambient 'smearing' territory by chaining the HD Reverb, ParticleR and DuoPhase to go full psychodelia! Sequencer plus synth plus Zoom MS-70CDR can equal a very full-sounding live rig, and actually, for some purposes, I really love the slightly imperfect reverbs. Maybe only using high-end reverbs is not the only way to sound different and have a broad palette of timbres... But for modulation, then I had no problems at all - there were plenty of good-sounding deep, effective chorus, flanger, tremolo, vibrato, detune effects to play with!</p><p>So that's a solid thumbs-up for the Zoom MS-70CDR and the ToneLib Zoom software. From a starting point of not being able to find what I wanted at the boutique end of the market, trying out budget alternatives has been a fascinating and illuminating journey - and I have even more timbres and effects available now...</p><div><span style="font-family: inherit;">---</span></div><div><span style="font-family: inherit;"><p><span style="font-family: inherit;">If you find my writing helpful, informative or entertaining, then please consider visiting this link:</span></p><div style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; orphans: auto; text-size-adjust: auto; widows: auto;"><div style="font-size: 18.72px; font-weight: 700;"><span style="font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: small;"><a class="bmc-button" href="https://teespring.com/en-GB/stores/synthesizerwriters-store" target="_blank"><span style="margin-left: 5px;">Synthesizerwriter's Store</span></a> (New 'Modular thinking' designs now available!)</span></span></div><p style="font-size: 18.72px; font-weight: 700;"></p><div style="font-size: 18.72px; font-weight: 700;"><div style="margin: 0px;"><span style="font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: small;"><a class="bmc-button" href="https://www.buymeacoffee.com/synthwriter" target="_blank"><img alt="Buy me a coffee" src="https://www.buymeacoffee.com/assets/img/BMC-btn-logo.svg" /><span style="margin-left: 5px;">Buy me a coffee</span></a> (Encourage me to write more posts like this one!)... or...</span></span></div><div><span style="font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: small;"><br /></span></span></div></div></div></span></div><div><a href="https://ko-fi.com/W7W5BM4JX" target="_blank"><img alt="Buy Me a Coffee at ko-fi.com" border="0" height="36" src="https://cdn.ko-fi.com/cdn/kofi3.png?v=3" style="border: 0px; height: 36px;" /></a> (Encourage me via a different route entirely...)</div><div><br /></div><div>Or just tell someone else that there's this amazing blog about hi-tech music...</div><div><br /></div><div><br /></div><p> </p><p> </p><p><br /></p><p><br /></p><br />Synthesizerwriterhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13668943829180629830noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5222520500837940683.post-63433791389656293012022-04-25T00:15:00.011+01:002022-04-25T17:04:02.405+01:00Some Templates for Decent Sampler Background Graphics CreationWhen Decent Sampler first appeared, I created some graphics template files to help me create the background graphics for the User Interfaces (UI) that I am now notorious for... (Oh, and as a bonus, you get lots of helpful hints for the UI design as well. Double value today!)<div><br /></div><div>This seems like a good time to share them, so that other people can make overly-detailed, cramped UIs so that mine look ordinary by comparison. The files can be downloaded from my Google Drive (links as the end).</div><div><br /></div><div>Newest files first, then the archive of the pre Version 1.0.7 material (yep, I've been using Decent Sampler for quite a long time!)</div><div><br /></div><h3 style="text-align: left;">Latest files</h3><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhitP1qfmlQJjLNUV2wy3gzbsiO46CpzQQ3OHVjJAKIs05rXqz2KLCWknVfhHI7HcT0NGfSb0TuzoBSYe4TI8g12y_rQW_2Gg1QUTMuwaehBFZMZzXhvlpg8oR_A5bBnkRD7rNjFCLLRUSva42I5skKT6rovlFqJxIlEwl_A6Q1lyHhg_PFcSxoNqIE8w/s1624/DS-UI-1x.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="750" data-original-width="1624" height="296" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhitP1qfmlQJjLNUV2wy3gzbsiO46CpzQQ3OHVjJAKIs05rXqz2KLCWknVfhHI7HcT0NGfSb0TuzoBSYe4TI8g12y_rQW_2Gg1QUTMuwaehBFZMZzXhvlpg8oR_A5bBnkRD7rNjFCLLRUSva42I5skKT6rovlFqJxIlEwl_A6Q1lyHhg_PFcSxoNqIE8w/w640-h296/DS-UI-1x.png" width="640" /></a></div><div><br /></div><div>Background first. A .jpg or .png. A photo, or artwork. (Trying to get a moving background with a .gif is pointless, by the way, as are .mp4 videos!) So 812 x 375 is the space you have to work with, but note all that screen furniture that will obscure your artwork or photograph excellence. The '1x' is a clue that you can prepare your graphics either at 1:1, or at double size (1824 x 750) - Decent Sampler will adapt accordingly.</div><div><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjWcwWF1MQ4DbBFmEbmvHk25EOeMODCn4gX3BtXIMSWqx15ozfgDu4A800zJlQkJ6WUVTo5DI1Wgnk7Hm0w-NAwb9rH-nEYsseqq8Uj0rbN8Cf_pYv5kDvPa2clJ6CzoCdmfhiS_mwIqZBzwiUsNtAe9HkXWfLXhyZ3HlHNURwqjLZLnYqF5nWf-0KirQ/s1624/DS-UI-1x-visible-area.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="750" data-original-width="1624" height="296" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjWcwWF1MQ4DbBFmEbmvHk25EOeMODCn4gX3BtXIMSWqx15ozfgDu4A800zJlQkJ6WUVTo5DI1Wgnk7Hm0w-NAwb9rH-nEYsseqq8Uj0rbN8Cf_pYv5kDvPa2clJ6CzoCdmfhiS_mwIqZBzwiUsNtAe9HkXWfLXhyZ3HlHNURwqjLZLnYqF5nWf-0KirQ/w640-h296/DS-UI-1x-visible-area.png" width="640" /></a></div><div><br /></div>The top bar is 50 pixels tall, and the keyboard area at the bottom of the window is 110 pixles high. This gives a visible area of 812 x 265 pixels, plus a little border around the keyboard, pitch bend and mod wheels, and tiny little slivers in between those areas on the top bar. Oh, and the top bar is not totally opaque, so you will be able to see some of your graphics there, but not very clearly. <div><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiylUtnCP6bXZdcRWhsHe92oBYc9OvjnOlk94plyt_xhhOsPCgsUJfjvPV-LXQfRYCx1i1iTRdxQP-5yQ9QyTyqW1n6jJwsD06Ong2aX6gtBoI_OoaKGzD5AUy72zAhRwGsBEIVuE_jzAI6y4UH5bdPmDt6YfjbwYL56BA3xHEWqPyWcp5ltV3xVHMtfA/s1624/DS-UI-1x-thirds.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="750" data-original-width="1624" height="296" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiylUtnCP6bXZdcRWhsHe92oBYc9OvjnOlk94plyt_xhhOsPCgsUJfjvPV-LXQfRYCx1i1iTRdxQP-5yQ9QyTyqW1n6jJwsD06Ong2aX6gtBoI_OoaKGzD5AUy72zAhRwGsBEIVuE_jzAI6y4UH5bdPmDt6YfjbwYL56BA3xHEWqPyWcp5ltV3xVHMtfA/w640-h296/DS-UI-1x-thirds.png" width="640" /></a></div><div><div><br /></div><div>Probably the most important thing when preparing your graphics or photo is that cross in the middle. The centre (center) of the visible area is at 406,158 - so that's where your should put your main focus if you want it in the obvious place. Alternatively, if you are into 'placement in photos should split the area into thirds', then you should put it at 812, 177, nineteen pixels lower, because that's two thirds of the way down the visible area. </div><div><br /></div><div>One place to avoid is when you split the whole 812 x 375 into thirds, because then it will be at 812, 250, which is only just above the keyboard. It feels more than a little cramped to me...</div><div><br /></div><div>The Google drive folder contains additional files to make things easier: blank 1x and 2x .pngs, masks for the top bar and the keyboard in a variety of colours, plus alpha (is that a colour, or not?), and some fascinating examples where I have adjusted the levels to reveal some unwanted artefacts that are present in the Decent Sampler graphics. Probably for uber-geeks only, that stuff... </div><div><br /></div><h3 style="text-align: left;">User Interface</h3><div><br /><div>There are two bits of graphics to consider. The background can be prepped in your favourite photo editor (Graphics Converter for me), but the UI is specified in Decent Sampler's .dspreset file, and is XML code that places little bit of user interface (rotary controls, etc.) in the right place. </div><div><br /></div><div>Finding the right place for little bit of user interface is vital. You need a starting point first. Somewhere that you and Decent Sampler both know and agree is the corner of the universe. (When I was a kid, I lived only a couple of miles away from a place that was known locally as <i>'The Centre Of The Universe'</i>, so trust me, I know what I'm talking about!) Decent Sampler knows this point as (0,0), and it is just under the top bar, on the far left. Note that the actual top of the background graphics that you made earlier with the help of the diagrams above, is at 0,-50, and is hidden by the top bar. Try putting user interface bits there and you won't see them...<br /><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgyyIaCWxAEj-ZyDNhnuglp3bbWgfCGUt1iNTSq2wpgA9DL-Y_5pja_c9BtWyKzchc2pB-ZMXd_yBk54Lx-OHjEdT4yuwdEKexDbut4i9UbFuc5ZMDAGsIgTZVKRPuezUbXBMtxig6nsZqGmtXLLq5v72-BvbI-wFX5nKPWtJGdI40d15fZ1BvlsBYXlw/s1624/DS-UI-1x-centre.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="750" data-original-width="1624" height="296" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgyyIaCWxAEj-ZyDNhnuglp3bbWgfCGUt1iNTSq2wpgA9DL-Y_5pja_c9BtWyKzchc2pB-ZMXd_yBk54Lx-OHjEdT4yuwdEKexDbut4i9UbFuc5ZMDAGsIgTZVKRPuezUbXBMtxig6nsZqGmtXLLq5v72-BvbI-wFX5nKPWtJGdI40d15fZ1BvlsBYXlw/w640-h296/DS-UI-1x-centre.png" width="640" /></a></div><br /><div>Decent Sampler's zero, zero, (epoch, starting point,...) is in the left corner, just below the top bar. The top bar is 50 pixels tall, but Decent Sampler knows this point as (0,0). So the actual top (hidden by the top bar) is at 0,-50). Try putting graphics there and you won't see them...</div><div><br /></div><div>Note that you only have 812 x 214 UI Units to play with. I could call them 'pixels', but I'm going to use 'UI Units' since that makes them distinct from the pixels of the background image. For User Interfaces, then I think that the graphics should not be laid out in thirds, I prefer to use halves, and so this time, the actual centre is useful, and it is at 406, 107 in UI Units. If this was an analogue synthesizer, then that is where I would like to have the Cutoff Frequency control for the Resonant Ladder Low-Pass Filter, and in Decent Sampler, then your nearest equivalent might be the low-pass filter cutoff frequency, but the Expression control might be a close contender. </div><div><br /></div><div>For a 'Spitfire Audio' look, you could always nudge your main control across to the right a little bit - this is where they put their 'big rotary control' bit:</div><div><br /></div><div><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhLEkasDHUo1oITGQDrjwk34YS-BaBE1FVGzvNBlwpw2cZ88fuaqDwiSjPF37pjxjPWKqhKCbYgMJlLC0mMq9fokMz5Uyk5TS9UwA4iGC2MY9dXZej4Q2EIRw2M3_ap-X37D0qz4dF-WtHm4_YOWG8XM_yX2a94J8RlZowpvgRi64s_DYeAbv1GMIPHpg/s968/polaris.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="276" data-original-width="968" height="182" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhLEkasDHUo1oITGQDrjwk34YS-BaBE1FVGzvNBlwpw2cZ88fuaqDwiSjPF37pjxjPWKqhKCbYgMJlLC0mMq9fokMz5Uyk5TS9UwA4iGC2MY9dXZej4Q2EIRw2M3_ap-X37D0qz4dF-WtHm4_YOWG8XM_yX2a94J8RlZowpvgRi64s_DYeAbv1GMIPHpg/w640-h182/polaris.png" width="640" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Spitfire Audio's User Interface (a tiny part of it) for Polaris...</td></tr></tbody></table><br />Whilst I'm distracted by thinking of Spitfire Audio, I would like to put in a good word for Polaris, their 'orchestra/synth' melange that I rather like (Er, would it be too much for a 'Wow'! here?), but then I've always like synthesizers and processed audio, and so this joins their other BT project, Phobos' as two of my favourite virtual instruments. Take a look:</div><br /><a href="https://www.spitfireaudio.com/shop/a-z/polaris/" target="_blank">Spitifre Audio Polaris</a><br /><div><br /></div><div><a href="https://www.spitfireaudio.com/shop/a-z/bt-phobos/" target="_blank">Spitfire Audio Phobos</a></div><div><br /></div><div><a href="https://www.spitfireaudio.com/shop/a-z/bbc-symphony-orchestra-discover/" target="_blank">Spitfire Audio BBC Symphony Orchestra Discover</a><br /> </div><div><a href="https://www.spitfireaudio.com/originals/" target="_blank">Spitfire Audio Originals (a mere £29 each!)</a></div><div><br /></div><div>All thoroughly recommended!</div><div><br /></div><div>But back to User Interface thoughts. Here's a couple of diagrams showing one way to split up that 812 x 214 are into useful divisions:</div><div><br /></div><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjVMguRbRHAHPrNKusGha4Y_dTm-2I0wij_F-XV10w-Y1Qvy-2KxjgdC1eeUI0sg9mB7PbVmQqeUrzPzMl_mSC9KgAX_pJ4BJLDN5WqyqO0L9zNZ-0LIu9dk-ljzyLkj9AMuB-DnsiSQPZX5tpQTALo73WsLPvHmfnaSa7JhTj3hR3fnyWzpJI3Al4RUw/s1624/DS-UI-easy-box-horiz.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="750" data-original-width="1624" height="296" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjVMguRbRHAHPrNKusGha4Y_dTm-2I0wij_F-XV10w-Y1Qvy-2KxjgdC1eeUI0sg9mB7PbVmQqeUrzPzMl_mSC9KgAX_pJ4BJLDN5WqyqO0L9zNZ-0LIu9dk-ljzyLkj9AMuB-DnsiSQPZX5tpQTALo73WsLPvHmfnaSa7JhTj3hR3fnyWzpJI3Al4RUw/w640-h296/DS-UI-easy-box-horiz.png" width="640" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Horizontal divisions...<br /></td></tr></tbody></table><br /><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiMgIfvxsoK6ap54HUPu0ymWcZI33E-wXInWdHZQofCgN4lSTF3pBNi81Frk-oqx_VRnMcsn8fONpCyxZ8dkBezxzTb9a5uETTODh-TIlh-6B5gL49tpuktaY9hASUUYVQS7SXfFFhWT1Imo2xt5F59OtR4X1tulYPLcp07r8cRYn6uzSQTm3q9ipL2TQ/s1624/DS-UI-esy-box-vertical.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="750" data-original-width="1624" height="296" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiMgIfvxsoK6ap54HUPu0ymWcZI33E-wXInWdHZQofCgN4lSTF3pBNi81Frk-oqx_VRnMcsn8fONpCyxZ8dkBezxzTb9a5uETTODh-TIlh-6B5gL49tpuktaY9hASUUYVQS7SXfFFhWT1Imo2xt5F59OtR4X1tulYPLcp07r8cRYn6uzSQTm3q9ipL2TQ/w640-h296/DS-UI-esy-box-vertical.png" width="640" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Vertical divisions...</td></tr></tbody></table><div><br /></div><div>Again, and you already knew this, there are more files on the Google Drive, including ones that show how to derive these divisions. Here's the download link:</div><div><br /></div><div><a href="https://drive.google.com/drive/folders/1BB-uiR__UkMsbW3DvkhtYJrX-aE94ZTK?usp=sharing" target="_blank">Download</a></div><div><h3>Tips</h3><div>The biggest tip I can give for Decent Sampler is to use <control> and <label> elements instead of the <labelled-knob> element. Using <control> and <label> elements gives you much more precision and flexibility with the placement of the labels with respect to the control bit, so you have much more 'control' over how your UI looks and 'feels'. I haven't used a <labelled-knob> for a long time!</div><div><br /></div><div>Tying together the background graphics and the User Interface bits is also a good idea. They should work together, not pull in two different directions. Recently, I have been playing with splitting the UI into sections by using dark and light areas of background:</div></div><div><br /></div><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgmT1VBeNFcruA34mveRE28DsX5o46S9ePGElHtNZYVrp8iWooQr4Yqb-i8n8qt-lzdruMPMkNTGxRdwOJAUdVHOdWpBo30KSsaoaZ6wPnExCc04gdzf_AvlK62sERqSGbfSMo1gY0OT-WnFb8gMHjB4DvjmPQtpLwZi6FMaQ-nuLyaFfNmqOxk4AEB0Q/s1639/CT-ui-user-interface-screenshot.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="814" data-original-width="1639" height="318" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgmT1VBeNFcruA34mveRE28DsX5o46S9ePGElHtNZYVrp8iWooQr4Yqb-i8n8qt-lzdruMPMkNTGxRdwOJAUdVHOdWpBo30KSsaoaZ6wPnExCc04gdzf_AvlK62sERqSGbfSMo1gY0OT-WnFb8gMHjB4DvjmPQtpLwZi6FMaQ-nuLyaFfNmqOxk4AEB0Q/w640-h318/CT-ui-user-interface-screenshot.jpg" width="640" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">The 'slightly busy' UI for 'Cyclic Transpositions 01...<br /></td></tr></tbody></table><br /><div>Note that you can see the background purple graphics underneath the top bar, as well as in the border of the keyboard. </div><div><br /></div><div>---</div><h3 style="text-align: left;">Pre 1.0.7</h3><div>Yep, not unlike Russian Doll Season 2, but this isn't quite a jump into the 1980s...</div><div><br /></div><div>First off, there are some sized graphics files, in 2x (1624 x 750 pixels) and 1x (812 x 375 pixels):</div><div><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg20ppNwmm1T0wetb5kOHXkTFBzdkWMBDC2QHx3zqPAZGzp_WnS9PEdELlKUbmbGaAoRo75azdkDgoqiUYwt5js7x2J5TuAwgY-SlMrcAr9H0Jogprsfuzfs3oT-LYccFme_Pl_JZQ1fLMGlZNnxyju_FN2SCC_HhUpOnhTUlHlgW2pZ5rEs9BHGsZ6Vg/s812/DS-Template-1x.png" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="375" data-original-width="812" height="296" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg20ppNwmm1T0wetb5kOHXkTFBzdkWMBDC2QHx3zqPAZGzp_WnS9PEdELlKUbmbGaAoRo75azdkDgoqiUYwt5js7x2J5TuAwgY-SlMrcAr9H0Jogprsfuzfs3oT-LYccFme_Pl_JZQ1fLMGlZNnxyju_FN2SCC_HhUpOnhTUlHlgW2pZ5rEs9BHGsZ6Vg/w640-h296/DS-Template-1x.png" width="640" /></a></div><br /><div>These deliberately show the on-screen 'chrome' or 'UI furniture': the top bar and the keyboard, because these are areas that you will want to avoid with your background graphics.</div><div><br /></div><div>---</div><div><br /></div><div>Then there are the 'magic numbers' that aren't in any of the format documentation (as far as I could see, anyway):</div><div><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjcPKTAsyimkbElEYpo74k6AgLLppH4xT37lA0sG21o_STPIGMaPz28yEdLCkF1M-dNOrRmyyreEZqkuDCpFDUfDwCKJCsAbLXDnljgGDnjm_6ObUYdH8txBRSg0Vx9OdjXbK8nPzHNilWNz4uwN6UGFJnxEj9aNV8UyeLK1e_ZKoRvoJitCOqgyHotrg/s812/DS-Template-1x-UI.png" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="375" data-original-width="812" height="296" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjcPKTAsyimkbElEYpo74k6AgLLppH4xT37lA0sG21o_STPIGMaPz28yEdLCkF1M-dNOrRmyyreEZqkuDCpFDUfDwCKJCsAbLXDnljgGDnjm_6ObUYdH8txBRSg0Vx9OdjXbK8nPzHNilWNz4uwN6UGFJnxEj9aNV8UyeLK1e_ZKoRvoJitCOqgyHotrg/w640-h296/DS-Template-1x-UI.png" width="640" /></a></div><br /><div>Yep, the top bar is 51 pixels high, and the keyboard (plus the border) is 110 pixels high. They are both 812 pixels wide.</div><div><br /></div><div>The zero, zero 'epoch' position for the graphics inside Decent Sampler is not the top- left hand corner! it is 51 pixels lower... </div><div><br /></div><div>The centre of the UI screen is at 406,107.</div><div><br /></div><div>The far right hand lower corner is at 812, 214 (just above the keyboard). So your UI graphics have to fit into a rectangular area that is 812 x 214, although the border around the keyboard and underneath the semi-transparent top bar means that some of your graphics outside this area will be visible. </div><div><br /></div><div>---</div><div><br /></div><div>Then there are plain white, precisely sized files that can be used as starting points, again in 2x (1624 x 750 pixels) and 1x (812 x 375 pixels):</div><div><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEje4Z5nWpNkEXj9OU5G6C7h4cV8uJ97WJ4i6IwH5nCMtXcInK3RFmexGaYxj2a_WgpUuDNc4RnI4HrJAbaNTLGJl1k-DBUmrQjxrX6Eojp0ZBNAW9lUr4VYtPtDhGLEqtsrNkUuhcHl-ddJp4tGa9_kgfE5aFupQaz3BMyf5DBb4ubgBjAemX4bojOnBg/s812/DS-Template-1x-mask2.png" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="375" data-original-width="812" height="296" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEje4Z5nWpNkEXj9OU5G6C7h4cV8uJ97WJ4i6IwH5nCMtXcInK3RFmexGaYxj2a_WgpUuDNc4RnI4HrJAbaNTLGJl1k-DBUmrQjxrX6Eojp0ZBNAW9lUr4VYtPtDhGLEqtsrNkUuhcHl-ddJp4tGa9_kgfE5aFupQaz3BMyf5DBb4ubgBjAemX4bojOnBg/w640-h296/DS-Template-1x-mask2.png" width="640" /></a></div><br />The box is the keyboard position. The keyboard does not seem to be semi-transparent, so there's no real point in putting graphics underneath it!<div><br /></div><div>--- <br /><div><br /></div><div>Decent Sampler scales graphics files (.png and .jpg files) that are larger that the default 812 x 375, so you can use 2x or larger if you want. This just increases the size of your sample pack and download time (ever so slightly!). </div><div><br /></div><div>---</div><div><br /></div><div>Alongside these graphics files, it may also be worth creating some .dspreset 'template' XML files if you intend to do a UI once, and then publish multiple variants of it with different samples and graphics. </div><div><br /></div><div>---</div><div><br /></div><div>The download area:</div><div><br /></div><div><a href="https://drive.google.com/drive/folders/1BB-uiR__UkMsbW3DvkhtYJrX-aE94ZTK?usp=sharing" target="_blank">Download</a></div><div><br /></div><div><span style="font-family: inherit;">---</span></div><div><span style="font-family: inherit;"><p><span style="font-family: inherit;">If you find my writing helpful, informative or entertaining, then please consider visiting this link:</span></p><div style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; orphans: auto; text-size-adjust: auto; widows: auto;"><div style="font-size: 18.72px; font-weight: 700;"><span style="font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: small;"><a class="bmc-button" href="https://teespring.com/en-GB/stores/synthesizerwriters-store" target="_blank"><span style="margin-left: 5px;">Synthesizerwriter's Store</span></a> (New 'Modular thinking' designs now available!)</span></span></div><p style="font-size: 18.72px; font-weight: 700;"></p><div style="font-size: 18.72px; font-weight: 700;"><div style="margin: 0px;"><span style="font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: small;"><a class="bmc-button" href="https://www.buymeacoffee.com/synthwriter" target="_blank"><img alt="Buy me a coffee" src="https://www.buymeacoffee.com/assets/img/BMC-btn-logo.svg" /><span style="margin-left: 5px;">Buy me a coffee</span></a> (Encourage me to write more posts like this one!)... or...</span></span></div><div><span style="font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: small;"><br /></span></span></div></div></div></span></div><div><a href="https://ko-fi.com/W7W5BM4JX" target="_blank"><img alt="Buy Me a Coffee at ko-fi.com" border="0" height="36" src="https://cdn.ko-fi.com/cdn/kofi3.png?v=3" style="border: 0px; height: 36px;" /></a> (Encourage me via a different route entirely...)</div><div><br /></div><div>Or just tell someone else that there's this amazing blog about hi-tech music...</div><div><br /></div><div><br /></div><div> </div><p><br /></p></div></div></div></div>Synthesizerwriterhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13668943829180629830noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5222520500837940683.post-43456308582513258652022-04-24T17:06:00.008+01:002022-04-29T20:48:43.441+01:00A Decent Sampler Translation Table Cookbook...<p>Decent Sampler is slightly more than just a sample player. There are hidden depths if you go looking, and regular readers will know that I love deep products! So here are some hints, tips and ideas for getting the most out of the Translation Tables!</p><h3 style="text-align: left;">Translation Tables</h3><p>Yes, I know, they aren't exactly going to be headline news, but there'a a lot that you can do with them.</p><h4 style="text-align: left;">The Power_Curve Spreadsheet</h4><p>First off, I'm going to mention my newly updated spreadsheet (.xlsx and .ods versions are available) for creating exponential / power law curves instead of the default linear mapping that Decent Sampler uses:</p><p>The default settings are aimed at one of the first things that you will probably want to 'fix' with a translation table: the mapping between the control (slider, rotary...) and the values! At the low end, the control of cut-off frequency for the low-pass filter is a little bit abrupt - you can suddenly get loud sounds when you were not expecting them, especially when the Q control is set high. So the default curve takes about half of the travel of the control (slider, rotary) to get from 10 Hertz to 635 Hertz, which is a lot of low-end precision. The other half then goes from 635 Hz to 22kHz, which feels okay to my fingers.</p><p>The spreadsheet doesn't have any instructions, so here's a quick explanation of one way of working with it. </p><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjZxrulTTAV0aqWr_L8Kw22Cc66AnokQYNaWYAEdMz-GlRxQ3MlhVYCCBlyRuPI6IhMSD0y-vXjVjJrRVwrtxPBU1PwueURBWF-rIL__uA9pyrcv6_g4_dkd7s_PiRuJRpJhu6Zq3lWjhcRB7tkp6D01l-4XxzwcxPpOPnC93oc-HyMkXZO1eqK_XbyGg/s2603/power%20curve1.jpg" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1236" data-original-width="2603" height="304" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjZxrulTTAV0aqWr_L8Kw22Cc66AnokQYNaWYAEdMz-GlRxQ3MlhVYCCBlyRuPI6IhMSD0y-vXjVjJrRVwrtxPBU1PwueURBWF-rIL__uA9pyrcv6_g4_dkd7s_PiRuJRpJhu6Zq3lWjhcRB7tkp6D01l-4XxzwcxPpOPnC93oc-HyMkXZO1eqK_XbyGg/w640-h304/power%20curve1.jpg" width="640" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">The Power_curve spreadsheet</td></tr></tbody></table><p>Start by setting the limits. </p><p>Set 'Top' to the highest value you want to control - for the low-pass filter this will be 22kHz, so put '22000' into the 'Top' box. </p><p>Then set 'Bottom' to the lowest value you want to control - for the low-pass filter this is 20Hz, so put '20' into the 'Bottom' box. </p><p>You now need to choose the 'Power/Base' setting - putting '1' into the 'Power/Base' box will give a straight line, which is the default in Decent Sampler. Putting higher values into the 'Power/Base' box will make the curve more and more 'boomerang shaped (the bend in the curve will get more and more extreme!). The default value of '5' may be too much for you - I actually think that '3' is a good starting point for you to find what suits your fingers and your UI (rotary and slider controls feel different with different 'Power/Base' settings...). </p><p>Note that a Power curve puts more detail at the lower end of the control's range, whilst a Log curve puts more detail at the higher end. </p><p></p><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgMkh9k-mxSzWAh3ZzaYUodwWM8WVebcIBIrJY4gm4nMyDb3Pj16jg4vJPynJMHZyY7X1fOsFGm0MTd0XNX-czp6fQVZ08gMk2RJSsrCHSZCYlSOJX304TuOSDnjKx_yD_S3NIKvRwmT60AT1xfxbAqbAWp9fFn9WvLUMRPmyz8ZrIXFTruuSstg8JOoA/s2613/power%20curve2.jpg" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1237" data-original-width="2613" height="302" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgMkh9k-mxSzWAh3ZzaYUodwWM8WVebcIBIrJY4gm4nMyDb3Pj16jg4vJPynJMHZyY7X1fOsFGm0MTd0XNX-czp6fQVZ08gMk2RJSsrCHSZCYlSOJX304TuOSDnjKx_yD_S3NIKvRwmT60AT1xfxbAqbAWp9fFn9WvLUMRPmyz8ZrIXFTruuSstg8JOoA/w640-h302/power%20curve2.jpg" width="640" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">The extreme values of 'Power/Base'...</td></tr></tbody></table><br /><p></p><p>Here are the limits to the curves: Power/Base set to 1 gives a straight line, whilst 25 gives a very abrupt corner! You can really see the piecewise linear approximations (straight lines) for the log curve. </p><p>Once you have a curve that seems right, just copy and paste the long string of numbers above the graph and paste it into the translation table definition:</p><div style="line-height: 18px;"><span style="background-color: black;"><span style="color: red; font-family: Menlo, Monaco, "Courier New", monospace; font-size: 12px; white-space: pre;">translationTable</span><span style="font-family: Menlo, Monaco, Courier New, monospace;"><span style="font-size: 12px; white-space: pre;">=</span></span><span style="color: blue; font-family: Menlo, Monaco, Courier New, monospace;"><span style="font-size: 12px; white-space: pre;">"0,10;0.1,10.2;0.2,16.4;0.3,58.6;0.4,214.7;0.5,634.7;</span></span></span></div><div style="line-height: 18px;"><span style="color: blue; font-family: Menlo, Monaco, Courier New, monospace;"><span style="background-color: black; font-size: 12px; white-space: pre;">0.6,1564.4;0.7,6560.3;0.9,11813.9;1,20000"</span></span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span style="background-color: black;"><br /></span></div>Here's an example 'binding' that you might use inside a <control> element:<div><span style="background-color: black;"><br /></span></div><div><div style="font-family: Menlo, Monaco, "Courier New", monospace; font-size: 12px; line-height: 18px; white-space: pre;"><span style="background-color: black;"><span style="color: maroon;"><binding</span> </span></div><div style="font-family: Menlo, Monaco, "Courier New", monospace; font-size: 12px; line-height: 18px; white-space: pre;"><div style="line-height: 18px;"><span style="background-color: black;"><span style="color: red;">type</span>=<span style="color: blue;">"effect"</span> </span></div><div style="line-height: 18px;"><span style="background-color: black;"><span style="color: red;">level</span>=<span style="color: blue;">"instrument"</span> </span></div><div style="line-height: 18px;"><span style="background-color: black;"><span style="color: red;">position</span>=<span style="color: blue;">"0"</span> </span></div><div style="line-height: 18px;"><span style="background-color: black;"><span style="color: red;">parameter</span>=<span style="color: blue;">"FX_FILTER_FREQUENCY"</span></span></div></div><div style="font-family: Menlo, Monaco, "Courier New", monospace; font-size: 12px; line-height: 18px; white-space: pre;"><span style="background-color: black;"><span style="color: red;">translation</span>=<span style="color: blue;">"table"</span> </span></div><div style="font-family: Menlo, Monaco, "Courier New", monospace; font-size: 12px; line-height: 18px; white-space: pre;"><span style="background-color: black;"><span style="color: red;">translationTable</span>=<span style="color: blue;">"0,10;0.1,10.2;0.2,16.4;0.3,58.6;0.4,214.7;0.5,634.7;</span></span></div><div style="font-family: Menlo, Monaco, "Courier New", monospace; font-size: 12px; line-height: 18px; white-space: pre;"><span style="background-color: black; color: blue;">0.6,1564.4;0.7,6560.3;0.9,11813.9;1,20000"</span></div><div style="font-family: Menlo, Monaco, "Courier New", monospace; font-size: 12px; line-height: 18px; white-space: pre;"><span style="background-color: black; color: maroon;">/></span></div><h4 style="line-height: 18px; text-align: left; white-space: pre;"><span><span style="background-color: black; color: white; font-family: inherit; font-size: small;">Controlling Volume</span></span></h4>Changing the 'feel' of rotary or slider controls isn't the only thing you can use Translation Tables for... Because you can put more than one <binding> element inside a <control> element, then you can make controls that do more than one thing at once!</div><div><br /></div><div>One typical use would be to mix between two different sounds - you could have a sustained sample and a percussive sample, and you want to be able to give the user a continuous control of the mix between the two samples. Now you could use two separate controls to do this, but a single mix control is much neater, and if you make it a horizontal slider, then you could do a DJ Controller background...<p style="line-height: 18px;"></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjNrDuFRqhCVcj73Ej4b3V9RJ5v7mKz7J_PAdxPtun5PjGUoF4qMDmDtSahxTszusPpNZecf6jCwW8eNhXTRgoUd387p5KdBnoQ3VZWzAfPbZ0gZCg6ecjnLAvZ8jUBcWJF9bKf1RI8OOKBkmwUQf5ZZzea8KuNvOeSJAYj7DOpR3w6Kga3oXOuhrpeQw/s1080/Slide1.jpeg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="608" data-original-width="1080" height="360" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjNrDuFRqhCVcj73Ej4b3V9RJ5v7mKz7J_PAdxPtun5PjGUoF4qMDmDtSahxTszusPpNZecf6jCwW8eNhXTRgoUd387p5KdBnoQ3VZWzAfPbZ0gZCg6ecjnLAvZ8jUBcWJF9bKf1RI8OOKBkmwUQf5ZZzea8KuNvOeSJAYj7DOpR3w6Kga3oXOuhrpeQw/w640-h360/Slide1.jpeg" width="640" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div>The simplest way of doing a mix control would be to have two opposite tables, as shown above. <p></p><p style="line-height: 18px;">The 'Second Volume Curve' is a straight line, but think of it as a curve that is straight rather than curvy... and it looks just like the linear table shown above. You can specify a table like this with just two points: one at the beginning and one at the end. This 'curve' starts out at zero (silence) and goes up to 1 (full volume) as the input controller moves from 0 to 127 (on a MIDI Mod Wheel, but it could also be 1 for a rotary or slider control...or any other value you define in the table...). </p><p style="line-height: 18px;"><i><b>In the diagrams, I have shown a Mod Wheel as the controller, so the minimum and maximum values are 0 and 127, but in the text I have used 0 and 1 as the controller values, because this is a more generic example. </b></i></p><p style="line-height: 18px;">The 'First Volume Curve' is another straight line, but going the opposite way. So the volume starts out at maximum and ends up at silence as the input controller moves from 0 to 1 (or 127, or...). So one volume does the opposite of the other. In Decent Sampler, this is just two <binding> elements inside a <control>:</p><div style="font-family: Menlo, Monaco, "Courier New", monospace; font-size: 12px; line-height: 18px; white-space: pre;"><div><span style="background-color: black;"><span style="color: maroon;"><control</span> <span style="color: red;">x</span>=<span style="color: blue;">"195"</span> <span style="color: red;">y</span>=<span style="color: blue;">"30"</span> <span style="color: red;">parameterName</span>=<span style="color: blue;">"Mix"</span> <span style="color: red;">type</span>=<span style="color: blue;">"float"</span> </span></div><div><span style="background-color: black;"><span style="color: red;"> minValue</span>=<span style="color: blue;">"0.001"</span> <span style="color: red;">maxValue</span>=<span style="color: blue;">"1.0"</span> <span style="color: red;">value</span>=<span style="color: blue;">"0.8"</span> </span></div><div><span style="background-color: black;"><span style="color: red;"> trackForegroundColor</span>=<span style="color: blue;">"FFFF7700"</span> <span style="color: red;">trackBackgroundColor</span>=<span style="color: blue;">"FF000000"</span> </span></div><div><span style="background-color: black;"><span style="color: red;"> width</span>=<span style="color: blue;">"30"</span> <span style="color: red;">height</span>=<span style="color: blue;">"180"</span> <span style="color: red;">style</span>=<span style="color: blue;">"linear_vertical"</span> <span style="color: maroon;">></span></span></div><div><span style="background-color: black;"> <span style="color: maroon;"><binding</span> <span style="color: red;">type</span>=<span style="color: blue;">"amp"</span> <span style="color: red;">level</span>=<span style="color: blue;">"tag"</span> <span style="color: red;">identifier</span>=<span style="color: blue;">"0"</span> <span style="color: red;">parameter</span>=<span style="color: blue;">"TAG_VOLUME"</span> </span></div><div><span style="background-color: black;"><span style="color: red;"> translation</span>=<span style="color: blue;">"table"</span> <span style="color: red;">translationTable</span>=<span style="color: blue;">"0,1;0.5,0;1,0"</span> <span style="color: maroon;">/></span></span></div><div><span style="background-color: black;"> <span style="color: maroon;"><binding</span> <span style="color: red;">type</span>=<span style="color: blue;">"amp"</span> <span style="color: red;">level</span>=<span style="color: blue;">"tag"</span> <span style="color: red;">identifier</span>=<span style="color: blue;">"1"</span> <span style="color: red;">parameter</span>=<span style="color: blue;">"TAG_VOLUME"</span> </span></div><div><span style="background-color: black;"><span style="color: red;"> translation</span>=<span style="color: blue;">"table"</span> <span style="color: red;">translationTable</span>=<span style="color: blue;">"0,0;0.5,1;1,0"</span> <span style="color: maroon;">/></span></span></div><div><span style="background-color: black; color: maroon;"></control></span></div></div><p style="line-height: 18px;">In this example, the two 'TAG-VOLUME's will affect the volume of the '0' and the '1' tagged groups in the Decent Sampler XML file... But you could also use tags and AMP_VOLUME if you prefer:</p><div style="font-family: Menlo, Monaco, "Courier New", monospace; font-size: 12px; line-height: 18px; white-space: pre;"><span style="background-color: black;"><span style="color: maroon;"><binding</span> <span style="color: red;">type</span>=<span style="color: blue;">"amp"</span> <span style="color: red;">level</span>=<span style="color: blue;">"group"</span> <span style="color: red;">position</span>=<span style="color: blue;">"0"</span> <span style="color: red;">parameter</span>=<span style="color: blue;">"AMP_VOLUME" ...table1... </span><span style="color: maroon;">/></span></span></div><div style="font-family: Menlo, Monaco, "Courier New", monospace; font-size: 12px; line-height: 18px; white-space: pre;"><span style="background-color: black;"><span style="color: maroon;"><binding</span> <span style="color: red;">type</span>=<span style="color: blue;">"amp"</span> <span style="color: red;">level</span>=<span style="color: blue;">"group"</span> <span style="color: red;">position</span>=<span style="color: blue;">"1"</span> <span style="color: red;">parameter</span>=<span style="color: blue;">"AMP_VOLUME" ...table2... </span><span style="color: maroon;">/></span></span></div><p style="line-height: 18px;">The two important bits here are the two Translation Tables:</p><p style="line-height: 18px;"><span style="background-color: black;"><span style="color: red; font-family: Menlo, Monaco, "Courier New", monospace; font-size: 12px; white-space: pre;">translationTable</span><span style="font-family: Menlo, Monaco, "Courier New", monospace; font-size: 12px; white-space: pre;">=</span><span style="color: blue; font-family: Menlo, Monaco, "Courier New", monospace; font-size: 12px; white-space: pre;">"0,1;0.5,0.5;1,0"</span></span></p><p style="line-height: 18px;"><span style="background-color: black;"><span style="color: red; font-family: Menlo, Monaco, "Courier New", monospace; font-size: 12px; white-space: pre;">translationTable</span><span style="font-family: Menlo, Monaco, "Courier New", monospace; font-size: 12px; white-space: pre;">=</span><span style="color: blue; font-family: Menlo, Monaco, "Courier New", monospace; font-size: 12px; white-space: pre;">"0,0;0.5,0.5;1,1"</span></span></p><p style="line-height: 18px;">The top table starts at 1 and drops to 0, whilst the bottom table starts at 0 and rises to 1. The middle position is 0.5, and this is where things get a little bit tricky. As you move the input control, the 'volume' that you hear might not stay constant, and it might sound like it gets quieter, or louder, in the middle. It depends on how the volume is controlled (linear, logarithmic or other), and sometimes even the samples themselves - in the example I mentioned at the beginning, then the percussive sample is probably going to sound quieter than the sustained sample, and so even if the volume that you might see in a DAW or audio editor says that they have the same peak volume, when you mix between them it could sound strange. But this is why you have detailed control over the translation tables! </p><p style="line-height: 18px;"></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi70Qw3G8i4NRPeGyIhVlg7MxP_sLByezegJvPVkk4U_n0q_Y6TEed9HGeOyXHWzNuihHUzIMw_-DHTrA8Rq9LG-77dvjQ7KNZmikQt4QVxqVXkW5watM0eHBKL17oj7o7Gld4LObVY0YzKQXHWvaoh-N8k87SxJa8jopeZqJHrZNF7LxmyIqnpGQRSSw/s1080/Slide2.jpeg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="608" data-original-width="1080" height="360" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi70Qw3G8i4NRPeGyIhVlg7MxP_sLByezegJvPVkk4U_n0q_Y6TEed9HGeOyXHWzNuihHUzIMw_-DHTrA8Rq9LG-77dvjQ7KNZmikQt4QVxqVXkW5watM0eHBKL17oj7o7Gld4LObVY0YzKQXHWvaoh-N8k87SxJa8jopeZqJHrZNF7LxmyIqnpGQRSSw/w640-h360/Slide2.jpeg" width="640" /></a></div><p></p><p style="line-height: 18px;">The general case is probably going to be that you will need two curves instead of straight lines, perhaps something like the ones shown above. The easiest way to do this is to use those straight line approximations again:</p><p style="line-height: 18px;"><span style="background-color: black;"><span style="color: red; font-family: Menlo, Monaco, "Courier New", monospace; font-size: 12px; white-space: pre;">translationTable</span><span style="font-family: Menlo, Monaco, "Courier New", monospace; font-size: 12px; white-space: pre;">=</span><span style="color: blue; font-family: Menlo, Monaco, "Courier New", monospace; font-size: 12px; white-space: pre;">"0,1;0.5,0.66;1,0"</span></span></p><p style="line-height: 18px;"><span style="background-color: black;"><span style="color: red; font-family: Menlo, Monaco, "Courier New", monospace; font-size: 12px; white-space: pre;">translationTable</span><span style="font-family: Menlo, Monaco, "Courier New", monospace; font-size: 12px; white-space: pre;">=</span><span style="color: blue; font-family: Menlo, Monaco, "Courier New", monospace; font-size: 12px; white-space: pre;">"0,0;0.5,0.66;1,1"</span></span></p><p style="line-height: 18px;">So now the half-way setting of the input is going to output 2/3rds of the percussive and the sustained samples, instead of half volume. As I said, the exact value will depend on the samples and your preferences - Virtual Instruments are very context-sensitive!</p><p style="line-height: 18px;"><i><b>The 'Arbitrary_curve' spreadsheet is another utility that helps to design volume curves...</b></i></p><p style="line-height: 18px;">You may have realised that there's a potential problem with the mix control - it always makes a sound! What might be lots more useful (and interesting) would be a mix control that starts out at zero volume, then raises the volume of the sustained sample, and then mixes in the percussive sample whilst dropping the sustained sample, so half way would be a mix of the two sounds, and ending up with just the percussive sample at the end of the mix control's movement. This time, the curves are very different in the zero position (and I have deliberately renamed them to second and third):</p><p style="line-height: 18px;"></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhRiOC3f9HWl2aEbooIMQ9HNRgIGKwIXt_NWVIvOeKPRKzklQuUfrbvIm34XD8k5Nv03mIvuSKLSAvHZ-NdIq5v5y9vzesfW9rLoKz1MopjEGaGK8MZKm8hqreSAsVVmWEv8sDFizgHTYv3Qym_amwaWTntSPCF-gDLVuc3rH5yT_uyfOzCNIeZrAjiSQ/s1080/Slide6.jpeg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="608" data-original-width="1080" height="360" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhRiOC3f9HWl2aEbooIMQ9HNRgIGKwIXt_NWVIvOeKPRKzklQuUfrbvIm34XD8k5Nv03mIvuSKLSAvHZ-NdIq5v5y9vzesfW9rLoKz1MopjEGaGK8MZKm8hqreSAsVVmWEv8sDFizgHTYv3Qym_amwaWTntSPCF-gDLVuc3rH5yT_uyfOzCNIeZrAjiSQ/w640-h360/Slide6.jpeg" width="640" /></a></div><p></p><p style="line-height: 18px;">At the zero position, the volume for both samples needs to be zero. As the input value rises, the sustained sample gets louder and louder, and at half way it is at full volume. Notice that the percussive (third volume curve) doesn't start until slightly later, so that there is a 'dead zone' around the half-way point where you hear just the sustained sample. From half way to just below the maximum input control position, the sustained sample fades out as the percussive sample fade up. There is another 'dead zone' at maximum input where just the percussive sample is heard. </p><div style="font-family: Menlo, Monaco, "Courier New", monospace; font-size: 12px; line-height: 18px; white-space: pre;"><div><span style="background-color: black;"> <span style="color: maroon;"><binding</span> ... <span style="color: red;">translationTable</span>=<span style="color: blue;">"0,1;0.2,0.5;1.0;0,0.66,0.5;0.95,0;1,0"</span> <span style="color: maroon;">/></span></span></div><div><span style="background-color: black; color: maroon;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="background-color: black;"> <span style="color: maroon;"><binding</span> ... <span style="color: red;">translationTable</span>=<span style="color: blue;">"0,0;0.55,0;0.66,0.5;1,1"</span> <span style="color: maroon;">/></span> </span></div><div><span style="background-color: black;"><br /></span></div></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgmWc4IAVE45N0MVX6jOIKtcyrVHGteiU3F2WjthhOjHCwkbXWW4CXowVQg1GaVJmv5FgHAbWm7ksos9IXGtWXUBOBlf91jRiUr4exaikxxbak58ls_Yt9F3WYshjTPrukdbSqJ7f4q2ZVq-_6i45ed2REI255FBfuX_jlVHE6ghluyrM0E-gVuVeluTQ/s1080/Slide7.jpeg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="608" data-original-width="1080" height="360" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgmWc4IAVE45N0MVX6jOIKtcyrVHGteiU3F2WjthhOjHCwkbXWW4CXowVQg1GaVJmv5FgHAbWm7ksos9IXGtWXUBOBlf91jRiUr4exaikxxbak58ls_Yt9F3WYshjTPrukdbSqJ7f4q2ZVq-_6i45ed2REI255FBfuX_jlVHE6ghluyrM0E-gVuVeluTQ/w640-h360/Slide7.jpeg" width="640" /></a></div><br />And the curvy version is shown above - just more pairs of values in the translation table.</div><div><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEigw8E9xHtfeM2iR_Xo1p_VJjhYNw50FXOJY7viwOk7HmopWzFgP2ButrlxOG8C3KFBfqQP305TRAMCv3G9dap93XMI75snl90xZPQsrx66wEh_JqnSTXGgsyiUyR2TxNUXj6qc2Y-8SwVyHZfQ7cv6uSnFocuLvliaYCcUUE-zF17-Fhb735IbhnTUJA/s608/Dynamics%20Mod%20Wheel.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="608" data-original-width="270" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEigw8E9xHtfeM2iR_Xo1p_VJjhYNw50FXOJY7viwOk7HmopWzFgP2ButrlxOG8C3KFBfqQP305TRAMCv3G9dap93XMI75snl90xZPQsrx66wEh_JqnSTXGgsyiUyR2TxNUXj6qc2Y-8SwVyHZfQ7cv6uSnFocuLvliaYCcUUE-zF17-Fhb735IbhnTUJA/s320/Dynamics%20Mod%20Wheel.jpg" width="142" /></a></div><br /><div>The UI might look something like the above draft graphics... And here is exactly this type of sustain-percussive slider in use:</div><div><br /></div><div><a href="https://www.pianobook.co.uk/packs/sussed-perk-beta-01/">https://www.pianobook.co.uk/packs/sussed-perk-beta-01/</a></div><div><br /></div><div>Now it may have occurred to you that the UI graphics above are actually a three-way mixer, except one of the positions is zero volume (and no sample). If we replace the zero volume with a third sample then we have a single rotary or slider control that fades between three different samples:</div><div><br /></div><div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjybjvsSe_LmVc-aA8OeBeLZhYQ3E2WHNi7bo1L6zEKCfMypnrV89O_uDECfHZhIP8IJIvmLGZ7YLdHAL1OoH_h1_mYTmEtzqZlIQRctGR52gLDW5S4OyDG1cJcBOJHk84kAoeMorxnZrrAlaLidV-JS0izrHy0vQSbRKfetmTcBgAlsRrXEDZqiFmfNw/s1080/Slide3.jpeg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="608" data-original-width="1080" height="360" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjybjvsSe_LmVc-aA8OeBeLZhYQ3E2WHNi7bo1L6zEKCfMypnrV89O_uDECfHZhIP8IJIvmLGZ7YLdHAL1OoH_h1_mYTmEtzqZlIQRctGR52gLDW5S4OyDG1cJcBOJHk84kAoeMorxnZrrAlaLidV-JS0izrHy0vQSbRKfetmTcBgAlsRrXEDZqiFmfNw/w640-h360/Slide3.jpeg" width="640" /></a></div> </div><div>A simple form is shown above. I've not put in the dead zones that would probably be useful in a real implementation, because I wanted to show the basic form of a three-way volume control on a single rotary or slider control. This time there are three tables:</div><div><span style="background-color: black;"><br /></span></div><div><div style="font-family: Menlo, Monaco, "Courier New", monospace; font-size: 12px; line-height: 18px; white-space: pre;"><div><span style="background-color: black;"><span style="color: red;">translationTable</span>=<span style="color: blue;">"0,1;0.25,0.5;0.5;0,0.75,0.0;1,0"</span></span></div><div><span style="background-color: black;"><span style="color: red;">translationTable</span>=<span style="color: blue;">"0,0;0.25,0.5;0.5,1;0.75,0.5;1,0"</span></span></div><div><span style="background-color: black;"><span style="color: red;">translationTable</span>=<span style="color: blue;">"0,0;0.25,0.0;0.5,0;0.75,0.5;1,1"</span></span></div></div></div><div><br /></div><div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhFoBC6qJxTk0avSN0VDFHY3S15Id_goIg-Yh_EtSaqDdAfalKynOcaH5yua9AQm-_dC9KCu64Xuu52md8A_oO1KCJ5khfON422v0RsygZTcXixKO0s_HEa_gXyZv5yDFP0tvL0EgTo1CYKS-4WNpbNKDQg0iY-CrLPlu_esiDad3DL-1Jl-VpC-MDsfg/s1080/Slide4.jpeg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="608" data-original-width="1080" height="360" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhFoBC6qJxTk0avSN0VDFHY3S15Id_goIg-Yh_EtSaqDdAfalKynOcaH5yua9AQm-_dC9KCu64Xuu52md8A_oO1KCJ5khfON422v0RsygZTcXixKO0s_HEa_gXyZv5yDFP0tvL0EgTo1CYKS-4WNpbNKDQg0iY-CrLPlu_esiDad3DL-1Jl-VpC-MDsfg/w640-h360/Slide4.jpeg" width="640" /></a></div><div><br /></div>Turning this into the 'curvy' form reveals something that wasn't as significant in the sustain/percussive mixer - the middle section is too big: it is twice as big as the sections either side of it (0.5, 1.0, 0.5 in the diagram above - and yes, I know it should have been 0.25, 0.5, 0.25, but this seems to obscure things rather than making them clearer!)</div><div><span style="background-color: black;"><br /></span></div><div><div style="font-family: Menlo, Monaco, "Courier New", monospace; font-size: 12px; white-space: pre;"><span style="background-color: black;"><span style="color: red;">translationTable</span>=<span style="color: blue;">"0,1;0.33,0.66;0.5;0,0.66,0.0 ;1,0"</span></span></div><div style="font-family: Menlo, Monaco, "Courier New", monospace; font-size: 12px; white-space: pre;"><span style="background-color: black;"><span style="color: red;">translationTable</span>=<span style="color: blue;">"0,0;0.33,0.66;0.5,1;0.66,0.66;1,0"</span></span></div><div style="font-family: Menlo, Monaco, "Courier New", monospace; font-size: 12px; white-space: pre;"><span style="background-color: black;"><span style="color: red;">translationTable</span>=<span style="color: blue;">"0,0;0.0 ,0.0 ;0.5,0;0.66,0.66;1,1"</span></span></div></div><div><br /></div><div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjnIPmYRr8UxB4LZVBviNOTKiLHpCJrXmRteyLrSnQJwF0zxwWGL6gyyViV-VdvSrIS_AhU6vhaDQ46XGs9Fff0MksjI25xzxnxGSHq28fGXCNFe0fHWl8uIbBcq0FWOtN9UxASJZ0GlzWHbET9-BJJCyuxFIICjY3O42zydEPdCDfAiFbgI3evsuOBsQ/s1080/Slide5.jpeg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="608" data-original-width="1080" height="360" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjnIPmYRr8UxB4LZVBviNOTKiLHpCJrXmRteyLrSnQJwF0zxwWGL6gyyViV-VdvSrIS_AhU6vhaDQ46XGs9Fff0MksjI25xzxnxGSHq28fGXCNFe0fHWl8uIbBcq0FWOtN9UxASJZ0GlzWHbET9-BJJCyuxFIICjY3O42zydEPdCDfAiFbgI3evsuOBsQ/w640-h360/Slide5.jpeg" width="640" /></a></div><div><br /></div><div>So, using 0.33 and 0.66 as the two places where the mixing is 0.5, gives us a different curvy form. The rotary or slider control is now split into 3 zones: one for each sample. Note that this is not a full 3-way mixer: it only fades between sample 1 and 2, or 2 and 3. It isn't possible to fade between 1 and 3, because there isn't anywhere on the control that goes there! </div><div><br /></div><div><i><b>(I leave it as an exercise to see if you can figure out a way to provide a fade between 1 and 3... It isn't pretty, but it is possible...)</b></i></div><div><br /></div><div>This means that the samples need to be carefully chosen, so that the user never wants to use the missing fade! One possible approach might be to have the Sustain sample in the middle (2), the Percussive sample at the top (3), and some sort of Noisy sample that complements the sustain sample at the bottom (1). This way the middle position is the default, with the user moving the control up to get a more percussive sound, and moving the control downwards to roughen up the sustain sound with noise.</div><div><br /></div><div>There is a catch, of course. Having a single control for sustain and percussive sounds means that we can adjust the mix between them, but not the overall volume. Of course, if those are the only sounds that we are using then an Expression pedal or control could be used to alter the overall volume. But if we wanted to control the balance between two pairs of sustain/percussive sounds, then expanding things out to 4 separate volume controls is probably the best option. As someone who is notorious for having complex user interfaces (UIs), then please forgive me when I try to explore other, more 'compact' options. Maybe there is a case for doing different UIs for different end uses...</div><div><br /></div><div>Finally, before thinking about the next level, consider current high-end stage pianos - Nord Stage 3, Yamaha CP88, Roland RD-2000 et al. The reason they have lots of controls is because of the complexity of balancing piano with strings, pads, etc. in a modern 'gigging' context. Then think back 70 years and consider the controls on a (Fender-)Rhodes Mark 1 Stage Piano - only two rotary controls and effectively only one (very expressive) sound (although if you added an MXR Phase 90...). Times have changed!</div><h3 style="text-align: left;">Further extensions</h3><div>The samples need not be conventional samples, they could also be release samples triggered by 'Note Off' MIDI messages, or even one of those large pools of legato samples. </div><div><br /></div><div>Now that I have shown you the way to move from two samples to three, you have probably realised that this can be extended to as many samples as you want, although don't forget that squashing too many samples onto a small rotary or linear control might overwhelm the end user! (It also gets harder to choose an ordering of samples that makes the limited number of available fades feel like they are the right ones, and you don't get users asking how they fade between samples in different parts of the control...)</div><div><br /></div><div>Once you have got your head around Translation Tables, then you can do a lot with them. I have just been scratching the surface in this blog post...</div><div><br /></div><div>The important thing is that Translation Tables are one way to achieve sophisticated user control over multiple samples, without a huge amount of complexity being required 'behind the scenes'. Anything that makes creating Decent Sampler virtual instruments easier is good in my book, and I hope that this blog post has opened up some new possibilities for your Decent Sampler programming!</div><h3 style="text-align: left;">The Arbitrary Curve spreadsheet</h3><div>So, now that you know why translation tables are useful when controlling volume (and other parameters) in Decent Sampler, you probably want to know if there are any useful utilities to help you make them. That would be my companion to 'Power_curve', the mysteriously-named 'Arbitrary_curve'. </div><div><br /></div><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEikt8XCHLpdL4xBRvQgT6fSZzzm5_O-LvbsKvR2Ubkn0Ul_QvCGH2wjzo4gsX7v2O9P3q_Jtdgd6BJnZkwfABlsUhYST5HM_zRh1PXfaxAgxlouH4g7qr7kx5QnL890s99FWSQakeI-Y_vD474WRmA4N9lPiyawKnppVc50osRVM8vRuiTssh2pRE8Nlw/s3980/arbitrary1.jpg" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1812" data-original-width="3980" height="292" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEikt8XCHLpdL4xBRvQgT6fSZzzm5_O-LvbsKvR2Ubkn0Ul_QvCGH2wjzo4gsX7v2O9P3q_Jtdgd6BJnZkwfABlsUhYST5HM_zRh1PXfaxAgxlouH4g7qr7kx5QnL890s99FWSQakeI-Y_vD474WRmA4N9lPiyawKnppVc50osRVM8vRuiTssh2pRE8Nlw/w640-h292/arbitrary1.jpg" width="640" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">The 'Arbitrary_curve' spreadsheet...</td></tr></tbody></table><br /><div>This time there are three sections, which are combined into an overview on the far right hand side. The curves shown are minor variations of the ones shown above, but with a higher degree of resolution - the previous curves were hand coded, whereas Arbitrary_curve makes it much easier to use eleven 0.1 resolution tables, which I wouldn't recommend attempting by hand.</div><div><br /></div><div><div style="font-family: Menlo, Monaco, "Courier New", monospace; font-size: 12px; white-space: pre;"><span style="color: red;">translationTable</span>=<span style="color: blue;">"0,1;0.33,0.66;0.5;0,0.66,0.0 ;1,0"</span></div><div style="font-family: Menlo, Monaco, "Courier New", monospace; font-size: 12px; white-space: pre;"><span style="color: red;">translationTable</span>=<span style="color: blue;">"0,0;0.33,0.66;0.5,1;0.66,0.66;1,0"</span></div><div style="font-family: Menlo, Monaco, "Courier New", monospace; font-size: 12px; white-space: pre;"><span style="color: red;">translationTable</span>=<span style="color: blue;">"0,0;0.0 ,0.0 ;0.5,0;0.66,0.66;1,1"</span></div></div><div style="font-family: Menlo, Monaco, "Courier New", monospace; font-size: 12px; white-space: pre;"><span style="color: blue;"><br /></span></div>The above is the hand coded, low resolution, linear-approximation version from earlier. Copying and pasting the three tables from the Arbitrary_curve spreadsheet gives this result:</div><div><br /></div><div><div><span style="color: red; font-family: Menlo, Monaco, "Courier New", monospace; font-size: 12px; white-space: pre;">translationTable</span><span style="font-family: Menlo, Monaco, Courier New, monospace;"><span style="font-size: 12px; white-space: pre;">=</span></span><span style="color: blue; font-family: Menlo, Monaco, Courier New, monospace;"><span style="font-size: 12px; white-space: pre;">"0,0;0.1,0;0.2,0;0.3,0;0.4,0;0.5,0;0.6,0;0.7,0.84;0.9,0.96;1,1"</span></span></div><div><span style="color: red; font-family: Menlo, Monaco, "Courier New", monospace; font-size: 12px; white-space: pre;">translationTable</span><span style="font-family: Menlo, Monaco, Courier New, monospace;"><span style="font-size: 12px; white-space: pre;">=</span></span><span style="color: blue; font-family: Menlo, Monaco, Courier New, monospace;"><span style="font-size: 12px; white-space: pre;">"0,0;0.1,0;0.2,0.6;0.3,0.84;0.4,0.96;0.5,1;0.6,0.96;0.7,0.6;0.9,0;1,0"</span></span></div><div><span style="color: red; font-family: Menlo, Monaco, "Courier New", monospace; font-size: 12px; white-space: pre;">translationTable</span><span style="font-family: Menlo, Monaco, Courier New, monospace;"><span style="font-size: 12px; white-space: pre;">=</span></span><span style="color: blue; font-family: Menlo, Monaco, Courier New, monospace;"><span style="font-size: 12px; white-space: pre;">"0,1;0.1,0.96;0.2,0.84;0.3,0.6;0.4,0;0.5,0;0.6,0;0.7,0;0.9,0;1,0"</span></span></div><div><br /></div><div>As you can see, we have entered the arcane topic of 'obfuscation', the art of hiding things in plain sight. Via detail in this case. Your mind can cope with visualising about five points, but 11 is just too much of a stretch for most people, and the format: pairs of numbers separated by semi-colons, doesn't help. Now if we reformat the pairs:</div><div><br /></div><div><span style="color: #2b00fe; font-family: courier;">0, <b>1</b></span></div><div><span style="color: #2b00fe; font-family: courier;">0.1, <b>0.96</b></span></div><div><span style="color: #2b00fe; font-family: courier;">0.2, <b>0.84</b></span></div><div><span style="color: #2b00fe; font-family: courier;">0.3, <b>0.6</b></span></div><div><span style="color: #2b00fe; font-family: courier;">0.4, <b>0</b></span></div><div><span style="color: #2b00fe; font-family: courier;">0.5, <b>0</b></span></div><div><span style="color: #2b00fe; font-family: courier;">0.6, <b>0</b></span></div><div><span style="color: #2b00fe; font-family: courier;">0.7, <b>0</b></span></div><div><span style="color: #2b00fe; font-family: courier;">0.9, <b>0</b></span></div><div><span style="font-family: courier;"><span style="color: #2b00fe;">1, <b>0</b></span> </span></div><div><br /></div><div>Then it is easier to read, and this is how you enter points into Arbitrary_curve.</div><div><br /></div><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgPNsZb2-65OqaDAlkBiJ9Kw89Z9NDHOwpagZKZjoleWw2HdbYLLDybODmWkgfvZGz4myJURxq_dLqhNpGnCq2a27foEg3NyMKTWlto4jZv9L0hnOVhgzxRnw3BRX6_kfXwisQ5g0faa4i2hRgxUbslFMGTVTBHXdzlH0p9Z5MZu3Kh_lWSqDFUDR9m3w/s2652/arbitrary2.jpg" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="596" data-original-width="2652" height="144" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgPNsZb2-65OqaDAlkBiJ9Kw89Z9NDHOwpagZKZjoleWw2HdbYLLDybODmWkgfvZGz4myJURxq_dLqhNpGnCq2a27foEg3NyMKTWlto4jZv9L0hnOVhgzxRnw3BRX6_kfXwisQ5g0faa4i2hRgxUbslFMGTVTBHXdzlH0p9Z5MZu3Kh_lWSqDFUDR9m3w/w640-h144/arbitrary2.jpg" width="640" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">One of the three 'Arbitrary' tables...</td></tr></tbody></table><br /><div>This time, there are eleven boxes to fill in. Notice that the 0, 0.1,...0.9, 1 values are fixed, so the input is always between 0 and 1. All you need to do is specify the outputs for each input. From the box, across the the right, are some automated assistance 'suggestions' which may help you to make neater curves. The 'Curve+' suggestion1 column will suggest values to enter in to box on the same row by highlighting numbers in green. if you use these then you will get curves much like the power law-ish ones shown. The next column is 'Linear', and these suggestions will just give you straight lines instead of curves. The next column is 'Curve-', and this suggests numbers that will give log-ish curves. The maths behind these numbers is not sophisticated, and it doesn't work very well at the edges, but it can be useful. In these days of everything being available as a YouTube tutorial, then I'm expecting someone to do one!</div><div><br /></div><div>The 'Symmetry' column is for Asperger's Syndrome or OCD people, and reverses the list of points so that you can see what to enter to derive combined tables. So I tend to fill in curve 1 and 3 first, then enter the relevant values into curve 2, and so then the symmetry column shows you if you are copying across correctly. </div><div><br /></div><div>Spreadsheets are intended for being used by people who like playing with numbers, and often only their creator, so don't expect to be able to use Arbitrary_curve instantly or easily. It may take you a while to get your head around how it works (Power_curve is similar, but it is simpler, and so there's less risk of being overwhelmed!). The basic 'learn as you go' technique is to try making a table on Power_curve, paste it into a table in Decent Sampler, and listen to what it does. Then tweak it, paste again, and listen again. It is a tried and tested method of software development, trust me. Using utility spreadsheets makes it easier to see what you are doing, but the 'copying, pasting, evaluating, adjusting' loop is old and it works. </div><div><br /></div><div>Who knows, eventually Decent Sampler may get a purpose built tool that will let you define tables with just a few clicks, and there will be no need for spreadsheets. Until then... </div><div><br /></div><div>As it happens, I used the Arbitrary_curve spreadsheet to design the translation tables used in this Pianobook.co.uk virtual instrument:</div><div><br /></div><div><a href="https://www.pianobook.co.uk/packs/sussed-perk-beta-01/">https://www.pianobook.co.uk/packs/sussed-perk-beta-01/</a></div><div><h2 style="text-align: left;">Utilities</h2><h3>The 'Power_curve' spreadsheet - <a href="https://drive.google.com/drive/folders/1BB-uiR__UkMsbW3DvkhtYJrX-aE94ZTK?usp=sharing" target="_blank">download</a></h3><div>Available in .xlsx and .ods formats, this is good for designing non-linear curves for the low-pass filter cutoff frequency control, and other cases where you want specific detailed control for part of the control's range. It isn't intended for designing sophisticated Translation Tables for doing complex mixing as shown in the second half of this blog post.</div><div><br /></div><h3>The 'Arbitrary_curve' spreadsheet - <a href="https://drive.google.com/drive/folders/1BB-uiR__UkMsbW3DvkhtYJrX-aE94ZTK?usp=sharing" target="_blank">download</a></h3><div>This is also available in .xlsx and .ods formats, and is designed for creating the detailed control curves for volume, etc. This doesn't mean it is amazingly sophisticated - you will have to enter numbers into the boxes, but there are 'automated assistance' suggestions that may make it easier to figure out what those numbers should be... </div></div><p style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">---</span></p><div><span style="font-family: inherit;"><p><span style="font-family: inherit;">If you find my writing helpful, informative or entertaining, then please consider visiting this link:</span></p><div style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; orphans: auto; text-size-adjust: auto; widows: auto;"><div style="font-size: 18.72px; font-weight: 700;"><span style="font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: small;"><a class="bmc-button" href="https://teespring.com/en-GB/stores/synthesizerwriters-store" target="_blank"><span style="margin-left: 5px;">Synthesizerwriter's Store</span></a> (New 'Modular thinking' designs now available!)</span></span></div><p style="font-size: 18.72px; font-weight: 700;"></p><div style="font-size: 18.72px; font-weight: 700;"><div style="margin: 0px;"><span style="font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: small;"><a class="bmc-button" href="https://www.buymeacoffee.com/synthwriter" target="_blank"><img alt="Buy me a coffee" src="https://www.buymeacoffee.com/assets/img/BMC-btn-logo.svg" /><span style="margin-left: 5px;">Buy me a coffee</span></a> (Encourage me to write more posts like this one!)... or...</span></span></div><div><span style="font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: small;"><br /></span></span></div></div></div></span></div><div><a href="https://ko-fi.com/W7W5BM4JX" target="_blank"><img alt="Buy Me a Coffee at ko-fi.com" border="0" height="36" src="https://cdn.ko-fi.com/cdn/kofi3.png?v=3" style="border: 0px; height: 36px;" /></a> (Encourage me via a different route entirely...)</div><div><br /></div><div>Or just tell someone else that there's this amazing blog about hi-tech music...</div><div><br /></div><div><br /></div><div> </div><p><br /></p></div>Synthesizerwriterhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13668943829180629830noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5222520500837940683.post-39673907580382146202022-04-15T13:54:00.003+01:002022-04-28T15:48:48.842+01:00Imitative Sound Design For Synthesizers...<p>In a recent thread on the VI-Control forum, <a href="https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCavPUtz3trUnzeM6nl2AW0Q" target="_blank">Alessandro Arcidiaco</a> asked about resources for learning imitative sound design - making the sounds of acoustic instruments by electronic means (synthesizers et al). Here's my (edited) response:</p><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjnJpuYBsOabTRUb__9jakZY_AMYgOSJz8f0AItvQ5uK9cdnXMGG7sWh1409eyZLqJzs6RE4bzC0H5F8Z_Q9-9JC_hisrxB_-PmatSCSd7JYjM_SWdg-Px93Ti_BsXBE8qUyXqW_lRndrB4_FgBM7C2zAFu_p7lu9Mx_1CtehOpf5Y-l0kmVIHgPqtxTg/s4978/karim-manjra-cW3nDFVpi10-unsplash.jpg" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="2552" data-original-width="4978" height="328" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjnJpuYBsOabTRUb__9jakZY_AMYgOSJz8f0AItvQ5uK9cdnXMGG7sWh1409eyZLqJzs6RE4bzC0H5F8Z_Q9-9JC_hisrxB_-PmatSCSd7JYjM_SWdg-Px93Ti_BsXBE8qUyXqW_lRndrB4_FgBM7C2zAFu_p7lu9Mx_1CtehOpf5Y-l0kmVIHgPqtxTg/w640-h328/karim-manjra-cW3nDFVpi10-unsplash.jpg" width="640" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Photo by <a href="https://unsplash.com/@karim_manjra?utm_source=unsplash&utm_medium=referral&utm_content=creditCopyText">Karim MANJRA</a> on <a href="https://unsplash.com/s/photos/orchestra?utm_source=unsplash&utm_medium=referral&utm_content=creditCopyText">Unsplash</a></td></tr></tbody></table><p>Most 'how to...' 'synthesizer' articles talk about how to create 'classic' synthesizer sounds, and Gordon Reid's magnum opus 'Synth Secrets' series (in Sound On Sound) covers that in a lot of depth: </p><p><a href="https://www.soundonsound.com/series/synth-secrets-sound-sound " target="_blank">https://www.soundonsound.com/series/synth-secrets-sound-sound </a></p><p>There are quite a few articles in the series that talk about creating realistic sounds (wind, brass, strings, drums, etc.), often used as an illustration of the uses of specific synthesis techniques. (There are also various books from the end of the 20th Century, assembled from 'Electronic Musician' articles from Jim Aikin, Marc Vail, Craig Anderton et al covering much the same material, again with some coverage of imitative techniques, but I can't recall a specific 'imitative' series... So, my short answer is that I don't know of the 'definitive' answer - but that doesn't mean it doesn't exist!)</p><p><a href="https://synthandsoftware.com/author/jimaikin/">https://synthandsoftware.com/author/jimaikin/</a> (Bio of Jim Aikin)</p><p><a href="https://jimaikin.net/">https://jimaikin.net/</a> (Jim Aikin's web-site)</p><p><a href="http://www.markvail.com/">http://www.markvail.com/</a> (Marc Vail's web-site)</p><p><a href="https://craiganderton.org/">https://craiganderton.org/</a> (Craig Anderton's web-site)</p><p><i>(It is quite interesting to see how a previous generation of 'people who reviewed and wrote about synthesizers' is represented by magazine articles, reviews, books and web-sites, whereas the current Loopop, Benn Jordan, Starsky Carr, etc. generation are all very active on YouTube...)</i></p><p>You can see this non-specific-ness about imitative synthesis in my 'Practically FM' series (in <a href="https://www.soundonsound.com/" target="_blank">Sound On Sound</a> magazine many decades ago), which kind of works towards 'imitative', but it tends to show more about how FM can produce synthesised, only-slightly 'imitative' sounds: </p><p><a href="http://www.muzines.co.uk/articles/practically-fm/3527">http://www.muzines.co.uk/articles/practically-fm/3527</a></p><p>For techniques where 'imitative' is baked in, then people seem to resort to analogies. This article on Physical modelling quotes me here and there: </p><p><a href="https://theproaudiofiles.com/physical-modeling-synthesis/ " target="_blank">https://theproaudiofiles.com/physical-modeling-synthesis/ </a></p><p>Which leads to my take on physical modelling: </p><p><a href="https://www.soundonsound.com/techniques/physical-modelling-synthesis-explained">https://www.soundonsound.com/techniques/physical-modelling-synthesis-explained</a> </p><p>This is again more about the modelling than the actual synthesis. One very good pointer to the problems of modelling is Yamaha's percussive physical modelling (Karplus-Strong et al) VP-1 synthesizer from 1994 that never made it from prototype to real world - there's an amazing prototype in the Yamaha 'Innovation Road - History of Products' museum in Hamamatsu, Japan... </p><p><a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3ZXk0pe6KUU" target="_blank">https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3ZXk0pe6KUU</a><br /></p><p>Technics made an amazing physical modelling synth in the mid 90s that you've probably never heard of... (The SX-WSA1 - I reviewed it for Sound On Sound, Mike Metlay reviewed it for the Computer Music Journal)</p><p><a href="https://www.soundonsound.com/reviews/technics-sx-wsa1">https://www.soundonsound.com/reviews/technics-sx-wsa1</a> (my review)</p><p><a href="https://www.soundonsound.com/reviews/technics-sx-wsa1r" target="_blank">https://www.soundonsound.com/reviews/technics-sx-wsa1r</a> (how to miss a bargain)<br /></p><p><a href="https://www.jstor.org/stable/3680833">https://www.jstor.org/stable/3680833</a> (From the CMJ - behind a paywall)</p><p>(Modern VSTs that use modelling for pianos have seen better success in this space - as with much of technology, timing is vital: too early and the tech/knowledge isn't up to it, too late and the tech/knowledge is available to all... Feel free to do a Google search on '<i>Piano VST physical modelling</i>'...) </p><p>What is harder to find information on are the more formal, academic, methods. One example would be Residual Synthesis (aka Analysis/Synthesis or A/S), which takes the sound that you want to imitate, and subtracts it from a close imitation to give a 'residual' - the difference between the wanted sound and the synthesized version. That residual is then used as the starting point for a second imitation, and this continues iteratively until you have as close an approximation as you want. The trap here is that it can be very difficult to cope with the changes in timbre from dynamic playing, and it is easy to get bogged down in deconvolution problems that diverge, so there may not be an easy way to create all of the different residuals for different velocities. It's a bit like curve fitting: choose the wrong type of curve and you may be able to fit some of the data, but if you get new data, then you may find that the curve can't be persuaded to fit at all! I did an AES paper on a variant of residual synthesis back in 2018....</p><p><a href="https://secure.aes.org/forum/pubs/conferences/?elib=19369">https://secure.aes.org/forum/pubs/conferences/?elib=19369</a> (The AES paywall this time...)</p><p>The 'elephant in the room', in my opinion, is that there's an easy escape route, and it started when synthesisers and samplers began to converge with instruments like the Roland D-50: suddenly you had something that produced sounds from hybrid sources: samples (often alarmingly short!) where you needed that characteristic 'fingerprint' for a specific type of sound; and synthesis for when you wanted to augment, enhance, accompany, sustain or alter the sound so that it had a mixture of realistic and synthetic. S&S instruments used these 'Sample & Synthesis' techniques to give huge numbers of presets that passed the 'Mom' test (Would your Mom say that it sounded like what the preset was called?), and layered variations or synthesised sounds on top to give variations. Depending on your viewpoint, these are either hyper-real, or sub-real, but they were easy to produce, and the end of the 20th Century saw huge numbers of boxes with large numbers of presets and lots of sample ROM inside them.</p><p><a href="http://www.muzines.co.uk/articles/roland-d-50/1218" target="_blank">Roland D-50</a> (My review)</p><p><a href="http://www.muzines.co.uk/articles/l-a-synthesis-what-is-it/1975" target="_blank">Interview with Ikutaro Kakehashi</a> (My Interview with the head of Roland) </p><p>You can seen how appealing the S&S technique is by considering the E-Mu Proteus, which started out as an enormously successful 'orchestra in a box' (probably one in just about every studio at one time), but which gradually morphed (samples and filters!) over time into providing lots of samples of synthetic sounds, on ROM cards that could be put into slots to create boxes containing vast numbers of sounds (My E-Mu PX7 has all four slots full of 32MB ROMs, for example). </p><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjEFbFoR6KtBM8YZUmp0bjNtJn-4IMP8pI2dqVpBAz77DCYXH1yyxPv8AwLWRltX1riuBxXnd7AEiEE5nSaICAFMArfOfmSk71OdZr3dE-Lp6B1rVICGFmvsMXqqbZVDPzjclp8vNOjDR9650Vp-IZR0KisbmL6TRjOVTO1iOztaFeIN_E0kSdqWdzKCA/s945/emu%20timeline%201u%20rack%20modules.jpg" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="945" data-original-width="610" height="640" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjEFbFoR6KtBM8YZUmp0bjNtJn-4IMP8pI2dqVpBAz77DCYXH1yyxPv8AwLWRltX1riuBxXnd7AEiEE5nSaICAFMArfOfmSk71OdZr3dE-Lp6B1rVICGFmvsMXqqbZVDPzjclp8vNOjDR9650Vp-IZR0KisbmL6TRjOVTO1iOztaFeIN_E0kSdqWdzKCA/w414-h640/emu%20timeline%201u%20rack%20modules.jpg" width="414" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="text-align: left;">A quick timeline of E-Mu 1U rack-mounting sample players...</span></td></tr></tbody></table><p>A table of the 32MB ROMs would follow a similar timeline, although not all ROMs got a dedicated player... </p><p><a href="https://www.soundonsound.com/music-business/30-years-emu">https://www.soundonsound.com/music-business/30-years-emu</a> (E-Mu History)</p><p>Yamaha's S&S synthesisers (the current Montage, for example), uses lots of samples to imitate sounds (often layering several variations, and using different samples for different dynamics), but at the same time, has a very powerful FM synthesizer inside which can be used to imitate, augment and enhance the samples. What do you hear a lot of the time from a 'factory/stock' Montage? Samples augmented by other samples... and by FM...</p><p><a href="https://europe.yamaha.com/en/products/music_production/synthesizers/montage/features.html">https://europe.yamaha.com/en/products/music_production/synthesizers/montage/features.html</a></p><p><i>(This is more of an observation about the way that synthesizers are 'voiced' nowadays, and is not a criticism! I really love my Montage 7, and have made quite a few FM patches - a few of which are on SoundMondo...)</i></p><p>Turning synthesis around, and writing a series of articles that start with imitative techniques, is a big task (requiring lots of time, lots of research, and lots of painstaking skill and effort), and the 'Mom' test is fighting you all the way, because S&S instruments (I would count a lot of sample replay devices and sample libraries as being in that set) pass easily, and rather like the 'Uncanny Valley' in making CGI people, it only needs one minor inconsistency for your brain/ears to detect the synthetic nature, and you are back to square one (a 'football commentary on radio' reference, it turns out!)... Getting a real trombone player to listen to a few 'brass' sample libraries can be very illuminating...</p><p><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Uncanny_valley">https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Uncanny_valley</a> (The 'Uncanny Valley'...)</p><p>So, you now have a partial view of what I have been doing in electronic music from the early 1970s to the present... This is all my biased, personal opinion based on how I lived through those times. Your opinion can differ, of course...</p><h3 style="text-align: left;">The 'Mom' Test</h3><p>Easy! Just ask someone considerably older (wiser, more travelled, more experienced, maybe someone who listens to more Jazz or Classical music...) than yourself to listen to a sound made by your synthesizer, VST, etc. Then ask them what the sound was. If it was called 'PanFlute47b' and they say: 'It is a flute!', then you pass the test. If they say: 'It sounds kind of like a flute type of thing...', then you get a partial pass. If they say: 'Is this another of your synthesizery sounds?', then you fail. </p><div><span style="font-family: inherit;"><p><span style="font-family: inherit;">---</span></p><p><span style="font-family: inherit;">If you find my writing helpful, informative or entertaining, then please consider visiting this link:</span></p><div style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; orphans: auto; text-size-adjust: auto; widows: auto;"><div style="font-size: 18.72px; font-weight: 700;"><span style="font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: small;"><a class="bmc-button" href="https://teespring.com/en-GB/stores/synthesizerwriters-store" target="_blank"><span style="margin-left: 5px;">Synthesizerwriter's Store</span></a> (New 'Modular thinking' designs now available!)</span></span></div><p style="font-size: 18.72px; font-weight: 700;"></p><div style="font-size: 18.72px; font-weight: 700;"><div style="margin: 0px;"><span style="font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: small;"><a class="bmc-button" href="https://www.buymeacoffee.com/synthwriter" target="_blank"><img alt="Buy me a coffee" src="https://www.buymeacoffee.com/assets/img/BMC-btn-logo.svg" /><span style="margin-left: 5px;">Buy me a coffee</span></a> (Encourage me to write more posts like this one!)... or...</span></span></div><div><span style="font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: small;"><br /></span></span></div></div></div></span></div><div><a href="https://ko-fi.com/W7W5BM4JX" target="_blank"><img alt="Buy Me a Coffee at ko-fi.com" border="0" height="36" src="https://cdn.ko-fi.com/cdn/kofi3.png?v=3" style="border: 0px; height: 36px;" /></a> (Encourage me via a different route entirely...)</div><div><br /></div><div>Or just tell someone else that there's this amazing blog about hi-tech music...</div><div><br /></div><div><br /></div><div> </div><p><br /></p><p><br /></p>Synthesizerwriterhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13668943829180629830noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5222520500837940683.post-1830323590346375512022-04-10T15:52:00.000+01:002022-04-10T15:52:12.761+01:00Tuner In A Patchbay!<p>Please file under: I should have thought of this earlier!</p><p>Previously, I have mentioned that I bought a guitar tuning pedal, as well as a Korg TM-60 tuner device to try and improve my embarrassing record of submitting sample libraries that were out of tune to <a href="https://www.pianobook.co.uk/profile/synthesizerwriter/" target="_blank">Pianobook.co.uk</a>. Well, some time later, I have realised that the Korg TM-60 tuner works rather well when it is connected to my patchbay! The metronome and tuning reference (A-440 Hz) audio outputs work very nicely as sound sources when developing patches in programmable effects units (Empress Zoia, Poly Effects Beebo, et al), and the monophonic input helps me keep modular devices (my Rebel Technology Witches, for example) in tune. </p><p>I've recently been doing more labelling around the studio, which is why the TM-60 has that 'Mono' label on the audio input (I made a cable with two mono inputs summed by two 15kOhm resistors into a mono output jack just for the patchbay).</p><p></p><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhlk0depJWZKG2VOaUnT_kuZ8mKm6_z1BNBaSKQ6UrqOLYQCIzc8J0jP8BQVvwnOv2iz4jCJtzl37oWW4XPoJ9x792os5PDIP_gcWqDuKfPo-8OYjEQOG7iWAXg3IEJvVWsMlouMQmQ2LWWZnchSyGjLmrRKxGuIgHFOHiZP_d34s8hNbbeJODB9ccRSA/s1080/tuner%20patchbay.jpg" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="657" data-original-width="1080" height="390" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhlk0depJWZKG2VOaUnT_kuZ8mKm6_z1BNBaSKQ6UrqOLYQCIzc8J0jP8BQVvwnOv2iz4jCJtzl37oWW4XPoJ9x792os5PDIP_gcWqDuKfPo-8OYjEQOG7iWAXg3IEJvVWsMlouMQmQ2LWWZnchSyGjLmrRKxGuIgHFOHiZP_d34s8hNbbeJODB9ccRSA/w640-h390/tuner%20patchbay.jpg" width="640" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">The Korg TM-60 in a mobile phone grip on a photo accessory mount...</td></tr></tbody></table><br />Yes, you can see a small isolating transformer in the headphone output line - I have more on the outputs of computers that are connected to any audio equipment, and I've been testing out various USB isolators as well... But the Korg tuner doesn't have any USB, so those will have to wait for another day... <p></p><p>The grip is interesting - it is really a photo accessory designed to hold mobile phones using the 1/4 inch camera screw mount system. The clamp fits onto the standard 37.8mm aluminium tubing that you find on the <a href="https://www.jaspers-alu.de/aid-645-KR170-4-120B.html">classic keyboard stands from Jaspers</a> and in my case from Ultimate Support Systems many years ago:</p><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgUpkpc8HBhBlc4Vd4pcgToQrCnN6Y1OhmBdEx1u9dCNIfHyhSgHTRNjRTnwjuLjoHPC4z8laliez_rgZeUt7kVCniVO7lbX5Vzps_B38psPc7N0OhrWIAFaxhNpWZRs3gHllxNvdTpHno2dwKEsS5cLNDMjxWp-LhKJQqOPBLhwwh5OI55iahoAb8DEA/s1313/clamp-tube-small.jpg" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1313" data-original-width="1080" height="640" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgUpkpc8HBhBlc4Vd4pcgToQrCnN6Y1OhmBdEx1u9dCNIfHyhSgHTRNjRTnwjuLjoHPC4z8laliez_rgZeUt7kVCniVO7lbX5Vzps_B38psPc7N0OhrWIAFaxhNpWZRs3gHllxNvdTpHno2dwKEsS5cLNDMjxWp-LhKJQqOPBLhwwh5OI55iahoAb8DEA/w526-h640/clamp-tube-small.jpg" width="526" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">The mobile phone grip and clamp...<br /><br /></td></tr></tbody></table>The clamp enables the tuner to be placed just about anywhere on a keyboard stand:<div><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgZPJdTBcb0MFV5nlA4Dp3uWJJZPzADX_hfjHn95k3zHKvw6aNeUU9fHj0OVNf2cp_IyfC7XlSAokBMN99JhxdYD0b25cNoQBq5MSUZlbUX7Hgl1r6UXIlrvQVwSUfIw-Gjxt1HdZcF9CwCL7asc2m_jwPyTKLfAx_Vyq3a1-Jpga6ZsSe79-YKtckElA/s1080/clamp-tube-small-side.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="810" data-original-width="1080" height="480" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgZPJdTBcb0MFV5nlA4Dp3uWJJZPzADX_hfjHn95k3zHKvw6aNeUU9fHj0OVNf2cp_IyfC7XlSAokBMN99JhxdYD0b25cNoQBq5MSUZlbUX7Hgl1r6UXIlrvQVwSUfIw-Gjxt1HdZcF9CwCL7asc2m_jwPyTKLfAx_Vyq3a1-Jpga6ZsSe79-YKtckElA/w640-h480/clamp-tube-small-side.jpg" width="640" /></a></div><br /><div>The rounded black bit has a rotary tightener that holds two balls in place, so you can position the tuner in just about any position. You can get camera accessories like these from Amazon (and other photographic suppliers) and they are pretty good value for money. Some of the more professional heavy-duty ones might be adaptable for holding small MIDI Controllers, which I will look at in a future post.</div><div><span style="font-family: inherit;"><p><span style="font-family: inherit;">---</span></p><p><span style="font-family: inherit;">If you find my writing helpful, informative or entertaining, then please consider visiting this link:</span></p><div style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; orphans: auto; text-size-adjust: auto; widows: auto;"><div style="font-size: 18.72px; font-weight: 700;"><span style="font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: small;"><a class="bmc-button" href="https://teespring.com/en-GB/stores/synthesizerwriters-store" target="_blank"><span style="margin-left: 5px;">Synthesizerwriter's Store</span></a> (New 'Modular thinking' designs now available!)</span></span></div><p style="font-size: 18.72px; font-weight: 700;"></p><div style="font-size: 18.72px; font-weight: 700;"><div style="margin: 0px;"><span style="font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: small;"><a class="bmc-button" href="https://www.buymeacoffee.com/synthwriter" target="_blank"><img alt="Buy me a coffee" src="https://www.buymeacoffee.com/assets/img/BMC-btn-logo.svg" /><span style="margin-left: 5px;">Buy me a coffee</span></a> (Encourage me to write more posts like this one!)... or...</span></span></div><div><span style="font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: small;"><br /></span></span></div></div></div></span></div><div><a href="https://ko-fi.com/W7W5BM4JX" target="_blank"><img alt="Buy Me a Coffee at ko-fi.com" border="0" height="36" src="https://cdn.ko-fi.com/cdn/kofi3.png?v=3" style="border: 0px; height: 36px;" /></a> (Encourage me via a different route entirely...)</div><div><br /></div><div>Or just tell someone else that there's this amazing blog about hi-tech music...</div><div><br /></div><div><br /></div><div> </div><p><br /></p><div> <br /><p><br /></p></div>Synthesizerwriterhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13668943829180629830noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5222520500837940683.post-63088871213275274492022-04-07T17:17:00.003+01:002022-04-11T22:57:39.589+01:00I got a budget Dual Modulation Effects Pedal!<p>So, the <a href="https://www.joyoaudio.co.uk/JOYO-Vision-Dual-Modulation" target="_blank">JOYO Vision Dual Modulation Effects Pedal</a> arrived, and I have been playing with it, quite a lot!</p><p>As expected, it does not meet all of my criteria for 'perfection', but sometimes, the immediacy of having lots of 'live' controls can be very useful, and I am very tempted to add an additional 'essential' feature:</p><p><i><b>- Having real-time control over a number of parameters simultaneously...</b></i></p><p>Which can be achieved in a number of ways: either directly via rotary controls (as in the Joyo Vision), or via a MIDI Controller.</p><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh3DPECyhbcqfsZrKZCjwVKuvqbqmw7nOc0aGP0sJ2tSQBUpikQpqqyuEm9gmEhQNxStBSeZjF0foNr6hrFRdyiuDu2SQlrbvX9Nxi_GR4zmSxCQ9IghdtGfZEjhhsT-4lTLCJWl5rvZ9wnfcFTSwBZRZr_IvHyJydc9TFCEIutQQMfj8xrUkhFinGO-A/s1080/vision1.jpg" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="906" data-original-width="1080" height="268" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh3DPECyhbcqfsZrKZCjwVKuvqbqmw7nOc0aGP0sJ2tSQBUpikQpqqyuEm9gmEhQNxStBSeZjF0foNr6hrFRdyiuDu2SQlrbvX9Nxi_GR4zmSxCQ9IghdtGfZEjhhsT-4lTLCJWl5rvZ9wnfcFTSwBZRZr_IvHyJydc9TFCEIutQQMfj8xrUkhFinGO-A/s320/vision1.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">The JOYO Vision Dual Modulation Effects Pedal</td></tr></tbody></table><h3 style="text-align: left;">Review</h3><p>I promised a review of the JOYO Vision, and I'm more than happy to do so. The JOYO <a href="https://www.joyoaudio.co.uk/JOYO-Vision-Dual-Modulation" target="_blank">web-site</a> provides some information, but Amazon did not expand on that, and there were no detailed reviews, so this will hopefully provide prospective buyers with a bit more detail.</p><p>The JOYO Vision (I'm really not sure if the 'JOYO' should be capitalised, or not) is a budget modulation effects pedal, but it has some features which move it upwards towards some much more expensive 'boutique' pedals. This compact pedal is 130 x 110 x 50 mm in size, and weighs a 'not-unusual for a pedal' 425 grams. The power consumption is 170mA from a standard centre negative barrel connector, again not unusual, and not excessive either. There is no mains adapter provided in the box, which is very often the case nowadays, when lots of people put pedals on pedal boards with sophisticated power supply (and audio routing) arrangements. The sampling rate is stated at 44.1 kHz, and the bit resolution 24 bits - I did not hear any glaring aliasing or noise artefacts whilst using it, and I do not have the test equipment to verify these figures. In any case, 44.1/24 is a pretty standard set of audio-to-digital converter specs for a modern budget pedal...</p><p>For the price, you could find any number of chorus, phaser or flanger units, but the added flexibility that the Vision offers is very welcome. This is a 'Dual' modulation pedal, with two independent effects processing sections (A and B) that can be connected in series (for complex modulations) or in parallel (for complex stereo images). But it is also a stereo in, stereo out device (or mono in, stereo out, or mono in, mono out), at a price more normally associated with mono in, mono out. You are probably expecting to hear that it is noisy (not particularly so), that the modulation effects were poor (variable would be a better word), and that it is a bit limited and unsophisticated (where you would be wrong). </p><p>The first clue was that audio routing. Dual effects pedals are quite rare, and the ability to have the two effects in either series or parallel gives you two very different end results. Series connected effects gives the complexity of chained effects that blend together as the audio is processed , whilst parallel effects gives complex stereo imaging where the two effects are distinct and separate but mixed together to give the final stereo image. If you are one of those people who finds that most budget chorus pedals lack depth (and stereo connections) and only give limp detuning , then this is a notable exception - especially since you can combine chorus with phasing, or flanging with tremolo, or any of the 9 'A' effects with the 9 'B' effects. </p><p>The two sets of effects are different, in what they do, how they are named, and how they are arranged around the 9-way rotary switch. This feels like a deliberate design decision with the intention of nudging you to trying out unconventional combinations, and it works: I had great fun, both trying to decipher the slightly cryptic and abbreviated names, and then seeing how they worked together. If the two selectors had the same effects at the same positions, then it could easily become a bit 'paint by numbers', but this arrangement almost forces you to try juxtaposing effects. </p><p>For the 'A' effect, the first effect is Mod-Ph, which I interpreted as 'Modulated Phaser', and which seems to be a chorus/vibrato and phaser combined. Next is 'Cho', presumably for 'Chorus', and this was slightly deeper chorus effect, but with no phaser. The ext effect: 'St-Ph', which I assumed meant 'Stereo Phaser' caught me by surprise, because it seems to be a phaser driven by a noise S&H circuit, and so gives some of the 1970s random filter S&H mod feel - not standard in any way, and far from mundane. 'Flanger' was a typical low feedback flange sound. 'Ring-Mod' was obviously Ring Modulation, and this has quite a broad range: about 4 octaves. 'Rot' was the Rotary Speaker emulation, and was rather like the 'Mod-Ph' with less resonance. 'Trem' produced tremolos with the 'Control' rotary varying the waveform from a sine-like smooth to a more choppy square wave - although the two channels were in phase - so this isn't what I would describe as a 'stereo' tremolo because there was no side-to-side stereo panning effect. 'Liqu-Ph' was a smoother (more 'liquid'?) variant of the Stereo Phaser, although the waveform was not random but seemed to be an 8-step sequence - again, more in boutique territory than I was expecting. 'Tri-Cho' was the thickest, most-detuned sounding chorus so far, and the name suggests that three different chorus effects are being used.</p><p>The 'B effect starts with 'Opt-Trem' which suggests an Optical Tremolo (bulb and photo-resistor), although it seemed to be a sawtooth waveform and no major stereo effect. The 'Sm-Cho' seemed to be a smaller version of the Tri-Chorus effect, but still a deeper effect than the Cho(rus) in A. 'Lo-Bit' seemed to be a bit reduction effect, and this was able to add interesting edges to some sounds, but the 'Control' rotary control didn't seem to do much. 'AutoWah' was a sine wave modulated band-pass filter. 'Anlg Flange' had much more feedback the the 'Flanger' in A. 'Phaser' was a conventional phaser, in contrast to the three unusual ones in A. 'Octa' seemed to be another ring modulator, although with a smaller oscillator range - about one octave, and so dropping the input frequency by one octave. Having two ring modulators on a pedal is quite unusual, and if it had been me designing this, at least one of them would have been modulated by an LFO... 'Stut' is for 'Stutter: a chopper effect that always has a square wave this time. Finally, there was 'Vib' which gave a vibrato effect.</p><p>If you were counting, that's 18 different modulation effects. Note that this doesn't cover all of the effects in the table <a href="http://blog.synthesizerwriter.com/2022/03/all-i-wanted-was-dual-stereo-modulation.html" target="_blank">in the previous blog post...</a></p><p>There's a slight 'click' as you switch the effects in and out, which is not that unusual for budget pedals, but you can use the Mix rotary control to avoid switching the effect in and out, which means there are no clicks! The flanger effects in A and B are both slightly prone to the buzzing sound from any mains pick-up in cabling, which I have used as a way of checking for ground loops, showing the advantages of balanced connections, and other 'studio-optimisations' many times... As in many pedals, both budget AND boutique, for some of the effects, there's sometimes a difference in volume between the dry 'through' audio and the wet 'processed' audio. For the cost of a look-up table and an extra couple of multiplies in the code, then I'm surprised that this persistent niggle still exists. </p><p>If I was being picky, then top of my wish-list for additions would be an expression pedal input... But this just raises the importance of looking more throughly into a mechanical linkage version... a homebrew 'third hand' (The original TIP 'Third Hand' hasn't been made for several years, apparently...). It is on my list of projects...</p><p>One thing that I did notice, and which might be seized upon by some people as proof of the budget nature of this pedal, was the lack of much stereo imaging in most of the effects. Even so, having Trem on A in parallel with Vib on B, did give a very independent LFO Tremolo/Vibrato effect that worked very nicely with a little external reverb, and sounded very wow and fluttery at times. There's more to designing a stereo version of an effects pedal than just doubling up on the circuitry, and although there's no obvious way of updating the DSP code, I suspect that a few minor changes are all that is required to produce a marked improvement. I should point out that I'm slightly notorious for creating mastering problems by being overly enthusiastic about broad stereo, so I'm on the extreme side of good taste in terms of stereo imaging in effects pedals. </p><p>But back to the real joy (no pun intended, really) of this dual modulation effects pedal - having two different things happening at once, either in series (complexity) or in parallel (slight stereo wobbling) is so much nicer and more sophisticated than a mono chorus pedal which just sweeps back and forth (in mono!) monotonously. With every combination of A and B offering two different rates of LFOs <i>(I forgot to mention that they both have independent tap-tempos on the two foot-switches!)</i>, then you get a much more interesting modulation, which is exactly what I want in an effects pedal! Given the flexibility of effects combinations in the JOYO Vision, then I would be hard pressed to justify going for a similar priced but less varied mono alternative. And stereo in and out is a bonus, although I can't help thinking 'if only' for just a little bit more pan-breadth. (Now, there's a word: pan-breadth! I will see if I can work that in more often!)</p><h3 style="text-align: left;">Improvements</h3><p>That probably set you thinking that I was about to suggest ways in which it could be improved, and I have to say that the stereo imaging was the only internal weakness I found. Oh, and the slight clicks when enabling the effects with the foot-switches (although there is a workaround with the Mix rotary controls).</p><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgb8dlRLApwATbiGDBbSOpKvuz_EV0yQR1IfJfGANCfvMlhW8jJccWJ9BkuYtz8JyfwMVkqcCw8dYiQ2GWYqR2If0NZIo_TSnvv2vBzW7z-7kWqw43wPq0UCyacdvp-qTfspnkU8xApuJPr5x8qtD12CtYSh7JgojKt5DhvcO2AZYazQFEPisN-K9kD-Q/s1080/vision2.jpg" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="748" data-original-width="1080" height="222" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgb8dlRLApwATbiGDBbSOpKvuz_EV0yQR1IfJfGANCfvMlhW8jJccWJ9BkuYtz8JyfwMVkqcCw8dYiQ2GWYqR2If0NZIo_TSnvv2vBzW7z-7kWqw43wPq0UCyacdvp-qTfspnkU8xApuJPr5x8qtD12CtYSh7JgojKt5DhvcO2AZYazQFEPisN-K9kD-Q/s320/vision2.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">An 'angled' viewpoint - note the right hand side readability</td></tr></tbody></table><p>Externally, there was the strange arrangement of the Speed/Rate and Depth rotary controls for A and B, which didn't match the mirroring of the rest of the controls, but that is being picky. Perhaps best described as a 'quirky' arrangement, then. </p><p>But the thing that I found most irking was the colour scheme! The background colour of the case is a metallic brown colour, which goes lighter when the light catches it. Unfortunately, the text is printed in an orange/yellow colour, and so it tends to vanish when the light catches the background colour. at the wrong angle, which seems to be too often... Yellowy-orange on yellowy-orangey/brown is not a good combination for easy readability... You can see the difficulty of reading in the photo at the start of this blog, but the other angled shots show very clearly how the background colour changes depending on the lighting... </p><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhwsqsDF_Hwf8MxudnsRSQdwlMKKD2j_yyCXwu_gAUlBUPlszbcwPgbV7I7j8tx4JoRKD3EQTfHpya7EeLOU5-2ZCx7-1EaxxiOYCbgK2_Up50R6Gqzlc9jA7LawPFbhMVtTp8nWPdmcHIGaVgX6nQI0jb0aTVGXOsuaJFhXuJzIMFJif6zXKMrP9bXdw/s1080/vision3.jpg" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="805" data-original-width="1080" height="239" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhwsqsDF_Hwf8MxudnsRSQdwlMKKD2j_yyCXwu_gAUlBUPlszbcwPgbV7I7j8tx4JoRKD3EQTfHpya7EeLOU5-2ZCx7-1EaxxiOYCbgK2_Up50R6Gqzlc9jA7LawPFbhMVtTp8nWPdmcHIGaVgX6nQI0jb0aTVGXOsuaJFhXuJzIMFJif6zXKMrP9bXdw/s320/vision3.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">The opposite angle...</td></tr></tbody></table><p>So I made two little sticky labels (<a href="http://blog.synthesizerwriter.com/2020/06/modding-my-roland-tr-505-4-drum-roms.html" target="_blank">see my Roland TR-505 mods post</a>), printed them out and stuck them to the top panel, giving high contrast, stage-use-friendly, easily readable labels! </p><p></p><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjRi1_HZe3xBoxsFdE04tXAWhGffkIYAPlpLNTCYtkhK32b-todl2XptKqwsM0tHXDKFZMIs8HNZy0kzKSbG7FJGYmunzP2OARLZMdzIS9nNQqIhYbwoOlL6pw3JO23fu-VjY6a2Tj9qnWGH88dk9_UHZCsiRullUnxgIDwJZYagW7yT-qBWYCZMToscw/s1080/vision-labelled.jpg" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="935" data-original-width="1080" height="277" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjRi1_HZe3xBoxsFdE04tXAWhGffkIYAPlpLNTCYtkhK32b-todl2XptKqwsM0tHXDKFZMIs8HNZy0kzKSbG7FJGYmunzP2OARLZMdzIS9nNQqIhYbwoOlL6pw3JO23fu-VjY6a2Tj9qnWGH88dk9_UHZCsiRullUnxgIDwJZYagW7yT-qBWYCZMToscw/s320/vision-labelled.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">The prototype 'Labelled' Vision...</td></tr></tbody></table><p></p><p>You can find <a href="https://drive.google.com/drive/folders/1jXqzyQ1zdC22XF51V2c9Nkmi4XV-kh52?usp=sharing" target="_blank">the graphics files here</a>, and feel free to print it out and make your own labels - as below. I have recently found a source of matt-finish clear sticky-back plastic, and this makes much better looking custom labels! </p><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg4RCVG52hEkATb8oHRq7CUHZ9WYqULxDswMyQTIh51jiNeRpvgD9Qk5ze1JO3Nb1GfxeWp9iYIMrMStdejeJCsl-XmZLMrGz30E4KgrsjekKAW6C2s_N0QlJV29Futf5ntDrgP9Q4zulRfEvKMExHX6Uv8CvtH6jwaOU6p74x3AOHvUocY6gBT7-kP6A/s496/Joyo%20Vision%20Overlay%20MR%20-%20pic.jpg" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="210" data-original-width="496" height="270" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg4RCVG52hEkATb8oHRq7CUHZ9WYqULxDswMyQTIh51jiNeRpvgD9Qk5ze1JO3Nb1GfxeWp9iYIMrMStdejeJCsl-XmZLMrGz30E4KgrsjekKAW6C2s_N0QlJV29Futf5ntDrgP9Q4zulRfEvKMExHX6Uv8CvtH6jwaOU6p74x3AOHvUocY6gBT7-kP6A/w640-h270/Joyo%20Vision%20Overlay%20MR%20-%20pic.jpg" width="640" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">The 'Improved' front panel rotary selector graphics...</td></tr></tbody></table><p>Rather than putting 'commercial printing'-style cutting marks just at the corners, I have added light grey outline boxes - because I suspect that anyone who uses these labels will be cutting them out with scissors or a scalpel. For maximum flexibility I have also added marks in the file, as well as providing an 'inverted' version with white text on a black background (and brown/yellow too!). </p><p>This set me thinking - is there any interest in additional 'Improved' front panels for electronic music devices? I know there are skins for lots of things, but I'm thinking more UI improvements rather than just appearance.</p><p>Oh, and one extra 'feature' deserves mention - there are extra blue LEDs inside the pedal, which light up two translucent plastic inserts and make the pedal look very sci-fi and hi-tech. Very cool! (You can see a photo in t<a href="http://blog.synthesizerwriter.com/2022/03/all-i-wanted-was-dual-stereo-modulation.html" target="_blank">he previous 'Dual Mod' blog post...</a></p><h3 style="text-align: left;">Conclusion</h3><p>Starting out with a quest for a dual modulation effects pedal with a distinctly 'boutique' flavour, and buying a dual pedal from the budget end of the market may seem strange, but I'm rather delighted with the JOYO Vision. It doesn't have USB or MIDI, and is not perfect (or expensive!) but those 'live' rotary controls, stereo I/O, and the 'different' set of effects make this an interesting tool for sound design and 'What effect is that?' kudos on stage or at practice sessions. Plus, you could easily pay several times the price and end up with something far less flexible, which is always good in my book! I can definitely see myself sprinkling a little bit of Vision here and there... </p><h3 style="text-align: left;">The Zoom... </h3><p>I'm still waiting for delivery of the Zoom MultiStomp pedal, and it will be interesting to compare it with the JOYO Vision (which is still cheaper than the Zoom). Will the immediacy of 'live' rotary controls beat several effects at once? We will see...</p><h3 style="text-align: left;">Resources:</h3><p><a href="http://blog.synthesizerwriter.com/2020/06/modding-my-roland-tr-505-4-drum-roms.html" target="_blank">The Roland TR-505 Mods blog post...</a></p><p><a href="https://www.joyoaudio.co.uk/JOYO-Vision-Dual-Modulation" target="_blank">JOYO's web-site page for the Vision</a></p><p><a href="http://blog.synthesizerwriter.com/2022/03/all-i-wanted-was-dual-stereo-modulation.html" target="_blank">The previous 'Dual Mod' blog post...</a></p><p><a href="https://drive.google.com/drive/folders/1jXqzyQ1zdC22XF51V2c9Nkmi4XV-kh52?usp=sharing" target="_blank">The graphics files for the labels...</a></p><div><span style="font-family: inherit;"><p><span style="font-family: inherit;">---</span></p><p><span style="font-family: inherit;">If you find my writing helpful, informative or entertaining, then please consider visiting this link:</span></p><div style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; orphans: auto; text-size-adjust: auto; widows: auto;"><div style="font-size: 18.72px; font-weight: 700;"><span style="font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: small;"><a class="bmc-button" href="https://teespring.com/en-GB/stores/synthesizerwriters-store" target="_blank"><span style="margin-left: 5px;">Synthesizerwriter's Store</span></a> (New 'Modular thinking' designs now available!)</span></span></div><p style="font-size: 18.72px; font-weight: 700;"></p><div style="font-size: 18.72px; font-weight: 700;"><div style="margin: 0px;"><span style="font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: small;"><a class="bmc-button" href="https://www.buymeacoffee.com/synthwriter" target="_blank"><img alt="Buy me a coffee" src="https://www.buymeacoffee.com/assets/img/BMC-btn-logo.svg" /><span style="margin-left: 5px;">Buy me a coffee</span></a> (Encourage me to write more posts like this one!)... or...</span></span></div><div><span style="font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: small;"><br /></span></span></div></div></div></span></div><div><a href="https://ko-fi.com/W7W5BM4JX" target="_blank"><img alt="Buy Me a Coffee at ko-fi.com" border="0" height="36" src="https://cdn.ko-fi.com/cdn/kofi3.png?v=3" style="border: 0px; height: 36px;" /></a> (Encourage me via a different route entirely...)</div><div><br /></div><div>Or just tell someone else that there's this amazing blog about hi-tech music...</div><div><br /></div><div><br /></div><div> </div><p><br /></p><p><br /></p><p><br /></p><p><br /></p>Synthesizerwriterhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13668943829180629830noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5222520500837940683.post-23570665134527119542022-03-25T23:00:00.026+00:002022-03-28T14:51:13.546+01:00All I wanted was a Dual Stereo Modulation Effects Pedal...<p>Fate can be very cruel. There's always been an interesting 'rule' in the audio synthesizer world which can be expressed quite simply:</p><p style="text-align: center;"><i><b>Never give them exactly what they actually want!</b></i></p><p>And you can see this if you ever get Gear Acquisition Syndrome (GAS) and try to find a synth with a specific set of characteristics. You will almost always find several close contenders, but one vital and different feature will always be missing from each of them, and none of them will ever have all of the vital features. As Mandalorians say:</p><p style="text-align: center;"><i><b>This is The Way...</b></i></p><p style="text-align: left;">In fact, it applies to more than just synthesizers. When you start to get to that fabled 10,000 hours of experience in something, then you start to notice that just about everything comes in small groups where it is impossible to ever get the 'perfect' set of vital features - one of them will always be left off, and all of the examples will be slightly flawed in one way or another. So you can never get exactly what you want - in terms of features or functionality. In some cases, it is possible to buy two items and get all of the features, but working with them is then much more difficult. In bad cases, you need to buy three or more to get all of the features you require, and working with them can be almost impossible... </p><p style="text-align: left;"><i>(Maybe I am swimming against the tide/current here. Perhaps this is just the intrinsic way that the world works. But...surely not?)</i></p><p style="text-align: left;">So, here's an example... All I wanted was a:</p><h3 style="text-align: left;">Dual Stereo Modulation Effects Pedal.</h3><p style="text-align: left;"><a href="https://www.sourceaudio.net" target="_blank">Source Audio</a> started me on this quest <i><Sound of dramatic orchestral music indicating confidence and optimism...></i>. Their <a href="https://www.sourceaudio.net/ventris-dual-reverb.html" target="_blank">Ventris Dual Stereo Reverb</a> is a superb example of something that ticks absolutely every single one of the vital features that I needed in a reverb:</p><p style="text-align: left;">- Stereo Input and Output</p><p style="text-align: left;">- 2 Separate DSPs for 2 separate effects at once</p><p style="text-align: left;">- Flexible Routing of the Audio (DSPs in series, or parallel)</p><p style="text-align: left;">- An External Software Editor (on a computer) for presets (Oh, and Presets as well!)</p><p style="text-align: left;">...and loads more 'nice but not vital' features! (MIDI, Expression Pedal input...)</p><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiOOQboyRVtA7MU4S_O0cI6poPZrKdSWUapSDcR-xOh_iXk1I18_EsdDvQZa-SgpmsbObL2fWBv7V-PRmMFrkKwyyh3iO-VQEJa-tvgzCqlgZo7HOQcfSabatZ1_kIg_EgZ_sLcg3mu3466FGyNNnqpdXSOU_bI3h3RT3LG651AyHfhXy04WbkLsFwrGg/s800/productpage-ventrisfront_orig.png" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="587" data-original-width="800" height="235" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiOOQboyRVtA7MU4S_O0cI6poPZrKdSWUapSDcR-xOh_iXk1I18_EsdDvQZa-SgpmsbObL2fWBv7V-PRmMFrkKwyyh3iO-VQEJa-tvgzCqlgZo7HOQcfSabatZ1_kIg_EgZ_sLcg3mu3466FGyNNnqpdXSOU_bI3h3RT3LG651AyHfhXy04WbkLsFwrGg/s320/productpage-ventrisfront_orig.png" width="320" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">https://www.sourceaudio.net/ventris-dual-reverb.html</td></tr></tbody></table><p style="text-align: left;">Anyways, Source Audio got a loyal and very happy fan when I bought a Ventris. It is one of my favourite effects pedals. The <a href="https://empresseffects.com/" target="_blank">Empress</a> EchoSystem and Reverb are very close seconds with almost every feature covered, but they do not have external software editors (and even the amazing Zoia has a third party librarian that seems to be gradually evolving some editor-like functionality, so there is hope...). And... the truly gorgeous <a href="https://www.polyeffects.com/" target="_blank">Poly Effects</a> Beebo has an on-board touch screen, but no external software editor...</p><p style="text-align: left;"><i><b>So, note that here we have an example of a product that has ALL of the vital features! This exception kind of proves that it is possible to have near-perfection - always having one vital feature missing is not a rule! </b></i></p><p style="text-align: left;">But the Source Audio Ventris does have one drawback - <b>it isn't a modulation pedal!</b> Now, I know it isn't meant to be a modulation pedal, so I went to their web-site ( <a href="https://www.sourceaudio.net">https://www.sourceaudio.net</a> ) and looked for the equivalent dual stereo modulation effects pedal, which wasn't there, of course... There were some very, very nice effects pedals, but no dual stereo modulation effects pedal... Waaah! </p><p style="text-align: left;"><i><b>Hang on, this means that Source Audio know how to specify, design and engineer something that has total coverage of all of the vital features, but then they don't apply it to modulation? (Or Echo in their 'Nemesis' product, which is another story: a non-dual echo pedal...)</b></i></p><p style="text-align: left;">Maybe I was being too broad in my definition of modulation, so I removed some of the more esoteric varieties (ring modulation, auto-filter, harmonic tremolo, Leslie Speaker emulations, and even effects that arguably are not modulation effects at all, but which seem to turn up in some 'modulation' pedals: bit crusher, sample rate, overdrive...), and I ended up with an alarmingly basic 'modulation effects' list:</p><p style="text-align: left;">- Tremolo (and stereo pan)</p><p style="text-align: left;">- Vibrato</p><p style="text-align: left;">- Phaser</p><p style="text-align: left;">- Flanger</p><p style="text-align: left;">- Chorus</p><p style="text-align: left;">And even with this deliberately simpler list of features, Source Audio didn't have anything in this space - other than buying multiple mono pedals! So, I started to look for a similar dual stereo modulation effects pedal from elsewhere (sorry, Source Audio!) As you may know, there aren't very many effects pedals out there, and so this only took a few moments...</p><p style="text-align: left;">...</p><p style="text-align: left;">...</p><p style="text-align: left;">...</p><p style="text-align: left;">OK, so I lied. The reality is that there are a lot of manufacturers of effects pedals, and there are enormous numbers of pedals out there. In fact, 'enormous' isn't a big enough word! Zillions, perhaps! Of every shape, type, colour and with every feature set you could possibly think of... except, wherever I searched, for those four vital features that I specified above (Stereo, Dual DSP, Series/Parallel Audio Routing, and a Software editor). Oh, and not always providing the 5 basic modulation effects above... </p><h3 style="text-align: left;">Pedals that came close!</h3><p style="text-align: left;">Loads of effects pedals nearly met my requirements, but they all failed for one feature or another. The <a href="https://www.gfisystem.com/" target="_blank">GFI System</a> <a href="https://www.gfisystem.com/synesthesia" target="_blank">Synesthesia</a> dual modulation effects pedal is so very, very close, ticking all of the boxes except... it has a monophonic input! (Being generous, a couple of my synthesizers do have monophonic outputs, but the vast majority have stereo outputs!) The <a href="https://www.strymon.net/product/mobius/" target="_blank">Strymon Mobius</a> modulation effects pedal only has one effect at once. And so it went on... Lots of mono pedals offering modulation effects, rather less stereo ones (and quite a lot of mono input, stereo output ones, like the otherwise wonderful GFI Synesthesia! <i>(Which is arguably the GFI Wavelogic Mk III, but that really is another story, for another time...)</i>). </p><p style="text-align: left;">Perhaps going for high-end, professional 'big-box' effects pedal was my mistake, so I descended into the darker recesses of Amazon and looked at budget pedals. And here I found another almost-close contender - the <a href="https://www.joyoaudio.co.uk/Modulation-Effects/" target="_blank">Joyo</a> Vision Dual Stereo Modulation Effects Pedal, which didn't have presets, didn't have a software editor (actually, no USB or MIDI, or...) and I'm not sure what the audio specifications are like... But, hey, it was a total bargain in terms of price! And it did more than the 5 basic modulation effects, and was stereo in and out! (So I have one on order!)</p><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgTCPRKF5qtfrdoeEFkLgHUOOMs9UF8gGCRKJTwsg8hBrna7DHh9wS8XuVdll1tMLAlZF18W0uWM4LHNPSHuHy9whhwzaABlXROJR0xmsf1fJvuP8U2fERSnTrfxu6QO699lc9GnEaLatRv6AJ0ABmgpRUoM_wsj7bh5NmAYudQfPhrBHU2sNYOXfYCDg/s2262/rombo-PPp_QP8jSrk-unsplash-edit.jpg" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1770" data-original-width="2262" height="250" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgTCPRKF5qtfrdoeEFkLgHUOOMs9UF8gGCRKJTwsg8hBrna7DHh9wS8XuVdll1tMLAlZF18W0uWM4LHNPSHuHy9whhwzaABlXROJR0xmsf1fJvuP8U2fERSnTrfxu6QO699lc9GnEaLatRv6AJ0ABmgpRUoM_wsj7bh5NmAYudQfPhrBHU2sNYOXfYCDg/s320/rombo-PPp_QP8jSrk-unsplash-edit.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">The Joyo Vision Dual Stereo Modulation Effects Pedal. <span style="text-align: left;">Photo by </span><a href="https://unsplash.com/@rombo_guitar_picks?utm_source=unsplash&utm_medium=referral&utm_content=creditCopyText" style="text-align: left;">Rombo</a><span style="text-align: left;"> on </span><a href="https://unsplash.com/s/photos/effects-pedal?utm_source=unsplash&utm_medium=referral&utm_content=creditCopyText" style="text-align: left;">Unsplash</a></td></tr></tbody></table><p style="text-align: left;">I even looked at buying two mono modulation pedals and seeing if that would work, but switching between the series and parallel audio routings would be a separate hardware project all of its own. For example, <a href="https://empresseffects.com/" target="_blank">Empress</a> make separate mono phaser, tremolo and chorus/vibrato/flanger pedals, which would mean acquiring six pedals and would require a patch-bay to give flexible routing, but it would look astonishing and would cost a small fortune! Maybe there's a YouTube video opportunity here... Oh, but I'm forgetting: no presets! Waaaah!</p><p style="text-align: left;">And that's where I am at the moment. Despite a lot of searching, I'm very confident that I have accidentally overlooked the one pedal (or maybe several pedals!) that does precisely what I want, and I'm sure that someone will take great delight in informing me about it (keep reading!). But why does finding it have to be so difficult? Why is a perfectly reasonable set of vital features not so obvious to pedal designers that I should be spoiled for choice, overwhelmed, etc.? </p><h3 style="text-align: left;">A Competition With No Prize (other than being featured here)!</h3><p style="text-align: left;">Which set me thinking... If any pedal manufacturer happens to be reading this, then feel free to let me know about your pedal that meets (or exceeds!) the 4 (four) vital features, and the 5 basic modulation effects, and if I like the look of it (I'm really looking for a professional spec device, of course), I will buy it and review it right here in this blog (I might even do a YouTube video!)! Your company could be my next 'Source Audio' (I must stop mentioning their name!)... Go on - show fate that you are superior! Show me and my readers that you CAN provide what we actually want!</p><h3 style="text-align: left;">MOD Devices Dwarf and DuoX</h3><p style="text-align: left;">I have already mentioned the Empress Zoia, and Poly Effects Beebo, so I should also mention the two current multi-effects (and more) devices from <a href="https://moddevices.com/" target="_blank">MOD Devices</a>. This time, there are ticks for all the features, including an external software editor, and the only barrier is the price, which is, as some people might say, 'reassuring exclusive'. I have a feeling, at the back of my mind, that I will eventually end up buying a <a href="https://moddevices.com/product/mod-dwarf/" target="_blank">MOD Dwarf</a> or <a href="https://moddevices.com/devices/duo-x/" target="_blank">MOD DuoX</a>, but there's also a little voice saying: 'You could buy a synthesizer with that money!' and so I get pulled in two directions and end up doing neither... </p><h3 style="text-align: left;">What IS a 'Modulation' Effect?</h3><p style="text-align: left;">Here's my 'basic' list again:</p><p>- Tremolo (and stereo pan)</p><p>- Vibrato</p><p>- Phaser</p><p>- Flanger</p><p>- Chorus</p><p>Looking at these in terms of what they do, then there are volume changes (tremolo, stereo pan), pitch changes (vibrato, chorus), and spectral changes or dynamic filtering (phaser, flanger). The common bit to all of them is that they are not static - whatever is being 'modulated', that change is either cyclic (via an LFO), or an envelope (either the actual volume envelope of an audio signal, or a multi-segment arbitrary waveshape). This means that we now have the beginnings of a taxonomy of modulation effects (which sounds much more complex than it actually is: a classification system), and which can be used to see if there are any gaps that are not currently exploited:</p><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgjEG-5-IU1HUvpe7PTF-eKjrlOjF2e2Mw_50-pAVWvuUsfs4dogABeYdcUgcR5OugEotUo-KqoVOpa0ENkH2ahP52ZrWTZVhO2D542wmd_2sDZRijJ_PPo86b4HCnxhssOBdZq1av3IA9jvmAB-HUg1ziKvakEN0_Q4nOsuaHnJY0u5Lh0tlcqfs6ycA/s511/mod1.jpg" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="286" data-original-width="511" height="224" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgjEG-5-IU1HUvpe7PTF-eKjrlOjF2e2Mw_50-pAVWvuUsfs4dogABeYdcUgcR5OugEotUo-KqoVOpa0ENkH2ahP52ZrWTZVhO2D542wmd_2sDZRijJ_PPo86b4HCnxhssOBdZq1av3IA9jvmAB-HUg1ziKvakEN0_Q4nOsuaHnJY0u5Lh0tlcqfs6ycA/w400-h224/mod1.jpg" width="400" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Basic 'Modulation' Effects</td></tr></tbody></table><br /><p>I have deliberately used 'Auto-Wah' to mean the repeated cyclic variation of a filter here, and used a more unusual and descriptive term: 'Envelope-Wah' for when it is the envelope that changes the filter frequency - this is sometimes called 'Touch-Wah' and a few other terms... Note that envelope-controlled pitch control doesn't have anything in the box - I couldn't think of (or find after a search) any effects pedal that does this, but, as I have noted in this blog post, this doesn't mean that such effects don't exist! it merely means that I haven't found them yet...</p><p>Two other 'envelope-controlled' effects are missing as well: Envelope-Phase and Envelope-Flange. once again, I don't recall ever hearing (or seeing) and effects pedal that did this...</p><p>The simplest envelope is a ramp, where the value just rises or falls, and this is sometimes called 'Ramping', so I have not added an extra column - but there are effects pedals where the Ramping can affect parameters like the LFO speed, and so you might like to imagine an even more detailed table...</p><p>Having called these the 'basic' modulation effects, there are lots of ways to extend and enhance the table. Tremolo and Stereo Pan are a good example - whilst they are both cyclic changes to the volume, the use of two channels in the Stereo Pan makes it a very different effect. So we shoiuld add a new row for 'Pan'. Harmonic Tremolo splits the incoming audio into two frequency bands and applies different tremolo rates and depths to them, and so we need to accomodate that as well, which means adding a 'Frequency Bands' row to the table. </p><p>'Cyclic' is a bit vague, so let's split that column into two: one for LFO-waveform-based continually cycling effects, and a second column for step-sequencer based effects where the waveform is user-controllable and arguably more 'arbitrary' waves are possible. I've looked at the outer edges of this type of effect in <a href="http://blog.synthesizerwriter.com/2021/09/step-sequencer-for-echo-delay-time.html" target="_blank">a previous blog post</a>...</p><p>All of these revisions give a much more comprehensive table:</p><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg6B7m4IusaUk2i4PiIPUb4Yw08ybjp6sdSSU914Nbc4n4FUZs1B7gVJGJdDaspBF_k0ztKodMnmyVds8WGwd0OVfNZRh8nCSGwDwSILuvOFs4FgNFpKtBTiK0jciddAtZ-vIYznhL7gy7NUdJ4Lhzrs03QHApYVXulxw1yZGEUHyXIZmW4lbgBe2olHg/s1340/mod2.jpg" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="457" data-original-width="1340" height="218" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg6B7m4IusaUk2i4PiIPUb4Yw08ybjp6sdSSU914Nbc4n4FUZs1B7gVJGJdDaspBF_k0ztKodMnmyVds8WGwd0OVfNZRh8nCSGwDwSILuvOFs4FgNFpKtBTiK0jciddAtZ-vIYznhL7gy7NUdJ4Lhzrs03QHApYVXulxw1yZGEUHyXIZmW4lbgBe2olHg/w640-h218/mod2.jpg" width="640" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">A more detailed 'Modulation Effects' table...</td></tr></tbody></table><p>This table reveals some additional empty boxes (I have filled in the Auto-Bend box because someone MUST make a pedal that does that!). I suspect that <a href="https://www.sourceaudio.net/ultrawave_multiband_processor.html" target="_blank">Source Audio's innovative 'Ultra Wave' pedals</a> fill most of these gaps! <b><i>(Source Audio again! My fandom goes into overdrive!)</i></b></p><p>Step-sequencing a harmonic tremolo (or pan position) sounds like it could be an interesting area to explore...</p><h3 style="text-align: left;">Feedback - the Zoom MS-70CDR</h3><p style="text-align: left;">Felix Petrescu aka waka_x reminded me via Twitter about the classic <a href="https://zoomcorp.com/en/gb/multi-effects/multistomp-pedals/ms-70cdr/" target="_blank">Zoom MS-70CDR</a> effects pedal, which is very interesting... (<i>I have a Zoom L-12 mixer, for instance!</i>) Firstly, because, as you might have inferred, I tend to go for the high-end, professional-sized 'big box' pedals with lots of rotary controls, but for modulation, then I might be persuaded to try something more compact - as far as I can see, there is no MIDI and no external software editor, though (just librarians)... Secondly, since I was intrigued enough, I tried to buy one, and discovered that they aren't currently available on Amazon in the UK, and <a href="https://www.andertons.co.uk/" target="_blank">Andertons</a>, my standard music retailer, weren't expecting them to be in stock until the end of April, so I'm now waiting... For something which has been around for nearly ten years, then I'm now wondering if a new version is imminent, perhaps? Or maybe in these times of chip shortages, there's a much simpler explanation. Anyway, I will soon find out... So huge thanks to Felix, and I'm looking into it. <i>(There are lots of Zoom MS-70CDR resources on the InterWeb... I was very impressed <a href="https://tonelib.net/tonelib-zoom.html" target="_blank">with this one from Tonelib.net.</a> )</i></p><p style="text-align: left;">Previously, I have also looked at another budget mono in, stereo out effects device: <a href="http://blog.synthesizerwriter.com/2021/10/vintage-synth-meets-21st-century-multi.html" target="_blank">The Valeton GP-100</a>.</p><h3 style="text-align: left;">Feedback - your idea here</h3><p style="text-align: left;">As I said earlier in this blog post, there are SO MANY effects pedals out there, that it is almost impossible to keep yourself informed on all of them, all the time. Which makes me suspect that there's still a hidden gem lurking out there. An example of a near-miss would be the <a href="https://www.wamplerpedals.com/products/modulation/terraform/" target="_blank">Wampler Terraform</a>, which is stereo in, stereo out, has MIDI, presets, lots of rotary controls, and is only missing the dual DSP 'engine' approach, because it only does one modulation effect at once. But it's a very nice offering from a well-known pedal manufacturer... Close! </p><h3 style="text-align: left;">Perfection?</h3><p style="text-align: left;">I tried to specify <a href="http://blog.synthesizerwriter.com/2021/11/how-to-make-perfect-guitar-pedal-for.html" target="_blank">the 'perfect' guitar pedal in a previous blog post</a>...</p><h3 style="text-align: left;">Final thoughts...</h3><p style="text-align: left;">Maybe 'Dual' modulation is the 'Next Big Thing', and I am asking about it just a little bit too early?</p><p style="text-align: left;">Alternatively, maybe I should stop dithering and go to the MOD Devices web-site?</p><p style="text-align: left;">It definitely looks like '<a href="https://www.sourceaudio.net" target="_blank">Source Audio</a>' are an innovative effects company to follow more closely!</p><div><span style="font-family: inherit;"><p><span style="font-family: inherit;">---</span></p><p><span style="font-family: inherit;">If you find my writing helpful, informative or entertaining, then please consider visiting this link:</span></p><div style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; orphans: auto; text-size-adjust: auto; widows: auto;"><div style="font-size: 18.72px; font-weight: 700;"><span style="font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: small;"><a class="bmc-button" href="https://teespring.com/en-GB/stores/synthesizerwriters-store" target="_blank"><span style="margin-left: 5px;">Synthesizerwriter's Store</span></a> (New 'Modular thinking' designs now available!)</span></span></div><p style="font-size: 18.72px; font-weight: 700;"></p><div style="font-size: 18.72px; font-weight: 700;"><div style="margin: 0px;"><span style="font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: small;"><a class="bmc-button" href="https://www.buymeacoffee.com/synthwriter" target="_blank"><img alt="Buy me a coffee" src="https://www.buymeacoffee.com/assets/img/BMC-btn-logo.svg" /><span style="margin-left: 5px;">Buy me a coffee</span></a> (Encourage me to write more posts like this one!)... or...</span></span></div><div><span style="font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: small;"><br /></span></span></div></div></div></span></div><div><a href="https://ko-fi.com/W7W5BM4JX" target="_blank"><img alt="Buy Me a Coffee at ko-fi.com" border="0" height="36" src="https://cdn.ko-fi.com/cdn/kofi3.png?v=3" style="border: 0px; height: 36px;" /></a> (Encourage me via a different route entirely...)</div><div><br /></div><div>Or just tell someone else that there's this amazing blog about hi-tech music...</div><div><br /></div><div><br /></div><div> </div><div><br /></div><p style="text-align: left;"><br /></p><p style="text-align: left;"><br /></p>Synthesizerwriterhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13668943829180629830noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5222520500837940683.post-33078868835679504762022-03-07T16:26:00.012+00:002022-06-24T21:10:07.348+01:00Preparing a Decent Sampler Instrument (or Sample Pack) for uploading to Pianobook.co.uk - Part 2<p><span style="font-family: inherit;">Part 1 talked about gathering together all the files that you would need in order to submit an Instrument / Sample Pack </span><span>using</span><span> </span><a href="https://www.decentsamples.com/product/decent-sampler-plugin/" style="font-family: inherit;" target="_blank">Decent Sampler</a><span> so that it could be </span><span>submitted to</span><span> </span><a href="http://pianobook.co.uk" style="font-family: inherit;">pianobook.co.uk</a> . You could think of it as most of the 'Theory' side of the process.</p><p>This post, Part 2, is all about how you actually go about doing the registering with the<span> </span><a href="http://pianobook.co.uk" style="font-family: inherit;">pianobook.co.uk</a> web-site, and then how you actually submit the files and fill in the text fields so that your Instrument / Sample pack actually gets uploaded correctly and with minimum hassle. So this is the 'Practical' side of the process.</p><h3 style="text-align: left;">The most important thing... is what you forgot to mention last time...</h3><p>In Part 1, I forgot something very important, although I did mention it in passing. So, since this is all about the 'practical' bit, it is a good time to reiterate it. When you are developing anything based on samples, <b>one of the most important things that you must do</b>, before sending off any files, is to:</p><p style="text-align: center;"><i><b>check your tuning and transposition... </b></i></p><p>It is all too easy to work in a closed development loop, jumping back and forth between <a href="https://www.decentsamples.com/product/decent-sampler-plugin/" style="font-family: inherit;" target="_blank">Decent Sampler</a> and your <a href="https://code.visualstudio.com/" target="_blank">favourite editor,</a> <i>(well, my current one anyway)</i>, and, unless you have perfect pitch (which fades with age, allegedly), or employ other tuning checks, then you can end up with a 'C' on the keyboard that plays an 'A' pitch, and you get an email from Pianobook Submissions that politely ruins your day... </p><p>But I learn quickly (and forget faster), and so I bought two things:</p><p>- a Guitar Pedal that does tuning, which, it turns out, shows the Note, but not the Octave (Wah!)</p><p><i> (There are lots of 'Tuner' pedals available at your favourite local or online music retailer, or Amazon. They come in many different sizes, and there are quite a few approaches to how the tuning is shown. The one I got shows A-G, plus sharps and flats, as well as how close your input actually is to that note, but not the octave.)</i></p><p>- a Tuner/Metronome, probably originally intended for more classical musicians that most readers of this blog, but which it turns out, is also mildly technologically-friendly: it has a jack socket and can be battery-powered! </p><p><i> (I bought a <a href="https://www.korg.com/uk/products/tuners/tm_60/" target="_blank">Korg TM-60</a>, which has a quarter-inch jack input that accepts line level audio, and so can be used to check the output of <a href="https://www.decentsamples.com/product/decent-sampler-plugin/" style="font-family: inherit;" target="_blank">Decent Sampler</a> via a DAW via an audio interface (mine is a <a href="https://store.focusrite.com/en-gb/product/scarlett-2i4-2nd-gen/MOSC0014DM~MOSC0014DM" target="_blank">Focusrite Scarlett 2i4 2nd Gen</a>). Once again, I got one that doesn't show the octave, just the note... But for ease of use, then the TM-60 is definitely a winner.)</i></p><p>Alternatively, you could use your DAW, which almost certainly has a 'Tuner' plug-in...and it may even show the octave! And if there isn't one bundled in, then there are lots of Tuner plug-ins available from many online retailers. You may even find a free one. </p><p>Despite all of this process, my brain still seems to find the connection between the Root Note of a sample and actual pitch a difficult topic. As I write, this, I have received another 'day ruining' email from submissions @ Pianobook.co.uk, telling me that their checks have found a tuning error in yet another virtual instrument. So, I make mistakes as well, and I can't even follow my own suggestions! Hopefully you will be better!</p><h3 style="text-align: left;">Registering</h3><p>Part 1 was all about preparing the necessary files, so that the actual registration process would be as smooth as possible. So now, let's register... </p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEjO1FCnSsR0wh-t08SxVM-PuqnP1R5a3iXlEddqtQH0GbaN-auVcABK1KHOXRrYOWVbU6XqlJBSpMjush08ztMetBSQjYm04ngvhdOViztuFWkwMv-nNqIAO3ES7hLO2t13rcAujhg4C6lIaBK-Zu8rxTd6ZT9b1WILpW3etGyT40QHLPSo_7rtFLR1fQ=s2387" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="149" data-original-width="2387" height="40" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEjO1FCnSsR0wh-t08SxVM-PuqnP1R5a3iXlEddqtQH0GbaN-auVcABK1KHOXRrYOWVbU6XqlJBSpMjush08ztMetBSQjYm04ngvhdOViztuFWkwMv-nNqIAO3ES7hLO2t13rcAujhg4C6lIaBK-Zu8rxTd6ZT9b1WILpW3etGyT40QHLPSo_7rtFLR1fQ=w640-h40" width="640" /></a></div><p>If you visit the Pianobook.co.uk web-site and are not a member, then the far right top menu bar will say 'Login / Signup. If you click on that button to Sign Up, then you get taken to the Login page, which is slightly confusing - but underneath the two big 'Login' text boxes it says:</p><h2 style="box-sizing: border-box; color: var(--font-col-headings); font-family: var(--font-fam-headings); font-size: var(--font-size-h2); line-height: var(--heading-line-height); margin-bottom: 0.25em; margin-top: 0px; text-align: center;"><span><span style="background-color: black; color: white;">Not signed up yet?</span></span></h2><div>and there is a 'Join Now' button underneath. (There is also a 'Lost your password?' link!)</div><div><br /></div><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEjruviURPp9sD1p2IBZ2CzvLMnFk7qBfr9t6ln2IWXuwZ_S9d5neIbmZ9D9husajtkl0R_UV0Alrinu5pFpb4UR8uAz9bFhPQRFTkXLpWJVU1eKFTMKyZyxbxPaJpv5ITWLU7d7jpB-UyuakJJy98ubjO5LNFq-jTpN5b7qG-Ez2x8o0Kc5jmnSI9AjKw=s1601" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1268" data-original-width="1601" height="253" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEjruviURPp9sD1p2IBZ2CzvLMnFk7qBfr9t6ln2IWXuwZ_S9d5neIbmZ9D9husajtkl0R_UV0Alrinu5pFpb4UR8uAz9bFhPQRFTkXLpWJVU1eKFTMKyZyxbxPaJpv5ITWLU7d7jpB-UyuakJJy98ubjO5LNFq-jTpN5b7qG-Ez2x8o0Kc5jmnSI9AjKw=s320" width="320" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">The Login dialogue box - you need the 'Join Now' button near the bottom...</td></tr></tbody></table><div><br /></div><div>Clicking on this button takes you to: https://www.pianobook.co.uk/members/register/ , which is a big dialogue box.</div><div><br /></div><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEjnOvMTxsBGFKmSRiK-9Ok04IjAYQXjLEc0UpoZU3GdQQ1luzM129IWHdpPeR2hCjTfZdED-mkY9FqN1ukFDlmf-LV3a0YsHu934GBp69vSHf8k49oeuFD3KtyOEYXyXWUWYpfpNmr-O23V1YPl5p0pLYKn0sP_Z4YIA6Gjxuz4JkfWpTjcQWlv4h9M4w=s1589" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1402" data-original-width="1589" height="353" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEjnOvMTxsBGFKmSRiK-9Ok04IjAYQXjLEc0UpoZU3GdQQ1luzM129IWHdpPeR2hCjTfZdED-mkY9FqN1ukFDlmf-LV3a0YsHu934GBp69vSHf8k49oeuFD3KtyOEYXyXWUWYpfpNmr-O23V1YPl5p0pLYKn0sP_Z4YIA6Gjxuz4JkfWpTjcQWlv4h9M4w=w400-h353" width="400" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">The 'Join Now' dialogue box...</td></tr></tbody></table><div><br /></div><div>Note that this page is also where you can go to if you need to reset your password... </div><div><br /></div><div>What you need to do first is fill in the six text boxes, which is where Part 1 comes in. I'm assuming that the 'Name' and 'Email' fields will be easy to fill in. but the next two fields have some instructions in grey text inside them, as reminders for what you should think about when choosing what to put in them.</div><div><br /></div><div>Username is going to be used whenever you login to Pianobook.co.uk. In Part 1, I said that you should avoid using your real name or the Display Name which you will be using as your identification inside Pianobook.co.uk. You can't have spaces either, so there's a temptation to use the first part of your email address (before the '@' symbol), which isn't a good idea because people may already know it. So 'johnsmith27' isn't so good, but 'SampleExpert1000' is quite good, and 'SampleXpert1k' is easier to type and harder to predict. There is also a note that reminds you that you cannot change your username currently, so one you have set your Username, it will stay like that. This is perhaps another reason to choose carefully. Perhaps I should have used a Username like: 'RememberTuning' so that I would check my sample tuning more carefully!</div><div><br /></div><div>The Display Name can have spaces, and will appear on every post and reply that you make in the Pianobook.co.uk Forum, as well as being the name that will be shown alongside all of the Instruments / Sample packs that you upload. Forum posts will have your <a href="https://en.gravatar.com/" target="_blank">Gravatar</a> picture visible, with your Display Name underneath, whilst for your Sample Packs, your profile photo will have your Display Name underneath it. So visitors to the Pianobook.co.uk web-site are going to associate your photo and your name with your samples or your Forum posts and replies. You should not use your Username, and if you have an online identity that is associated with your music, then you should use that. So, if you want to find me on Pianobook.co.uk, you would search for 'synthesizerwriter', and you will find me! </div><div><br /></div><h3 style="text-align: left;">A quick aside on Gravatar.com</h3><div><br /></div><div>When I mentioned Gravatar in the context of Forum posts, then you either knew what I was talking about, or else you wondered what a Gravatar 'picture' was? If you don't know about Gravatars, then your Forum posts and replies will use a simple white and grey picture, which is very boring. </div><div><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEiT6XOdlXhRbCpxPKArEOvRx_hT03PcjIAg5Y-45eZkIrCZbcfDY3jqckjyigo8l1zBx4jTTav9iR06HaJ7t_9GgXExEWWpu6CQ_r37swCSBigXt__5wMuXRjMEzgf7y1jJs7Lt5leGECJgGfiy01b6OCtzLHlNA31G55BvGlNWyqjfsQjHXqiTTJFOug=s205" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="205" data-original-width="130" height="205" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEiT6XOdlXhRbCpxPKArEOvRx_hT03PcjIAg5Y-45eZkIrCZbcfDY3jqckjyigo8l1zBx4jTTav9iR06HaJ7t_9GgXExEWWpu6CQ_r37swCSBigXt__5wMuXRjMEzgf7y1jJs7Lt5leGECJgGfiy01b6OCtzLHlNA31G55BvGlNWyqjfsQjHXqiTTJFOug" width="130" /></a></div><div><br /></div><div>This is the default picture that everyone would see if I didn't have a Gravatar picture...</div><div><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEgqqOLVVQ4i3j81xKLKBA8vKt79__T5OeGtbJxTZ_dVDkkrdOireLUl4SIwjJuOyu_HykvVgYhsN348u_zZ0x94gLzJ5sxSbRlh52f74THxLMznCjIIZw-JV1sD-r8EGVrXZDIpS2WEX2GVQFQn3I_v0ABO91fG11eoyJRo4sETmqKSj7O2BJSCdHVT1A=s270" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="205" data-original-width="270" height="205" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEgqqOLVVQ4i3j81xKLKBA8vKt79__T5OeGtbJxTZ_dVDkkrdOireLUl4SIwjJuOyu_HykvVgYhsN348u_zZ0x94gLzJ5sxSbRlh52f74THxLMznCjIIZw-JV1sD-r8EGVrXZDIpS2WEX2GVQFQn3I_v0ABO91fG11eoyJRo4sETmqKSj7O2BJSCdHVT1A" width="270" /></a></div><br /><div>And these are the two Gravatar pictures that appear in the Forum. The synthesizerwriter one is from when the makers of 'The Simpsons' had a web-site that would turn a photo of you, into a 'Simpsonised' version. Unfortunately, the web-site is long gone. The Martin Russ picture (the name has been changed from the 'Not Dave' variant) is just me in my studio.</div><div><br /></div><div>To get a Gravatar picture, you go to <a href="https://en.gravatar.com/">Gravatar.com</a> and create a WordPress account (the process is not that different to what we have been doing here!) and you can then register email addresses and upload photos or pictures that will be associated with those email addresses. Any web-site that uses Gravatars will then use the picture that you have associated with an email address whenever that email address is used to identify you. In the case of Pianobook.co.uk, you have already entered your email address, and this will have been checked against Gravatar.com - if you have an account on Gravatar, and a picture associated with that email address, then that is what will appear in the Forum. </div><div><br /></div><div><i>(Yes, this is yet another hoop to jump through, but once you have done it, you will find that all sorts of web-sites will start to show your picture when you have told them your email address when you registered with them - many web-sites based on WordPress, for instance... )</i></div><div><i><b><br /></b></i></div><div><i><b>Stop Press: As I was writing this, Pianobook.co.uk started making the transition to using Discord as a replacement for the Forum, so this information is now out of date... However, a lot of OTHER sites use Gravatars!</b></i></div><div><i><br /></i></div><h3 style="text-align: left;">Back to Pianobook.co.uk Registration...</h3><div><br /></div><div>Anyway, back to the Pianobook.co.uk registration:</div><div><br /></div><div>The most important thing to remember here is:</div><div><br /></div><div style="text-align: center;"><b>Username and Display Name should be different!</b></div><div><br /></div><div>Hopefully, you have got used to using a Password Manager by now, and so you will be ready with a brand new, different password, generated just for Pianobook.co.uk use. You should never, ever, use the same password for different web-sites, applications, or services. </div><div><br /></div><div>You need to enter the password twice. This is a subtle way to try and get you to use a password manager, because you may well make mistakes if you try to manually type the same mix of upper and lower case letters, numbers and symbols twice, exactly. Once you have made a mistake, then you will need to manually type the password twice again, which will quickly become tedious. In contrast, with a password manager, you take your new 'Pianobook.co.uk-only password, copy it, and then paste it into the two fields. Job done!</div><div><br /></div><div>As is often the case with registering for a web-site or service, there are some terms and conditions to read. You need to read them via the link (open in a new tab) and then tick the box.</div><div><br /></div><div>To try and prevent malicious people from flooding Pianobook.co.uk with lots of fake accounts, the Captcha tries to make sure that you are a real person, using various (and evolving) methods. In the early days of the InterWeb, Captchas were used to test out Optical Character Recognition systems - so if a text recognition system thought a phrase in some scanned text was 'Roland Jupiter-8', then a Captcha would be used to check if people read the same words. Nowadays, instead of words, Machine Learning systems that analyse photos are checked by asking people if they can see bicycles, traffic lights, busses, trains, etc. in photos, and these are compared with the computer results. So it tends to make creating fake accounts more difficult...</div><div><br /></div><div>Finally, there is the 'Register' button. If you have filled in everything above satisfactorily (don't you just hate that word?), then you can proceed to the next stage. Notice that there is also an 'Already got an account' link, so that if you somehow thought that entering in your name, email, username, display name and passwords was the normal way to lo in to pianobook.co.uk, then you can go straight to that Login page and just enter your Username and password. A second password reset link is also on this page. </div><div><br /></div><h3 style="text-align: left;"> The Profile</h3><div>When you have registered and have logged in to your new account on Pianobook.co.uk, the far right top menu bar will change so that it sats: 'account' followed by a downwards pointing arrow that drops down a menu.</div><div><br /></div><div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEg2_N1F_i23BvmGsbYXb9ul-9UUDn30g9Q4_lYk1niyx7QoalGCPq7x7XJsxGEdbqVu69kBpxTRhFB3M6jyhmyEMeXoH7z4fakcO3dqGMyoHJSqXO5ihdlL99FP8ADmDpMzfL4XtkSYGB83Pm49oIvhXpeugYh0e1gAQiFVR3gFsqDFjwJWq2hQKVhZVg=s2535" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="140" data-original-width="2535" height="35" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEg2_N1F_i23BvmGsbYXb9ul-9UUDn30g9Q4_lYk1niyx7QoalGCPq7x7XJsxGEdbqVu69kBpxTRhFB3M6jyhmyEMeXoH7z4fakcO3dqGMyoHJSqXO5ihdlL99FP8ADmDpMzfL4XtkSYGB83Pm49oIvhXpeugYh0e1gAQiFVR3gFsqDFjwJWq2hQKVhZVg=w640-h35" width="640" /></a></div><br /> The drop-down menu has a few options:</div><div><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEibGYJrFx_zy7ukkEYSodmWJ86VsMhhvoGEvW_zvBY7HcQMDxgSEtYRcuztEqIZx5aAd_PbcVFCNBU3pS5nRmugp1bzvV67Cgm7Z9tehM3ZHN7G_IHRcIHR4kK1kowc99l29djBb6fvsFTQEuIXN8BXBA_Xwmp_oIW6efaVakHuY7_mBb1v1lj6A0dxJw=s524" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="524" data-original-width="408" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEibGYJrFx_zy7ukkEYSodmWJ86VsMhhvoGEvW_zvBY7HcQMDxgSEtYRcuztEqIZx5aAd_PbcVFCNBU3pS5nRmugp1bzvV67Cgm7Z9tehM3ZHN7G_IHRcIHR4kK1kowc99l29djBb6fvsFTQEuIXN8BXBA_Xwmp_oIW6efaVakHuY7_mBb1v1lj6A0dxJw=s320" width="249" /></a></div><br /><div>'Profile' is the one that you use to edit your User Profile, so let's look at that page:</div><div><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEiITIS-KxNOHYC1HYqnnZil820cEotgLVBkoPaAO7SarTQpuT6juWrSBP_mJbbnJVUTtPHTWTAHIwe9x4fzI00qtKlHCYdI2-7ymasIjuHCLhPlfEWa373zNJPv3NO5S8oB4FsBIMK9z1DOtAlMVQ46tig1VSglZqXotK3ELjAkP2dOAOLjJhOA3tvQCA=s1080" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="595" data-original-width="1080" height="352" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEiITIS-KxNOHYC1HYqnnZil820cEotgLVBkoPaAO7SarTQpuT6juWrSBP_mJbbnJVUTtPHTWTAHIwe9x4fzI00qtKlHCYdI2-7ymasIjuHCLhPlfEWa373zNJPv3NO5S8oB4FsBIMK9z1DOtAlMVQ46tig1VSglZqXotK3ELjAkP2dOAOLjJhOA3tvQCA=w640-h352" width="640" /></a></div><br /><div>As you can see, I haven't used 'synthesizerwriter' for this test account, but 'Martin Russ Not Dave' instead. Remember that this is a Display Name, so it can have spaces in it, and it will appear anytime that you post, reply or publish anything - so I'm not going to be using this test account with a name like this.</div><div><br /></div><div>Any Sample Packs (virtual instruments) that you publish will appear below this top part of the page, below that 'Edit Profile' button. As you can see, Martin Russ Not Dave has published one Sample Pack, and has 1 follower, but is not following anyone. The profile photo is an inverted and mirrored version of the 'Dave' photo, and the photo at the tope, the 'banner-photo' is the default photo of a piano keyboard.</div><div><br /></div><div>So let's replace the banner-photo. See that blue 'Replace banner' button, with an icon of two pictures being swapped? Click on it. </div><div><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEjBFpdl7Tmy5Fvf9ytFDykOtTAGCPH1GEUAXrsfviz1ToMPnlJ4EbPZ4Ye2V-IWXo2Dm0UTNkybbzv8XpNL6BULvQhCWoPLdBVkdngdoONMwkJINWXD0pQw9R2vpkJeqGfD_mCKiOBfbu5sCUyaZ1LipT-mHgqXkkgEu-csLkvbcr_RNyzz6tS5jkfOFA=s1226" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="644" data-original-width="1226" height="210" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEjBFpdl7Tmy5Fvf9ytFDykOtTAGCPH1GEUAXrsfviz1ToMPnlJ4EbPZ4Ye2V-IWXo2Dm0UTNkybbzv8XpNL6BULvQhCWoPLdBVkdngdoONMwkJINWXD0pQw9R2vpkJeqGfD_mCKiOBfbu5sCUyaZ1LipT-mHgqXkkgEu-csLkvbcr_RNyzz6tS5jkfOFA=w400-h210" width="400" /></a></div><div><br /></div><div>You will get another dialogue box, where you can choose a new banner-photo - click on the blue 'Choose file' button, and choose a photo... Note that is says that the size has to be at least 2000 x 500 pixels, under 2 MBytes in size, and despite what it says (and you can check experimentally) the file can be a .jpg or a .png. </div><div><br /></div><div>Now, banner-photo is the very first photo that you were asked to prepare in Part 1. Maybe you still like that one, or maybe you want to browse through some alternatives? Well, one source (apart from taking your own photos!) is <a href="http://Unsplash.com">Unsplash.com</a> - a source of freely-usable photos. To replace the piano keyboard, I used a photo of a classic Moog modular by <a href="https://unsplash.com/@trommelkopf?utm_source=unsplash&utm_medium=referral&utm_content=creditCopyText">Steve Harvey</a> on <a href="https://unsplash.com/s/photos/synthesizer?utm_source=unsplash&utm_medium=referral&utm_content=creditCopyText">Unsplash</a> ...</div><div><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEjpBbv2xLW7H-3QnEPGCZij_J0BhImEt946AQs-Intc5WKmJHuzD-ZxDmla-Gxp0dalP7FcKFe2zrLVSWMS2ezxAg7gzKLlOx28JThKKJkSEWMvbWKSvBCJUZM5dMYvGh8_PeHbrx3_k_zgpi4OFqX7TstyR75P0--Ij8VT84oFDNKOSlZyW3wG2OR1OQ=s1231" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="647" data-original-width="1231" height="210" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEjpBbv2xLW7H-3QnEPGCZij_J0BhImEt946AQs-Intc5WKmJHuzD-ZxDmla-Gxp0dalP7FcKFe2zrLVSWMS2ezxAg7gzKLlOx28JThKKJkSEWMvbWKSvBCJUZM5dMYvGh8_PeHbrx3_k_zgpi4OFqX7TstyR75P0--Ij8VT84oFDNKOSlZyW3wG2OR1OQ=w400-h210" width="400" /></a></div><br /><div>Once you have 'Save'd the new banner-photo with the blue 'Save' button, then the Profile web-page will have a new banner photo across the top:</div><div><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEh9Crn1PRbwbNa7L7Fl5xtriIVNEAyALVdO_hxok07AcP9efCbI-nKh7HwISUjcgO-Qh25-h5sl7-tqy3OBw0xzOrzkG6IVEQx-Kwl5XNnZtPUid-FxQI4YZ2GiO1rWAiOgzZrtzYsprImw7Bo2L4V81EuWkP6GnG2j_rIMNbjjUbnL3XhP9xxzItqx-w=s1080" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="595" data-original-width="1080" height="352" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEh9Crn1PRbwbNa7L7Fl5xtriIVNEAyALVdO_hxok07AcP9efCbI-nKh7HwISUjcgO-Qh25-h5sl7-tqy3OBw0xzOrzkG6IVEQx-Kwl5XNnZtPUid-FxQI4YZ2GiO1rWAiOgzZrtzYsprImw7Bo2L4V81EuWkP6GnG2j_rIMNbjjUbnL3XhP9xxzItqx-w=w640-h352" width="640" /></a></div><br /><div>The Profile page with the new banner photo.</div><div><br /></div><div>Next, that Display Name needs changing to something sensible, and the photo of Dave needs to be changed as well, and more... The photo of Dave is the profile-photo, which has to be a .jpg (JPEG) file. But where is the blue button? Actually, you need to hover your mouse over the photo, and a blue button will appear, with the 'two files swapping position' icon that was on the banner-photo button. The dialogue box is identical, except that it states that the photo has to be square, and at least 500 pixels wide. So I chose a pixellated version of one of the photos on Gravatar:</div><div><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEgcRTbWE3swl1Lsm7Tti9Qi2lQhn_GjQ1fJf5M0ov5IRey3Sig4GnqGGKlq_Onx0SwN0fysjOEIKykftbJ8mVH3mPI8YJb1AgK5Fa6Wu_Agc5Gm8mv3h28bjCsXGV5h_v8YirM1h8MU7pPXVc18SviwaBGI80zBLjg1Ng--foiuiSV_7SnYb2Sl5P3Ivw=s1080" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="593" data-original-width="1080" height="352" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEgcRTbWE3swl1Lsm7Tti9Qi2lQhn_GjQ1fJf5M0ov5IRey3Sig4GnqGGKlq_Onx0SwN0fysjOEIKykftbJ8mVH3mPI8YJb1AgK5Fa6Wu_Agc5Gm8mv3h28bjCsXGV5h_v8YirM1h8MU7pPXVc18SviwaBGI80zBLjg1Ng--foiuiSV_7SnYb2Sl5P3Ivw=w640-h352" width="640" /></a></div><div><br /></div><div>To change the rest of the Profile web-page, you click on the blue 'Edit profile' button. You may not be surprised to learn that this opens another dialogue box, with fields to fill in!</div><div><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEhoma3aVwccvF6AwM_DSKGTe8Njh6lPu-btdWaQhsVmsyjKC_rElEkDEuh6pf5JUk0N-8qqu8sTgQIcG0MfIKsBfOhySb-RnVF5e-6ZUl-mlcVgyZVzaxHjYDuctkVYDc__JsldsBOsrRfivylqOimoo4MRNNIu29-lEuG08h2nh03XvopBfU-KxbcSJQ=s1733" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1733" data-original-width="1080" height="640" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEhoma3aVwccvF6AwM_DSKGTe8Njh6lPu-btdWaQhsVmsyjKC_rElEkDEuh6pf5JUk0N-8qqu8sTgQIcG0MfIKsBfOhySb-RnVF5e-6ZUl-mlcVgyZVzaxHjYDuctkVYDc__JsldsBOsrRfivylqOimoo4MRNNIu29-lEuG08h2nh03XvopBfU-KxbcSJQ=w398-h640" width="398" /></a></div><br /><div>After changing the text fields with the information that you prepared in Part 1, and saving with the blue 'Save changes' button, the revised Profile web-page is complete:</div><div><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEgeQ-Yz-64bLziHfKo-q04K4s5gBQPh3bM9rrEE2KPtEqclypJFxDvyiWQiXKCo3uZEIDaD3IBZzYkCmFuYYWgAI_mlvXnQWJqDtTUUTHIFeHsw5VyF2P1NdXTTMIIISNQwNsvoEoUFbCJ4fs4vRJ6JH-4AA_SSa0mXVtlAIp8pCcrLBnxhT9h5Z-eZ4Q=s1080" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="591" data-original-width="1080" height="350" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEgeQ-Yz-64bLziHfKo-q04K4s5gBQPh3bM9rrEE2KPtEqclypJFxDvyiWQiXKCo3uZEIDaD3IBZzYkCmFuYYWgAI_mlvXnQWJqDtTUUTHIFeHsw5VyF2P1NdXTTMIIISNQwNsvoEoUFbCJ4fs4vRJ6JH-4AA_SSa0mXVtlAIp8pCcrLBnxhT9h5Z-eZ4Q=w640-h350" width="640" /></a></div><br /><div>Now, we need to upload a Decent Sampler Instrument / Sample pack!</div><div><br /></div><h3 style="text-align: left;">Submitting... </h3><div>Back to the menu bar, and this time, the 'Submit' button. </div><div><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEjS5nQsYvCKuPiOayiPl0oqklP1Uhf6gimSYoeU1yYMXg1dwWX-DRQAgi7xtot5MwGv1wmLrpu3b_D3dr28op2sL9oBk5OYtPCTbmV0gj2jvEvx-QQvvnJ4b6j8e6QiPzCgrxU2dq-eEKVLv5lTw-Guf4eQS7ex0FBSt5OnjOGA8Iaz1C5ZVrRnn2gDCA=s2535" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="140" data-original-width="2535" height="36" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEjS5nQsYvCKuPiOayiPl0oqklP1Uhf6gimSYoeU1yYMXg1dwWX-DRQAgi7xtot5MwGv1wmLrpu3b_D3dr28op2sL9oBk5OYtPCTbmV0gj2jvEvx-QQvvnJ4b6j8e6QiPzCgrxU2dq-eEKVLv5lTw-Guf4eQS7ex0FBSt5OnjOGA8Iaz1C5ZVrRnn2gDCA=w640-h36" width="640" /></a></div><div><br /></div><div>On Pianobook.co.uk, you 'Submit' an Instrument / Sample Pack for evaluation, and after various checks (tuning, perhaps? keyboard colouring?...) in the 'Submit Queue', it will be published, and made available for anyone to download from your 'Profile' web-page. So your Profile web-page is the first destination that anyone searching for you and your Instruments / Sample Packs will find, and it is a catalogue of all your published Instruments / Sample Packs. So how your Profile web-page appears is very important - lots of people are going to see it. This is why the first section of this blog post has concentrated on showing you how to fill it with your photos and text. </div><div><br /></div><div>When you click on the 'Submit' button (which, for once, is NOT blue!), then you get taken to a page which has a banner photo at the top, containing a selection of microphones, to remind you that this is a web-site where samples are important! Scroll down the page, read the instructions, and keep scrolling down until you get to the big reveal...another dialogue box:</div><div><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEjyupxAJTcuePXRS6jULrR5cLZe2RuWdgGMRy5S21_Jb0rUnISwMwHXW40kdVHnp4lBbi9HyTyBus3iNNTz78F_R61iBnWhniY7m7kKirCT7X74jL02eBUJIp8nHm5Jx6Ek-JquE-sI6O1n-y-QjopCDG7hUhmKSDACjCGoPE3qCd4SjdNSPetefjhkJQ=s1338" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1338" data-original-width="1194" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEjyupxAJTcuePXRS6jULrR5cLZe2RuWdgGMRy5S21_Jb0rUnISwMwHXW40kdVHnp4lBbi9HyTyBus3iNNTz78F_R61iBnWhniY7m7kKirCT7X74jL02eBUJIp8nHm5Jx6Ek-JquE-sI6O1n-y-QjopCDG7hUhmKSDACjCGoPE3qCd4SjdNSPetefjhkJQ=w358-h400" width="358" /></a></div><br /><div>Once again, the text fields should have already been prepared. In this first dialogue box for the submission process, the three fields are found in the 'README.txt 'Story' file that is in the main 'MyDecentSamplerStuff' folder. You can see that I have copied and pasted the relevant fragments of text from the README.txt file for my 'Drone Drone' Instrument / Sample Pack, into the three fields. Note that the 'Story' field requires at leat 150 characters, although many people provide a lot more than this (yes, me, guilty as charged). When you have done this, then click on the blue 'Save updates' button and you will be taken to the next dialogue box....</div><div><br /></div><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEg1msKsTUAJfDKiOKFFhlR8LAmVz9McPbVz1YIrQ37JUDy-x5kWxRr4tUPx3VAm2FZZWmJ1mB5jR3v08bA1WCAjyPIzpadIrC4vQuolT_hkRmdUEx8iN2IsG7IJ2lqD-RlR5GGNJ_IqKEjr4SiyQqoI8SthsRQwMJEe6dzNTKURJLqOGWGRET9JCFo0Qg=s1208" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1208" data-original-width="1080" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEg1msKsTUAJfDKiOKFFhlR8LAmVz9McPbVz1YIrQ37JUDy-x5kWxRr4tUPx3VAm2FZZWmJ1mB5jR3v08bA1WCAjyPIzpadIrC4vQuolT_hkRmdUEx8iN2IsG7IJ2lqD-RlR5GGNJ_IqKEjr4SiyQqoI8SthsRQwMJEe6dzNTKURJLqOGWGRET9JCFo0Qg=s320" width="286" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Choose your category!</td></tr></tbody></table><div><br /></div><div>This dialogue box is where you choose a category for your Instrument / Sample Pack by ticking a box. For some submissions this is easy, but for others it can be very difficult. The Pianobook.co.uk web-site doesn't seem to use this feature very much (there's a 'Sample Packs' menu button that shows some of these categories, for example), but as the number of Instruments / Sample Packs get larger (1,000 is the next major milestone) and goes beyond that, then ways of partitioning the available instruments / Sample Packs into manageable numbers will be increasingly important if visitors to the web-site are not going to be overwhelmed. Christian Henson has talked about using the Ratings system to help with this, apparently by allowing the best to have the most visibility... </div><div><br /></div><div>The next dialogue box is for photos and a video to accompany all the text...</div><div><br /></div><div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEjpmsailyhiIACkDaqikl3r6jxjiiW32y0jDsKA2hol096Du9c6X1vgsvBgsLXCRuMVQLCZeHy8q6q-bxXmghRYIm9a6JN0J56-k1_sla4qFcM4zihbf8T7DUmnPHJIj9T7_v7Y01AS-BcmAQKUeXBxh7LVoA4_v-PiWovD_1pk1lpOy5lOHNCvWkqW8Q=s1598" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1067" data-original-width="1598" height="268" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEjpmsailyhiIACkDaqikl3r6jxjiiW32y0jDsKA2hol096Du9c6X1vgsvBgsLXCRuMVQLCZeHy8q6q-bxXmghRYIm9a6JN0J56-k1_sla4qFcM4zihbf8T7DUmnPHJIj9T7_v7Y01AS-BcmAQKUeXBxh7LVoA4_v-PiWovD_1pk1lpOy5lOHNCvWkqW8Q=w400-h268" width="400" /></a></div><br /></div><div>The 'Sample Pack Image' is the '<Sample-Pack-Name>-photo.jpg' that you prepared in Part 1. It should be at least 1000 x 500 pixels, in monochrome (black and white), and be a .jpg (JPEG) or a .png (PNG) file. When you click on the blue 'Choose file' button, you just need to be looking for the '<b>photo</b>' file in the 'resources' folder. </div><div> </div><div>The 'GUI Images' is the same procedure, but this time you are looking for the '<b>ui-user-interface</b>' file in the 'resources' folder.</div><div><br /></div><div>The 'Videos' is two text fields that need a URL and a title. I use this to provide access to a video that explains my User Interfaces (UI, or GUI, for Graphical User Interface, as it says in the dialogue box). I use the title: 'UI User Interface Video' so that people know what the video is, and you could also make the video thumbnail or the start of the video say something similar. </div><div><br /></div><div>Remember that those amazing individuals who produce demos for Pianobook.co.uk are going to be all over your submission, turning it into a gorgeous demonstration of how good your Instrument / Sample Pack can sound when used in context by another composer. And these people will hear your Instrument / Sample Pack fresh and without any baggage, so you may well get a very different interpretation of how it can be used, and the timbres that it can produce. All of which is a long-winded way of saying that maybe this video is a good place for instructional material on how the user interface works, how to select different timbres, etc., and not a demo of how it sounds. The web-page is organised as : Story on the Left, Demos on the right, and you don't want to confuse visitors.</div><div><br /></div><div>There's an interesting feature that you might miss the first time you use this dialogue box. It is the small blue box on the right hand side with a '+' in it. This allows you to add up to two additional videos (for a total of three!) if you want... (When you get to three pairs of URL and Title fields, then the blue '+' box vanishes, so you can't just keep adding videos and videos forever!)</div><div><br /></div><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEjdDGcr0NfshrJ5pbE2QZAdoNferZy1ozQVfg18Eq1kwlN-Z5pFgrrvkoet5CEUhL2kicb6lREgI0IkGCUFGSw_dd7Zxu48IcSGEq8RoXoE5oPNxVVqp8m1OIL2fUTp2cnvB_8JKYDhRdhq16KN7eGL6gHaAKZhIIl_AsbV0NLok6ZOc4ewqnvXQYurNw=s1601" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="791" data-original-width="1601" height="198" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEjdDGcr0NfshrJ5pbE2QZAdoNferZy1ozQVfg18Eq1kwlN-Z5pFgrrvkoet5CEUhL2kicb6lREgI0IkGCUFGSw_dd7Zxu48IcSGEq8RoXoE5oPNxVVqp8m1OIL2fUTp2cnvB_8JKYDhRdhq16KN7eGL6gHaAKZhIIl_AsbV0NLok6ZOc4ewqnvXQYurNw=w400-h198" width="400" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Clicking the '+' box allows up to three videos to be added to your 'Profile' web-page...</td></tr></tbody></table><br /><div>Then there's the legal stuff, where you carefully read every word of the End User Licence Agreement (EULA), making sure that you understand it completely, and then tick three boxes in a checklist to confirm that you have done stuff. </div><div><br /></div><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEiErOKE0VuXf7VfLd0IZ-L7dr0_siLPYJfz70rhtVf4q72QFO1vYpJ6_X3Gye4yXQ0gFFJUFgN4quGBjpSghFAIXINjOhGG67kbgedApIGue0cpieloK67TfW6TiyjCV6ZAlB00HyLRyntiLxsuqFImRFDDO66D8AlC5SxURHvGceQ3GSWZD539lWb7iw=s1080" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="727" data-original-width="1080" height="269" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEiErOKE0VuXf7VfLd0IZ-L7dr0_siLPYJfz70rhtVf4q72QFO1vYpJ6_X3Gye4yXQ0gFFJUFgN4quGBjpSghFAIXINjOhGG67kbgedApIGue0cpieloK67TfW6TiyjCV6ZAlB00HyLRyntiLxsuqFImRFDDO66D8AlC5SxURHvGceQ3GSWZD539lWb7iw=w400-h269" width="400" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Read, tick, tick, tick....Next!</td></tr></tbody></table><div><br /></div><div>The first bit is easy - just a few minutes of reading the first time, and after that (for your next Instrument / Sample Pack!), then just checking that the EULA hasn't been updated. </div><div><br /></div><div>The checkboxes are interesting. </div><div><br /></div><div>ONE The first one is Kontakt-specific, and doesn't apply to Decent Sampler Instruments / Sample Packs - but I tick it anyway, for completeness (Who wants an empty tick-box?). Some people might be confused because the word 'unticked' is included in the explanatory text, but there's definitely a tick required in this tick box.</div><div><br /></div><div>TWO The second is confirming that you have created a single .zip file, and this is essential if you want to be able to upload your submission in the next (and final) dialogue box... So this is a tick as well. </div><div><br /></div><div>(You have been following this, haven't you? You have double compressed your folder and have created the '<span><b style="color: #ffa400;">20220226-MyDecentSampleStuff-YourName-V1.zip',</b> haven't you?)</span></div><div><br /></div><div>THREE The third is agreeing to the Terms and Conditions, which are on the same page as the EULA, and you probably already read them anyway, since they are just after the EULA and you tend to just keep reading through that sea of text... and so this is a tick as well. </div><div><br /></div><div>Once all three tick boxes are ticked, you can click on the blue 'next' button and go to the final dialogue box...</div><div><br /></div><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEiFJmJBo8WLaDtHCI4fX9bwOmvp7Wauz4MCCpxNiwT54d3taI01hBf4xVKzlqb39IrZD5C6RY6XxnEzesXtlAs5pSC5hxSTComAFBUh2iVzcFLdh3Uw4cW6cvmqMCl5iQjt10HFqbDYina3gOyQ1XrVel-dcdiPEFoCgkgn82QztV0TEY7RqAZh1FasdQ=s1080" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="810" data-original-width="1080" height="300" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEiFJmJBo8WLaDtHCI4fX9bwOmvp7Wauz4MCCpxNiwT54d3taI01hBf4xVKzlqb39IrZD5C6RY6XxnEzesXtlAs5pSC5hxSTComAFBUh2iVzcFLdh3Uw4cW6cvmqMCl5iQjt10HFqbDYina3gOyQ1XrVel-dcdiPEFoCgkgn82QztV0TEY7RqAZh1FasdQ=w400-h300" width="400" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">The final dialogue... for now...</td></tr></tbody></table><br /><div>The blue 'Choose file' button is what you need to click first. Choose your .zip file ('<b style="color: #ffa400;">20220226-MyDecentSampleStuff-YourName-V1.zip')</b>, and it will appear as shown in the screenshot above.</div><div><br /></div><div>This is a good time to make sure that you selected the correct .zip file! Remember that this .zip file is NOT inside the 'MyDecentSampleStuff' folder! it is at the same level, so you may need to go back up the folder hierarchy by one level...</div><div><br /></div><div>Then tick the 'Decent Sampler' tick-box, and you are ready to press the blue 'Upload your zip file' button.</div><div><br /></div><div>The grey/gray bar will show progress uploading your .zip file to Pianobook.co.uk. As always, the longer the file, the more time it will take. Faster broadband will reduce the time it takes to upload. </div><div><br /></div><div>The first time I uploaded a 2 Gigabyte (actually Gibibyte, but that's a totally different blog post!) file, I worried that this would be too big for Pianobook.co.uk to cope with, but remember that they are used to receiving very large files! Huge files for you are everyday for them...</div><h3 style="text-align: left;"><br />Tidying Up</h3><div>Sorry, you aren't quite finished. Not yet.</div><div><br /></div><div>Yes, your .zip file has been received, and is in the 'Submit Queue' being analysed and processed, but there's a couple of things that still need to be done...</div><div><br /></div><div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEiDoyk8RSrcgL1Fn3fIDX8Red7o52iQxXHmCXZV4z_IEscT584ARlKkgSWubteJeb2ZGHkAe5841n2RB_huXKEq9bmscO8NLpVgglNPRdF8ks3k2tzZGh4rsqkhKU_2SazHmgigHWmeb7Fb4PWzywPgL8BZ2i8FvAPYsCzZVqBFdlu6isMZDXVuV_B3JQ=s1080" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="308" data-original-width="1080" height="182" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEiDoyk8RSrcgL1Fn3fIDX8Red7o52iQxXHmCXZV4z_IEscT584ARlKkgSWubteJeb2ZGHkAe5841n2RB_huXKEq9bmscO8NLpVgglNPRdF8ks3k2tzZGh4rsqkhKU_2SazHmgigHWmeb7Fb4PWzywPgL8BZ2i8FvAPYsCzZVqBFdlu6isMZDXVuV_B3JQ=w640-h182" width="640" /></a></div></div><div><br /></div><div>Go to your Profile web-page, and right at the bottom of the page, you should find a 'Your Pending Submisions' area with your brand new Instrument / Sample Pack. Click on that (the green will go pink) and the web-page for that Instrument will open... </div><div><br /></div><div>(Yes, this isn't from the test account, because I don't want to actually upload a test .zip file. Instead, this is the 'Submit Queue' from my 'synthesizerwriter' account on Pianobook.co.uk, showing two versions of 'Drone Drone' waiting to be processed. Yes, I made several updates very quickly!)</div><div><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEiYTGHUefCta7_Px1MOxIc5nXBSFIbrZxJtouDqHbMebI2AJSbn4-NFhtBsPeZLVvj8c5StmcJCjeYMSYjAT0bDl5NRSK79oxAQVbMDYajqxPH_49CW7urURoXxkdwlCt4-7-_NLRAh9QWxr4q5LLdIKohpZksNpouEvoYN_GL6KWNIBRwyJBH_DCnlMA=s1080" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1062" data-original-width="1080" height="315" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEiYTGHUefCta7_Px1MOxIc5nXBSFIbrZxJtouDqHbMebI2AJSbn4-NFhtBsPeZLVvj8c5StmcJCjeYMSYjAT0bDl5NRSK79oxAQVbMDYajqxPH_49CW7urURoXxkdwlCt4-7-_NLRAh9QWxr4q5LLdIKohpZksNpouEvoYN_GL6KWNIBRwyJBH_DCnlMA=s320" width="320" /></a></div><br /><div>And this is the 'Pending' page that only you see whilst your .zip file is in the 'Submit Queue'. There's a pink banner across the top of the page, and you can see the Sample Pack Name (Drone Drone in this case), the Description / Tag Line (Not the 1980's any more...), and the 'photo', as well as the 'Story'. </div><div><br /></div><div>Now, before Aril 2022, this was the point where you would notice that the 'Story' doesn't look right...</div><div><br /></div><div>All the Carriage Returns and Line Feeds would have been removed, and so there would be just one long piece of text, with no paragraphs, no 'white space'. You would then need to fix this after you had uploaded a .zip file and it hd been approved (you get a 'Congratulations' email) and then placed into the 'Submit Queue', and appears as Pending in your personal 'Profile' page.</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEi68PDJMLtY7_1zGQvR2WQAamMtJFPqK1IuharsEvHKWnsXS1b9ZyHVZJRDXfB8aOZZrmXp3Kl9jgqIDU2RM4fVRjL_03lcsv_4CQKia9WiApD0mG4H029vVFwRSKsYWfEZQY7D4RnbQXbzvgsBjWVzmbKdPZgtGdnfq2IijK3-KVdrpew5wqZ_6y30TQ=s1580" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1580" data-original-width="1280" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEi68PDJMLtY7_1zGQvR2WQAamMtJFPqK1IuharsEvHKWnsXS1b9ZyHVZJRDXfB8aOZZrmXp3Kl9jgqIDU2RM4fVRjL_03lcsv_4CQKia9WiApD0mG4H029vVFwRSKsYWfEZQY7D4RnbQXbzvgsBjWVzmbKdPZgtGdnfq2IijK3-KVdrpew5wqZ_6y30TQ=w324-h400" width="324" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><div>Okay, so after April 2022, the carriage returns, line feeds and various other characters were no longer removed, so there's now no need to edit the text any longer...</div><div><br /></div><div>Unfortunately...</div><div><br /></div><div>People are very interesting. No matter how much they try to make a piece of text perfect, with no typos, correct spelling, good grammar, no swearing, not too many exclamations marks!!!, and more, then the more likely it is that one of these will sneak past them and get into the text you have just uploaded. So, although the text that you see at this point is no longer a solid block of text, it is almost a certainty that when you read it, then you will find a typo, some bad spelling... etc. So although the April fix makes it easier, there's something inherent in the human psyche that means that you will probably find something that needs to be fixed in your text... </div><div><br /></div><div>To fix it, you need to scroll down, past the 'Story', past the UI Video, and past the GUI screenshot. There , just before the Ratings and Reviews, you will find the 'Sample Pack' control panel.</div><div><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEjOTbnZT-LSxNozLsqjwYrLxgBa1DOjAz8IdJFk7nTvOtc9ovTR7fq5ZMhYjtrhV3cTTsC_sz0GCmQK9Ns5MrplWPDxwf7HVrL2-ubMdQ_JQ8EA4JCfIkOadspR5Q9lXeqd9zemm1gM4lB8L6DRs7KmKUaQaNVXEs3C7ryIMb23zqnrwhixvxsGKFCA8A=s895" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="149" data-original-width="895" height="106" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEjOTbnZT-LSxNozLsqjwYrLxgBa1DOjAz8IdJFk7nTvOtc9ovTR7fq5ZMhYjtrhV3cTTsC_sz0GCmQK9Ns5MrplWPDxwf7HVrL2-ubMdQ_JQ8EA4JCfIkOadspR5Q9lXeqd9zemm1gM4lB8L6DRs7KmKUaQaNVXEs3C7ryIMb23zqnrwhixvxsGKFCA8A=w640-h106" width="640" /></a></div><br /><div>These blue buttons are the key to fixing any problems or missions that you find after you have submitted the .zip file. From left to right, you can edit:</div><div><br /></div><div>- The text fields: Sample Pack Name, Description (tag line), and the 'Story'.</div><div>- The photo for the Instrument / Sample Pack (there's a typo here, although you could argue that the 'photo' is in the same place as the 'banner' on your Profile web-page...)</div><div>- The videos (up to three, remember). Videos are rarely correct first time, so this allows you to add some more.</div><div>- The UI screenshot. Again, it is only after you have uploaded the .zip file that you notice the glaring error in the UI screenshot.</div><div><br /></div><div>To fix the 'Story' text, you use the blue 'Edit text' button. This opens... a dialogue box!</div><div><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEhqn7dNqP7PjFly7K5AokcD3mqmpkyoWr2N207mbJVq9buqybzeuU7Vq1feD28Sy89Yr25wwxkq5kqcMcMLtVuRQ3wwtEX5EkXS6SeBho2fg2XHgyUKBZYF76EeIMqs5fgmLyv8x0h5l-77bCsZd8gzcRyOxk_-TEpaeW175qba_iAGnPUBilbA4QIM4g=s1338" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1338" data-original-width="1194" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEhqn7dNqP7PjFly7K5AokcD3mqmpkyoWr2N207mbJVq9buqybzeuU7Vq1feD28Sy89Yr25wwxkq5kqcMcMLtVuRQ3wwtEX5EkXS6SeBho2fg2XHgyUKBZYF76EeIMqs5fgmLyv8x0h5l-77bCsZd8gzcRyOxk_-TEpaeW175qba_iAGnPUBilbA4QIM4g=w358-h400" width="358" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><div>The screenshot above shows the 'after' view. What you start with looks like this:</div><div><br /></div><div><div><i>Drone Drone? Is it pronounced: 'Durone Durone', perhaps? Could this refer to an 80s band? 'o'='a'? 'e'= (Base 64? URL encoding? ) Or is it a recording of a noisy flying device? Zzzzzzzz...</i></div></div><div><br /></div><div>And all you do is just add 'Returns' in to break it up into the lines that you had in the original text file for the 'Story'. </div><div><br /></div><div>Now the text field is quite small, but there's another of those 'not obvious at first glance' features at play here. Look in the lower right hand corner of the text field, and you will see two little diagonal lines - these allow you to expand the text field downwards so that editing is much easier!</div><div><br /></div><div><i>(In case you were wondering why things happened in April 2022, well, I put in a bug report for the loss of the carriage returns and line feeds... This may, or my not, have had something to do with them no longer being removed after April 2022. I like to think that I might have just nudged things along ever so infinitesimally!)</i></div><div><br /></div><div>You have now completed the Submission process for a Decent Sampler instrument / Sample Pack for publishing on Pianobook.co.uk.</div><div><br /></div><h3 style="text-align: left;">Completion</h3><div><br /></div><div>When your submission has passed through the whole publishing process, a new box will appear on your Profile web-page:</div><div><br /></div><div><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEiLlBbU5UNxegtLW7FGy_S8Fr2LsFeXZu3nUJxrcbIS6-D9kKWIznSftH6fTRPY_Qnox1Sc6RYFjmBrVkM9BVj7cH1Q_AC51U-8R4KQfvCxiwNgbTugKDU4WRoZvhicFiwRbEg-DHMGIkNQSvAuVsk1H-vhocORTcBXk5Sod4XO1pLCPop8_KOTbPRb9w=s1080" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="910" data-original-width="1080" height="338" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEiLlBbU5UNxegtLW7FGy_S8Fr2LsFeXZu3nUJxrcbIS6-D9kKWIznSftH6fTRPY_Qnox1Sc6RYFjmBrVkM9BVj7cH1Q_AC51U-8R4KQfvCxiwNgbTugKDU4WRoZvhicFiwRbEg-DHMGIkNQSvAuVsk1H-vhocORTcBXk5Sod4XO1pLCPop8_KOTbPRb9w=w400-h338" width="400" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Your Profile web-page should now have the Instrument / Sample Pack on it.</td></tr></tbody></table><br /></div><div>My apologies for the Kontakt Instrument / Sample Pack shown here - my test account only has this on it. </div><div><br /></div><div>In the next part, Part 3, I will look at what happens when you need to update a Decent Sampler Instrument / Sample Pack... and I'm still working on that...</div><div><br /></div><div><div><span style="font-family: inherit;"><p><span style="font-family: inherit;">---</span></p><p><span style="font-family: inherit;">If you find my writing helpful, informative or entertaining, then please consider visiting this link:</span></p><p></p><p><span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: medium;"><span style="background-color: white; color: #212529; white-space: pre-line;"></span></span></p><p></p><div style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; orphans: auto; text-size-adjust: auto; widows: auto;"><div style="font-size: 18.72px; font-weight: 700;"><span style="font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: small;"><a class="bmc-button" href="https://teespring.com/en-GB/stores/synthesizerwriters-store" target="_blank"><br class="Apple-interchange-newline" /></a><a class="bmc-button" href="https://teespring.com/en-GB/stores/synthesizerwriters-store" target="_blank"><span style="margin-left: 5px;">Synthesizerwriter's Store</span></a> (New 'Modular thinking' designs now available!)</span></span></div><p style="font-size: 18.72px; font-weight: 700;"></p><div style="font-size: 18.72px; font-weight: 700;"><div style="margin: 0px;"><span style="font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: small;"><a class="bmc-button" href="https://www.buymeacoffee.com/synthwriter" target="_blank"><img alt="Buy me a coffee" src="https://www.buymeacoffee.com/assets/img/BMC-btn-logo.svg" /><span style="margin-left: 5px;">Buy me a coffee</span></a> (Encourage me to write more posts like this one!)</span></span></div><div><span style="font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: small;"><br /></span></span></div></div></div></span></div></div><div><br /></div><div> </div><div><br /></div><div><br /></div><div><br /></div><p><br /></p><p><br /></p><p><br /></p><p><br /></p><br />
<a href="https://ko-fi.com/W7W5BM4JX" target="_blank"><img alt="Buy Me a Coffee at ko-fi.com" border="0" height="36" src="https://cdn.ko-fi.com/cdn/kofi3.png?v=3" style="border: 0px; height: 36px;" /></a>Synthesizerwriterhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13668943829180629830noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5222520500837940683.post-88158757264345265982022-02-28T22:06:00.038+00:002022-03-15T11:47:15.514+00:00Preparing a Decent Sampler Instrument (or Sample Pack) for uploading to Pianobook.co.uk - Part 1<p><span style="font-family: inherit;">Ok, so ever since Pianobook.co.uk was launched on the 29th of March, 2018, you’ve spent ages sampling your piano, and then more time editing the samples, then taken a photograph that you are happy with, then decided on using <a href="https://www.decentsamples.com/product/decent-sampler-plugin/" target="_blank">Decent Sampler</a> as your sample player, then edited your ‘<span style="color: #ffa400;">MyDecentSampleStuff.dspreset</span>’ file so that it works correctly (and you’ve struggled with the instructions, read <a href="https://www.decentsamples.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/06/format-documentation.html" target="_blank">Dave Hilowitz’s 'format documentation</a>' numerous times and you still don’t quite understand all of it, and more…). But, finally, you think that you are finally ready to submit it to <a href="http://pianobook.co.uk">pianobook.co.uk</a>!</span></p>
<p style="font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">Not quite.</span></p>
<p style="font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 12px;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span></p>
<p style="font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">There’s just one more hoop to jump through… Preparing your <a href="https://www.decentsamples.com/product/decent-sampler-plugin/" target="_blank">Decent Sampler</a> Sample Pack for uploading to Pianobook.co.uk.</span></p>
<p style="font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 12px;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span></p>
<p style="font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">Actually, this bit is quite simple, with just a few easy steps…</span></p>
<p style="font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 12px;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span></p>
<p style="font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">I have done this quite a few times now, so this blog post contains a lot of tips on how to do it and get it right, and avoid problems.</span></p>
<p style="font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 12px;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span></p>
<p style="font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><i>( I’ve screen-shotted a Mac for this tutorial document, but the process should be very similar on Windows or Linux. I’ve tried to remember to say folder/directory each time I use the word… )</i></span></p>
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<h1 style="text-align: left;"><b>Preparation for submission:</b></h1>
<h3 style="text-align: left;"><br /><b>0. Signing up with </b><a href="http://pianobook.co.uk"><b>pianobook.co.uk</b></a></h3><p style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 14px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 17px;"><b></b></p>
<div style="font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 12px; text-align: left;"><i><span style="font-family: inherit;">(In everything that follows, I am using the convention that your Instrument / Sample Pack is called: <span style="color: #ffa400;"><b>MyDecentSampleStuff</b></span>, and that this will be abbreviated to <span style="color: #ffa400;"><b>MDSS</b></span>. So for Decent Sampler development, all of the working files will be in a folder / directory called <span style="color: #ffa400;"><b>MyDecentSampleStuff</b></span>. I will be highlighting important file-names in <span style="color: #ffa400;">orange</span>!</span><span style="font-family: inherit;">) </span></i></div><p style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 11px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 12px;"><br /></p>
<div style="text-align: left;">If you have not signed up with with the <a href="http://pianobook.co.uk">pianobook.co.uk</a> web-site, then you will need a few other files and bits of information that will be used to personalise your experience, and to customise your <b>profile</b> on Pianobook.co.uk:</div><div style="text-align: left;"><br />[ ] A banner photo or graphic of 2000 x 500 pixels, which can be in colour, and can be a .jpg or a .png. This will be faded to white by the web-site when you scroll down. I called this file: <b><span style="color: #ffa400;">profile-banner-2000x500.jpg</span></b>, which makes it easy to get the right size of photo or graphic, and easy to find when you upload it to the web-site and into the banner in your profile. There is a maximum size of 2 MBytes for this file, which is shown in the dialogue as 2mb (a typo), which is millibits, which equals 2/1000th of a bit. You can't fit very much graphical information in that amount of data...</div><div style="text-align: left;"><br /></div><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEg-MvbSmNUl51w5Zl3dumxHLBUwHsfon13irYoUDGJF1wP3zXUCIbcFdMdju8j0Er3zWLDkZdZ3Vpew_LIRDFAgsRqifwOYed4Lb2utmAXB2DlgTnJXQfZ7kTzWoYuEFeCQRmYaJgqauDBX098VAWG9S69mEljgXsJlny49BZD00izyXPHA_p1vNRhQ8w=s500" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="500" data-original-width="499" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEg-MvbSmNUl51w5Zl3dumxHLBUwHsfon13irYoUDGJF1wP3zXUCIbcFdMdju8j0Er3zWLDkZdZ3Vpew_LIRDFAgsRqifwOYed4Lb2utmAXB2DlgTnJXQfZ7kTzWoYuEFeCQRmYaJgqauDBX098VAWG9S69mEljgXsJlny49BZD00izyXPHA_p1vNRhQ8w=s320" width="319" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><b>Dave</b> - the <span style="background-color: black; caret-color: rgb(0, 43, 42); color: #002b2a; text-align: left;"><a href="https://en-de.neumann.com/ku-100" target="_blank">Neumann KU 100 binaural head microphone</a></span></span></td></tr></tbody></table><div style="text-align: left;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: left;">[ ] A photo of you, or some graphics that you wish to be identified with. If you do not provide a photo, then <a href="http://pianobook.co.uk">pianobook.co.uk</a> will use a default picture of Christian Henson’s <a href="https://en-de.neumann.com/ku-100" target="_blank">Neumann KU 100 binaural head microphone</a> (used for <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Head-related_transfer_function" target="_blank">Head-Related Transfer Function</a> recordings for binaural audio, ambisonics, 3D audio...), which he calls ‘Dave’, will be used instead, and you do not want that to happen, do you? This time, the picture has to be a .jpg, in colour, and should be at least 500 x 500 pixels in size. It seems that .png files are not accepted…so beware! The web-site will switch between the colour version and a derived black-and-white version of this photo (or graphics), so choose your colours wisely. (The ‘suspicion turned up to 11’ cyber security person in my head tells me that the reason for this being converted to monochrome by the <a href="http://pianobook.co.uk">pianobook.co.uk</a> volunteers might be because it is possible to have hidden messages in colour photos that only appear when they are automatically converted to black-and-white (or monochrome)). I called this file: <b><span style="color: #ffa400;">profile-photo-500x500.jpg</span></b>, which makes it easy to get the right size of photo or graphic, and easy to find when you upload it to the web-site and into your profile.</div><div style="text-align: left;"><br />[ ] Some text that you might need to think about beforehand. </div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 11px;"><br /></span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="color: #ffa400; font-family: inherit;"><b>- Name</b></span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="color: #ffa400; font-family: inherit;"><b>- Email address</b></span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="color: #ffa400; font-family: inherit;"><b>- Username</b></span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="color: #ffa400; font-family: inherit;"><b>- Display Name</b></span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="color: #ffa400; font-family: inherit;"><b>- Password</b></span><span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 11px;"><br /></span><br />Your Name and Email address should be easy. But you might want to consider your User Name (used for logging in, and any spaces will be removed...), and your Display Name (how you want to be known on the web-site) early rather than when you get to the dialogue box, and the pressure to be smart and subtle and cool starts to build…</div><div style="text-align: left;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: left;">Let's think about the Username first. The name itself is a clue - notice that there is no space between User and name. This name will be used to log in to Pianobook.co.uk, and so it can be anything you want because it will never be seen by anyone else. In fact, it is best to keep it private because it makes it more difficult for someone else to log in and pretend to be you. So in my case, I would avoid anything with 'synthesizer' or 'writer' in it, and I might go for something like 'gasresister' or 'toomanyfx'. Again, you should choose your own, and you can use CamelCase capitalisation to make it easier to see words: 'GasResister' or 'TooManyFX'. One thing to not do is to make it the same as your Display Name, because that is the first thing an attacker would use to try and break into your account. </div><div style="text-align: left;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: left;">Since I have mentioned Display Name, then that is the next thing to think about. In this case, this is the way that you will be referred to inside Pianobook.co.uk - so I was completely obvious and chose 'synthesizerwriter'! But there's nothing to stop you using another name if you want - unless you have a standard online identity like I have. As I said in Part 1, you should think about what you want for your Display Name before you get to this dialogue box, because it is much easier to be creative when you don't have the pressure of filling in the field in the dialogue box. <br /><br /></div><div style="text-align: left;">Finally you need to provide a password, twice. That cyber security guy in my head says that you should use a password manager (an app, not a web-based potential leak source) and use a ‘Sweetener plus words’ template. So the ‘Sweetener’ bit is something like ‘ABC123+++’ to provide capital letters, numbers and symbols, and I’m sure that you can come up with something better than my example! What follows the Sweetener are four or five words. Plain ordinary words are fine. So you could use ‘trainbananazippershake’, although again, you need to do the creativity bit here. </div><div style="text-align: left;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: left;">So the resulting password (different for every app, remember, which is why you need that password manager) looks like this: ‘ABC123+++trainbananazippershake’, which is 31 characters long, is going to take a very very long time for bad people to crack, and is easy to type if you ever need to. If you always use a password manager, then you can have fun replacing the vowels in the word list and trying to avoid rude words, or maybe trying to get to rude words: ‘treanbinonezupporshike’ which sounds like an exotic bird of some sort. Oh, and for a while, you may find yourself giggling when you say ‘binone’ (pronounced maybe as something like: ‘bih noh nay’) instead of ‘banana’… </div><div style="text-align: left;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: left;">Password managers come in two main flavours: on-line and off-line. I prefer to use an off-line one on my Apple devices (<a href="https://strongboxsafe.com/" target="_blank">Strongbox</a>), but that needs a bit more looking after, and so most people will use on-line ones that work in a browser. A Google search is going to throw up quite a few, but one of the long-established names is <a href="https://www.lastpass.com/password-manager" target="_blank">LastPass</a>, while <a href="https://www.keepersecurity.com/en_GB/" target="_blank">Keeper</a> is another well rated one that is enterprise-oriented but also does 'personal' use... As always, when doing your comparisons, you will need to check that it supports your operating system - but there's an added complication with a password manager, because ideally, you want the same one to run on ALL of your devices that might require passwords to be managed, which could be a desktop, laptop, mobile phone, tablet... (Trust me, having different password managers for different devices is not a good idea!) Pricing-wise, you will have to make the usual agonising decision between free (with some compromises), and paid (which is probably going to be a monthly subscription these days, possibly with a discount for a whole year). My personal rule of thumb is that I never go for a subscription option where it says: 'For less than a cup of coffee!', but that's just me...</div><div style="text-align: left;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: left;">[ ] Additional information that will be used on your Profile web-page. You will probably need to look up some of these names and URLs:</div><div style="text-align: left;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="color: #fce5cd;"><b>- Your web-site URL (https://...) </b></span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="color: #fce5cd;"><b>- Your Twitter name (@yourname)</b></span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="color: #fce5cd;"><b>- Your Instagram name (@yourname)</b></span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="color: #fce5cd;"><b>- Your YouTube Channel URL (https://...)</b></span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="color: #fce5cd;"><b>- Your SoundCloud URL (https://...)</b></span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="color: #fce5cd;"><b>- A highlights video from YouTube, or a highlights playlist from SoundCloud )https://...)</b></span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: left;">Note that you do not need to have any of these! It is okay to leave them blank. But if you do have any of these names or links, then people will be able to visit them from your Pianobook.co.uk Profile web-page...</div><div style="text-align: left;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: left;">As you can see, there is a lot of information on your Profile web-page. This is because it will become your catalogue - where you display all of your Instruments / Sample Packs, and where people will go to download them.</div><div style="text-align: left;"><br /></div><h3 style="text-align: left;">1.<b> The starting point.</b></h3>
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<p style="font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">It might be a good idea to make a tick-list of all the files that you will need:</span></p>
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<p style="font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">[ ] A plain text file, called <b><span style="color: #ffa400;">README.txt</span></b>, containing: </span></p>
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<p style="font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"> - The name of the Instrument / Sample Pack (avoid copyrighted and trademarked names, please) (40 characters max)</span></p>
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<p style="font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"> - The ‘tag line’: about 10 words, approximately, that encapsulate why your Instrument / Sample Pack is special… (140 characters max) </span></p>
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<p style="font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"> - The ‘<span style="color: #ffa400;"><b>Story</b></span>’: why you made the Instrument / Sample Pack, how you made it, how to use it, how the user interface works, what presets are included, how the MIDI CCs are mapped… This is a long piece of text, in many cases… It has to be at least 150 characters, but should ideally be considerably longer - there should be a lot to say about your instrument / Sample Pack! One useful tip is to put a version number at the end of the text, so that you know which version is currently on Pianobook.co.uk - I have a tracking spreadsheet that I use as well... Another tip is to write the 'Story' in a text editor or word processor, and then just copy and paste it into the text field in the dialogue... </span></p>
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<p style="font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">[ ] Samples recorded by you from your piano or kalimba or toothbrush… or other source, and then probably edited to clean them up, possibly processed, and named with an identifier, a note value (as per A#, not Ab) - all stored inside folder called 'Samples' (Or 'NR' if they are noise-reduced samples!). I also tend to add the number of samples in the sample (minus 1) to the filename, so that it is easy to set the ‘end=‘ parameter inside the Decent Sampler .dspreset XML file. This can make looping samples much easier to manage, so it is strongly recommended. So a typical sample file might be named: '<span style="color: #ffa400;"><b>MDSS A0 10123.wa</b>v</span>'.</span></p>
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<p style="font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">[ ] A photo of your piano, kalimba, recorder, or other source (Some of mine are a bit abstract!). This should be at least 1000 x 500 pixels, (or it could be 1624 x 750 pixels, if it is a double size version of your Decent Sampler background picture), in monochrome (black and white), and be a .jpg (JPEG) or a .png (PNG) file. If you submit a colour picture, the the Pianobook people will turn it into black and white, but you will not have any control over how they do the conversion. So, remove the middle-person, and do the greyscale conversation yourself. I tend to call this by an abbreviation the name of the Instrument / Sample Pack, plus ‘-photo’, which isn’t original, but is easy to find when you are searching for it to add it to a dialogue box. So, for ‘MyDecentSampleStuff’ the file would be called ‘<b><span style="color: #ffa400;">MDSS-photo.jpg</span></b>’. </span></p>
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<p style="font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">[ ] A photo or graphic of 812 x 375 pixels, that will be used as the background by Decent Sampler. This can be a .jpg or a .png. A .png file is probably going to be larger than the equivalent .jpg in most cases. I tend to name this file starting with the Instrument / Sample Pack name abbreviation, followed by ‘-background’, so ‘<b><span style="color: #ffa400;">MDSS-background.jpg</span></b>’ etc.</span></p>
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<p style="font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">[ ] A picture of the user interface of your Instrument / Sample Pack. The easiest way to do this is to capture a screenshot of Decent Sampler with your .dpreset file loaded into it, and then to crop it down to the edges of the Decent Sampler application/plug-in. Again, I tend to call this file with the Instrument / Sample Pack name abbreviation, followed by ‘-UI-user-interface’, so ‘<span style="color: #ffa400;"><b>MDSS-UI-user-interface.jpg</b>’</span> etc. This can be a .jpg or a .png.</span></p>
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<p style="font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">I can’t stress how much easier it is to find files when they are named consistently with names that still make sense several days, weeks or months later. Alternatively, if you are happy with trying to remember if it was ‘ZpOld34x.jpg’ or ‘ZdOlp43c.jpg’ that was the edited version of your background, then that’s fine by me.</span></p>
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<h3 style="text-align: left;"><b>2. In more detail…</b></h3>
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<div style="text-align: left;">Thinking about that main photo, the ‘<b><span style="color: #ffa400;">MDSS-photo.jpg</span></b>’ that will be the main way that people visualise your Instrument / Sample pack, then you might need to think about the composition a little bit: </div><div style="text-align: left;"><br />Before the October 2021 update of the <a href="http://pianobook.co.uk">pianobook.co.uk</a> web-site, one thing to be very aware of was that the photo would have the name of your Instrument/Sample Pack inbound white text in the centre of the photo on the wen-site, and in the ‘PianoDrop’ videos where 5 submissions from the previous month were showcased. </div><div style="text-align: left;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEgJTRTFHxbOS5z0VQ_4tfQNiV-v0XBhv_jcomqbF-1vyLaAsZ0qsFaDZQdNmZuvTZRm9kcNPdGM_0laU4qvzDpNiwHtnqo6woViDZAQVNabW2GFkrVdRuMUk6WCkG0xGnTqRPDJlKBERUC-UjjYypTvZYs1cNMAPt3wQXHQlrmfolsCD1aqOGl4xElOag=s1080" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="608" data-original-width="1080" height="180" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEgJTRTFHxbOS5z0VQ_4tfQNiV-v0XBhv_jcomqbF-1vyLaAsZ0qsFaDZQdNmZuvTZRm9kcNPdGM_0laU4qvzDpNiwHtnqo6woViDZAQVNabW2GFkrVdRuMUk6WCkG0xGnTqRPDJlKBERUC-UjjYypTvZYs1cNMAPt3wQXHQlrmfolsCD1aqOGl4xElOag=s320" width="320" /></a></div><div style="text-align: left;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: left;">So any white parts of the photo would reduce the readability. In fact, this meant that the photos used tended to be quite dark. One way of looking at this is to use the ‘Levels’ graphs available in many graphics editing applications.</div><div style="text-align: left;"><br /></div><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEiwu_1wS87m7tXnldDeuqZctPDTBw6s4kxTvlfAr5mk2isK_sDva7Ul0Wyp_b_ASgnm3GNmicu-_N00EkDe_Xt2wGtNHuZNgvA4dY7a53s7k9UtItvyQU7aFgLLbLtnuC2yhapZ52XawVfxHJtGMkEp-hSvlSw6klouh6TT6C6kin8ZPMGl5gRndeCH7w=s1200" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1200" data-original-width="1080" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEiwu_1wS87m7tXnldDeuqZctPDTBw6s4kxTvlfAr5mk2isK_sDva7Ul0Wyp_b_ASgnm3GNmicu-_N00EkDe_Xt2wGtNHuZNgvA4dY7a53s7k9UtItvyQU7aFgLLbLtnuC2yhapZ52XawVfxHJtGMkEp-hSvlSw6klouh6TT6C6kin8ZPMGl5gRndeCH7w=w360-h400" width="360" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"></td></tr></tbody></table><br /><div style="text-align: left;">In the screenshot above, the levels graph has no white pixels, which is why the red ellipse is empty.</div><div style="text-align: left;"><br /></div><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEjbzfjGDU5a_PikQDpGZ5ASAkLobG0tm2csxiLuk7l0Dov8jFeEyz_GuKyo7_I8MvO5DjIzYR-YVm9_KD1GzCy0-8S-X2Zg2Xb_MoClo3T-qAB8QjdPHw8bgbcgboWDlp5KJxW19oEn20f71htpgzGfDFMoQrg_WzWsUXNdOxX9aJLpEcZT-9NYSTLA5A=s1203" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1203" data-original-width="1080" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEjbzfjGDU5a_PikQDpGZ5ASAkLobG0tm2csxiLuk7l0Dov8jFeEyz_GuKyo7_I8MvO5DjIzYR-YVm9_KD1GzCy0-8S-X2Zg2Xb_MoClo3T-qAB8QjdPHw8bgbcgboWDlp5KJxW19oEn20f71htpgzGfDFMoQrg_WzWsUXNdOxX9aJLpEcZT-9NYSTLA5A=w359-h400" width="359" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"></td></tr></tbody></table><br /><div style="text-align: left;">In contrast, in the screenshot above, the levels graph has white pixels from the 'NAME' text, and these are shown as the thin black line in the red ellipse - they are VERY white pixels! (Any less-than-very-white pixels would be shown as black across the the left of the thin black line.) You can clearly see on a 'levels' graph like this, that the the background is all greys and blacks, whilst the text is all very bright white.</div><div style="text-align: left;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: left;"><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEhsqGhLvqpQFrVFR-K8pM0s8cecbKu-VWsl1IQCQekpz2raa3sN4sBGyvtjB_PLjCr3gmgh9RZTJTxkViW3pPbrcNCwfL0HasxgEKt5JUaro_BUGPaY0DxNmu46ouVUcm61HTG3OYcxd64MzFzPTpLrh97HGZfDrzU_7sixau1eLjCxgfEVtV0I3CED9A=s859" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="723" data-original-width="859" height="269" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEhsqGhLvqpQFrVFR-K8pM0s8cecbKu-VWsl1IQCQekpz2raa3sN4sBGyvtjB_PLjCr3gmgh9RZTJTxkViW3pPbrcNCwfL0HasxgEKt5JUaro_BUGPaY0DxNmu46ouVUcm61HTG3OYcxd64MzFzPTpLrh97HGZfDrzU_7sixau1eLjCxgfEVtV0I3CED9A=s320" width="320" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div>However, after the October 2021 update of the <a href="http://pianobook.co.uk">pianobook.co.uk</a> web-site, the name of the Instrument/Sample Pack has moved to a dark 'racing green' bar underneath the photo (which is now a 2:1 aspect ratio), and the frequency of PianoDrop videos has dropped from monthly to irregularly. As you can see above, the new approach to displaying the name presumably reduces the need for photo editing, and so reduces the workload - which must be significant given the number of submissions that are being processed and the number of checks that are made on the submissions. </div><div style="text-align: left;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: left;">In fact, it seems that the <a href="http://pianobook.co.uk">pianobook.co.uk</a> web-site has been a victim of its own success, because in a few months, the number of instruments has more than doubled (828 Sample Packs on the 1st of March 2022), And, over time, there have been various rumours of long waits for submissions to be published. My own experience has been variable. Some Instruments/Sample Packs have been submitted and published in a few hours, whilst other have taken a few days, weeks, and in a couple of cases, months. This suggests that the workload is considerable. </div><div style="text-align: left;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: left;">The checking is very impressive and very detailed - I have had several Instruments / Sample Packs rejected by <a href="http://pianobook.co.uk">pianobook.co.uk</a> because of issues like clicks, UI inconsistencies and (the most embarrassing) incorrect pitching of samples (Where playing a ‘C’ on the keyboard produced an ‘A’ pitched note, for example). Actually, 'rejected' is the wrong word, because the email tells you the issue, and suggests how it can be fixed, so all you need to do is correct the problem, and re-submit. </div><div style="text-align: left;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: left;">Anyway, the requirement for dark photos seems to have gone, although if you use the same photo as the background for Decent Sampler, then using levels to make sure that the UI text will be readable, is still a good idea. And on this topic of readability, here are two of my Instruments/Sample Pack UI screenshots from <a href="http://pianobook.co.uk">pianobook.co.uk</a> , one with black text on a light background, </div><div style="text-align: left;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEjrNSJ-bVI4YSrqs80lYh8w0LIwU-Kajm9Lw_ZxL0Czw_T6zkkToF77jpq33X5VqdRsNImCKCTZP6oHyVQOGTfgw1aH0B8aqEuBvgo44tcqgec1BQm4wR-ACwseTeA8K-H12Cl0nS_hsQFbPV9K1ckAA1zIxOpCPbHFAS3vM88UdH2Hkq-W6RIJayUVhQ=s1638" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="815" data-original-width="1638" height="318" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEjrNSJ-bVI4YSrqs80lYh8w0LIwU-Kajm9Lw_ZxL0Czw_T6zkkToF77jpq33X5VqdRsNImCKCTZP6oHyVQOGTfgw1aH0B8aqEuBvgo44tcqgec1BQm4wR-ACwseTeA8K-H12Cl0nS_hsQFbPV9K1ckAA1zIxOpCPbHFAS3vM88UdH2Hkq-W6RIJayUVhQ=w640-h318" width="640" /></a></div><div style="text-align: left;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: left;">and one with white text on a dark-ish background: </div><div style="text-align: left;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEiXW28mVibIipEsqaGjxLHi0LOJ9bzLAqdmmiP1VP8eTi_AbkK7cp1gUWHvHLXJWRcMDAwYvw_TH2hKCE437WGJP2xTl4xEUGJWXKfPVCsDYWMNSloaudhWftt6z603AEHAYUe2-YkaqwbedAnqJedPpw3IDhYqnVTeKUyYna7WuF6AGw2epz0bnXy20Q=s1644" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="812" data-original-width="1644" height="317" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEiXW28mVibIipEsqaGjxLHi0LOJ9bzLAqdmmiP1VP8eTi_AbkK7cp1gUWHvHLXJWRcMDAwYvw_TH2hKCE437WGJP2xTl4xEUGJWXKfPVCsDYWMNSloaudhWftt6z603AEHAYUe2-YkaqwbedAnqJedPpw3IDhYqnVTeKUyYna7WuF6AGw2epz0bnXy20Q=w640-h317" width="640" /></a></div><div><br /></div><div>Remember that my UIs (User Interfaces) are notoriously busy - which means that your don't want a 'busy' background as well. So if you have a lot of controls, then you should reduce the contrast of your photo to avoid too much distracting detail from showing.</div><div><br /></div>It probably isn't a great leap of the imagination to see that you should prepare two template .dspreset XL files: one with the text set to opaque white (#FFFFFFFF), and one with the text set to opaque black (#00000000), so that you can produce Instruments / Sample Packs with dark or light backgrounds and not have to swap colours in your XML.<div><br /></div><div>Maybe I should do a blog post on programming for Decent Sampler?<br /><p></p>
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<h3 style="text-align: left;"><b>3. Filling the folder…</b></h3>
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<div style="text-align: left;">Let’s look at the folder/directory named whatever your equivalent of ‘<b><span style="color: #ffa400;">MyDecentSampleStuff</span></b>’ is first - this is where you should have been storing the working files whilst you have been developing your Sample Pack (or Instrument). It really isn’t a good idea to have all the file spread across lots of different folders/directories or drives! But now is a very good time to consolidate all of these files into one place!<br /><br /></div><div style="text-align: left;">Now if you are like Christian Henson, you have probably used click-bait naming conventions, and so it might well be called: ‘BestPianoEver’, but in this tutorial, I’m going to use ‘MyDecentSampleStuff’. In all of the screenshots that follow, you will need to figure out what your names are for all the files, because there’s no way that I can know what they are… So, as always, these are suggestions for you to use or improve upon!</div><div style="text-align: left;"><br />Inside the folder/directory you should have the <b><span style="color: #ffa400;">MyDecentSampleStuff.dspreset</span></b> file that you have been working on (and there is a backup on a separate drive or in the Cloud, isn’t there?), plus a ‘Samples’ folder/directory that contains all of the samples (CH has a specific way of naming samples that you can use, and details are given here: https://www.pianobook.co.uk/resources/how-to-sample/recording-your-piano/ ) that are used by <span style="color: #ffa400;"><b>MyDecentSampleStuff.dspreset</b></span>. As I noted earlier, I also add the length of each wav file in samples (minus 1) so that setting the loop length is easier (and harder to get wrong!) when editing the XML .dspreset file). </div><div style="text-align: left;"><br />For historical reasons (= maybe we did it wrong from the start) the 812 x 375 pixel .png background photo or graphics (called ‘<span style="color: #ffa400;"><b>MDSS-background.jpg</b></span> here), is often found in the Samples folder/directory.</div>
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<p style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 11px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; text-align: left;"></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEg73Gr1vyyQgRWbR7W9D-xyAE32OvYHc8Y7xzWsSW_5fEALebG_xnFnWZFWStHUoH-pz33IuOKwMeTmijIenoEcyZOFrLXCzuKOOJLhB7rwg6eIL-uXh1SGH4S6xigWTjaLznQ9reFBH6hO01dk5ItOSEufq1FNMPWnhBt5l9R0Wefn6uZw32jRx9r5Sg=s647" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="647" data-original-width="589" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEg73Gr1vyyQgRWbR7W9D-xyAE32OvYHc8Y7xzWsSW_5fEALebG_xnFnWZFWStHUoH-pz33IuOKwMeTmijIenoEcyZOFrLXCzuKOOJLhB7rwg6eIL-uXh1SGH4S6xigWTjaLznQ9reFBH6hO01dk5ItOSEufq1FNMPWnhBt5l9R0Wefn6uZw32jRx9r5Sg=s320" width="291" /></a></div><p style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 11px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 12px;"><br /></p>
<div style="text-align: left;"><i>(Yes, there's a typo in the screen shots! The .dspreset file is called: 'MyDecentSamplerStuff'. Score one point and move on.)</i></div><div style="text-align: left;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: left;">The files that you will normally have in your ‘<b><span style="color: #ffa400;">MyDecentSampleStuff</span></b>' folder/directory during development of a sample set and a Decent Sample .dspreset XML file are shown with yellow dots to the right. Now you need to add a few extra files, and duplicate one file.</div><div style="text-align: left;"><br />From the top downwards, the first file you need to add to the folder/directory is the ‘<b><span style="color: #ffa400;">MDSS-photo</span></b>’ which can be a .jpg or a .png. The second file to add is the <b><span style="color: #ffa400;">README.txt</span></b> file, which is the plain text (.txt) file that contains the majority of the text that you will enter into the first submission dialogue box.<br />The next thing to do is to create a ‘<span style="color: #ffa400;"><b>resources</b></span>’ folder/directory. This will be used to hold a backup of the background graphics used by Decent Sampler, plus the screenshot of the user interface of your Instrument / Sample Pack. You could also put a safety copy of the MDSS-photo file and the README.txt file in this folder/directory. (Many operating systems have a keyboard combination that will turn a mouse drag into a copy, which can speed up all sorts of file management tasks, and is well worth finding and learning...)</div><div style="text-align: left;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: left;"><i>(Alternatively, and probably better practice, you could use the background in the 'resources' folder/directory as the master, and the one in the 'Samples' folder/directory as the safety copy. This way the code will always use the 'Samples' folder/directory for samples, and the 'resources' folder/directory for any other... resources.)</i></div><div style="text-align: left;"><br />You can use the next picture as a tick list for filling the folder/directory:</div><div style="text-align: left;"><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEifL9cQH9qk6vX-JrFUQ_8Z1jxjK-FS8kHmCAtB0R52sM9r3HIdoj0R_5Oml9Rfk8M37XKhvnJrhuorwKoq4d6nlWvgC5zZ4p14dpOmTOx6LAD5C6p_xBOiMmHGhX54nFZR3jvdEbG35vJAvYvShvtCAW7pO39PptCl3vWf4jtrA5BfEp1M01obb7tSyg=s647" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="647" data-original-width="589" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEifL9cQH9qk6vX-JrFUQ_8Z1jxjK-FS8kHmCAtB0R52sM9r3HIdoj0R_5Oml9Rfk8M37XKhvnJrhuorwKoq4d6nlWvgC5zZ4p14dpOmTOx6LAD5C6p_xBOiMmHGhX54nFZR3jvdEbG35vJAvYvShvtCAW7pO39PptCl3vWf4jtrA5BfEp1M01obb7tSyg=s320" width="291" /></a></div></div><div style="text-align: left;"><br /><i>(A quick aside here. This is the MINIMUM set of files that you should put into a Decent Sampler folder. One additional 'goodie' that you can add is a few extra 'Presets'. These are .dspreset files that you save by using Decent Sampler's 'File>Developer Tools>Save Preset...' menu option. Take the time to name and number these, so that users will know what they are, and also to make them easy to spot against the MyDecentSampleStuff.dspreset file, which is the default 'preset' file. One approach might be to use a naming template something like 'MDSS-Preset01-Best-Piano-Ever'... Note that the XML is formatted slightly when it is saved, so comments are removed, and the text is wrapped, so the process of saving presets should be a one-way process - this way you don't lose your beautifully commented, un-wrapped master .dspreset file that you have spent hours editing.)</i></div><div style="text-align: left;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: left;">Once the folder contains all the files you want to include, then select the top level folder/directory: <b><span style="color: #ffa400;">MyDecentSampleStuff</span></b>, and compress it using ZIP compression. There are a number of utilities that can do this. On a Mac, this is the native compression algorithm, so just select the folder and select ‘Compress…’ (Red box = Compress this folder!)</div><div style="text-align: left;"><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEiDPEsJybFHcwFfuqhrvd0XKUXj-GFgsxyMnRjYT4_5-7xnrluPs0GjljCW_e0YR5Bnpyq9ld7bcA6ZsG41jf_uxydXzVDmYmsRKum0KqqgbRN-NBZDDa2kCJGOUeZIroojG0Uz1YVYxaOB2FM3E2IhGJyumZZy2ioaVOmO59pKwijRwIBnlSz8yMMPcw=s648" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="648" data-original-width="603" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEiDPEsJybFHcwFfuqhrvd0XKUXj-GFgsxyMnRjYT4_5-7xnrluPs0GjljCW_e0YR5Bnpyq9ld7bcA6ZsG41jf_uxydXzVDmYmsRKum0KqqgbRN-NBZDDa2kCJGOUeZIroojG0Uz1YVYxaOB2FM3E2IhGJyumZZy2ioaVOmO59pKwijRwIBnlSz8yMMPcw=s320" width="298" /></a></div></div><div style="text-align: left;"><br />Unsurprisingly, the larger your MyDecentSampleStuff folder/directory is, the longer the compression will take to complete... When it is finished, you should have a .zip file called ‘<b><span style="color: #ffa400;">MyDecentSampleStuff.zip</span></b>'. </div><div style="text-align: left;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: center;"><b>You will need to change the suffix from a .zip to a .dslibrary. </b></div><div style="text-align: left;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: left;">This doesn't change the file, it just changes the way that the Operating System thinks about the file. It can be used to automatically open Decent Sampler when you double click on a file, for example - and you wouldn't want it to open your UnZip utility. (Some Operating Systems will complain about this change of suffix, but just OK the change, and remind yourself that the Operating System is trying to protect you from problems.) </div><div style="text-align: left;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: left;"><b>In summary: 1st Compression: Change the suffix from .zip to .dslibrary. Leave the filename alone.</b></div><div style="text-align: left;"><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEi2FT_pTycYQwvnLS-YhBjwKNJ2JTtLlu0m4oiRnJN1l9_adltvMNBVdiERV8S6Gntf1ZyC3S7lGAGvDduNtng9LHFwO0KahjCn5bsDRWwBs1K-Hgy0okOAvnOAcy6DCBx06WjQurcrCaUy1mEESZ4mc7hdx-CUM650uPnSpxMTLd1IeqhGCXSxFABRTg=s684" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="684" data-original-width="570" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEi2FT_pTycYQwvnLS-YhBjwKNJ2JTtLlu0m4oiRnJN1l9_adltvMNBVdiERV8S6Gntf1ZyC3S7lGAGvDduNtng9LHFwO0KahjCn5bsDRWwBs1K-Hgy0okOAvnOAcy6DCBx06WjQurcrCaUy1mEESZ4mc7hdx-CUM650uPnSpxMTLd1IeqhGCXSxFABRTg=s320" width="267" /></a></div></div><div style="text-align: left;"><br />This file should then be put <b>inside</b> the ‘MyDecentSampleStuff’ folder/directory…</div><div style="text-align: left;"><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEhzWqPuE5aipRXrBJuImHlwNmNlBKrkvdImHjji-PdWo-w542IaZC-Ngz1Su-JeJvKyLajUUoIWDeFtpAFW1oBRlCnpRY6oa8w_cmhOHe5HpIR36YK07rVgxrkL4itibB5wbJ9saUCjbAeE9XF0Wh_LFKsBNWsxK5jeaD0HyuX1w9hG6DB2N9htyShXGw=s737" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="737" data-original-width="601" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEhzWqPuE5aipRXrBJuImHlwNmNlBKrkvdImHjji-PdWo-w542IaZC-Ngz1Su-JeJvKyLajUUoIWDeFtpAFW1oBRlCnpRY6oa8w_cmhOHe5HpIR36YK07rVgxrkL4itibB5wbJ9saUCjbAeE9XF0Wh_LFKsBNWsxK5jeaD0HyuX1w9hG6DB2N9htyShXGw=s320" width="261" /></a></div></div><div style="text-align: left;"><br />Remember that the .dspreset file is just an XML (text) file containing only the instructions for playing the samples, and so is usually quite a small size file. In complete contrast, the .dslibrary file contains all of the files for the user interface and the samples themselves, and so will be much larger in size. Take care not to mix these two files up - they are very different!</div><div style="text-align: left;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: left;"><i>(Yes, there's still a typo in the screen shots! The .dspreset file is called: 'MyDecentSamplerStuff'. Score one bonus point and move on.)</i></div><div style="text-align: left;"><br />The next thing to do is to select the ‘MyDecentSampleStuff’ folder/directory again, and compress it into a .zip file. (Red box = Compress this folder!)</div><div style="text-align: left;"><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEhdG-e7KIViKm2gEbYA1eQ24mZwTx4-bxEF9kO0tdDKPaeqRbmdA-OpgvVXy35kJhIzbUI45gmaolU8niHO6CKEbuJvFq5ssztjH7QJU3o7W4JmmH-CaJnLKeuYsBsRnw5bfIKz6WNWjAw1uIuSMbKDsmCotursj0n3Hdeaj2LYpuqGeeKhcnkvSzl8iQ=s687" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="687" data-original-width="596" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEhdG-e7KIViKm2gEbYA1eQ24mZwTx4-bxEF9kO0tdDKPaeqRbmdA-OpgvVXy35kJhIzbUI45gmaolU8niHO6CKEbuJvFq5ssztjH7QJU3o7W4JmmH-CaJnLKeuYsBsRnw5bfIKz6WNWjAw1uIuSMbKDsmCotursj0n3Hdeaj2LYpuqGeeKhcnkvSzl8iQ=s320" width="278" /></a></div></div><div style="text-align: left;"><br />When the compression has finished, the result will be a ‘MyDecentSampleStuff.zip’ file. This time, you DO rename this file but you leave the suffix alone - this is the .zip file that you will upload at the end of the submission process, and so it needs extra information to help yourself and the people at Pianobook.co.uk. My suggestion is to use 'ReverseDate-InstrumentName-YourName-Vnumber.zip' using 'camel-case' for the names. The reverse date format (YYYYMMDD) means that your .zip files will sort in date order when you look at them in a computer. So the final .zip file name might look like: '<b><span style="color: #ffa400;">20220226-MyDecentSampleStuff-YourName-V1.zip</span></b>' for something uploaded by YourName on the 26th of February 2022.</div><div style="text-align: left;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: left;"><b>In summary: 2nd Compression: Change the file name as per the template. Leave the suffix (.zip) alone.</b></div><div style="text-align: left;"><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEiycK6t3Vz92PS0SU3CwueXPm2b2zd1m3XatrvPqZYUFZlEr1G411-4ZLk86H3o8dDj41vx5Y3iXfJDspdkHyf65fJLFGrVGsk2W7qoG-RklYROsPvFwn0LOoKcMncOGGYIT2AwEY2k3au3jxmsnf7obsULYgkeHZ7KFhtuD-WWikTwPJmDVya6MOJ15A=s728" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="725" data-original-width="728" height="319" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEiycK6t3Vz92PS0SU3CwueXPm2b2zd1m3XatrvPqZYUFZlEr1G411-4ZLk86H3o8dDj41vx5Y3iXfJDspdkHyf65fJLFGrVGsk2W7qoG-RklYROsPvFwn0LOoKcMncOGGYIT2AwEY2k3au3jxmsnf7obsULYgkeHZ7KFhtuD-WWikTwPJmDVya6MOJ15A=s320" width="320" /></a></div></div>
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<h3 style="text-align: left;">4. <b>Completed!</b></h3>
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<div><span style="font-family: inherit;">That’s it! All done! You can now fill in the series of dialogues in the 'Submit' tab on <a href="http://pianobook.co.uk"><b>pianobook.co.uk</b></a>, and when it asks you to upload/submit your ‘Zip file’, you just find the ‘<b><span style="color: #ffa400;">20220226-MyDecentSampleStuff-YourName-V1.zip</span></b>’ file and upload/submit that file. </span></div><div><span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="font-family: inherit;">And don't forget to change 'MyDecentSampleStuff' to the name of your project, and use your own name instead of YourName!</span></div><div><span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="font-family: inherit;">(More on the submission process itself will be in Part 2...)</span></div><div><span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /><b>Note.</b> It may seem strange to zip things twice, but this is so that you have a single file that can be uploaded, and so that you have a stand-alone .dslibrary file which contains everything required by Decent Sample for ‘MyDecentSampleStuff’. (You can just drop it on Decent Sampler and you will get everything!) If you drop a .dspreset folder onto Decent Sampler, then it has to be from inside a folder/directory called ‘MyDecentSampleStuff’, from where Decent Sampler will look for various files in a folder/directory called ‘Samples’ and will need to load them in order to work.. </span></div><div><span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /><b>DO NOT stop after the first compress and think you have finished!</b> Yes, I know it (temporarily) produces a .zip file, but you are going to immediately change the suffix so that you have a .dslibrary file that contains a complete set of instructions, graphics and samples for Decent Sampler. You need to have a .dspreset file, a .dslibrary file, and everything else in the final .zip file. You can use the following screenshot as a check-list and reminder:</span></div><div><span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span></div><div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEgTFyEZga5l3-DmF1tidw8gaZUHhEReTAMUzVtGJjO4xeRoki8ujE5ifmtfp3zEKGHbMKudlf7TrpJNcIqNOJSN60qbuAgwS5pXYWJk_8dV4E2a5OizTngLTZmOkHPECFNkiJgkot8u145xuZZEdrHZcxGdjEIab1zRuc5aq4a9dIaCGGk-4YlVoZw8uA=s728" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="725" data-original-width="728" height="319" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEgTFyEZga5l3-DmF1tidw8gaZUHhEReTAMUzVtGJjO4xeRoki8ujE5ifmtfp3zEKGHbMKudlf7TrpJNcIqNOJSN60qbuAgwS5pXYWJk_8dV4E2a5OizTngLTZmOkHPECFNkiJgkot8u145xuZZEdrHZcxGdjEIab1zRuc5aq4a9dIaCGGk-4YlVoZw8uA=s320" width="320" /></a></div><br /><span style="font-family: inherit;">The ‘<b><span style="color: #ffa400;">20220226-MyDecentSampleStuff-YourName-V1.zip</span></b>' file highlighted in blue on the top line contains everything in the 'MyDecentSampleStuff' folder underneath it.<br /><br />In the next part I will go through the ‘Submission’ dialogues in the same level of detail.</span></div><div><span style="font-family: inherit;"><p> <span style="font-family: inherit;">---</span></p><p><span style="font-family: inherit;">If you find my writing helpful, informative or entertaining, then please consider visiting this link:</span></p><p></p><p><span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: medium;"><span style="background-color: white; color: #212529; white-space: pre-line;"></span></span></p><p></p><div style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; orphans: auto; text-size-adjust: auto; widows: auto;"><div style="font-size: 18.72px; font-weight: 700;"><span style="font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: small;"><a class="bmc-button" href="https://teespring.com/en-GB/stores/synthesizerwriters-store" target="_blank"><br class="Apple-interchange-newline" /></a><a class="bmc-button" href="https://teespring.com/en-GB/stores/synthesizerwriters-store" target="_blank"><span style="margin-left: 5px;">Synthesizerwriter's Store</span></a> (New 'Modular thinking' designs now available!)</span></span></div><p style="font-size: 18.72px; font-weight: 700;"></p><div style="font-size: 18.72px; font-weight: 700;"><div style="font-size: 18.72px; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: small;"><a class="bmc-button" href="https://www.buymeacoffee.com/synthwriter" target="_blank"><img alt="Buy me a coffee" src="https://www.buymeacoffee.com/assets/img/BMC-btn-logo.svg" /><span style="margin-left: 5px;">Buy me a coffee</span></a> (Encourage me to write more posts like this one!)</span></span></div><div style="font-size: 18.72px; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: small;"><br /></span></span></div><div style="font-size: 18.72px; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: small;"><br /></span></span></div><div><span style="font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: small;"><br /></span></span></div></div></div></span></div>
<p style="font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span></p><p style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 11px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><br /></p></div>
<script type='text/javascript' src='https://storage.ko-fi.com/cdn/widget/Widget_2.js'></script><script type='text/javascript'>kofiwidget2.init('Support Me on Ko-fi', '#29abe0', 'W7W5BM4JX');kofiwidget2.draw();</script> Synthesizerwriterhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13668943829180629830noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5222520500837940683.post-56168346431484119922022-01-09T16:23:00.001+00:002022-01-09T16:23:44.467+00:00What Would The DX200 Front Panel Look Like If It Was Designed Now?<p>Modding, modfiying or customising musical equipment is almost as addictive as GAS, the Gear Acquisition Syndrome that many synthesizer 'collectors' suffer from. But in my mind, there are two very different reasons for modifying a piece of music gear: </p><p>Changing (usually enhancing, but not always) what it does or how it does it; </p><p>or </p><p>Making it look different (better, but not always...)</p><p>I usually tend to go down the 'Enhancing Functionality' route, and so previous blog posts have covered a variety of mods:</p><p>- <a href="https://blog.synthesizerwriter.com/2020/06/modding-my-roland-tr-505-4-drum-roms.html" target="_blank">Roland TR-505</a></p><p>- <a href="https://blog.synthesizerwriter.com/2020/08/customising-yamaha-rm1x-groovebox.html" target="_blank">Yamaha RM1x</a></p><p>- <a href="https://blog.synthesizerwriter.com/2018/04/adding-footswitch-input-to-owl-pedal.html" target="_blank">Rebel Technology OWL Pedal</a></p><p>But sometimes, I get a different itch. In this case, it was triggered by two otherwise apparently unconnected things. (Isn't that always the way!)</p><h3 style="text-align: left;">Thing 1</h3><p><a href="https://djtechtools.com/" target="_blank">DJ Tech Tools</a> are a small, DJ-owned DJ-equipment online store (physically located on the West Coast of the US) that also do some things which are much more oriented towards MIDI musicians. The <a href="https://store.djtechtools.com/collections/midi-fighters-midi-fighter-accessories/products/midi-fighter-3d" target="_blank">MIDI Fighter 3D</a> and the <a href="https://store.djtechtools.com/collections/midi-fighters-midi-fighter-accessories/products/midi-fighter-twister" target="_blank">MIDI Fighter Twister</a> are two MIDI Controllers (one for button mashing (finger drumming), and one for controlling lots of MIDI CCs) that are uncompromisingly professional, are built to withstand serious abuse, and I have both of them! (And I love them and use them all the time!) They also do very nicely spec'ed audio and USB cables in a variety of bold colours. </p><p>But their creative use of colour goes further than that - they also do <a href="https://store.djtechtools.com/collections/chroma-caps-cables/products/chroma-caps-knobs-and-faders" target="_blank">Chroma Caps</a> (replacement control knobs in bright colours) and Luma Caps (knobs which glow really nicely!). These are designed for use on stage in poor lighting, where you need to be able to find a specific control knob reliably and quickly. Gear manufacturers love black knobs, and the modern trend for soft rubbery knobs means that I have some examples where the knobs totally vanish in low light! </p><p>One thing that bears repeating about Chroma Caps: Read the 'Technical Details' documentation carefully before ordering! The main diagrams show the view from BELOW the knob, not ABOVE! The first time I ordered I got it wrong, and my knobs were all 180 degrees off...</p><p>Anyway, I originally bought some Chroma Caps to replace a knob that had got damaged on a very old piece of Novation gear (I was using it, Officer!), and I really liked them. And late in 2021 I bought some to jazz/pimp up (you can use whatever era's slang you prefer) some of my vintage gear that tends to get used live, and when they asked me for a review, then this got me thinking...</p><h3 style="text-align: left;">Thing 2</h3><p><a href="https://www.ikmultimedia.com/products/index.php?R=INIT&FV=amplitube-5-family-related-products&CV=Other%20Filter&PSEL=amplitube-5" target="_blank">Amplitube</a> are known for their VST audio processing plug-ins (Parent company IK Multimedia does lots of other music stuff as well!). But recently, they have branched out into doing <a href="https://www.ikmultimedia.com/products/xgear/" target="_blank">real physical 'boutique' guitar pedals</a> that take the VSTs and make them available to a different audience: guitarists, but also the apparently growing number of synth/modular people who put audio through pedals (I can't help but point the finger at Christian Henson of Spitfire Audio for being a major populariser of this practice, and many other things!) </p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEjcH0nZ6_BxhOhbJeZcrGvOSjq8-o_gq79l7ACs6GeyWXXwEJpFJ_esOmBAfv1OcDEOBIA515lbqkmuLffB0T5hjChYCA-Q9Eu2Kp1EkuyqpDM2TnNFMpyE4GdjHqEck8CdCA-HfiPsUJvTCGf2NH28ZB2bzOjfcY-WieCkSBgbppFyyn5WXoHdYTDoKg=s2076" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="629" data-original-width="2076" height="194" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEjcH0nZ6_BxhOhbJeZcrGvOSjq8-o_gq79l7ACs6GeyWXXwEJpFJ_esOmBAfv1OcDEOBIA515lbqkmuLffB0T5hjChYCA-Q9Eu2Kp1EkuyqpDM2TnNFMpyE4GdjHqEck8CdCA-HfiPsUJvTCGf2NH28ZB2bzOjfcY-WieCkSBgbppFyyn5WXoHdYTDoKg=w640-h194" width="640" /></a></div><p>The interesting aspect in terms of user interface is that each of the four pedals is colour coded and co-ordinated - but not perfectly. So the X-Space pedal is for reverb, and is blue - except for the display, which is green. The X-Time pedal is for delay, and is green, except for the display, which is orange. The X-Vibe modulation effects pedal is orange, and the display is orange, and the X-Drive distortion/overdrive pedal is red, with a red display. Notice how the X-Gear pedals are almost colour co-ordinated, but not quite...</p><p><i>(You may have also noticed that the photo above is strange... This is because I rotated an image taken at an angle showing the pedals in perspective, and so the viewing position isn't quite where you expect it to be, and so it looks peculiar. If you tilt your head to the left by about 30 degrees, then it should look fine!)</i></p><h3 style="text-align: left;">The Mod Proposal</h3><p>The <a href="https://download.yamaha.com/files/tcm:39-332583" target="_blank">Yamaha Loop Factory</a> 'desktop' series (the AN200, DX200 and the SU200) are arguably one of the quieter backwaters of <a href="https://www.yamaha.com/en/about/history/" target="_blank">Yamaha history</a>. They are the sort of bits of gear which combine some very good features with some unfortunate omissions - and yes, I know that this is just the innate nature of musical gear (in fact, any gear!), particularly at the lower end of the range. But the limited front panel editing, and the complexities of trying to run late 1990s software on modern computers (How about a WebMIDI version, Yamaha, please?), probably put them in the 4 or 5 out of 10 category - although the prices on eBay or Reverb don't seem to reflect this... But I still love them and use them!</p><p>Warts and all, the AN200's early Virtual Analogue (VA) synthesis and the DX200's FM synthesis (with a VA Filter!) sound pretty good, even 25 years on, and I figured that live use would be much easier with some Chroma Caps. So here's the AN200 post-capping:</p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEhAp9Ugf_m1CCdsGlBshc1HOlYrSYtTrUo_qT2sAsKqkaxcjIJeLyY0yNpvzxJrdGLzUrrqWcF1DAvMa897zqCSs45gJ4JdwQ2lNaizh-fHFmDm3TXprDJf9ixc7qwnWRzeaefazthyKx6V9VmLwF4Wer70v2LN4cy3SfZlp1FbzX49JeDg_i0ZWcRLUA=s1280" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="769" data-original-width="1280" height="384" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEhAp9Ugf_m1CCdsGlBshc1HOlYrSYtTrUo_qT2sAsKqkaxcjIJeLyY0yNpvzxJrdGLzUrrqWcF1DAvMa897zqCSs45gJ4JdwQ2lNaizh-fHFmDm3TXprDJf9ixc7qwnWRzeaefazthyKx6V9VmLwF4Wer70v2LN4cy3SfZlp1FbzX49JeDg_i0ZWcRLUA=w640-h384" width="640" /></a></div><p>What is really interesting is that the AN200's orange colour-scheme works really well with the large chunky red 7-segment LED display and the little red LEDs, and the orange illuminated buttons.</p><p>And then to the DX200:</p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEgAudwhe7UWe21k5O-c0L3IojE4iSkh-9F6ZW57wUDqI7vSX1aXNY8rjJWB1a2sDT_4apJTkNY-w8sGsXyFI10-JaaSZXPsPOooMO2q9YpVC-b9RLeIXJ3PEThyoINX9ArTjnaALhaWSsM96vVfhfn2z0Q84OWd-z9DQ7_orkmTjoJYOpnd51gPaxdssw=s1280" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="774" data-original-width="1280" height="388" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEgAudwhe7UWe21k5O-c0L3IojE4iSkh-9F6ZW57wUDqI7vSX1aXNY8rjJWB1a2sDT_4apJTkNY-w8sGsXyFI10-JaaSZXPsPOooMO2q9YpVC-b9RLeIXJ3PEThyoINX9ArTjnaALhaWSsM96vVfhfn2z0Q84OWd-z9DQ7_orkmTjoJYOpnd51gPaxdssw=w640-h388" width="640" /></a></div><p>Oh dear! It seems that for the DX200, the green theme doesn't work at all with the red and orange LEDs. If anything, the green Chroma Caps actually make the orange feel even more wrong! It might have worked in the late 90s, but my modern-influenced eyes looking at the green (especially the rather primary green Chroma Caps - unfortunately DJTT don't do a cyan colour choice!) look at it and find it rather unsettling. </p><p>In fact, it cries out for an aesthetic rework: change the 7-segment displays to green, and change the red and orange LEDs to green (or even an RGB LED with the green and blue LEDs lit!). But that's a huge amount of work! (Ok, so although the main PCB is surface mount, the boards with the LEDs are all thru-hole, but it is still a lot of desoldering on old lead-based solder! And I don't like the look of those soft, probably membrane switches at the bottom...) Assuming that all went well (ho ho), here's what it might look like after a lot of time and effort:</p><p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEgX4_xrZnK8tifHGUFOxeNQrKxaRQS8ytJ2DDFe0__FXt1A4-Qlq8wb39f56jxrU2HIWFsEOQaYW2K25GYoM8XafCBzuUUilg9PnOQCwYArqirn2Z_48rGPn8reVrkYKNQtNLe9VKxr0RJAvZdvo4wT6TJqOStdzrbieqbHzgUTfnOlm_TmC1TEGKVUcA=s1280" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="774" data-original-width="1280" height="388" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEgX4_xrZnK8tifHGUFOxeNQrKxaRQS8ytJ2DDFe0__FXt1A4-Qlq8wb39f56jxrU2HIWFsEOQaYW2K25GYoM8XafCBzuUUilg9PnOQCwYArqirn2Z_48rGPn8reVrkYKNQtNLe9VKxr0RJAvZdvo4wT6TJqOStdzrbieqbHzgUTfnOlm_TmC1TEGKVUcA=w640-h388" width="640" /></a></div><br /> Which, poor photoshopping apart, makes a huge difference. It now looks 'right'! So in my humble opinion, if Yamaha were designing the DX200 now, they would definitely use green LEDs. <p></p><p>So, I now face a dilemma. Do I leave it alone, or do I replace the LEDs? (Or do I simply remove the Chroma Caps!) If you thought GAS was bad, then getting colours right when customising vintage gear might be worse!</p><p> <span style="font-family: inherit;">---</span></p><p><span style="font-family: inherit;">If you find my writing helpful, informative or entertaining, then please consider visiting this link:</span></p><p></p><p><span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: medium;"><span style="background-color: white; color: #212529; white-space: pre-line;"></span></span></p><p></p><div style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; caret-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family: -webkit-standard; orphans: auto; text-size-adjust: auto; widows: auto;"><div style="font-size: 18.72px; font-weight: 700;"><span style="font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: small;"><a class="bmc-button" href="https://teespring.com/en-GB/stores/synthesizerwriters-store" target="_blank"><br class="Apple-interchange-newline" /></a><a class="bmc-button" href="https://teespring.com/en-GB/stores/synthesizerwriters-store" target="_blank"><span style="margin-left: 5px;">Synthesizerwriter's Store</span></a> (New 'Modular thinking' designs now available!)</span></span></div><p style="font-size: 18.72px; font-weight: 700;"></p><div style="font-size: 18.72px; font-weight: 700;"><div style="font-size: 18.72px; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: small;"><a class="bmc-button" href="https://www.buymeacoffee.com/synthwriter" target="_blank"><img alt="Buy me a coffee" src="https://www.buymeacoffee.com/assets/img/BMC-btn-logo.svg" /><span style="margin-left: 5px;">Buy me a coffee</span></a> (Encourage me to write more posts like this one!)</span></span></div><div><span style="font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: small;"><br /></span></span></div></div></div>Synthesizerwriterhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13668943829180629830noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5222520500837940683.post-34823368609918419882021-12-18T13:45:00.011+00:002021-12-19T22:26:07.358+00:00Synthesizerwriter audio<p>Publicly, as far as audio is concerned, I'm not very visible. Here are some places where you can find bits of audio that I have created:</p><h3 style="text-align: left;">Synthesizerwriter</h3><div style="text-align: left;"><div style="text-align: left;">Two singles have been uploaded via DistroKid so far (one of them very recently, so it may take a while for it to ripple through the system...) and so should be available on most popular steaming services. Searching for the name 'Synthesizerwriter' should be all that you need to do...</div><div style="text-align: left;"><br /></div><h4 style="text-align: left;">Stry</h4><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEh3WAAsPTjdA5GUwmErBViRMf2y6TsiQlwhcj4XRyJ9B0Qjxh60iyS6F64kJJQ4_8RjY7S9nbBvRgLoqzPJUW6gB8KdLMv3cWYT0EJW3zG9BkRJPNkbahVl9YNvaRBpM5AEca3Y-03_eQgtD1MDPnPEfNaVsvjJztRxwwysquutmSYGmWQEGxVlHyLncg=s1080" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1080" data-original-width="1080" height="200" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEh3WAAsPTjdA5GUwmErBViRMf2y6TsiQlwhcj4XRyJ9B0Qjxh60iyS6F64kJJQ4_8RjY7S9nbBvRgLoqzPJUW6gB8KdLMv3cWYT0EJW3zG9BkRJPNkbahVl9YNvaRBpM5AEca3Y-03_eQgtD1MDPnPEfNaVsvjJztRxwwysquutmSYGmWQEGxVlHyLncg=w200-h200" width="200" /></a></div><br /><div style="text-align: left;"><br /></div>An experiment in not following the rules, which describes me quite well in some circumstances and contexts. The timing, phrasing and structure are deliberately not the usual multiples of four.</div><div style="text-align: left;"><br /><h4 style="text-align: left;">Turc</h4></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEh4fwZHDnbzEgB2JtKOfzadcyD7nI1CDsil8GvP3zunZCx4K7iVCVTr0JhLLkENUMFXT4gW0rA9BxhK1kvh6oTvB23sjirbn5ls6WlNfo_J-zvNp9Qo8pTvnxs0mC5vrvNl0FjrjbQP2aNCRe8dBYpp24w49OT7eSy1pxRLp0L4eSYPDyAQBirLaulZfA=s1080" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1080" data-original-width="1080" height="200" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEh4fwZHDnbzEgB2JtKOfzadcyD7nI1CDsil8GvP3zunZCx4K7iVCVTr0JhLLkENUMFXT4gW0rA9BxhK1kvh6oTvB23sjirbn5ls6WlNfo_J-zvNp9Qo8pTvnxs0mC5vrvNl0FjrjbQP2aNCRe8dBYpp24w49OT7eSy1pxRLp0L4eSYPDyAQBirLaulZfA=w200-h200" width="200" /></a></div><br /><div style="text-align: left;"><br />What might a 17th Century composer have done with electronic music? Would they have avoided adding Tubular Bells to create a seasonal (December) piece of music? Why have I always been hooked on old music? There may be some answers here... </div><div style="text-align: left;"><br /><h3 style="text-align: left;">SoundCloud</h3></div><div style="text-align: left;"><a href="https://soundcloud.com/martinruss/chromatixt-demo-002?si=1d146c31c9ca4545bc56c8753e811b51&utm_source=clipboard&utm_medium=text&utm_campaign=social_sharing" target="_blank">One 'generative' example</a></div><div style="text-align: left;"><a href="https://soundcloud.com/martinruss/tr2gen-mr-0v01-m7m-demo01?si=9d39d5a1d43e4379834d4c27d70defa4&utm_source=clipboard&utm_medium=text&utm_campaign=social_sharing" target="_blank">Another 'generative' example (too short)... </a></div><div style="text-align: left;"><br />This is not going to be very useful in a lot of cases. Just about everything that I have uploaded to SoundCloud is an audio demonstration to illustrate something I have been working on - often MaxForLive devices. A few of these are arguably 'pieces of music', but many are not. Probably for completists only, or people who have downloaded the M4L devices!</div><div style="text-align: left;"><br /></div><h3 style="text-align: left;">Scoring</h3><div style="text-align: left;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: left;"><a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8SeJFVSied4" target="_blank">Spitfire Audio 'Westworld' Competition Entry</a> (YouTube video...)</div><div style="text-align: left;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: left;">This is an example of using modular synthesis plus orchestral sample-based instrumentation for a 'music for pictures' project. I was deliberately avoiding the 'Marvel'-sound that has become very popular in scoring in recent years.</div><div style="text-align: left;"><br /><h3 style="text-align: left;">Derived Works</h3></div><div style="text-align: left;">You can hear demos produced by other people, but which use the sample packs and virtual instruments that I have produced for Christian Henson's amazing <a href="http://Pianobook.co.uk">Pianobook.co.uk</a> project here:</div><div style="text-align: left;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: left;"><a href="https://www.pianobook.co.uk/profile/synthesizerwriter/" target="_blank">Synthesizerwriter - Demos</a>. (Go to any of the sample packs and look for the demos on the right hand side...)</div><div style="text-align: left;"><br />I have the greatest admiration of the astonishing compositional skills of the people who produce demos on Pianobook.co.uk! </div><div><div><p><span style="font-family: inherit;">---</span></p><p><span style="font-family: inherit;">If you find my writing helpful, informative or entertaining, then please consider visiting this link:</span></p><p></p><p><span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: medium;"><span style="background-color: white; color: #212529; white-space: pre-line;"></span></span></p><p></p><div style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; caret-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family: -webkit-standard; orphans: auto; text-size-adjust: auto; widows: auto;"><div style="font-size: 18.72px; font-weight: 700;"><span style="font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: small;"><a class="bmc-button" href="https://teespring.com/en-GB/stores/synthesizerwriters-store" target="_blank"><br class="Apple-interchange-newline" /></a><a class="bmc-button" href="https://teespring.com/en-GB/stores/synthesizerwriters-store" target="_blank"><span style="margin-left: 5px;">Synthesizerwriter's Store</span></a> (New 'Modular thinking' designs now available!)</span></span></div><p style="font-size: 18.72px; font-weight: 700;"></p><div style="font-size: 18.72px; font-weight: 700;"><div style="font-size: 18.72px; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: small;"><a class="bmc-button" href="https://www.buymeacoffee.com/synthwriter" target="_blank"><img alt="Buy me a coffee" src="https://www.buymeacoffee.com/assets/img/BMC-btn-logo.svg" /><span style="margin-left: 5px;">Buy me a coffee</span></a> (Encourage me to write more posts like this one!)</span></span></div><div><span style="font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: small;"><br /></span></span></div></div></div></div><div><br /></div><div> </div></div><div><br /></div><div><br /></div>Synthesizerwriterhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13668943829180629830noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5222520500837940683.post-36915410195470770282021-12-15T14:36:00.003+00:002021-12-18T11:24:24.191+00:00Increment and Decrement Buttons...<p> Sometimes, things jump out at you unexpectedly, and by their very nature, they catch you by surprise. For me, ideas can appear from the most mundane triggers. Here's a recent example, where the inspiration came from a simple two footswitch box:</p><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEhmJQOvbbgvFxckd7kUQpGG1rwX0Gemdm6Ut7okGCYWaocGwzhemUERBP4JScTlvDXBnKSkQS0JMNJJ7IJ04_TGof9MJVn96S33DGNtn2aieRIOKGl1YkBEkdTFZfOLQ_oMamEB9vljsjIzeaqrhqYzSokAVrnizqAZXANZSYtU83Il3hd4sclJTImbZg=s1080" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="513" data-original-width="1080" height="304" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEhmJQOvbbgvFxckd7kUQpGG1rwX0Gemdm6Ut7okGCYWaocGwzhemUERBP4JScTlvDXBnKSkQS0JMNJJ7IJ04_TGof9MJVn96S33DGNtn2aieRIOKGl1YkBEkdTFZfOLQ_oMamEB9vljsjIzeaqrhqYzSokAVrnizqAZXANZSYtU83Il3hd4sclJTImbZg=w640-h304" width="640" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">A simple two footswitch box...<br /></td></tr></tbody></table><br />Yep, I've removed the logo from the box... One of the common uses for a two footswitch box like this is to increment and decrement values - so they are used for moving up or down through scenes or cues or programs. depending on the application. Simple and completely straight-forward, and with no room whatsoever for a different way of looking at how they work - or so you might think. <div><br /></div><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEgjkFy485ecGvrXreE6svzLyHOPqxnG-0mQjWIFL0yoQPt0RvYsibeV9zNWjb5eIeXEgUFPciDH_RiSWAZqpOd1RYgwjDOrSXiVhcXVuwpjcpJX4JJ-MzAFNZMzvlDMlKhYn1G-FOfcp4K3pFGiUcDbnokTdRflvwh1RnE0e9UyEAHiebDvX5vdfMbqMA=s2108" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1001" data-original-width="2108" height="304" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEgjkFy485ecGvrXreE6svzLyHOPqxnG-0mQjWIFL0yoQPt0RvYsibeV9zNWjb5eIeXEgUFPciDH_RiSWAZqpOd1RYgwjDOrSXiVhcXVuwpjcpJX4JJ-MzAFNZMzvlDMlKhYn1G-FOfcp4K3pFGiUcDbnokTdRflvwh1RnE0e9UyEAHiebDvX5vdfMbqMA=w640-h304" width="640" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Increment (+1) and Decrement (-1) switches...</td></tr></tbody></table><br /><div>Adding labels to the switches makes the intended purpose much more obvious, which is where my brain kicks in and starts analysing...</div><div><br /></div><div>First thought: Should the +1 be on the left or the right? (and vice-versa for the -1...) Is there a convention for this? (Yes - and I got it correct without thinking when I added the labels and then looked for <a href="https://www.nngroup.com/articles/input-steppers/" target="_blank">references as to which way it should be</a>...) The placement is interesting - is the +1 (increment) on the right because the majority of people are right-handed? Curiously, if you rotate the two buttons through 90 degrees then there is no question about the placement - the increment button is in the upper position, and the decrement button is in the lower position. This up/down increment/decrement implication is so entrenched in my mind that I have never questioned it...</div><div><br /></div><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEjAgIPAVrWsUpNHyZEFMey39QCpZxKiWR9zzEkpi5RIsNa077fgXPFqAiV-1BSfTnymW-2K2YlTHyeVG18wfhXkHDBbMn07Mt1hjDM_kOSHVMjTb1FKYbjRK_LU3D85kp0n2bEO5o4wMY7Cj7cu_MpYZxrE96U25xKXifLGk5fc4kh8GV0OLIxgvuLwTg=s476" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="285" data-original-width="476" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEjAgIPAVrWsUpNHyZEFMey39QCpZxKiWR9zzEkpi5RIsNa077fgXPFqAiV-1BSfTnymW-2K2YlTHyeVG18wfhXkHDBbMn07Mt1hjDM_kOSHVMjTb1FKYbjRK_LU3D85kp0n2bEO5o4wMY7Cj7cu_MpYZxrE96U25xKXifLGk5fc4kh8GV0OLIxgvuLwTg=w400-h240" width="400" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Up / Down and Increment / Decrement</td></tr></tbody></table><br /><div>Now the difference between up/down and left/right is related to the way that human eyes work, and is connected to that old question about why mirrors invert images horizontally, but not vertically. Having two eyes separated horizontally is related to widescreen TV and movies, and to why magicians often hide their manipulations above or below a person's eyeline. People rarely look up!</div><div><br /></div><div>So if up and down, and the implied increment/decrement meaning, are so ingrained, why are left and right not similarly connected? (I do now wonder what would happen if the Up and Down buttons on Lifts/Elevators were reversed? Would people adapt, or just get very confused?) I suspect that there may be some readers who do not agree with my positioning of the increment (+1) button on the right, because they always think it should be on the left. </div><div><br /></div><h3 style="text-align: left;">Sometimes...</h3><div><br /></div><div><i>As a historical aside, I can remember always being intrigued by the placement of the 'transport' controls in cassette players in the 20th Century (and it also applies to the transport controls in DAWs, of course). Obviously, fast forward is on the right, fast reverse/backwards is on the left, and Stop should be in the middle, with Play next to it, on the right. But where does the Record button go? On the left, or on the right? </i></div><div><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEjCBFbFooZcxhhd0UkRhQmDlaD5yei-YT0BLsPjW-mob55NAPbw61io5_kHqy-E5YEsIX3g2tqCxhxLq87cYJXCvFjVgnjPuw3_mJM1MoYxz9v56t-wAaY98H7KnKFnE8Boo7mXol94u77GTy4gclcLjuXwbJW-hslGACuFt0DsZNN6N5H-OfkOYWV20A=s1136" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="630" data-original-width="1136" height="354" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEjCBFbFooZcxhhd0UkRhQmDlaD5yei-YT0BLsPjW-mob55NAPbw61io5_kHqy-E5YEsIX3g2tqCxhxLq87cYJXCvFjVgnjPuw3_mJM1MoYxz9v56t-wAaY98H7KnKFnE8Boo7mXol94u77GTy4gclcLjuXwbJW-hslGACuFt0DsZNN6N5H-OfkOYWV20A=w640-h354" width="640" /></a></div><br /><div><br /></div><div><i>Looking around my studio, I can see examples of each layout! And when you add in a Pause button, then things get really complicated!</i></div><div><br /></div><div>But back to increment and decrement. What really caught my imagination was the limits of buttons like these. Adding or subtracting one is fine for small integers, but what happens when you have more values. Imagine a live gig where you need to select between 10 sounds on a synth or 10 effect settings on an effects pedal. So from number 1, then you can increment all the way up to 10, and decrement back to 1. So from number 1, it will take 9 increments to get to 10, and from 10, it will take 9 decrements to get to 1.</div><div><br /></div><div>But, if you are on number 1, is there a more efficient way to press buttons or switches to get to number 10? (Or from 10 to 1?)</div><div><br /></div><div>The answer is probably completely obvious, and you are giggling at me for not mentioning it. When you are at 1, then decrementing takes you to 10, and when you are on 10, then incrementing takes you to 1. Again, the usual expectation seems to be that if you have a range of 10 numbers, then when you increment past the highest value, it 'jumps' down to the lowest value. Conversely, when you decrement 'below' the lowest value (1), then the number jumps to the highest value, 10. So the numbers are arranged like this:</div><div><br /></div><div style="text-align: center;"><b><span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: medium;">Decrement ...1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10... Increment</span></b></div><div><br /></div><div>This means that the quickest way to get from number 1 to number 10 is to push the decrement footswitch or button. So should the -1 button or switch be re-labelled as +9 when the current number is 1? Or should the +1 button be labelled as -9 when the current number is 10? Of course not, you are thinking. It is obvious! (Please keep your reaction here carefully stored away for future consideration.)</div><div><br /></div><div>When people say that something is obvious, they often mean that the convention is so ingrained, so much part of common experience, that no explanation is required - it is just 'how things work'. I imagine that companies who make equipment with increment/decrement switches or buttons get very few user complaints about the behaviour of those switches at the highest and lowest values of looping ranges of numbers. </div><div><br /></div><div>Unfortunately, my mind doesn't work like this. When I started thinking about the most efficient way of moving between numbers, and thought about having to relabel at the highest and lowest numbers, then a light came on, and an idea popped into my brain...</div><div><br /></div><h3 style="text-align: left;">The Pre-amble</h3><div><br /></div><div>To understand the idea, and to put it in context, let's look at 'efficient selection'. If we want to control the selection of a number between 1 and 10, and we have two buttons, switches, or foot-switches to do this task, then what is the best measure of efficiency? Is it the minimum number of button/switch presses that we need to make? Or the maximum? If the current number is 1, then incrementing takes us to 2, and decrementing takes us to 10. So the minimum number or presses is 1 to get from 1 to a 'target' of 2 or 10. But for a target of 6, then we would need to press the increment 5 times, or the decrement 5 times, to get from 1 to 6. So the maximum number of presses required is 5. </div><div><br /></div><div><i>(I'm not going to talk here about Fitt's Law, which is one of the fundamentals of User Interface or Interaction design, or various other 'Laws'... But suffice it to say that there are all sorts of analogies and correlations that can be drawn with various formal ways of approaching and characterising this sort of problem...)</i></div><div><i><br /></i></div><div>In terms of 'annoyance', then I reckon the maximum number is the one that matters. Having to press a button (or switch) once to go from 1 to 2 is fine. Pressing it twice to go from 1 to 3 is also okay. But 5 presses to go from 1 to 6 is beginning to be 'too many' presses. There's a set of sloppy descriptors that you could use for the number of button presses required:</div><div><br /></div><div>One, two, too many!</div><div><br /></div><div>5 is probably solidly in the 'Too many' category. And that's probably where most people would leave it, because for 10 possible numbers, then obviously it will take between 1 and 5 presses to get to any of them.</div><div><br /></div><h3 style="text-align: left;">Except it doesn't, as it turns out...</h3><div>My brain looked at those two re-labelled buttons, for -9 and +9, and, as I said, a light came on in my head. It suddenly struck me that there was a better way to control the selection of a looped set of numbers, and it requires just a minor change to one of the two buttons...</div><div><br /></div><div>All you need to do is change one of the two increment or decrement buttons/switches/footswitches to be double the amount. So a +1 would become a +2, or a -1 would become a -2. Whichever you change, you leave the other button alone. So, assuming that we double the increment, you would have two buttons: -1 and +2.</div><div><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEi89zjkTbYJjCEtYQdsa0Ylj0xSvvVE9qaky-tejg2o1BP6ZmYbNPKc0yU13hEr8swfPdnB12o3iusU8EySEiz9fgr2PC0CF-T4Is8xkTaQGeCDCKT4majc5KvuCKv4HNIvyJRfFFRAvL97J-CfER6bEb3yAwyUvbJ4PXjScIV6ykXHLrPzSc20DnQP1Q=s1080" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="513" data-original-width="1080" height="304" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEi89zjkTbYJjCEtYQdsa0Ylj0xSvvVE9qaky-tejg2o1BP6ZmYbNPKc0yU13hEr8swfPdnB12o3iusU8EySEiz9fgr2PC0CF-T4Is8xkTaQGeCDCKT4majc5KvuCKv4HNIvyJRfFFRAvL97J-CfER6bEb3yAwyUvbJ4PXjScIV6ykXHLrPzSc20DnQP1Q=w640-h304" width="640" /></a></div><br /><div>Suppose we start at 6 as the current selected number. We can decrement to 5, decrement again to 4, decrement again to 3, and decrement again to 2, and finally, decrement again to get to 1. That's five (5) presses of the button/switch/footswitch. But suppose we use the double increment button? 6+2 takes us to 8, and another 2 takes us to 10, and another 2 takes us to 2. If we then decrement we get to 1. That's four presses. </div><div><br /></div><div>So the maximum number of presses required to move from any number in a looped list of 10 numbers using two buttons is not 5 - it is 4 (four)! To me, four is less solidly in the 'too many' set, and it is definitely less than 5! </div><div><br /></div><div>Exploring more formally how this works, here's a table that shows different looped lists of numbers, plus the maximum number of presses required to move from one number in the list to another...</div><div><br /></div><div><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEjjLyMf9uMc2tYfymN3ygqsWOAZeAgV94yoI_bph_5DQCTPSNsa9xgUvOLgt1I4stxB5s3X_ypC5jTCrv9GAD9wEOn3SgLvFFBPgMW_4lrFj7TWCOvPU9UR7KdI6SX7c0zQJeDiQtU9NJLEwkfHlHqc0FLibx8vjp_wTEoIMuEBmJrHqOjPkvb0msNa4Q=s1841" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1062" data-original-width="1841" height="370" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEjjLyMf9uMc2tYfymN3ygqsWOAZeAgV94yoI_bph_5DQCTPSNsa9xgUvOLgt1I4stxB5s3X_ypC5jTCrv9GAD9wEOn3SgLvFFBPgMW_4lrFj7TWCOvPU9UR7KdI6SX7c0zQJeDiQtU9NJLEwkfHlHqc0FLibx8vjp_wTEoIMuEBmJrHqOjPkvb0msNa4Q=w640-h370" width="640" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Maximum number of presses with the +1,-1 scheme...</td></tr></tbody></table><br /></div><br /><div>So the simplest case is on the left hand side - in the second column (with a zero at the top): a looped list consisting of 1 number requires zero presses to get to the same number. The next column across, with the 1 at the top, is for a looped list of 2 numbers, where it takes a maximum of 1 presses to get to the other number. This continues across to the right, until we get to the right-most column, where it takes a maximum of 6 presses to get from a looped list of 13 numbers to any other number in the list. This table considers only the 'usual' increment and decrement values or +1 and -1, which, for want of a better word, I call a 'scheme'... I went all the way up to a list of 13 numbers to check that the case of 10 numbers is not a special 'edge' example. Note that the maximum number of presses (increments or decrements) is the integer value of half of the numbers in the looped list. So for 13 numbers, half is 6.5, and the integer value is 6. </div><div><br /></div><div>For other schemes, then the table has more columns:</div><div><br /></div><div><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEitAoKEdVpMPnMfXSTe3M3CcFLRWBmMRNnBsfzgpCCF0OOnqZQtXp97TWtJcuwhtiEYdyYr0w_gXFt6RSPSkxavuGul9VZ2I27774ffkmlFEWBUvvWfNUO_UiV5N9XLJixKIR_7gvkUZTt8ss_ACcBuNpVkjU_GPjECemhLxUFuL-c852c0I5KqnUAugA=s2888" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="994" data-original-width="2888" height="220" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEitAoKEdVpMPnMfXSTe3M3CcFLRWBmMRNnBsfzgpCCF0OOnqZQtXp97TWtJcuwhtiEYdyYr0w_gXFt6RSPSkxavuGul9VZ2I27774ffkmlFEWBUvvWfNUO_UiV5N9XLJixKIR_7gvkUZTt8ss_ACcBuNpVkjU_GPjECemhLxUFuL-c852c0I5KqnUAugA=w640-h220" width="640" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Maximum number of presses with other schemes...</td></tr></tbody></table></div><br /><div>What is interesting now is that for a looped list of 9 numbers, then the +2,-1 scheme makes no difference - the maximum is still 4 presses. The first looped list of numbers where the +2,-1 scheme has an effect is fo a list of 10 numbers. For lists of more than 10 numbers, then a pattern starts to emerge, where the +2,-1 scheme reduces the maximum number of presses by one, but schemes like +4,-1 do not give an overall advantage. The +2,-1 scheme thus seems to be the optimum scheme, at least with these small numbers. I haven't done any deeper analysis...</div><div><br /></div><h3 style="text-align: left;">Summary</h3><div>The maximum number of presses required to move from any number in a looped list of 10 numbers using two buttons is four (4), not five (5) as you might expect. I wasn't able to find a scheme that gave any better results than four, but my searches were not exhaustive. I have not been able to find any information on this topic on the InterWeb, but trying to express this sort of study in words is not easy, and searching for this type of thing is not very reliable. I hope that by posting on this blog, someone who knows more about this topic might find it, and if so, I would be very interested in learning about any published research that is available.</div><div><br /></div><div>Regardless of the 'state-of-the-art' in UI or Interaction Design , I now have an interesting alternative to the usual +1/-1 increment/decrement buttons/switches, and I'm going to continue investigating it. Also, anyone who reads this blog now knows how to do it as well, and it will be interesting to see what happens over the next few months...If you do use this idea, then an acknowledgement of the source would be good. 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I could try to clarify but then if I was to say 'guitar pedals' then that excludes 'expression pedals' and 'wah pedals' (the first treddled foot pedal I ever bought was a <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AK6MEEv9z0c" target="_blank">Colorsound Wah Pedal</a>), but these days many synthesists also use 'guitar pedals' (and expression pedals), but rarely wah pedals, and so just saying 'pedals' could be very confusing. Er, and then there's the word 'effects' as well to contend with... Audio effects? Guitar effects? </p><p>So, here we go again. I like effects pedals that are made for use by guitarists but can also be used for processing the sounds of synthesizers (and drum machines). I also like expression pedals that have foot-operated 'treadles' - the bit that moves and you put your foot on. Over time, one or two pedals have found their way into my studio 'gear', and or or two have been modded and sold on - which was a different world and not something I do now, although it is quite a fascinating topic... Of these pedals, very few are perfect. In fact, 'perfect' gear is very rare. </p><p style="text-align: center;"><b><i>Which made me think: what would 'pedal perfection' actually look like?</i></b></p><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-fM6fVRUZKtY/YaYZS4hf6JI/AAAAAAAAGJU/pljtJQC-o2ECdNvqbXcBc9m1HbuPs5PRQCLcBGAsYHQ/s2048/kornelije-casni-WA6Zu5lOt3Y-unsplash.jpg" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1365" data-original-width="2048" height="426" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-fM6fVRUZKtY/YaYZS4hf6JI/AAAAAAAAGJU/pljtJQC-o2ECdNvqbXcBc9m1HbuPs5PRQCLcBGAsYHQ/w640-h426/kornelije-casni-WA6Zu5lOt3Y-unsplash.jpg" width="640" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Photo by <a href="https://unsplash.com/@conny73?utm_source=unsplash&utm_medium=referral&utm_content=creditCopyText">Kornelije Casni</a> on <a href="https://unsplash.com/s/photos/guitar-pedal?utm_source=unsplash&utm_medium=referral&utm_content=creditCopyText">Unsplash</a></td></tr></tbody></table><h3 style="text-align: left;">The Perfect Pedal?</h3><div>In this blog post, I am going to describe my ideal specifications for a pedal that does exactly what I want in a pedal to process synthesizers (and drum machines), and no more. In the process, I'm going to describe some 'must haves', as well as some 'not required', and I may prevaricate with some 'not essentials' as well, which are exactly what their name suggests: not essential, and probably a distraction from the main 'must haves'. Finally, I will note the 'annoying compromises' that often sabotage a pedal's attempt to reach the highest levels of perfection.</div><div><br /></div><div>Also, notice how this blog post title avoids using click-bait techniques like:</div><div><br /></div><div style="text-align: center;"><b><i><span style="font-size: large;">"This effects pedal is perfect!"</span></i></b></div><h3 style="text-align: left;"><b>MUST HAVES</b></h3><div><b>Stereo Audio Inputs and Outputs</b></div><div><br /></div><div>Synthesizers tend to have stereo outputs, even when that is because there's an 'affordable' chorus unit (or a stereo panner) at the end of the processing chain. But samplers, or as many get used most of the time, sample replayers, can sometimes output real stereo, from two different samples, although there are some that use chorus, panning or reverb to turn mono into something more spatialised across the stereo sound stage/field. From my own experimentation with <a href="https://www.decentsamples.com/product/decent-sampler-plugin/" target="_blank">Dave Hilowitz's excellent Decent Sampler,</a> I have become convinced that stereo samples (where they really are two different samples, recorded from two microphones, or synthesized/processed via two different virtual locations) are definitely a desirable sound source, and the next decade is probably going to see me increasingly pushed towards surround of one flavour or another. </div><div><br /></div><div><i>I did think about mentioning line level switches, but decided that would complicate things even more (plus, I had no winners!)</i></div><div><br /></div><div><b>Dual DSPs/Engines/Processors</b></div><div><br /></div><div>Polyphonic synthesizers were only just starting to appear when I started buying synths, and so I spent a lot of time on monophonic synthesizers like the <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Oberheim_OB-1" target="_blank">OB-1</a>, <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/ARP_Odyssey" target="_blank">ARP Odyssey</a> and the <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Minimoog" target="_blank">Moog Model D Minimoog</a>. </div><div><br /><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-qH54s54LCjM/YaZFySd0F9I/AAAAAAAAGJ0/Ps7ey592uwU4xLmsMoHrjeCOLIrGn_J3QCLcBGAsYHQ/s1920/1%2Bor%2B2%2Boscs.jpg" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="618" data-original-width="1920" height="206" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-qH54s54LCjM/YaZFySd0F9I/AAAAAAAAGJ0/Ps7ey592uwU4xLmsMoHrjeCOLIrGn_J3QCLcBGAsYHQ/w640-h206/1%2Bor%2B2%2Boscs.jpg" width="640" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">1 or 2 oscillators? (VCOs)<br /><br /></td></tr></tbody></table></div><div>History is very cruel for monosynths with only one oscillator (or VCO in those days), and so the single oscillator <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/ARP_Instruments#/media/File:ARP_Axxe.jpg" target="_blank">ARP Axxe</a> is much less well-known than its dual oscillator (and duophonic) sibling, the <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/ARP_Odyssey" target="_blank">Odyssey</a>. (So much so that it <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/ARP_Instruments" target="_blank">doesn't get a full entry on Wikipedia</a>, which has to be close to an InterWeb insult...) But, presumably because of cost, pedals with two effects inside ('dual' pedals) are the norm, and pedals with more effects ('multi-effects') tend to have cut-down effects rather than fully-featured.</div><div><br /><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-XTApm03lEZA/YaZGAnNDNkI/AAAAAAAAGJ4/y0KdeuOdDQIrXU9stuWqqvWIAPz1NPutQCLcBGAsYHQ/s1920/single%2Bdual.jpg" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="544" data-original-width="1920" height="182" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-XTApm03lEZA/YaZGAnNDNkI/AAAAAAAAGJ4/y0KdeuOdDQIrXU9stuWqqvWIAPz1NPutQCLcBGAsYHQ/w640-h182/single%2Bdual.jpg" width="640" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Connecting/Routing options for single and dual effects</td></tr></tbody></table></div><div><br /></div><div>In just the same way that 2 oscillator monosynths can have different transpositions, waveforms, detuning, PWM and more, dual effects can provide additional creative possibilities - two different shimmer pitch-shifts, for example, or two different types of reverb with different algorithms. But pedals offer an additional option: the effects can be in parallel, or in series. So rather than having two different shimmers mixed together, the output of the first shimmer is passed through the second, which can sound much more complex and interesting. Feeding a reverse reverb into a hall reverb can give a composite which is much bigger, denser, and way removed from reality. </div><div><br /></div><div><i>(I'm not going to extend this Oscillator metaphor to include series and parallel connections of oscillators!)</i></div><div><br /></div><div>Also, just as presets changed the way that monosynths were used in live performance (videos of 70s live performances often show the keyboard player adjusting <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Minimoog" target="_blank">Minimoog</a> settings between songs, or during songs...), then having presets which recall all the settings for two effects simultaneously is a great time-saver, and prevents mis-matches when only one effect setting is changed. Pedal boards with sophisticated controllers and switch matrices can solve this for single effect pedals, but pedal boards tend to be used by guitarists, and less so by keyboard players or synthesists. In the 70s and 80s, one <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/MXR" target="_blank">MXR effects pedal</a> (usually an <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/MXR_Phase_90" target="_blank">orange Phase 90</a>) tended to be placed on top of the <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rhodes_piano" target="_blank">Fender Rhodes</a> piano (the curved top didn't help with stability), next to the <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Minimoog" target="_blank">Minimoog</a>, whilst the <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pete_Cornish" target="_blank">Pete Cornish</a> pedal board would be on the floor in front of the guitarist. </div><div><br /></div><div>So dual is definitely my preference, but it is very rare.</div><div><br /></div><div>Series and Parallel audio examples...</div><div><br /></div><div>Serial</div><div><br /></div><div><a href="https://soundcloud.com/martinruss/doubleoff-01?si=86864d1071b34a5baf01fc0c7573ce3f">https://soundcloud.com/martinruss/doubleoff-01?si=86864d1071b34a5baf01fc0c7573ce3f</a></div><div><br /></div><div>Parallel</div><div><br /></div><div><a href="https://soundcloud.com/martinruss/echoes2reverb-01?si=86864d1071b34a5baf01fc0c7573ce3f">https://soundcloud.com/martinruss/echoes2reverb-01?si=86864d1071b34a5baf01fc0c7573ce3f</a></div><div><br /></div><div><b>MIDI and Expression and Switches...</b></div><div><b><br /></b></div><div>This is easily overlooked. Many pedals add MIDI sockets, Expression pedal inputs, and additional foot switch inputs in a simple linear relationship with the cost. The higher the cost of the pedal, the more interfaces that you get. So simple, affordable pedals with stereo in and out might have no MIDI and no Expression pedal input, and to get those extra sockets you could easily double or treble the cost. Sometimes you get a single interface that can be used for MIDI OR Expression OR foot switches - but only one of these, although usually purchasing an additional box will allow two or more of them to be used (So an Expression pedal can be converted to MIDI controller messages and sent to multiple pedals, alongside MIDI clock and program changes, etc.) </div><div><br /></div><div>My ideal would be to have separate interfaces (sockets!) for each of these control functions: MIDI, Expression, and foot switches. Once again, this is quite unusual.</div><div><br /></div><div><b>Simple UI for the Dual Functions</b></div><div><br /></div><div>Having two separate effects in the same pedal does not mean duplication of the controls, it just requires a clear way of indicating which of the two effects you are editing at any time, and when you are hearing both of them during performance. On my <a href="https://www.tcelectronic.com/product.html?modelCode=P0DEA" target="_blank">TC Electronics Flashback Triple Delay</a>, I always forget to move the little toggle switch which changes between the front panel controls so that I can edit each of the three delays individually, and so I am always changing the parameters for the wrong delay! There are three foot switches which turn the three delays on or off, but these do not affect which delay settings the front panel controls will alter. So there are two different ways to select a delay: one of three foot switches for the audio, and a separate little toggle switch for the front panel controls. I lose track every time! (But it is still a great device for creating complicated/long delays!)</div><div><br /></div><div>So, a clear way of indicating which effect you are editing, and when both are playing, is essential. Altering the functionality of the controls when playing is fine, because that's a third mode: Playing, as opposed to Editing Effect 1, or Editing Effect 2. Simples.</div><div><br /></div><div><b>MIDI Clock</b></div><div><b><br /></b></div><div>If there are tap tempo functions in the pedal to set the timing of delays or reverbs or LFOs, then these should also be able to use MIDI Clock as a source of timing information. </div><div><br /></div><div><b>Mobile/Desktop Editing/Librarian over USB</b></div><div><br /></div><div>Being able to edit presets, save them locally or in The Cloud, and to share them with other users, is kind of the way that effects work nowadays. But it is doubly (or more) important when you have the complexity of dual effects, with series or parallel routing of the audio, and three different sets of controls: Editing 1, Editing 2, Playing. </div><div><br /></div><div>I haven't included Bluetooth because in a computer environment with lots of USB 3.1 connections, I find that Bluetooth is unreliable - particularly as the number of Bluetooth devices goes up. I have a <a href="https://getgocube.com/" target="_blank">GoCube 3x3 Cube</a> that refuses to sync when it is anywhere near my mouse, keyboard, headphones...</div><h3 style="text-align: left;">NOT ESSENTIAL</h3><div><b>Complex Audio Ins and Outs</b></div><div><br /></div><div>Quad ins and outs are either twice as desirable, or just doubling up on stereo in and out. So the <a href="https://www.polyeffects.com/polyeffects/p/beebo" target="_blank">Poly Effects Beebo </a>pedal's quad ins and outs gives it a good head start over just about everything else... </div><div><br /></div><div>The ability to put the pedal in the effects loop of a guitar amplifier, or the send/return loop of a mixer, is useful if your studio is focussed around the mixer, and you always use the same effect (or chain of effects) on several channels. If the pedals are channel specific then a patch-bay and a pool of pedals may be more flexible and rapidly reconfigurable.</div><div><br /></div><div><b>Multiple Simultaneous Effects</b></div><div><br /></div><div>Guitar pedal boards have complex chains of pedals that serve at least two purposes: tone modification (fuzz, distortion, compression, gating), plus time and frequency modulation effects (chorus, flanging, delay, reverb, tremolo, vibrato...), and so often have a large number of pedals. Keyboards and synthesizers, particularly when used polyphonically, tend to only require the modulation effects, and so multi-effects tend to be less useful, especially when the type of effect is limited to one delay, one reverb and one chorus/phaser.flanger type of effect. Monosynths can use tone modification effects, but there is a tendency for them to then sound like guitars, or a guitar using a 'synth' pedal to sound like a monosynth. The sound output from my <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Yamaha_DX7" target="_blank">Yamaha TX7</a> (another device that doesn't get a Wikipedia entry) paired with a <a href="https://www.valeton.net/GP_100.html" target="_blank">Valeton GP-100</a> multi-effect pedal is a perfect example - sometimes I'm not sure if it is an FM synth, or a heavily processed guitar...</div><div><br /></div><div>So whilst there are many examples (Helix et al) multi-effects tend to be cut-down, simplified 'guitar-oriented' pedal board replacements, which are very useful in some circumstances, but which struggle to be the subtle, unusual, studio effects that can bring an otherwise bland and boring synthesizer or keyboard to life!</div><div><br /></div><div><b>Multiple MIDI and Expression and Switches...</b></div><div><br /></div><div>Having two merged MIDI Ins, and more than one MIDI Thru and Out is overkill on a pedal. These functions can be added separately if required. The same with Expression Pedal inputs: one is fine, because most high-end pedals will allow the expression input to be mapped to more than one parameter. Alternatively, there are a number of MIDI Controller devices for pedal boards that can map a single Expression Pedal to several different MIDI controllers on different MIDI channels, and so control several parameters simultaneously. </div><div><br /></div><div>Sometimes adding switches prevents MIDI or Expression altogether. I have one device which uses a MIDI foot switch to provide additional control, but you then lose the MIDI Input for any other purpose - like MIDI Clock...</div><div><br /></div><div><b>Duplication of Controls</b></div><div><b><br /></b></div><div>Dual effects does not mean dual (or triple) controls. But a clear way of indicating what is being edited or played is good. If I was to be pedantic (me?) then there are four modes: Editing Effect 1, Editing Effect 2, Editing the dual effect playing setup, and actually Playing both effects. I would propose that, in a lot of cases, the last two are effectively the same mode in most cases. </div><div><br /></div><div><b>Tap Tempo Switch Input</b></div><div><b><br /></b></div><div>An input socket for a tap tempo switch, or from a pedal that outputs tempo as switch presses (quite rare) is not, in my humble opinion, essential. Useful, yes, but this functionality can be easily replaced by a MIDI Controller that sends MIDI Clock over MIDI. </div><div><br /></div><div><div><b>Mobile/Desktop Editing/Librarian over Bluetooth</b></div><div><br /></div><div>I am biased. I haven't included Bluetooth because in a computer environment with lots of USB 3.1 connections, then I find that Bluetooth connectivity can be very unreliable - particularly as the number of Bluetooth devices goes up. It seems that <a href="https://www.bluetoothandusb3.com/the-explanation#:~:text=Unfortunately%20the%20range%20of%20frequencies,are%20using%20in%20your%20computer." target="_blank">Bluetooth and USB 3.1 don't get along nicely</a>... </div></div><div><br /></div><div><b>USB Audio Interface</b></div><div><b><br /></b></div><div>Recently, from about 2015, some devices with USB sockets have started to provide built-in USB Audio Interfaces, so that they can send digital audio to and from DAWs (or the host computers!). This took the idea of stand-alone USB Audio Interfaces, like the <a href="https://focusrite.com/en/scarlett" target="_blank">Focusrite Scarlett</a>, from about 2010 (and still in production. several generations later), and put the technology inside individual devices. This has accelerated in the 2020s, and now even small stand-alone synthesizers like the <a href="https://www.rebeltech.org/product/witch/" target="_blank">Rebel Technology Witch</a> have USB Audio Interfaces built-in. </div><div><br /></div><div><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-BFcEcOZnmS4/YaZGpDsIuoI/AAAAAAAAGKA/VxgCZF0fspgKYvU_cRXwYilZA6DRB2DyACLcBGAsYHQ/s906/discord.jpg" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="493" data-original-width="906" height="348" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-BFcEcOZnmS4/YaZGpDsIuoI/AAAAAAAAGKA/VxgCZF0fspgKYvU_cRXwYilZA6DRB2DyACLcBGAsYHQ/w640-h348/discord.jpg" width="640" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Discord has other uses besides chat!</td></tr></tbody></table><br />You can test this using something like <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Discord_(software)" target="_blank">Discord</a> - a dialogue will pop up if you connect a USB device that supports USB Audio, or go to this URL with a WebMIDI browser like Chrome: https://webmidi.info This URL checks your browser for WebMIDI compatibility, and will also report if a USB Audio device is connected...</div><div><br /></div><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-Bmx0BW5OwYM/YaY5My_uVoI/AAAAAAAAGJs/3SzeZyNTFTE7tImpb17jbeyY0dCX5dbIQCLcBGAsYHQ/s1286/webmidi%2BWitch%2Binv.jpg" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="772" data-original-width="1286" height="384" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-Bmx0BW5OwYM/YaY5My_uVoI/AAAAAAAAGJs/3SzeZyNTFTE7tImpb17jbeyY0dCX5dbIQCLcBGAsYHQ/w640-h384/webmidi%2BWitch%2Binv.jpg" width="640" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Visiting https://webmidi.info</td></tr></tbody></table><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">In my opinion, whilst useful sometimes, and although it converts the signal to digital earlier in the audio chain, it is better to use a dedicated USB Audio Interface like a <a href="https://focusrite.com/en/scarlett" target="_blank">Focusrite Scarlett</a> (there are many other USB Audio Interfaces). This is because you will be using the same audio interface for all audio-to-digital conversions, and so you get consistency of sample rate, of anti-aliasing filtering, of dithering, of power supply noise leakage, and more. </div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">In the future, the burgeoning availability of high quality USB Audio Interfaces could well influence things towards the use of digital audio interconnectivity instead of analogue audio on quarter inch jacks or RCA connectors, but we are not there yet, particularly with guitar pedals. It will be an interesting transition...</div><div><br /></div><div><b>USB Host</b></div><div><br /></div><div>The last few years have also seen a rise in the demand for <a href="https://developer.android.com/guide/topics/connectivity/usb/host" target="_blank">USB Host</a> sockets (usually via the familiar rectangular <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/USB_hardware" target="_blank">USB-A</a> sockets instead of the squarer 'printer' <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/USB_hardware" target="_blank">USB-B</a> sockets). These allow a device to have MIDI Controllers connected to it (keyboards, pad matrices, sliders...) and to be controlled by them, without any need for a computer (OK, technically, the device acts as a computer!). </div><div><br /></div><div>Whilst the 'Does it have a USB Host socket?' question is becoming increasingly frequent in device FAQs, I think it will be a few years before it appears on guitar pedals. It also makes much more sense, particularly in pedal board designs, to have a single MIDI Controller that give a foot switch and display for controlling several pedals with preset selection, expression pedal routing, MIDI Clock tempo control and routing and controlling audio switching. </div><h3 style="text-align: left;">ANNOYING COMPROMISES</h3><div><b>Mono Inputs and Stereo Outputs</b></div><div><br /></div><div>Good for guitar players, but for synthesizers, then only useful for vintage gear from the 70s and 80s that have mono outputs. More importantly, a pedal like this can only be put at the start of a chain of pedals - putting it in the middle requires compromises - like combining the two channels by mixing, or maybe by subtracting, or some other processing (correlation)? </div><div><br /></div><div><b>Stereo Inputs and Outputs using Stereo Jack Sockets</b></div><div><br /></div><div>Some otherwise strong contenders fall at this fence. The <a href="https://www.hologramelectronics.com/microcosm" target="_blank">Hologram Microcosm</a> has a stereo jack input, and two mono jack output for the Left and Right output channels - yep, the input and output sockets really are different. This is fine where you have immediate access to a stereo-to-twin-mono cable, but a pain when you don't - and yes, a patchbay insert cable does this, but it seems to me that there is a pretty strong negative correlation between people with patchbays and people with lots of guitar pedals...</div><div><b><br /></b></div><div><b>Fixed Ordering and Types of Effects in a Multi-Effect pedal</b></div><div><br /></div><div>Multi-effects pedals come in three flavours:</div><div><br /></div><div>1. The order and type of effect in each 'slot' is fixed. e.g. Distortion->Chorus->Delay->Reverb->Amp->Cab. So you can have any type of delay or Reverb you like, but the delay is always before the reverb. And you can't ever have two delays, or two reverbs, or more than one of anything!</div><div>2. The order of the effects can be changed, but only one instance of a type. In this flavour, you can have the reverb before the delay, but you can't have another reverb (or delay, or any other repeated effect) anywhere in the chain. </div><div>3. The order and type of effects can be changed. This allows you to have more than one delay or reverb or chorus..., and in any order. This is the rare and expensive flavour, and you might find that there are still hidden limitations - like an overall limit of the total time delay that you can produce, for example. </div><div><br /></div><div>All three flavours make compromises, and there is usually a strong correlation with the cost: higher price = less compromises. </div><div><br /></div><div><b>MIDI OR Expression OR Switches...</b></div><div><b><br /></b></div><div>Sometimes pedals will provide a single 'unified' interface that can be used for MIDI OR Expression OR foot switches - but only one of these. So yes, you have access to the functionality, just not all of them at once. Usually the solution to this is to purchase an additional box that will allow two or more of them to be used at the same time...</div><div><br /></div><div><b>What Editing Mode is This?</b></div><div><b><br /></b></div><div>Minimising the number of controls is often a good thing, but if the end user does not know what they are editing, then that just causes confusion. Clear modes (Edit Effect 1, Edit Effect 2, Play Dual) can help to avoid this, particularly if a switch position is clearly visible or LEDs can be used to indicate which mode is active. </div><div><br /></div><div>I don't think that a display is essential - lots of classic outboard gear does not have a display. But an annoying compromise would be a display that doesn't clearly show which mode is active, or which is too small. And a few LEDs can be very effective at indicating which of three modes is active!</div><div><br /></div><div><b>USB for Everything</b></div><div><br /></div><div>I have read that MIDI, Expression Pedals and Additional Foot Switch inputs can all be replaced by USB connections. I do have a USB Audio Interface, and so MIDI to USB is easy, but converting an Expression Pedal to MIDI is harder, and interfacing analogue foot switches to USB is even harder. Maybe this will change over time, but in my current present, waiting for the future just wastes time.</div><h3 style="text-align: left;">NOT REQUIRED</h3><div><b>Mono Audio Input and Output</b></div><div><b><br /></b></div><div>I want to like some mono pedals. I have some! But only when there really isn't a stereo alternative. It also seems like a waste of money to buy two just to get two channels of processing, even though the differences may actually contribute to the final sound - of which more in the 'must haves'. (I made no guarantees about being consistent!) Or worst case, having two separate channels processed separately may cause problems because of phase cancellations further down the processing chain. Forced compromise is not something that I think belongs in a 'perfect' pedal specification.</div><div><br /></div><div><b>More than Two...</b></div><div><br /></div><div>Two reverbs (or delays, or tremoloes, or...) in series, or parallel, can be very useful for making complex harmonic or polyrhythmic sounds. But the law of diminishing returns often means that three of the same effect can start to be too many. I have a <a href="https://www.tcelectronic.com/product.html?modelCode=P0DEA" target="_blank">TC Electronics Flashback Triple delay</a>, which can have three separate delays in series (or in parallel), and whilst it is incredibly useful/powerful for making ambient music and '<a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Robert_Fripp" target="_blank">Frippertronics</a>' tape delay effects, a lot of the time I could probably get very similar results using only two delays. I have never contemplated buying a second one!</div><div><br /></div><div>The other aspect of having multiple (more than two) instances of an effect is the cost and resources. When boutique pedals cost between £350-£500+ (or the equivalent in your local currency), then 'dual'ling one, even with cost savings by sharing some circuitry, is going to increase the cost by a significant amount. Tripling a boutique pedal could easily become prohibitively expensive, rather like the way that a <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lamborghini" target="_blank">Lamborghini</a> (subsidiary of Audi), <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ferrari" target="_blank">Ferrari,</a> <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bugatti" target="_blank">Bugatti</a> (etc.) supercar can have a cost many times that of a more conventional car. </div><div><br /></div><div><b>Big, Colour Displays</b></div><div><br /></div><div>Pedals do not have to be big, and I'm not thinking about a rack-mounted pedal, because that would be a piece of outboard gear. Equally, large colour displays (and touch sensitive!) are not essential, although using two or three LEDs to indicate the mode of a dual pedal is a must have.</div><h3 style="text-align: left;">Examples</h3><div>Finally, we get to the bit you have been waiting for. The grand reveal. The long list of dual pedals that get my approval as being more or less perfect, as far as the specifications above are concerned.</div><div><br /></div><div><a href="https://www.sourceaudio.net/ventris-dual-reverb.html" target="_blank">Source Audio Ventris</a></div><div><a href="https://www.sourceaudio.net/collider_delay_reverb.html" target="_blank">Source Audio Collider</a></div><div><a href="https://moddevices.com/product/mod-duo-x/" target="_blank">MOD DuoX</a></div><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-x0oJcnToFZA/YaYym8ndwgI/AAAAAAAAGJc/frPF8tPTSxsZbScH27r4ZqqNO-gke1Q4wCLcBGAsYHQ/s1874/three%2Bwinners.png" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="641" data-original-width="1874" height="218" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-x0oJcnToFZA/YaYym8ndwgI/AAAAAAAAGJc/frPF8tPTSxsZbScH27r4ZqqNO-gke1Q4wCLcBGAsYHQ/w640-h218/three%2Bwinners.png" width="640" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">(Publicity photos from <a href="https://www.sourceaudio.net/" target="_blank">Source Audio</a> and <a href="https://moddevices.com/" target="_blank">MOD Devices)</a></td></tr></tbody></table><div><br /></div><div>That's it. Probably a slightly shorter list than you and I were expecting. Congratulations to <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Source_Audio" target="_blank">Source Audio</a> and <a href="https://moddevices.com/" target="_blank">MOD Devices</a> for making just about perfect pedals!</div><div><br /></div><div>All of the other contenders that you might have been expecting ( <a href="https://www.strymon.net/" target="_blank">Strymon</a>, <a href="https://empresseffects.com/" target="_blank">Empress</a>, <a href="https://www.ehx.com/" target="_blank">EHX</a>, etc. ), unfortunately seem to fail in one way or another (- although I'm willing to be corrected if I have missed an example). It doesn't mean that they are not excellent and very desirable pedals. It just means that in this very specific context, they are not perfect. </div><div><br /></div><div style="text-align: center;"><b><i>Perfection is rare. Very rare! ...And personal!</i></b></div><div><p><span style="font-family: inherit;">Oh, and <a href="http://blog.synthesizerwriter.com/2021/11/the-chase-bliss-exp-pedal.html" target="_blank">here's a recent blog post</a> on a very different, but also excellent pedal from Chase Bliss Audio!</span></p><p><span style="font-family: inherit;">---</span></p><p><span style="font-family: inherit;">If you find my writing helpful, informative or entertaining, then please consider visiting this link:</span></p><p></p><p><span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: medium;"><span style="background-color: white; color: #212529; white-space: pre-line;"></span></span></p><p></p><div style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; caret-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family: -webkit-standard; orphans: auto; text-size-adjust: auto; widows: auto;"><div style="font-size: 18.72px; font-weight: 700;"><span style="font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: small;"><a class="bmc-button" href="https://teespring.com/en-GB/stores/synthesizerwriters-store" target="_blank"><br class="Apple-interchange-newline" /></a><a class="bmc-button" href="https://teespring.com/en-GB/stores/synthesizerwriters-store" target="_blank"><span style="margin-left: 5px;">Synthesizerwriter's Store</span></a> (New 'Modular thinking' designs now available!)</span></span></div><p style="font-size: 18.72px; font-weight: 700;"></p><div style="font-size: 18.72px; font-weight: 700;"><div style="font-size: 18.72px; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: small;"><a class="bmc-button" href="https://www.buymeacoffee.com/synthwriter" target="_blank"><img alt="Buy me a coffee" src="https://www.buymeacoffee.com/assets/img/BMC-btn-logo.svg" /><span style="margin-left: 5px;">Buy me a coffee</span></a> (Encourage me to write more posts like this one!)</span></span></div><div><span style="font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: small;"><br /></span></span></div></div></div></div><div><br /></div><div> </div><div><br /></div><div><br /></div>Synthesizerwriterhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13668943829180629830noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5222520500837940683.post-22934045963279291992021-11-15T10:39:00.005+00:002021-11-15T11:33:34.831+00:00Very very good article on the inner workings of the Yamaha DX7<p>I rarely do links to other blogs, but today is an exception! Go to the 'Doing it Right!' section near the end, to see the details of a <a href="https://www.righto.com/2021/11/reverse-engineering-yamaha-dx7.html" target="_blank">link</a> to a wonderful article on the inner details of the Yamaha DX7!</p><h3 style="text-align: left;">Getting it wrong!</h3><p>The way the Yamaha DX7 synthesizer is treated on the InterWeb is interesting because they are very often full of myths and errors. </p><p>Some articles say it uses FM (Frequency Modulation), when it actually uses PM (Phase Modulation). Some articles say that it sold more units than any other synthesizer, ever, (over 150,000 units - definitive figures are tricky to find and verify), forgetting another digital synth from slightly later, the Korg M1 (over 250,000 units - again, difficult to verify), and several other contenders since... (There again, you can always spiral down into the black hole of clarifications: digital, 12-bit (kind of), hand-built, custom chips...) Some articles say that the DX7, and FM, are difficult to program, but then so is C++ (and many other things) - and yet a lot of people managed to program the huge number of patches/presets/sounds that are available for the DX7 (including a few hundred from myself), so it can't be that tricky! Oh, and some articles say that Yamaha synthesisers do not output MIDI velocity above 100 (instead of up to 127) - which was true for the first few DX7s, and was then fixed, so it not only wasn't correct very soon after the launch in 1983, it hasn't been right since for almost 40 years! Basically, it seems as if many authors of articles about the DX7 and FM don't do their background research properly and just copy the same old fake news and myths. </p><p style="text-align: center;"><i>(Oh, and hardly anyone ever notes that the original 'number' proposed for the DX7 was the DX5...)</i></p><p style="text-align: left;"></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-LibXaJZ9tvo/YZI0DdGsNMI/AAAAAAAAGHc/1aktW1Sp8RIDkqZZ6blw0b4NGGZREIRtQCLcBGAsYHQ/s944/YAMAHA_DX7%2BPD.jpeg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="320" data-original-width="944" height="216" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-LibXaJZ9tvo/YZI0DdGsNMI/AAAAAAAAGHc/1aktW1Sp8RIDkqZZ6blw0b4NGGZREIRtQCLcBGAsYHQ/w640-h216/YAMAHA_DX7%2BPD.jpeg" width="640" /></a></div><p></p><h3 style="text-align: left;">Doing it right!</h3><p>In total and complete contrast, in every way, a recent blog post from Ken Shirriff is throughly recommended because it not only gets everything right, it also goes <a href="https://www.righto.com/2021/11/reverse-engineering-yamaha-dx7.html" target="_blank">very deep into how the DX7 works</a>. </p><p><a href="https://www.righto.com/2021/11/reverse-engineering-yamaha-dx7.html">https://www.righto.com/2021/11/reverse-engineering-yamaha-dx7.html</a></p><p>Congratulations, my admiration, and kudos to Ken Shirriff for an excellent article!</p><p>---</p><p><span style="font-family: inherit;">If you find my writing helpful, informative or entertaining, then please consider visiting this link:</span></p><p></p><p><span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: medium;"><span style="background-color: white; color: #212529; white-space: pre-line;"></span></span></p><p></p><div style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; caret-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family: -webkit-standard; orphans: auto; text-size-adjust: auto; widows: auto;"><div style="font-size: 18.72px; font-weight: 700;"><span style="font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: small;"><a class="bmc-button" href="https://teespring.com/en-GB/stores/synthesizerwriters-store" target="_blank"><br class="Apple-interchange-newline" /></a><a class="bmc-button" href="https://teespring.com/en-GB/stores/synthesizerwriters-store" target="_blank"><span style="margin-left: 5px;">Synthesizerwriter's Store</span></a> (New 'Modular thinking' designs now available!)</span></span></div><p style="font-size: 18.72px; font-weight: 700;"></p><div style="font-size: 18.72px; font-weight: 700;"><div style="font-size: 18.72px; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: small;"><a class="bmc-button" href="https://www.buymeacoffee.com/synthwriter" target="_blank"><img alt="Buy me a coffee" src="https://www.buymeacoffee.com/assets/img/BMC-btn-logo.svg" /><span style="margin-left: 5px;">Buy me a coffee</span></a> (Encourage me to write more posts like this one!)</span></span></div><div><span style="font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: small;"><br /></span></span></div></div></div>Synthesizerwriterhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13668943829180629830noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5222520500837940683.post-66175789933385998412021-11-08T22:46:00.015+00:002021-11-11T15:59:23.396+00:00The Chase Bliss EXP Pedal...<p>At the low end of the guitar pedal marketplace, you have budget pedals: small, very affordable, and all very similar: fuzz, overdrive, chorus, phaser, flanger, delay, reverb...</p><p>At the opposite end of the market there are what are often called the 'boutique' pedal manufacturers: sophisticated, beautifully engineered and as some marketing people like to say: 'reassuringly expensive' - but most importantly: diverse and unusual. You won't find conventional 'me too' phasers, loopers or delays here. Instead you will get informed, flexible, powerful, eclectic pedals - plus many other words associated with innovation and exclusivity.</p><h3 style="text-align: left;">EXP</h3><p>A perfect example of this (and actually, pretty much a perfect pedal) is the recently announced EXP pedal from Chase Bliss Audio. Wikipedia describe <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chase_Bliss_Audio" target="_blank">Chase Bliss Audio</a> as being 'high-end', whilst <a href="https://www.andertons.co.uk/brands/chase-bliss-audio" target="_blank">Anderton's Music Company</a> says: '...not just another pedal company, no...21st Century Trail-blazers...'. Chase Bliss Audio themselves say it very nicely on their web-site: </p><p style="text-align: center;"><i><b>Chase Bliss makes pedals that mix digital wizardry with analog goodness to create weird and wonderful sounds.</b></i></p><p>However, the EXP pedal is slightly different - it is just 'analogue goodness'. <i>(No digital inside at all!)</i></p><p>In these days of 'Do you want a microprocessor with that?' turning up in everything, then this is a bold move, but it is a great move.</p><p>The reason why this is such an amazing move is that EXP is the expression pedal, reinvented. </p><p>I will let you think about that for a moment...</p><p>Instead of an angled foot plate that you move with your foot to control guitar pedals via the 'Expression' input, the EXP pedal looks more like a very robust, very engineered modulation wheel that has escaped from a synthesizer - maybe someone like <a href="https://www.expressivee.com/" target="_blank">Expressive E</a>. So you can use it on top of a studio desk, where it gives a nice, convenient, tactile interface to controlling guitar pedals being used as outboard effects, and the classy black metal case with its minimalistic labelling, plus the 'executive toy' knurled texture on the wheel, plus the glossy numbers wrapped around it, mean that it looks like it belongs there. Alternatively, put it on the floor or on a pedal board, and the rugged metal box, plus the grippy metal wheel that can be moved with your foot, mean that it is right at home there as well. </p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-EAx6rYDEtqQ/YYklPVCR1tI/AAAAAAAAGFc/ShFIOB6QZTcaAPPdZ4N7aL778GiERxCXACLcBGAsYHQ/s1440/exp01.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1080" data-original-width="1440" height="480" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-EAx6rYDEtqQ/YYklPVCR1tI/AAAAAAAAGFc/ShFIOB6QZTcaAPPdZ4N7aL778GiERxCXACLcBGAsYHQ/w640-h480/exp01.jpg" width="640" /></a></div><p>And whilst you are visualising your foot moving the wheel on the EXP pedal, here's an interesting practical thought: have you ever knocked an expression pedal whilst feeling about with your foot for a foot-switch on a pedal board? Well, the wheel on the EXP is almost immune to such accidents, because unless you put your foot on it and move your foot forwards deliberately, then it isn't going to get accidentally moved... The reason that you may feel the world wobbling a little at the moment is a large number of guitarists all nodding (with a slightly embarrassed smile on their face at various live 'incidents'), plus more nodding of heads from all the live mix engineers who have had to suddenly pull back the sliders for the guitarist who just jumped up 20 dB in the mix. </p><p>So let's look at this design. Instead of 15 to 30 degrees of angular movement from your foot, you have something like 270 degrees of rotation of a wheel, or about 150mm (6 inches) of linear movement of a foot (or hand). So that's lots of fine control, plus there's a big number that shows from 0-10, so you know where you are in the range. I can't recall ever seeing a foot pedal marked off in degrees...</p><h3 style="text-align: left;">Inside</h3><p>Now, I have never been able to resist opening up gear, and so that's what I did next...</p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-ChEyHbujpzM/YYlD3SidccI/AAAAAAAAGFk/NO09KyYqXDM3cuOQ77PdZHgEcjU6sfSwACLcBGAsYHQ/s1440/exp-inside01.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1080" data-original-width="1440" height="480" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-ChEyHbujpzM/YYlD3SidccI/AAAAAAAAGFk/NO09KyYqXDM3cuOQ77PdZHgEcjU6sfSwACLcBGAsYHQ/w640-h480/exp-inside01.jpg" width="640" /></a></div><br /><p>That's a single piece of bent metal that isn't fastened to either the base of the case (as you can see), nor the top part. It is held in place by the base when the case is assembled, and the electrical connections to the top part of the case are made thru a Molex sparse ribbon cable. As you can see, the wheel occupied all of the available vertical space, nearly touching the base - but it doesn't, of course! What you also get hints of here are some bearings (the thick metal casting in the lower left, and of some mechanics in the central fold hole. </p><p>Sharp-eyed readers (viewers, actually) will probably have spotted that there are two 'stereo' jack plugs connected at the back, and these are for the two electrically separate outputs. The two rectangular hole near the top have two switches just below them, and these can reverse the direction of the outputs, so you can have heel and toe the same or both, or both reverse, or heel and toe opposite in two ways. I set the switches to opposite positions, so that I have two outputs that are the inverse of each other. So whatever I control with expression on one pedal, I can control the opposite on another pedal. But as you can see, just by removing 4 bolts and flipping a switch, I can change that at any time. </p><p>I was pretty impressed with the mechanical minimalism here. I was expecting something much lighter and that the switches would be more awkward to get at. I like good surprises.</p><p><i>(What is interesting here is the forced perspective. You might be wondering why the base looks so much smaller than the case.? The clue is the shadows... Yes, the top part of the case is actually much higher up because I had to stand it on a couple of wood blocks because the wheel sticks out of the top of the case. So the top part is much closer to the camera, which is why the shadow for the top part of the case is diffuse, whilst the shadow for the base of the case is so sharp - it is on the blue background, whilst the top part of the case is about 30 mm above it. So now you know! You eye assumes that the two objects are both on the blue background, and so the base must be smaller even though it is the same dimensions!)</i></p><p>Going a bit deeper was interesting. That single piece of bent metal IS the holder for all the mechanics, and it is not fastened to the top of the case at all. There is just the sparse black ribbon cable. So you just lift out the bent metal...</p><p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-bTmNJybOFJM/YYlIb1KDLFI/AAAAAAAAGFs/U46iwntqVycJLphsxsjgZs5cGpy3KzoUQCLcBGAsYHQ/s1440/exp-mech01.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1080" data-original-width="1440" height="480" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-bTmNJybOFJM/YYlIb1KDLFI/AAAAAAAAGFs/U46iwntqVycJLphsxsjgZs5cGpy3KzoUQCLcBGAsYHQ/w640-h480/exp-mech01.jpg" width="640" /></a></div><br />As I said, the wheel has substantial bearings in those solid blocks of metal. The wheel connects to the pot using a toothed rubber drive belt, so no slipping. and the potentiometer is, as expected, a dual gang linear potentiometer, which explains how the two outputs can be electrically separate - one gang is used for each output. It looks as if the circuit board is held in place by the two jack sockets, so, that's a neat solution as well. The diameters of the wheel gear and the potentiometer gear appear to be pretty much the same size, and so the wheel uses the whole 270 degrees of rotation of the potentiometer, which is why you can invert the ranges for the two outputs.<p></p><p>So the mechanical design is very cool. There are no fastenings needed for the main bent metal assembly to hold it in place inside the case, other than the case itself. The four bolts that hold the base of the case in place, also hold the mechanical assembly securely and solidly in place. The metal is bent to form the supports for the bearings and the potentiometer. I just love it. Minimalistic, with no levers, easy disassembly and it looks like servicing (replacing the rubber belt, or the bearings, or the potentiometer) should be very easy and quick. I'm struggling to find anything to criticise here. </p><p>Even if I was very picky and said that dust might get inside through the rectangular hole in the top of the case for the wheel, then just opening up the case and blowing away the dust is probably going to be all that is required. If liquids get inside, then it is all passive components, and the potentiometer is unlikely to cost a fortune to replace. </p><h3 style="text-align: left;">Using it</h3><div>Expression pedals are made to allow you to control things - to make them expressive. So next, I look at using it...</div><div><br /></div><div>Well, it works. Wonderfully. It's like an expression pedal, except that you don't rock it from heel to toe with your foot, instead you roll from one end to the other, which seems to be about 270 degrees of rotation, and the end stops feel solid and not sloppy, and not particularly padded. Rather like a lot of synthesizer modulation wheels, actually. Perhaps a little stiffer, but it may loosen up as I use it more. But not a problem. My only criticism is that moving rapidly from heel to toe requires a little bit of practice with your hand (or your foot). </div><div><br /></div><div>And there's the amazing thing. It feels right either as a desktop hand operated controller for expression, or on the floor as a foot-operated controller for expression. It is quite heavy, so there's no skittering when you stick the rubber feet on the bottom, and the base is smooth and matt black paint, so Velcro is going to hold it well on a pedal board base. </div><div><br /></div><div>There isn't very much room, but I'm sure that someone is going to find a way to put a couple of LEDs inside so that the wheel hole lights up...</div><div><br /></div><div><i>(I've tried modding one of my ordinary expression pedals so that they have two outputs, and the problem is that you need a pedal that uses the whole 270 degree range of the potentiometer - and the pedal I used didn't do that... My advice is to only try this on a pedal if you are expert in mechanics, which isn't me...)</i></div><div><br /></div><div>With the EXP, it is very cool to be able to seamlessly blend from two very different effects, or even to find interesting points in-between the extremes. As with this type of thing, the more you play, the more you will find. So there's plenty of scope for exploration, and as for robustness, then I would have no hesitation using the EXP live or taking it on tour. </div><div><br /></div><h3 style="text-align: left;">Expression, and Voltages...</h3><div><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-uMPZESLNByQ/YYlMH617y8I/AAAAAAAAGF0/52gRkyLD3ugjy8U__I0dYzzd74dfoCoeQCLcBGAsYHQ/s1440/exp-setup01.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1080" data-original-width="1440" height="480" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-uMPZESLNByQ/YYlMH617y8I/AAAAAAAAGF0/52gRkyLD3ugjy8U__I0dYzzd74dfoCoeQCLcBGAsYHQ/w640-h480/exp-setup01.jpg" width="640" /></a></div><br /><div>Now I could have used a photo of the EXP connected to the 'Expression pedal' input of a guitar effects pedal, and it would be ever so slightly boring and obvious. Instead, here's a photo where the guitar effects pedal is off camera, way to the left, and instead, the EXP is connected to a little bit of hardware (the 'EXP CV' box) that I threw together, because the design of the EXP also makes it well (maybe even uniquely) suited to also being used as a robust CV controller.</div><div><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-3dx0QvRk9BA/YYmeq9ed00I/AAAAAAAAGF8/vcY-6RSKkiUk9HmaE-JXMZT0BetIz2j1gCLcBGAsYHQ/s1920/Expression%2BPedals.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1080" data-original-width="1920" height="360" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-3dx0QvRk9BA/YYmeq9ed00I/AAAAAAAAGF8/vcY-6RSKkiUk9HmaE-JXMZT0BetIz2j1gCLcBGAsYHQ/w640-h360/Expression%2BPedals.jpg" width="640" /></a></div><div><br /></div><div>Nope. I haven't gone mad. Expression pedals output a voltage, which used to be somewhere from zero Volts-ish to somewhere less than 5 Volts. These days, processors tend to run on just over 3 Volts, and so somewhere in the range of 0-3V-ish is where you expect an expression pedal to output. </div><div><br /></div><div><i>(What happens is that a guitar pedal 'expression socket' does two things: it provides power to an external potentiometer inside the foot pedal, and then it receives the output of that potentiometer back as an input! So older pedals provided 5V power to the external foot pedal, whereas modern pedals only provide 3.3V. The potentiometer just taps off a percentage of the voltage, so if it is half-way round its whole rotation, then it outputs 50% of the voltage, so for 5V that would be 2.5V, and for 3.3V it would be 1.65V. The guitar pedal knows what voltage it outputs, and so it can calculate how far the foot pedal has rotated. This dual-function: providing a voltage output and a 'rotation' input, is why you need to use a 'stereo' cable for expression. So three (3) wires are needed: Ground (common to both functions, the Power (5V, 3.3V...), and the Rotation CV from the potentiometer - and a 'stereo' jack provides three connections. Note that the foot pedal doesn't care about the voltage - the potentiometer only outputs a 'rotation' CV that is proportional to how far it has been rotated. )</i></div><div><br /></div><div>The range depends on the mechanical linkages used in the pedals - levers don't always seem to rotate the potentiometer through the full 270 degrees - as I noted earlier. But the EXP pedal does use the whole range, and so you can have two opposite outputs that both go from heel to toe. This is so cool, especially when you've tried to make a pedal like this and failed! </div><div><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-relcat9eLso/YYmfAdUsenI/AAAAAAAAGGI/aDycQv9Kb5cRk5gM63V1jlIrsIMw4F73ACLcBGAsYHQ/s1090/EXP-CV%2Bmr.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="818" data-original-width="1090" height="480" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-relcat9eLso/YYmfAdUsenI/AAAAAAAAGGI/aDycQv9Kb5cRk5gM63V1jlIrsIMw4F73ACLcBGAsYHQ/w640-h480/EXP-CV%2Bmr.jpg" width="640" /></a></div><div><br /></div><div>So the mysterious box that is connected between the distant guitar pedal and the EXP is a new generation of my expression pedal range tester. It is ridiculously simple: two stereo jack sockets connected in parallel, and a 3.5mm mono jack socket for the CV output. </div><div><br /></div><div>To this simple circuit I have added a cheap three-wire voltage display module (a voltmeter) from Amazon, plus four AA batteries in a holder to provide power for the display. One of the things that isn't well publicised about voltage displays is that the two wire versions are powered from the voltage you are trying to display, and they typically need at least 4.5 Volts to work. So you can typically measure (and display) voltages from 4.5V to about 30V. When the display goes off, then you know that it is below 4.5V! </div><div><br /></div><div>But a three-wire voltage display module has an extra wire (usually white or grey) that connects to the voltage that you want to measure, whilst the usual black (the common ground connection) and red (power) wires go to a separate power supply - in my case, those four AA batteries in a holder. Anyway, the display is thus powered separately from the voltage that is being measured, and in this case, separately from the expression pedal socket of the guitar pedal. The end result is that the batteries give me a 6V power supply for the voltage display, which is fine for measuring the 0-5V (max) that expression pedals normally output. </div><div><br /></div><div>Using this voltage display technique to make some measurements, my M-Audio Expression Pedal can output between 0-2.75V to 2.84-3.14V for a 3.3V expression pedal socket, my Bespeco between 0-3.18V, my Nektar between 0-3.07V, and my Casio VP-1 between 1.68-2.56V. I will leave it as a challenge to you to figure out which pedal I tried to put a dual gang potentiometer into... </div><div><br /></div><div>The EXP? It produced 0-2.76V for one switch position, and 0-3.04V for the other position. So, for the first time in the review so far, a not-quite perfect result. But bear in mind that this is not a specified parameter for the EXP, or for any other expression pedal that I have ever bought, so I am being way beyond picky here. And when connected to a range of pedals (Empress, EHX, TC Electronic, and Keeley), the EXP performed exactly as it should. </div><div><br /></div><div>One thing to remember when doing this kind of testing is that most guitar pedals seem to detect when an expression pedal is connected to their expression pedal input only when the power is turned on. So you need to power the guitar pedal down, insert the expression pedal (or EXP!) jack into the expression socket, and then power the guitar pedal up. The expression pedal (or EXP) will then be recognised! </div><div><br /></div><div><i>(If you just plug an expression pedal into a guitar pedal without cycling the power, then it may not be recognised at all - as I found out when doing all the unplugging and plugging...)</i></div><div><br /></div><div>Anyways, in the photo above, the mysterious box displaying 1.24 Volts in blue digits is showing the output of the EXP when set to about a setting of 5, with the 'source' voltage from the guitar pedal's Expression socket of about 3.3Volts. That 1.24 Volts is what appears on the orange 3.5mm jack plug.</div><div><br /></div><div>Yep, not a 'converter', more an extractor, or a rerouter, or an 'in another way' box. But yeah, it takes an EXP and outputs a CV. So what can we do with that?</div><div><br /></div><div>First off, lets check the voltages and how they correspond to the EXP wheel setting:</div><div><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-VvZLrQrVGoc/YYmguUzRbII/AAAAAAAAGGQ/zsNFw7B17YUxJNOUZb0AIXBDDBcNYRdFwCLcBGAsYHQ/s1440/exp-min01.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1080" data-original-width="1440" height="480" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-VvZLrQrVGoc/YYmguUzRbII/AAAAAAAAGGQ/zsNFw7B17YUxJNOUZb0AIXBDDBcNYRdFwCLcBGAsYHQ/w640-h480/exp-min01.jpg" width="640" /></a></div><br /><div>Okay, so zero on the wheel is zero Volts. Cool.</div><div><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-Ttofg4falec/YYmg5YWVV-I/AAAAAAAAGGU/-CQwXgrR_vAkrzvfzE_6eSMi49bLQkwYgCLcBGAsYHQ/s1440/exp-max01.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1080" data-original-width="1440" height="480" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-Ttofg4falec/YYmg5YWVV-I/AAAAAAAAGGU/-CQwXgrR_vAkrzvfzE_6eSMi49bLQkwYgCLcBGAsYHQ/w640-h480/exp-max01.jpg" width="640" /></a></div><br /><div>Aha! So 10 on the wheel is 3.04Volts. Makes sense. So we have 3 Volts of CV range to play with... So 6 and a bit on the wheel would be about 2 Volts?</div><div><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-cJWOoIS9F5o/YYmhMnfqeAI/AAAAAAAAGGc/Cet0OUzS8J4ORTl09lWOmzXhACFH7gsJgCLcBGAsYHQ/s1440/exp-witch01.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1080" data-original-width="1440" height="480" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-cJWOoIS9F5o/YYmhMnfqeAI/AAAAAAAAGGc/Cet0OUzS8J4ORTl09lWOmzXhACFH7gsJgCLcBGAsYHQ/w640-h480/exp-witch01.jpg" width="640" /></a></div><br /><div>Yep.</div><div><br /></div><div>One thing we could do with this is connect the orange 'CV' patch cord into something modular. The Rebel Technology 'Witch' is a good example. It is a programmable synthesizer, processor and effects unit that has CV and Gate inputs and outputs (plus audio I/O), is a USB Audio interface and Host, and does way more than you would expect for such a small box. A tiny modular system in a little box, and huge amounts of fun with elastic/flexible capabilities because you can reprogram what it does from a library of patches (and store eight patches inside the Witch for instant recall with those round buttons!). In this case, the CV input is controlling Input A, which sets the pitch of a drone patch. Now if the other EXP expression output was controlling a pedal using the expression socket, we have even more sound-making capability in a tiny space. Wooh!</div><div><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-teMs-bfaX0w/YYmik5HSYuI/AAAAAAAAGGk/8z6HnnEzfwkSHLoXSH_VGKXvmR17ZWHFQCLcBGAsYHQ/s1440/exp-midi01.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1080" data-original-width="1440" height="480" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-teMs-bfaX0w/YYmik5HSYuI/AAAAAAAAGGk/8z6HnnEzfwkSHLoXSH_VGKXvmR17ZWHFQCLcBGAsYHQ/w640-h480/exp-midi01.jpg" width="640" /></a></div><br /><div>Getting a CV output from an EXP is nice, but it isn't a MIDI Controller. or could it be? Here's that control voltage (the red cable) going into the CV input of the amazing Befaco VCMC - a Voltage Controlled MIDI Controller. So the MIDI socket in the top left hand corner of the VCMC is outputting MIDI Continuous Controller messages using a CV extracted from the expression control output from a Chase Bliss EXXP Pedal that is simultaneously controlling a guitar pedal off to the top left. Oh, and 8 on the wheel outputs about 2.64Volts...</div><div><br /></div><div>Now to use this CV output in a larger modular Eurorack (or other modular), then you would need to scale this voltage to make it slightly larger. So some sort of Utility or Maths module would be the first port of call. After that, then you could use it to control just about anything. For me, having those numbers on the wheel means that I have a repeatability of setting a value that I don't get with foot pedal controllers, and being able to control two guitar pedals (in opposition, if I want) plus having a CV available as well, opens up huge avenues to explore...</div><div><br /></div><h3 style="text-align: left;">Voltmeter displays</h3><div>I need to point out that low-cost Voltage displays from Amazon are not always very accurate in my limited experience (Some may be - your experience may differ. Other voltage displays are available.). I've compared the values displayed here with my own slightly more expensive multi-meters, and whilst the multimeters are 'reassuringly' similar in the value they display, the voltage display tends to be about 0.3Volts lower. Not perfect, and so there should really be a little sticker on my EXP CV home-brew box that says: 'For Indication Purposes Only. Not Calibrated'. But for indicating what sort of voltage is coming out of the EXP, it works fine. And blue displays just look super cool!</div><div><br /></div><div>Oh, and the EXP CV box that you see here is my own personal home-brew hand-built utility box. Not connected in any way with Chase Bliss Audio. It is not for sale (I don't do Klon pedals either...). If you happen to make a box anything like it yourself then that (and what you do with it) is entirely your own responsibility - you do it at your own risk. </div><div><br /></div><h3 style="text-align: left;">The EXP pedal </h3><div><br /></div><div>And that about wraps it up for this quick look at the astonishing piece of mechanical engineering that is the Chase Bliss EXP Pedal. There's a lot you can do with it, and it puts 'expression' control of guitar pedals into a rather different place when you go beyond the usual 'foot pedal' user interface. I really like having a 'Mod Wheel' for expression, and I intend to use my EXP a lot! Congratulations to Chase Bliss Audio for a very different approach to controlling expression!</div><div><br /></div><div>I bought the Chase Bliss Audio EXP pedal with my own money. I am not getting paid by Chase Bliss Audio for this review. But I do think they make very interesting pedals. My kind of pedals! (And hopefully, yours too, now!)</div><div><br /></div><h3 style="text-align: left;">Links</h3><div><br /></div><div><a href="https://www.chaseblissaudio.com/" target="_blank">Chase Bliss Audio</a></div><div><br /></div><div><a href="https://www.rebeltech.org/product/witch/" target="_blank">Rebel Technology Witch</a></div><div><br /></div><div><a href="https://shop.befaco.org/Assembled/1048-vcmc-assembled-module.html" target="_blank">Befaco VCMC</a></div><div><br /></div><div><a href="https://www.expressivee.com/" target="_blank">Expressive E</a></div><div><br /></div><p>---</p><p><span style="font-family: inherit;">If you find my writing helpful, informative or entertaining, then please consider visiting this link:</span></p><p></p><p><span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: medium;"><span style="background-color: white; color: #212529; white-space: pre-line;"></span></span></p><p></p><div style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; caret-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family: -webkit-standard; orphans: auto; text-size-adjust: auto; widows: auto;"><div style="font-size: 18.72px; font-weight: 700;"><span style="font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: small;"><a class="bmc-button" href="https://teespring.com/en-GB/stores/synthesizerwriters-store" target="_blank"><br class="Apple-interchange-newline" /></a><a class="bmc-button" href="https://teespring.com/en-GB/stores/synthesizerwriters-store" target="_blank"><span style="margin-left: 5px;">Synthesizerwriter's Store</span></a> (New 'Modular thinking' designs now available!)</span></span></div><p style="font-size: 18.72px; font-weight: 700;"></p><div style="font-size: 18.72px; font-weight: 700;"><div style="font-size: 18.72px; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: small;"><a class="bmc-button" href="https://www.buymeacoffee.com/synthwriter" target="_blank"><img alt="Buy me a coffee" src="https://www.buymeacoffee.com/assets/img/BMC-btn-logo.svg" /><span style="margin-left: 5px;">Buy me a coffee</span></a> (Encourage me to write more posts like this one!)</span></span></div><div style="font-size: 18.72px; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: small;"><br /></span></span></div></div></div>Synthesizerwriterhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13668943829180629830noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5222520500837940683.post-38739587196035965402021-10-31T13:03:00.003+00:002021-10-31T14:51:25.012+00:00Vintage Synth meets 21st Century Multi-Effects (and a live gig!)<p>Back in the 1970s, analogue monophonic synthesizers didn't often have on-board effects. In the 1980s, DCO-based polyphonic synths added chorus to try and make up for the single oscillator. When the DX7 ushered in digital synthesisers in 1983, that didn't have any effects either. It wasn't really until the late 1980s that effects started to appear, particularly on workstation keyboards like the M1. </p><h3 style="text-align: left;">Aside: Mawhrin Skel et al</h3><p>As I've mentioned before, I have a couple of vintage synths, and enough outboard gear to do quite a lot of transformative processing on their sounds. But going to a live 'showcase' gig at <a href="https://www.thesmokehouse.org" target="_blank">the Smokehouse in Ipswich</a>, kind of gave me a different perspective on current live performance. When you have seven performers in 4 hours, you need to be pretty slick with changeovers, and the solution they used was to have tables for the early acts (I spotted a 404 Mk1 (maybe II), a Crave, a Model:Cycles (or Samples), an (original?) MS-20 and more), with the penultimate act, Girl in a Gale, having a Nord Stage Piano, looper and various other bits of gear set up at the back of the stage, and the headliner, Mawhrin Skel, using a custom multi-tier stand with laptop on top, Push 2 for control, and various other bits of gear. </p><p>Compact, minimalistic, and easily transportable were definitely high on the priorities for the rigs that were being used, and it was a refreshing alternative to the H9000s, H9 Max, Big Sky, Empress Zoia and CXM1978s that you find in all of those flashy 'home' studio pictures on Instagram. Which got me thinking about the opposite of Gear Acquisition Syndrome (GAS), which is something like Making The Most Of Budget Gear (MTMOBG - the acronym definitely isn't going to catch on!)... </p><p>In fact, I was deep in thought about this when Girl in a Gale leaned over to me and revealed that ear plugs were available at the Bar. As it happens, I had actually bought my own ear defences: almost invisible and scarily hi-tech German ones that were totally essential at that amazingly loud Ableton Loop Concert in Berlin... But the sound at the Smokehouse was more constrained and controlled - I saw the sound engineer using a spectrum analyser on his phone, as well as an SPL meter. So, the usual low frequency 'physical' wobbles to remind you that music is visceral, and one of the early acts was intent on producing standing waves at about 70 Hz, but the PreSonus desk was coping very nicely, thank you.</p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-IcX9miyYP7k/YX6NCxuncnI/AAAAAAAAGEU/L5IE2ahdvXUyVvkQ-yYpPDhY3xFKTyrlwCLcBGAsYHQ/s2996/MawhrinSkel.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1050" data-original-width="2996" height="224" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-IcX9miyYP7k/YX6NCxuncnI/AAAAAAAAGEU/L5IE2ahdvXUyVvkQ-yYpPDhY3xFKTyrlwCLcBGAsYHQ/w640-h224/MawhrinSkel.jpg" width="640" /></a></div><p>An excellent gig, by the way... Mawhrin Skel was suitably sci-fi and enthusiastic, Girl in a Gale was a powerhouse of skilled invention, giving glimpses or sketches of music that left you wanting more, and overall, a varied 'selection box' of electronica. Venue and Music: Recommended.</p><h3 style="text-align: left;">The Opposite of Expensive...</h3><p>But anyway, back to the opposite of expensive out-board gear... Some time ago, I started to look at something to process my Yamaha TX7 (the one where I replaced the LCD with a back-lit version ...), and started with thinking about something 'Multi', like an Eventide H9 or a MOD Devices MOD Duo, rather than a Sytrmon Big Sky, and then I realised that I was approaching this from totally the wrong direction. I was going to use a multi-effects pedal that was several times the original cost (and current value) of the synth - which seemed silly. So I happened across multi-effects designed for guitarists, and after realising that the top-end (the Line 6 Helix, Boss GT-1000, Headrush et al) was a money magnet, I deliberately looked at the opposite end - Amazon. (Well, Smile.amazon.co.uk, to help charity a bit). </p><p>I've got a couple of pedal boards. The 'cheap and nasty' one has those 20 to 30 quid Behringer 'Boss' clone pedals on it, and is fine for live use and abuse. But I have learned that pedals boards, even with the considerable investment of crazily expensive switching/routing units, suffer from problems with recalling specific sounds. You can put the effects pedals in the right order, but what were the settings of all those knobs and switches? High-end pedals can use MIDI to store and recall presets, but that seems dangerously like a full-time job. </p><p>It turns out that there is an alternative to the 'Pro' guitar multi-effects - for about 130 quid (150 Euros or dollars) you can get tiny little boxes that have built-in Expression/Volume pedals, colour LCD screens, and a couple of foot switches, and which do a very good job at providing quite a lot of the functionality of the 'around a grand, mate' 'Pro' multi-effects boxes. So, after a bit of research on YouTube (I hate the adverts!) I bought a <a href="https://www.valeton.net/GP_100.html" target="_blank">Valeton GP-100</a> and connected the TX7 to it...</p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-xuarf1z0RfU/YX6qv_IwgQI/AAAAAAAAGEc/KDZfOVp16xw7qkV0HULNr0hJHAieMQsrQCLcBGAsYHQ/s2048/o_1e8ith3ra10mu1d3m12111sm9kjg8d.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1365" data-original-width="2048" height="426" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-xuarf1z0RfU/YX6qv_IwgQI/AAAAAAAAGEc/KDZfOVp16xw7qkV0HULNr0hJHAieMQsrQCLcBGAsYHQ/w640-h426/o_1e8ith3ra10mu1d3m12111sm9kjg8d.jpg" width="640" /></a></div><p>Okay, so there's a definite set of design decisions about the 99 Factory presets - and this is a 'Guitar' multi-effects (Actually, because of the 'Will be Mis-Used by Guitarists' design requirement, it is all-metal construction, and feels like it might survive live use quite well!). So there's a lot of fuzz, overdrive, saturation and just plain distortion, exactly as you would expect. But those 99 User presets and a computer editor (or the front panel controls) and you can concentrate on the Modulation, Delay and Reverb effects, plus a few extras that you might not be expecting: like a Ring Modulator, or a 4 Step Filter Sequencer. also, it turns out that having IR-modelled Amps and Cabs can give subtle tone variations, and you can load in your own .wavs for the Cabinet modelling, which opens up all sorts of experimentation. Oh, and you can arrange the effects in any order you like - so the Reverb does not need to be last in the chain... There's a looper built-in as well, and a Tuner. That's a lot for your money...</p><p>A couple of hours programming, and I had about fifty 'synth-oriented' presets that turned the TX7 into a host of alter-egos. One particularly nice sequence (the Arturia KeyStep is your friend) ended up as the sting/jingle for a corporate video I was working on... (I forgot to mention that it is also a class-compliant USB Stereo Audio Interface... which made recording it into my DAW a doddle...) Because every setting (and order of effects) is stored by the preset, then it just becomes a quick 'Paint By Numbers' 'Choose-a-Preset' procedure to turn a bland TX7 sound into something that sounds like it came from... well, from something else entirely. No need for trying to remember which pedals to switch in, and what the knob/switch settings were - you just select the preset. Simple - the sort of thing that even I could get right live!</p><h3 style="text-align: left;">Hiding the Truth...</h3><p>I am considering putting the TX7 and the Valeton GP-100 inside a box (with suitable ventilation, of course) so that it isn't immediately obvious what is making that killer bass sound, or those ambient jangles. But regardless of pimping it up, it has been the bargain of the century. My only problem is that I have a feeling that at some stage, GAS is going to kick in and I'm going to end up upgrading... But they do say that:</p><p style="text-align: center;"><b><i>Limitations are the Spur to Creativity...</i></b></p><p>So perhaps I should leave well alone, and leave my TX7V as my 'live' minimalistic secret weapon.</p><p>---</p><p><span style="font-family: inherit;">If you find my writing helpful, informative or entertaining, then please consider visiting this link:</span></p><p></p><p><span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: medium;"><span style="background-color: white; color: #212529; white-space: pre-line;"></span></span></p><p></p><div style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; caret-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); color: black; font-family: -webkit-standard; font-style: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; orphans: auto; text-align: left; text-decoration: none; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; widows: auto; word-spacing: 0px;"><div style="font-size: 18.72px; font-weight: 700;"><span style="font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: small;"><a class="bmc-button" href="https://teespring.com/en-GB/stores/synthesizerwriters-store" target="_blank"><br class="Apple-interchange-newline" /></a><a class="bmc-button" href="https://teespring.com/en-GB/stores/synthesizerwriters-store" target="_blank"><span style="margin-left: 5px;">Synthesizerwriter's Store</span></a> (New 'Modular thinking' designs now available!)</span></span></div><p style="font-size: 18.72px; font-weight: 700;"></p><div style="font-size: 18.72px; font-weight: 700;"><div style="font-size: 18.72px; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: small;"><a class="bmc-button" href="https://www.buymeacoffee.com/synthwriter" target="_blank"><img alt="Buy me a coffee" src="https://www.buymeacoffee.com/assets/img/BMC-btn-logo.svg" style="cursor: move;" /><span style="margin-left: 5px;">Buy me a coffee</span></a> (Encourage me to write more posts like this one!)</span></span></div><div style="font-size: 18.72px; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: small;"><br /></span></span></div><div style="font-size: 18.72px; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: small;"><br /></span></span></div></div></div><p><br /></p>Synthesizerwriterhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13668943829180629830noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5222520500837940683.post-63825230443329606422021-10-16T22:26:00.006+01:002021-10-19T12:23:35.406+01:00My Pianobook.co.uk Virtual Instrument User Interface<p>The world on which we live is precious, unique, too often taken for granted, fragile, not loved enough, beautiful, amazing... and continually astounds me.</p><p>I have always had the crazy idea that if I make a user interface that is totally obvious to me, then it must also be intuitive to everyone else as well. Sometimes (Well, my Probably M4L sequencer is a good example), I am very wrong. Actually, reset that word 'sometimes'. Just about every time I think this, it seems that I get it wrong. My user interfaces work for me, but not for everyone. For this I apologise. I'm not perfect, and neither are my user interfaces.</p><p>To try and fix it, here's the 'Words & Pictures' part of a series of resources that I'm producing with the aim of making my user interfaces for my virtual instruments on Pianobook.co.uk easier for people to get their heads around, and use!</p><h3 style="text-align: left;">Mattress</h3><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-_eoS3jbyRMc/YWsRRpwRDAI/AAAAAAAAGBc/-4ikAb2kVkkHak9VU9Ay8kNdkvbB0h_ZACLcBGAsYHQ/s1920/Slide1.png" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1080" data-original-width="1920" height="360" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-_eoS3jbyRMc/YWsRRpwRDAI/AAAAAAAAGBc/-4ikAb2kVkkHak9VU9Ay8kNdkvbB0h_ZACLcBGAsYHQ/w640-h360/Slide1.png" width="640" /></a></div><br /><div>As you can see from the screenshot above, I'm going to use my 'Mattress' virtual instrument as the example. I've uploaded it to the review queue on the newly re-launched Pianobook.co.uk version 3.0 web-site, so it should be available there for download at some stage. My 'Spoken Pads' virtual instrument (Sample Pack) went from upload to being published in a couple of hours just before the launch event, but the site seems to have slowed down a little since then.</div><p>A quick shout-out for <a href="https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCiHnYgtOn8u9YovYplMeXcw" target="_blank">Rachel K Collier</a>, whose YouTube channel just released a '<a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RewaxtOda84" target="_blank">How to do a remix</a>' video featuring <a href="https://www.youtube.com/user/maryspender" target="_blank">Mary Spender</a>'s latest 'predictive' single (Adele, not John Mayer, this time), and this rather distracted me. I did make the third comment though, so I was a little early. I'm going to use the 'amazing' word again for both of these amazing musicians!</p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-aJI66jzS7WQ/YWsRhZauZ_I/AAAAAAAAGBk/4MGPRx8LgW42yXyDMKI53Tr6P9bdQcengCLcBGAsYHQ/s1920/Slide2.png" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1080" data-original-width="1920" height="360" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-aJI66jzS7WQ/YWsRhZauZ_I/AAAAAAAAGBk/4MGPRx8LgW42yXyDMKI53Tr6P9bdQcengCLcBGAsYHQ/w640-h360/Slide2.png" width="640" /></a></div><div><br /></div>Yes, I'm using my current favourite, Decent Sampler, again. As you can see, there are two major parts to the user interface. On the left: Timbre controls. On the right: Synthesizer controls.<h3 style="text-align: left;">Timbre Controls</h3><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-LxClBvfmz80/YWsR69SyrFI/AAAAAAAAGBs/3Bocsn862GcZmb1xOOFOcliga1J-X0LawCLcBGAsYHQ/s1920/Slide3.png" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1080" data-original-width="1920" height="360" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-LxClBvfmz80/YWsR69SyrFI/AAAAAAAAGBs/3Bocsn862GcZmb1xOOFOcliga1J-X0LawCLcBGAsYHQ/w640-h360/Slide3.png" width="640" /></a></div><br /><div><br /></div><div>My interfaces have two (sometimes three) horizontal rows of controls. They are essentially little mixers, made out of the 'Mic' sliders that you sometimes find in sample players for choosing microphone polar pattern/response shapes and characteristics, plus their positioning. So you might have a cardioid close up to capture an 'intimate' close-up sound, and an omni far away to pick up the room. And no, a 'shotgun' microphone is not used to pick up the sound of guns!</div><div><br /></div><div>To give some leeway in levels, I deliberately set the volumes of my samples so that a slider setting of about half-way is okay for most purposes. You can set it higher to make something stand out, but overall, about half-way is good. Too many maximum settings may well overload things, which is either what you want, or what you don't want - your choice.</div><div><br /></div><div>Sometimes, for samples that are minor, special 'tiny' 'Mic' sliders are used, typically half the width of the ordinary 'Mic' sliders. These work the same way - they just take up less room, and are less important!</div><div><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-8hn1Ygkb-WA/YWsuvV2BD_I/AAAAAAAAGB0/HLf9zy1Je7URYBegeLJp15OWGVwVk0hUACLcBGAsYHQ/s1920/Slide4.png" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1080" data-original-width="1920" height="360" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-8hn1Ygkb-WA/YWsuvV2BD_I/AAAAAAAAGB0/HLf9zy1Je7URYBegeLJp15OWGVwVk0hUACLcBGAsYHQ/w640-h360/Slide4.png" width="640" /></a></div><br /><div>When there are two (or three) horizontal rows of 'Mic' sliders, then the intention behind the design is then same - you choose one or more 'Mic' sliders from each row, and set them to about half-way (don't overload things, remember?). </div><div><br /></div><div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-VTevEqLbpF8/YWsvlzx5qII/AAAAAAAAGB8/QSKP3qwoPHgbgypj6QVHynFIlycd19JaACLcBGAsYHQ/s1920/Slide5.png" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1080" data-original-width="1920" height="360" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-VTevEqLbpF8/YWsvlzx5qII/AAAAAAAAGB8/QSKP3qwoPHgbgypj6QVHynFIlycd19JaACLcBGAsYHQ/w640-h360/Slide5.png" width="640" /></a></div><br /></div><div>One exception to this would be those tiny 'Mic' sliders, where you can add them to the main, big, 'Mic' sliders! Remember that they are small because they have one, special purpose - often sine waves or noisy sounds.</div><div><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-t3RfWxUOMa4/YWsv8MpAoMI/AAAAAAAAGCE/PuvJH309ozMh6REuWVqTdr9d9OreA8MCgCLcBGAsYHQ/s1920/Slide6.png" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1080" data-original-width="1920" height="360" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-t3RfWxUOMa4/YWsv8MpAoMI/AAAAAAAAGCE/PuvJH309ozMh6REuWVqTdr9d9OreA8MCgCLcBGAsYHQ/w640-h360/Slide6.png" width="640" /></a></div><br /><div>The basic 'initial' preset usually has the left-most 'Mic' sliders set to about half-way up. The idea is that you work your way across to the right, auditioning 'Mic' sliders until you find the ones that give you the sound you want.</div><div><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-kQctg5v3_2Y/YWswUsddb0I/AAAAAAAAGCM/cc21HyACTIApLAu24-xK_9M2JNeLUs5swCLcBGAsYHQ/s1920/Slide7.png" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1080" data-original-width="1920" height="360" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-kQctg5v3_2Y/YWswUsddb0I/AAAAAAAAGCM/cc21HyACTIApLAu24-xK_9M2JNeLUs5swCLcBGAsYHQ/w640-h360/Slide7.png" width="640" /></a></div><br /><div>Here's another reminder about those levels. Half-way is fine!</div><div><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-7TWnpsRABEM/YWswf94iBBI/AAAAAAAAGCQ/qK2-uU-VEV43XAIEDj25ofj7nQ1QeAEdQCLcBGAsYHQ/s1920/Slide8.png" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1080" data-original-width="1920" height="360" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-7TWnpsRABEM/YWswf94iBBI/AAAAAAAAGCQ/qK2-uU-VEV43XAIEDj25ofj7nQ1QeAEdQCLcBGAsYHQ/w640-h360/Slide8.png" width="640" /></a></div><br /><div>The rows are often organised into smaller blocks, sometimes internally arranged in pairs. There is often a gradual change from left to right - so 'Pure' sounds on the left might gradually change into 'Noise' sounds on the right. Sometimes the left to right arrangement is octaves: sine waves are often low pitched to the left, and higher pitched as you go to the right. </div><div><br /></div><h3 style="text-align: left;">Synthesizer controls</h3><div><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-jC5a-FM_Cno/YWsxL39cy6I/AAAAAAAAGCc/t-f69EpeuzIkmKcSAwCu3XQrwWztnmv6gCLcBGAsYHQ/s1920/Slide9.png" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1080" data-original-width="1920" height="360" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-jC5a-FM_Cno/YWsxL39cy6I/AAAAAAAAGCc/t-f69EpeuzIkmKcSAwCu3XQrwWztnmv6gCLcBGAsYHQ/w640-h360/Slide9.png" width="640" /></a></div><br /><div>On the right hand side are the 'synthesizer' controls, which change how you can use the timbre that you have set using the controls on the left hand side. These are more about 'shaping' the sound, rather than setting the timbre itself.</div><div><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-hv7KTsFV1F4/YWsxvHSmWXI/AAAAAAAAGCk/uab3zK4BJdAHqksgZSHlRbKKBcDuhVYSgCLcBGAsYHQ/s1920/Slide10.png" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1080" data-original-width="1920" height="360" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-hv7KTsFV1F4/YWsxvHSmWXI/AAAAAAAAGCk/uab3zK4BJdAHqksgZSHlRbKKBcDuhVYSgCLcBGAsYHQ/w640-h360/Slide10.png" width="640" /></a></div><br /><div>The very first control would traditionally be on the far right hand side in most classic 70s and 80s synthesizers - the volume control. But in a sample player, then the major use for this control is very different - it isn't used to set the output volume of the synthesizer and then never touched again during performance (which is why it is way on the right (or sometimes the left in 21st century synths)). Instead, this control is used for 'Expression' - the minor changes in volume that a performer makes all the time with a real instrument. </div><div><br /></div><div>People who use MIDI to sequence music often use velocity for this purpose, because when you play a synthesizer with both hands, then you don't have any hands left to move an Expression control. Now, this isn't the case for a traditional pipe organ player, where their hands are playing at the same time as their feet are playing bass on those long wooden 'keys', or even controlling volume (Expression) using a foot pedal. For some reason, synthesizer players don't seem to use volume pedals very much, perhaps because at least one of their feet is controlling the sustain footswitch. And it seems that very few multi-dextrous pipe organ players move over to playing synthesizer. If you do see a synth player who uses expression pedals, then they are probably special!</div><div><br /></div><div>If you are programming orchestral instruments in a DAW, then velocity is a strange way of controlling a violin, flute or oboe. Instead, the Expression control (MIDI Controller 11, usually) is a good way of having a continuous controller on the DAW screen that shows the 'volume' of that part as a line. Velocity of notes is normally shown as individual events, and it is harder to see trends, as well as being harder to edit. Some instruments ARE more suited to using velocity: pianos, double basses, brass instruments, and percussion are some examples. </div><div><br /></div><div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-LH-2KPNnaWQ/YWs20BE0_HI/AAAAAAAAGCs/VByx1RVJj8snn2Ske2Q91bPtXB5AULP_wCLcBGAsYHQ/s1920/Slide11.png" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1080" data-original-width="1920" height="360" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-LH-2KPNnaWQ/YWs20BE0_HI/AAAAAAAAGCs/VByx1RVJj8snn2Ske2Q91bPtXB5AULP_wCLcBGAsYHQ/w640-h360/Slide11.png" width="640" /></a></div><br /></div><div>Anyways, in sample players, the Expression control is one of the most important ways of controlling the ebb and flow of an instrument relative to all the others in an arrangement. In DAWs, you will see people record the notes first for a violin or woodwind part, and then go into that track and adjust the expression by editing MIDI Controller 11 to give the 'feel' that they want. You will also then see the same person record a piano part using velocity to control the 'expression' or volume. Just as in a real orchestra, the way you perform music with different instruments varies.</div><div><br /></div><div>So the 'Expression' control is lots more important to orchestral composers who work in DAWs, and they tend to be the people who use lots of virtual instruments. Keyboard players who normally use velocity and record MIDI into a DAW and then edit the velocities, are probably not going to use the Expression control anything like as much. (Unless they know about this and deliberately exploit velocity AND expression...) This, by the way, is the sort of knowledge that expensive courses on arranging and orchestrating sell you...)</div><div><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-n8aNS61z87A/YWs3KFhaopI/AAAAAAAAGC0/DkfvuZazf-EFI9geXhbCr8SiSxFkrXlKQCLcBGAsYHQ/s1920/Slide12.png" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1080" data-original-width="1920" height="360" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-n8aNS61z87A/YWs3KFhaopI/AAAAAAAAGC0/DkfvuZazf-EFI9geXhbCr8SiSxFkrXlKQCLcBGAsYHQ/w640-h360/Slide12.png" width="640" /></a></div><br /><div>The Expression control affects volume on the grand scale. At the opposite end, the 'Envelope' controls affect the volume of each note over the time it plays. Historically, there's a very popular way of representing how the volume of a note changes over time: the start bit, where the note goes from silence to being heard, is called the Attack; the next bit where the sound falls back to a lower level, is called the Decay; the level that the note stays at is called the Sustain level; and the final bit, where the sound falls back down to silence again, is called the Release. These tend to get abbreviated to ADSR, and some manufacturers have the Release and the Decay set to the same value, but the models is more or less the same in all cases: three times (ADR) and one level (S). Of course, if you set the Sustain level to the maximum, then no Decay can happen and the sound just goes to the maximum and then falls when you let go of the keys - an AR envelope (and yes, it should be ASR, but conventionally, that isn't done!). </div><div><br /></div><div>One of the things that confuses people who don't know that the envelope is three times and one level, is that the shape made by the envelope controls (especially sliders) isn't what the envelope actually looks like. So in the example above, you could be forgiven for thinking that the note would start out loud, then go quieter, then go louder again, and then go quieter again. What those slider positions really mean is that the sound takes some time to do the Attack 'segment' of the note (i.e. it isn't a fast abrupt start, but it isn't a slow laboured one either), then decays slightly faster to a middle 'Sustain' volume, and then dies away slightly slower than the initial Attack. </div><div><br /></div><div>If you haven't use an envelope before, then set the Sustain all the way to the top, ignore the Decay control, and play with the Attack and Release controls. When you understand how the A and R controls affect the 'shape' of each note, then set the Sustain to the minimum, and then try adjusting the Decay control, plus the Attack and Release as before. When you have got that figured out, then set the Sustain to half-way up (or down) and listen to what the ADR controls do this time. You shouild now have a good feel for how envelope controls work.</div><div><br /></div><div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-9URABn1m6po/YWs6qAX_0OI/AAAAAAAAGDA/B_lgPu30grkiJIo7d8-xCa3NfU96xraRgCLcBGAsYHQ/s1920/Slide13.png" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1080" data-original-width="1920" height="360" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-9URABn1m6po/YWs6qAX_0OI/AAAAAAAAGDA/B_lgPu30grkiJIo7d8-xCa3NfU96xraRgCLcBGAsYHQ/w640-h360/Slide13.png" width="640" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div>If you listen to most musical instruments, then the start and end of notes is not linear. Notes start quite quickly, but seem to take longer and longer to get to the maximum. When a note ends, then it drops away quite quickly at first, but then it seems to take a long while to vanish altogether. You can see this in the shape of envelopes that are used on screens and in diagrams - the segments are curves, not straight lines (in most cases!). </div><div><br /></div><div>As a further complication, whereas the Sustain control generally work as you would expect, the relationship between the 'time' controls and what happens in reality may be different. Some synthesizers and sample players can require moving the control almost to the very maximum to get a really slow Attack, Decay or Release, and some can only do fast ADR when they are very near to the minimum. This can vary a lot. Taking a few minutes to get a 'feel' for what positions of the ADR controls does what in terms of time can be very useful.</div><div><br /></div><div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-5HpHDi-qOeM/YWs8iwwDjwI/AAAAAAAAGDM/9MUcz9cjEvM2q0ghajR-74pI3N2qt6WlwCLcBGAsYHQ/s1920/Slide14.png" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1080" data-original-width="1920" height="360" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-5HpHDi-qOeM/YWs8iwwDjwI/AAAAAAAAGDM/9MUcz9cjEvM2q0ghajR-74pI3N2qt6WlwCLcBGAsYHQ/w640-h360/Slide14.png" width="640" /></a></div><br /> To reinforce the importance of 'what the sliders show is NOT the envelope shape', the two envelopes above show this very clearly. If you have spent time learning the controls, then this should now make more sense to you.</div><div><br /></div><div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-70gUkjNIWWk/YWs9CB18-NI/AAAAAAAAGDU/orGnUmU5tKYCqJ6gWYXthKwkLu33pdcKgCLcBGAsYHQ/s1920/Slide15.png" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1080" data-original-width="1920" height="360" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-70gUkjNIWWk/YWs9CB18-NI/AAAAAAAAGDU/orGnUmU5tKYCqJ6gWYXthKwkLu33pdcKgCLcBGAsYHQ/w640-h360/Slide15.png" width="640" /></a></div><br />The next controls affect the tone of the sound that is produced. For historical reasons, many synthesizers (and sample players) tend to use a low-pass filter for controlling the tone. 'Low-pass' means that when the frequency control is set to a low value, then the only low frequencies can pass through the filter, and as you increase the value of the frequency control, then more and more higher frequencies can pass through the filter. So a low-pass filter 'cuts-off' high frequencies - and so the frequency control is called the 'Cut-off' frequency. </div><div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-4vkZc3xKupU/YWs-7HTaaFI/AAAAAAAAGDc/6VREQbkIBg8TuzQOewUzFXNGUTu76n_MACLcBGAsYHQ/s1920/Slide16.png" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1080" data-original-width="1920" height="360" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-4vkZc3xKupU/YWs-7HTaaFI/AAAAAAAAGDc/6VREQbkIBg8TuzQOewUzFXNGUTu76n_MACLcBGAsYHQ/w640-h360/Slide16.png" width="640" /></a></div><br /></div><div>In sample players, the Tone control is often assigned to the Modulation Wheel (MIDI Controller 1), so moving the mod wheel up opens up the filter and makes the sound brighter, whilst moving the mod wheel down makes the sound darker and bassier. In most synthesizers, the mod wheel usually controls the amount of LFO modulation (hence the name) to the Pitch of the notes or the Filter cut-off - or many other parameters. Once again, sample players and synthesizers differ slightly in the eay that they are controlled. In a virtual instrument from a Sample Pack that you have downloaded from Pianobook.co.uk, then it will probably have the controls of a sample player, so the Low-pass filter cut-off frequency (the 'Tone') will be controlled by the Modulation Wheel as MIDI Controller 1.</div><div><br /></div><div>The other control over tone is the 'Q' control, which comes from radio terminology. A more musically appropriate word here would be 'resonance'. At low values of Q, there is no strong resonance in the filter, and so as you increase the cut-off frequency control, higher frequencies can pass through the filter, so it gets brighter and brighter in tone. But as you increase the Q control, the the filter becomes more and more resonant, and so it emphasizes the frequencies at the cut-off frequency. This makes the harmonics in sounds stand out more, and gives a characteristic 'Weeyaheeoouuh' sound (you can do this when you open and close your mouth and make a sound). </div><div><br /></div><div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-Pv85KvNTkXg/YWs-7TvLG1I/AAAAAAAAGDg/L_YY5FZ4ITIuF53cnPgmhclfCCv2PUQJACLcBGAsYHQ/s1920/Slide17.png" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1080" data-original-width="1920" height="360" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-Pv85KvNTkXg/YWs-7TvLG1I/AAAAAAAAGDg/L_YY5FZ4ITIuF53cnPgmhclfCCv2PUQJACLcBGAsYHQ/w640-h360/Slide17.png" width="640" /></a></div><br /></div><div>The final two controls on the right would be unusual in a 70s or 80s synthesizer: reverb. But again, in a sample player, reverberation is very common in the 21st Century. </div><div><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-sw_O-4_zJTk/YWs-7WwsvaI/AAAAAAAAGDk/lHDvswPdXiQ3-Ec53_dF9qc0D8rhGBaxQCLcBGAsYHQ/s1920/Slide18.png" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1080" data-original-width="1920" height="360" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-sw_O-4_zJTk/YWs-7WwsvaI/AAAAAAAAGDk/lHDvswPdXiQ3-Ec53_dF9qc0D8rhGBaxQCLcBGAsYHQ/w640-h360/Slide18.png" width="640" /></a></div></div><br />Again, there are two controls. The 'Size' control sets how large the reverberant space is, and so changes how big it feels, as well as how long the reverb lasts.<br /><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-QYjlvopd1Bg/YWs-7wD7-uI/AAAAAAAAGDo/tzvP8dBCFxw3EPlkN54vxkVp1ACahcRswCLcBGAsYHQ/s1920/Slide19.png" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1080" data-original-width="1920" height="360" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-QYjlvopd1Bg/YWs-7wD7-uI/AAAAAAAAGDo/tzvP8dBCFxw3EPlkN54vxkVp1ACahcRswCLcBGAsYHQ/w640-h360/Slide19.png" width="640" /></a></div><div><br /></div><div>The other control, shown in my user interface as 'Verb', is just the Wet/Dry mix of the reverb. So the higher the control value, the more reverberation you will hear. This is assigned to MIDI Controller 19 in my virtual instruments, but this can vary with manufacturer for other sample players. </div><div><br /></div><div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-HaDMEp8DtXw/YWs-8Nk3YwI/AAAAAAAAGDs/hlpCfdklQPQ_AvhMEtw7X5W9TBivDXlCwCLcBGAsYHQ/s1920/Slide20.png" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1080" data-original-width="1920" height="360" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-HaDMEp8DtXw/YWs-8Nk3YwI/AAAAAAAAGDs/hlpCfdklQPQ_AvhMEtw7X5W9TBivDXlCwCLcBGAsYHQ/w640-h360/Slide20.png" width="640" /></a></div><br /></div><h3 style="text-align: left;">Summary</h3><div>And that's how the user interface for my Pianobook.co.uk virtual instruments in Sample Packs are intended to work. Some of the instruments have variations of the controls (older instruments may have rotary controls instead of the new linear ones in the latest ones), but the principles remain the same, and the idea is that you should move sliders around, listening as you go, and gradually home in on the sound you want. Decent Sampler lets you save any sounds you particularly like by using the Developer>Save Preset... menu options. This is how I made the presets which come with some Sample Packs.</div><div><br /></div><div>One thing that maybe isn't immediately obvious is that I try to ensure that each of my instruments contains a lot of different timbres and sounds. Even simple sounds like the <a href="https://www.pianobook.co.uk/packs/synthfestukwaterbottle/" target="_blank">Synthfest UK Water Bottle</a> have multiple controls that change the mix of the separate timbral components. Or '<a href="https://www.pianobook.co.uk/packs/parallel-inversions/" target="_blank">Parallel Inversions</a>', where what might initially sound like an organ is something much stranger than you think, with all sorts of tricky detunes and autos... It is nice to see people discovering the unexpected details in their reviews - and I love reviews! You probably won't be surprised to know that my favourite <a href="https://www.spitfireaudio.com/all-products/" target="_blank">Spitfire Audio</a> product is <a href="https://www.spitfireaudio.com/shop/a-z/bt-phobos/" target="_blank">BT Phobos</a>, which is much the same idea: give people lots of possibilities and lots of control, and let them find their own sounds! So maybe I should call them 'Sample Libraries' instead of 'Sample Packs'.</div><div><br /></div><div>I hope that you enjoy using my Sample Pack virtual instruments. A lot of time and effort goes into producing the samples and the instruments, and there is often special thought given to the musicality of the user interface and the sounds. There are even some minor Easter Eggs in the form of inverse controls or ranges or pairings, just to surprise the unwary. I also can't praise enough the amazing people who produce the Pianobook.co.uk Demos - they are experts at extracting the maximum musicality out of virtual instruments, and you should definitely listen and learn from what they produce.</div><h3 style="text-align: left;">YouTube</h3><div>There is also <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CdttqB7Safs" target="_blank">a video</a> of this topic, with the same diagrams, but without any distracting text, and no voice-over!</div><div><br /></div><div><a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CdttqB7Safs" target="_blank">Watch the YouTube video...</a></div><div><br /></div><div> <span style="font-family: inherit;">---</span></div><div><p><span style="font-family: inherit;">If you find my writing helpful, informative or entertaining, then please consider visiting this link:</span></p><div><div style="font-size: 18.72px; font-weight: 700;"><span style="font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: small;"><a class="bmc-button" href="https://teespring.com/en-GB/stores/synthesizerwriters-store" target="_blank"><br class="Apple-interchange-newline" /></a><a class="bmc-button" href="https://teespring.com/en-GB/stores/synthesizerwriters-store" target="_blank"><span style="margin-left: 5px;">Synthesizerwriter's Store</span></a> (New 'Modular thinking' designs now available!)</span></span></div><p style="font-size: 18.72px; font-weight: 700;"></p><div style="font-size: 18.72px; font-weight: 700;"><div style="font-size: 18.72px; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: small;"><a class="bmc-button" href="https://www.buymeacoffee.com/synthwriter" target="_blank"><img alt="Buy me a coffee" src="https://www.buymeacoffee.com/assets/img/BMC-btn-logo.svg" /><span style="margin-left: 5px;">Buy me a coffee</span></a> (Encourage me to write more posts like this one!)</span></span></div><div style="font-size: 18.72px; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: small;"><br /></span></span></div><div style="font-size: 18.72px; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: small;"><br /></span></span></div></div></div><p><span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: medium;"><span style="background-color: white; color: #212529; white-space: pre-line;"></span></span></p><p><br /><br /></p></div>Synthesizerwriterhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13668943829180629830noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5222520500837940683.post-60849312051143408572021-10-01T13:53:00.007+01:002021-10-01T13:57:41.147+01:00Behind the scenes of the 'Straight Maths' Virtual Instrument on Pianobook.co.uk<p>I have been exploring the possibilities of mis-using a sample player recently. Dave Hilowitz's excellent 'Decent Sampler' is, imho, not only much better than merely 'decent', but it has also allowed me to go slightly outside the usual territory of samples and to become an intrepid explorer. Huge thanks also to the team behind <a href="http://Pianobook.co.uk">Pianobook.co.uk</a> - a great contribution to the world of sampling, created by Christian Henson.</p><p>So here is a quick recap of the design thinking behind two of my recent releases on <a href="http://Pianobook.co.uk">Pianobook.co.uk</a>.</p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-13ntqfM6HTc/YVbrngbMy0I/AAAAAAAAF_0/u7sBxgQAl0wiGMeGwUbqH7q5yZAnqRNKwCLcBGAsYHQ/s1624/Parallel%2BInversions%2Bfront%2Bpanel.png" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="806" data-original-width="1624" height="318" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-13ntqfM6HTc/YVbrngbMy0I/AAAAAAAAF_0/u7sBxgQAl0wiGMeGwUbqH7q5yZAnqRNKwCLcBGAsYHQ/w640-h318/Parallel%2BInversions%2Bfront%2Bpanel.png" width="640" /></a></div><h3 style="text-align: left;">Parallel Inversions</h3><p>'<a href="https://www.pianobook.co.uk/library/parallel-inversions/" target="_blank">Parallel Inversions</a>' was my first really developed idea that isn't just a sample replay. It deliberately breaks the rules to produce an 'alien' instrument. In a 5 star review, Michael Milburn said; </p><p style="text-align: center;"><span style="color: white; font-family: inherit;"><i style="background-color: black;"><span>'</span><span style="font-size: 18px; white-space: pre-line;">I don’t understand what these are, but do enjoy the sounds.'</span></i></span></p><p style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="background-color: black; color: white; white-space: pre-line;">The user interface is the first thing that hits people with this virtual instrument. The top row of controls has 23 vertical faders that look a bit like the 'Mic' sliders that you see in many sample players - except that instead of 2 or 3, or maybe 5, or (extreme) 7 or higher, there are almost two dozen of them! They are split into four sections, and there are some subtleties in the way that these are put together.</span></span></p><p style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="background-color: black; color: white; white-space: pre-line;">The most important section is the one that has the 0 to 4 'Mic' sliders in it. The 'Zero' slider is set at about 75% in the default preset, so that you know it is important. This slider plays the 'fundamental' frequency that is played by Decent Sampler, or rather, it plays that frequency sometimes - the XML code that Decent Sampler uses to specify how samples are played allow all sorts of manipulations, and I'm exploiting this here. So the 'Zero' / '0' slider plays three different octaves, using a random 'Round Robin' assignment. So if you play a C3, then you will actually get a C3, or a C4, or a C5. The ratios are set asymmetrically, with the 'octave down' option half the probability of the others. So for every chord that you play, you may get that chord, or you may get a biased inversion of it instead (a 'bass-light' inversion). This isn't how many instruments work! (But it is an 'alien' instrument...)</span></span></p><p style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="background-color: black; color: white; white-space: pre-line;">The 1 to 4 Mic sliders are actually pitched in semitones up from the 0 (zero), which is why they are arranged in the staggered 'piano keyboard' arrangement. This is immediately obvious if you increase the '1' slider, because you get a C / C# discord! So the 0 to 4 section controls parallel pitches, which (again) isn't how many conventional instruments work - organ drawbars are a bit like this, but...).</span></span></p><p style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="background-color: black; color: white; white-space: pre-line;">The next section to the right is from 5 to 11, and again these are parallel semitones up from the 0 (zero) pitch. The '5' (fifth) slider is set at about 75% in the default preset so that you know it is important (just as with the 0 (zero) slider. So the default preset plays two sine waves, a firth apart, and in both cases, the pitches are inverted (or not) at random, with a preference for one octave up instead of down. All of the inverted pitches are slightly detuned relative to the fundamental pitch, which gives a more interesting tone. All of these 'Parallel & Inverted' sliders are centred in the stereo image.</span></span></p><p style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="background-color: black; color: white; white-space: pre-line;">The combination of fixed parallel intervals (the default 5th is just intended as a hint to get you started) and random inversions kind of breaks 'the rules', and gives this instrument an interesting and unusual character. Have fun breaking all those conventions that you are supposed to follow, and embrace performances that are never the same twice! </span></span></p><p style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="background-color: black; color: white; white-space: pre-line;">On the far left, there is a single '-12' slider, which was supposed to play a pitch one octave down from the fundamental. Unfortunately, I'm not the world's greatest programmer, and so it actually plays the same pitch as the '0' (zero) slider, except that the random inversions mean that most of the time it plays a different octave. Although Parallel inversions has had 3 versions, I have left this defect in there, because serendipitously, it sounds good. </span></span></p><p style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="background-color: black; color: white; white-space: pre-line;">The A to K sliders are different again. This time they are panned either hard left or hard right, and they are distorted sine waves, instead of the purity of 0 to 11 and -12. So the A to K sliders add timbre and broaden the stereo image. Again, this isn't how normal instruments tend to work, but...</span></span></p><p style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="background-color: black; color: white; white-space: pre-line;">Finally, the lower row has more 'synthesizer'-type controls than is normal, with a full ADSR 'envelope' control, and I recommend the 'Attack' control for giving gravitas, and the 'Decay' control (with 'Sustain' set to near zero) for adding a 'Radiophonic' or synthetic character that sounds like it is from the 1970s. </span></span></p><p style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"></span></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-gJFhNqxQJdI/YVb0sT99WlI/AAAAAAAAF_8/E2yA6tKXIGwf5ZYOldnPQtLuhLkKLnK5wCLcBGAsYHQ/s1626/Straight%2BMaths%2Bfront%2Bpanel.png" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="810" data-original-width="1626" height="318" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-gJFhNqxQJdI/YVb0sT99WlI/AAAAAAAAF_8/E2yA6tKXIGwf5ZYOldnPQtLuhLkKLnK5wCLcBGAsYHQ/w640-h318/Straight%2BMaths%2Bfront%2Bpanel.png" width="640" /></a></span></div><p></p><h3 style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="background-color: black; color: #8e7cc3; white-space: pre-line;">Straight Maths</span></span></h3><p style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="background-color: black; color: white; white-space: pre-line;">'<a href="https://www.pianobook.co.uk/library/straight-maths/" target="_blank">Straight Maths</a>' has a busy user interface, but it extends some of the ideas in Parallel Inversions. The left hand side has 48 'Mic' sliders (yep, a lot!), whilst the right hand side has the extended 'synthesizer' controls, but in a more compact vertical format.</span></span></p><p style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="background-color: black; color: white; white-space: pre-line;">The three rows on the left are devoted to three different types of sound source. </span></span></p><p style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="color: white; white-space: pre-line;"><b style="background-color: black;">S - Top Row - additive synthesis</b></span></span></p><p style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="background-color: black; color: white; white-space: pre-line;">The top row (S) is sine waves (with twists) to provide simple Fourier additive synthesis. The '0' (zero) slider is again set as a hint that it is the fundamental in the default preset, but it does tend to get lost with all the other sliders! </span></span></p><p style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="background-color: black; color: white; white-space: pre-line;">The three blocks of four Mic sliders on the top row have, from left to right:</span></span></p><p style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="background-color: black; color: white; white-space: pre-line;">- a Sine wave (0, 1 or 2 octaves up, shown as 0, 1 or 2), panned to the centre,</span></span></p><p style="text-align: left;"><span style="background-color: black; color: white; font-family: inherit; white-space: pre-line;">- a hollow-sounding, slightly square waveform (-), panned to the centre,</span></p><p style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="background-color: black; color: white; white-space: pre-line;">- a slightly bright, slightly sawtooth'y waveform (N (get it?)), panned to the centre, and </span></span></p><p style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="background-color: black; color: white; white-space: pre-line;">- a detuned stereo 'sweetener' sine waveform (s) that adds a bit of interest and broadens the stereo image. If you want, you can ignore the 's' sliders and add your own preferred chorus effect via VST or outboard...</span></span></p><p style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="background-color: black; color: white; white-space: pre-line;">Yes, there's a bug with the 'S' in the two octaves up section, but that's part of the charm of the user interface, and does not affect the tone! </span></span></p><p style="text-align: left;"><span style="background-color: black;"><span style="color: white;">The '-2' and '-1' mic sliders are sub-octave sine waves that can add low end to sounds. Use with care! </span></span></p><p style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="background-color: black; color: white; white-space: pre-line;">As with all additive synthesizers, you mix and match the sliders to give you the combination of harmonics that you want, and then use the ADSR controls to give the sound a bit of shape in time. </span></span></p><p style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="color: white; white-space: pre-line;"><b style="background-color: black;">M - Middle Row - Karplus-Strong physical modelling</b></span></span></p><p style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="background-color: black; color: white; white-space: pre-line;">The second row has 16 different samples of metallic-sounding decaying sounds, derived from the Karplus-Strong hammered/plucked string physical model. '13' is my personal favourite, but it is way too strident for most purposes, and so just the merest hint of it is usually plenty! I resisted the temptation to arrange the sliders in any sort of order (previously I tried a 'tone-to-noise' arrangement), mainly because when I have tried to do this, I have rediscovered just how difficult it is to arrange multi-dimensional differences into a linear order. So I'm afraid that you will just need to play with the sliders until you get used to the sounds. Oh, and 10 and 11 ARE different, but not as different as I wanted! </span></span></p><p style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="background-color: black; color: white; white-space: pre-line;">The 16 sliders are all tuned slightly differently, and are all stereo. This means that you can use combinations to add harmonics and detuning</span></span></p><p style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="background-color: black; color: white; white-space: pre-line;">My preference is to use the middle row to add a little bit of metallic 'bite' to sounds that are mainly top-row additive at their core. You can completely ignore this and do your own thing, of course!</span></span></p><p style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="color: white; white-space: pre-line;"><b style="background-color: black;">W- Lower Row - Risset physical modelling</b></span></span></p><p style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="background-color: black; color: white; white-space: pre-line;">This row mis-uses Risset's work on synthesizing drum sounds, and adapts it to producing 'woody' sounding fast-decaying thumps and clunks to add percussive starts to the higher row sounds. There are four sets of sounds, arranged with the left-most sound in each set being the thickest (three sounds at once) and the others just single sounds. The detuning is toned back for most of these samples. These sounds are in mono, centered in the stereo image. I did play with stereo samples, but at low frequencies there isn't much to gain. To show how self-contradictory I can be, my '<a href="https://www.pianobook.co.uk/library/9216-sawtooths/" target="_blank">9126 Sawtooths</a>' instrument on Pianobook.co.uk has way too much stereo bass!</span></span></p><p style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="background-color: black; color: white; white-space: pre-line;">It is quite fascinating how just a brief 'blip' of woodiness at the start of a sound that is all sine waves can totally change the character and timbre that you perceive. (Oh, and too much reverb is always a good idea!) This low row is influenced by the clicks found in old tone-wheel organs (the idea of adding percussive starts is not 'new' in any way!) and by the rather novel use of samples of the starts of instruments that Roland used in their D-50 synthesizer to augment a simpler digital synthesis technique for the sustained sounds. Roland called this mix of samples and synthesis 'Linear Arithmetic', so 'Straight Maths' is my way of paying homage to a classic 'personal favourite' synthesizer from the 80s. Okay, so now you know where the name comes from!</span></span></p><p style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="background-color: black; color: white; white-space: pre-line;">As before, the lowest row is used to add a little extra bit of character to the sound. The default preset deliberately adds too much 'W' so that your first experience of 'Straight Maths' is 'Wow!'. Maybe that what the 'W' really stands for? But remember that subtlety is often the best approach, and too much 'W' may take you into cheesy territory...</span></span></p><h3 style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="background-color: black; color: #8e7cc3; white-space: pre-line;">Trivia</span></span></h3><p style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="background-color: black; color: white; white-space: pre-line;">The rows were going to be labelled as: J, AK and C, for Joseph, Alexander, Kevin and Claude, but I thought this might be too obscure. What is interesting is that you now know a famous 'Kevin' - although Karplus still sounds uber-cool to me!</span></span></p><p style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="background-color: black; color: white; white-space: pre-line;">Letiti gave '<a href="https://www.pianobook.co.uk/library/straight-maths/" target="_blank">Straight Maths</a>' a 5 star review, which is much appreciated, including this comment:</span></span></p><p style="text-align: center;"><i><span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: medium;"><span style="background-color: black; color: white; white-space: pre-line;">'One of the most innovative and unusual Pianobook entries'</span></span></i></p><p style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="background-color: black; color: white; white-space: pre-line;">For which I am enormously grateful!</span></span></p><p><span style="font-family: inherit;">---</span></p><p><span style="font-family: inherit;">If you find my writing helpful, informative or entertaining, then please consider visiting this link:</span></p><div><div style="font-size: 18.72px; font-weight: 700;"><span style="font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: small;"><a class="bmc-button" href="https://teespring.com/en-GB/stores/synthesizerwriters-store" target="_blank"><br class="Apple-interchange-newline" /></a><a class="bmc-button" href="https://teespring.com/en-GB/stores/synthesizerwriters-store" target="_blank"><span style="margin-left: 5px;">Synthesizerwriter's Store</span></a> (New 'Modular thinking' designs now available!)</span></span></div><p style="font-size: 18.72px; font-weight: 700;"></p><div style="font-size: 18.72px; font-weight: 700;"><div style="font-size: 18.72px; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: small;"><a class="bmc-button" href="https://www.buymeacoffee.com/synthwriter" target="_blank"><img alt="Buy me a coffee" src="https://www.buymeacoffee.com/assets/img/BMC-btn-logo.svg" /><span style="margin-left: 5px;">Buy me a coffee</span></a> (Encourage me to write more posts like this one!)</span></span></div><div style="font-size: 18.72px; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: small;"><br /></span></span></div><div style="font-size: 18.72px; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: small;"><br /></span></span></div></div></div><p><span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: medium;"><span style="background-color: white; color: #212529; white-space: pre-line;"></span></span></p><p><br /></p><p style="text-align: center;"><i><span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: medium;"><span style="background-color: white; color: #212529; white-space: pre-line;"><br /></span></span></i></p><p style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><i><span style="background-color: white; color: #212529; font-size: 18px; white-space: pre-line;"><br /></span></i></span></p>Synthesizerwriterhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13668943829180629830noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5222520500837940683.post-44999935093888591942021-09-30T21:50:00.033+01:002021-09-30T23:30:28.524+01:00Step sequencer for echo delay time...<p>Now if this was a YouTube channel, then I might well be posting videos with click-bait titles in an ongoing quest for subscribers (or publicising an amazing device like the <a href="https://www.rebeltech.org/product/witch/" target="_blank">Rebel Technology 'Witch'!</a>). </p><p>But this is a blog, and I'm happy to post anything I do, that might be useful, which is why there's an eclectic mix of topics on here. And yes, I know that I haven't covered MaxForLive for a while, and there's a very good reason for that. </p><p>Anyway, here's a little bit of fun that might be useful to some of you, or could serve as inspiration for further exploration. I'm almost tempted to post a version on YouTube with a Click-Bait-oriented title just to see what happens... 'Expression Sequencing - What you need to know!' </p><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-rFx_t__xSCw/YVXp0lWrTyI/AAAAAAAAF_M/7JGwLsgLepMOA9XdY1nymwlkWRtUqE_lQCLcBGAsYHQ/s2048/steve-harvey-xWiXi6wRLGo-unsplash.jpeg" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1306" data-original-width="2048" height="204" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-rFx_t__xSCw/YVXp0lWrTyI/AAAAAAAAF_M/7JGwLsgLepMOA9XdY1nymwlkWRtUqE_lQCLcBGAsYHQ/s320/steve-harvey-xWiXi6wRLGo-unsplash.jpeg" width="320" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Photo by <a href="https://unsplash.com/@trommelkopf?utm_source=unsplash&utm_medium=referral&utm_content=creditCopyText">Steve Harvey</a> on <a href="https://unsplash.com/s/photos/synthesizer?utm_source=unsplash&utm_medium=referral&utm_content=creditCopyText">Unsplash</a></td></tr></tbody></table><h3 style="text-align: left;">Step Sequencing</h3><p>Okay, I admit, I've been a fan of step sequencers since seeing Tangerine Dream back in the 70s at the Liverpool Empire. Dry ice clouds, mist curtains, mirror balls, CO<span style="font-size: x-small;">2</span> lasers, guitar solos from Edgar Froese and just one or two step sequences - it was quite an experience. Since then, I have acquired a few hardware step sequencers (a Zaquencer, for instance - very nice!), and programmed a few (several in MaxForLive, for example), but my latest acquisition is a little bit different: a mix of old school (8 steps!) and new-ish school (MIDI Clock sync!). But not a Eurorack module - nope, this is a 'guitar' pedal. </p><p>Now, I was raised on Electro-Harmonix pedals (I always wanted an Electric Mistress Flanger!) and I've gradually been getting a few modern examples, purely for research purposes, you understand. The 'pedal' in this case is on the borders of the pedal-world - it is the 8 Step Program: a CV/Expression sequencer. </p><p>Sequencers in pedals are quite unusual, or at least, from my limited viewpoint, that seems to be the case. The <a href="https://www.strymon.net/product/nightsky/" target="_blank">Strymon 'Night Sky</a>' has a sequencer to ty and liven up the shimmer reverb, is one example, and I'm not immediately familiar with any other examples. Of course, with thousands of pedal manufacturers and hundreds of pedals released every month (week? day? hour? minute?), then there could well be many other examples, but I'm beginning to think that it is not humanly possible to keep up with pedal releases any longer. Although, if anyone can, it would be Josh Scott of <a href="https://www.jhspedals.info/" target="_blank">JHS Pedals</a>...</p><p>Actually, the step sequencer that I'm talking about is quite unusual, even in a world where unusual and rare seems to be the starting point for a product, and you probably need endorsements by several online influencers just to rise above the lowest levels of noise and avoid being totally ignored. Electro-Harmonix do not shy away from making radically 'different' pedals, and they have a huge range, plus a long and fascinating history. </p><p>Anyway, the '8 Step Program' is s step sequencer for Expression Pedal control signals.</p><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-HTdc0pETzgU/YVXqGgyVy4I/AAAAAAAAF_U/DS-UoIBVqmkleTXEr9jQyCHfh7ePPRpkACLcBGAsYHQ/s1920/front%2Bpanel.png" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1080" data-original-width="1920" height="360" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-HTdc0pETzgU/YVXqGgyVy4I/AAAAAAAAF_U/DS-UoIBVqmkleTXEr9jQyCHfh7ePPRpkACLcBGAsYHQ/w640-h360/front%2Bpanel.png" width="640" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">My EHX 8-Step Program pedal!</td></tr></tbody></table><p>You read that correctly. Whilst it can also output control voltages (from 0 (zero Volts) to 5Volts), it is mostly intended to act as an automatic Expression Pedal, so instead of you having to move your foot from heel to toe on an Expression Pedal, then the 8 Step Program will do it for you, repeatedly if you prefer, at a user-variable rate, or you can advance through the steps manually, or just trigger a One-shot single run-through. At the borders of 'step sequencing', there is also the ability to select steps at random, which always sounds more like a slow random noise generator to me, although it outputs a very structured type of noise where the levels are known, but when they will occur is not known. I'm going to step away from this topic before any 'unknown unknowns' are mentioned!</p><p>Oh, before I forget, sincere thanks to <a href="https://www.andertons.co.uk/" target="_blank">Andertons</a> for managing to procure me an '8 Step Program' on special order. It is definitely worth the wait!</p><h3 style="text-align: left;">Ubiquity or Not</h3><p>Lots of guitar pedals have a socket marked 'Exp' or 'Expr'. Not all pedals have them, and for those that do, there are at least two different ways to wire the socket (and the pedals) in common usage (<a href="http://blog.synthesizerwriter.com/2021/09/repairing-vintage-expression-pedal.html" target="_blank">see this blog post</a>...). So not quite ubiquitous, but certainly widely available. As that previous blog post rather gives away, I'm one of those people who likes to use a foot pedal to change one or more parameters on a pedal, and so I have '<i>one or two</i>' Expression Pedals'. </p><p>I've always been confused by the naming convention for guitar pedals, and that ignores the weirdness that you can use them with things other than guitars! One of the first pedals I ever bought was a <a href="https://www.macaris.co.uk/the-inductorless-wah-wah-by-jake-rothman/p/p138" target="_blank">Colorsound Wah-wah pedal</a> (Not this modern re-creation and not from Macari's, but way older and from somewhere else, lost in the fog of time...) and this was indeed, a pedal. There was a bit that you put your foot on and moved it, and it changed the sound, and it looked like a sort of hi-tech equivalent of the pedal that my Mum used to control her sewing machine. So my mind is forever locked into the mind-set that a pedal is a thing that you move (heel and toe positions, plus in-between) with your foot. A foot-pedal. A Guitar foot-pedal. </p><p>But then there was another type of guitar pedal, and it didn't have a wobbly bit on top where you put your foot. Instead it had one (and sometimes more!) push switch that made a metallic snicking sound when you pushed it - and this turned the effect on or off. Bypass was the word - on or off. To change the effect, you turned small rotary controls - too small and awkwardly placed for your foot, of course. Most of the foot-switches were chrome cathedrals of mechanical complexity, but there were also ones with black plastic tops that didn't have the same satisfying metallic clunk, and which were apparently notorious for 'going wrong'. Nowadays, I only ever see the all-metal variety of foot switch, so I imagine that the plastic-top ones have died out. </p><p>When there are two things that are different but share the same name, then confusion is not far away. As I said earlier, I've always been confused by guitar pedals: some of which have a foot pedal, and some of which don't, but they are still called pedals. Expression Pedals, which don't process audio at all, and only control other guitar pedals, via a TRS or 'stereo' cable, are a third type of pedal again. Your task, should you choose to accept it, is to try and persuade me that there are three types of totally different device, all called the same, where:</p><p>- one device processes audio</p><p>- one device processes audio, and has a pedal that your foot moves</p><p>- one device does not process audio at all, but controls a device that does process audio.</p><p> And these are all Pedals?</p><h3 style="text-align: left;">Sequencing...</h3><p>Let's look at what you can use Expression for. That Colorsound Wah-Wah pedal is a good starting point. The foot pedal bit changes the audio that passes through the Wah-Wah pedal - it's a band-pass filter where the centre frequency of the filter is controlled by the foot pedal that your foot moves. The sound is a rough approximation to the band-pass filter that your mouth makes when you open and close it. Try saying 'wah wah wah...' and see how your jaw moves, your mouth opens and your lips move. If you say 'Waaaooouuuw' then your mouth, lips and jaw will all be moving a lot! </p><p>Take a moment here to let the skin on your face return to normal after all that stretching...</p><p>Auto-Wah removes the foot pedal and replaces it with an LFO - a Low Frequency Oscillator. A circuit that wobbles something - in this case, the wah-wah effect. So the centre frequency of that band-pass filter wobbles up and down in frequency, and you don't wear out your foot or ankle by moving the pedal back and forth all the time. So the foot pedal bit has gone, and we have just a 'Bypass' switch to turn the effect on or off. </p><p>Of course, some Auto-wah pedals have Expression inputs, and if you connect an Expression Pedal into that input, then you have a foot pedal that controls another pedal! So if you don't want repeated Wah-Wahs at the rate set by the LFO, then you can use the Expression (foot) pedal to do the 'wah'ing yourself, at whatever rate you want. </p><p>The 8 Step is like an Expression pedal, except that it doesn't have a foot pedal bit that you move with your foot: instead it has 8 linear slider controls that are activated in turn by an LFO. So you get up to 8 different settings of a non-existent foot pedal, sent down a TRS 'stereo' cable, to another pedal where those settings affect the audio. </p><p>If you really want to blow your mind, then the 8 Step Program also has an input for... an Expression Pedal!</p><h3 style="text-align: left;">Wah, not wah...</h3><p>I haven't been using the 8 Step Program to control Wah-wah effects. I've been playing with Echo Units or Delay Lines - audio boxes that apply echo or delay to audio signals. Small cyclical changes to the delay/echo time produce flanging, chorus, tremolo, vibrato and other 'Modulation'-type effects, but sudden jerky changes have a very different effect - they change the rhythm of the echoes. If you change the timing of echoes or delays with a Step Sequencer, then you get a sequence of different rhythmic echoes. It's an interesting and unusual effect - particularly because it doesn't settle down into a fixed rhythm. The echoes are always changing, and if the rate of the Step Sequencer (in the 8 Step Program) is not synchronised to the timing of whatever audio you are processing (a drum machine, or groovebox, or a synth playing a sequence, then the two different rates should drift past each other, and you should get 'skying', where things gradually change in a way that is beguiling, non-repetitive, and addictive.</p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-p_W_z75d7t8/YVYVrsDpzmI/AAAAAAAAF_c/u6NTvaSPOMYczi8MzEWVLued15gHKnbZQCLcBGAsYHQ/s1920/Slide5.png" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1080" data-original-width="1920" height="360" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-p_W_z75d7t8/YVYVrsDpzmI/AAAAAAAAF_c/u6NTvaSPOMYczi8MzEWVLued15gHKnbZQCLcBGAsYHQ/w640-h360/Slide5.png" width="640" /></a></div><p>So, above is the setup. The 'Expression' control signal goes along the TRS 'stereo' cable from the 8 Step Program device to the Echo pedal, and inside the Echo pedal, the Expression is mapped to control the delay time. The 8 Step Program's 8 numbered 'step' sliders are set to a rising stepped 'sawtooth' type of waveform, and the Rate slider on the 8 Step Program is set so that each step is close to one repetition of a drum pattern or a sequenced synth line. </p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-7Q0FG3dWr9Q/YVYX3rpEf7I/AAAAAAAAF_k/MxHabwNHnlsQB2nv_nzJO2C-oSAsbLipwCLcBGAsYHQ/s1920/Slide8.png" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1080" data-original-width="1920" height="360" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-7Q0FG3dWr9Q/YVYX3rpEf7I/AAAAAAAAF_k/MxHabwNHnlsQB2nv_nzJO2C-oSAsbLipwCLcBGAsYHQ/w640-h360/Slide8.png" width="640" /></a></div><p>The results are 8 different patterns of syncopated echoes, because the steps from the 8 Step Program give the equivalent of 8 different settings of the 'virtual expression pedal' that the 8 Step Program is emulating. Unlike a human being, the 8 Step Program reproduces those 8 steps more or less exactly the same each time, and so it is possible to really hear the 8 different patterns cycling through. Best of all, the Rate slider of the 8 Step Program and the audio clocks are not in sync, and so the patterns gradually change as predicted. </p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-Nb1T4My2A-8/YVYYVZGmhcI/AAAAAAAAF_s/_UHrsZSwETIMhilD3KC9yL_eN9yfaJIogCLcBGAsYHQ/s1920/Slide11.png" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1080" data-original-width="1920" height="180" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-Nb1T4My2A-8/YVYYVZGmhcI/AAAAAAAAF_s/_UHrsZSwETIMhilD3KC9yL_eN9yfaJIogCLcBGAsYHQ/s320/Slide11.png" width="320" /></a></div><p>What I haven't checked out yet is to use a MIDI Clock to do the exact opposite: put the 8 Step Program and the audio into sync. Even when I do, then there is still scope for additional experimentation. The 8 Step Program allows the number of steps in the sequence to be changed, so the length could be set to 7 steps instead of 8. This would mean that even though the 8 Step Program, I mean the '7 Step Program', and the audio drum machine or synth sequencer are in sync, there is a 7:8 ratio of timing, and so they will drift or slip against each other, and so they will generate long repeating patterns that last over many bars. So that is ratios of 1: 8 through to 7:8, plus 8:, which is in sync.</p><p>The 8 Step Program also allows the step sequence to run in Reverse (which isn't going to be very different - the patterns will just be different), and in Bounce mode, where the steps go back and forth from 1 to 8 to 1 to 8 etc., scanner-style. Now this 'bouncing' is 15 steps in length, which means that we can have ratios of 9:8 through to 15:8. There's quite a lot to play with here.</p><p>There's one final mode for the step sequence., and that is Random, where the steps are not output in sequence, but at random. So after step 1, then any of steps 1 to 8 could follow. This will again give 8 different syncopated echo patterns, but they won't be in any order, and so there will be less obvious patterning for a human being to detect - plus the patterns will not repeat after the same number of bars each time, because the patterns are selected randomly. Again, there is lots of scope for exploration here.</p><h3 style="text-align: left;">Other devices... </h3><p>I've always liked Echo as an effect, but any pedal with an Expression input socket can be used with the EHX 8 Step Program. So Reverb, Flanging, Phasing, Tremolo, even Wah-wah could all be controlled using the 8 Step Program. And all of this complexity and syncopation is totally DAWless!</p><p>The 8 Step output is also a Control Voltage (CV), and so with a 1/4 inch jack to 3.5 mm jack, could be used to control Eurorack modulars. In fact, the Expression Pedal input of the 8 Step Program can be used to control parameters like Rate, Depth, Glide (You can set how quickly the steps go from one to the next - a bit like Portamento on a keyboard..) and Sequence Length, as well as a Clock input, so there are many more interfacing options there with modular synths. </p><p>MIDI-wise the 8 Step Program has full MIDI Control over programs of steps, plus all the parameters. Future investigation for me...</p><h3 style="text-align: left;">Summary</h3><p>The Electro-Harmonix 8 Step Program is just a small pedal, but there are lots of ways of using it in a DAWless setup to do things which will sound complex, syncopated and yet, can have the unpredictability, drifting and all of the unexpected serendipity of analogue modular. Using the 8 Step Program to drift through some syncopation delay effects from a DAW output might also change some opinions about the inherent boring repetition that you get with a DAW. I'm wondering if there is scope for a contest where people compete to fool a panel of judges with their DAWless or DAW systems... Now that sounds like an interesting event for a synthesizer booth type gathering!</p><p>So you can hear how all this sounds, there's a <a href="https://youtu.be/v1VeEtMIRCU" target="_blank">YouTube version</a> of this blog article on... <a href="https://youtu.be/v1VeEtMIRCU" target="_blank">YouTube</a>! There are only a couple of examples, but I'm sure that you can come up with your own. Just tell <a href="https://www.ehx.com/products/8-step-program/">EHX</a> or <a href="https://www.andertons.co.uk/electro-harmonix-8-step-program-analogue-expression-sequencer" target="_blank">Andertons</a> that I sent you when you get your own 8 Step Program!</p><p>The <a href="https://www.ehx.com/products/8-step-program/" target="_blank">EHX page for the 8 Step Program</a> lets you <a href="https://docs.google.com/gview?url=https://www.ehx.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/01/8-step-program-manual.pdf&embedded=true" target="_blank">download the manual</a>, which is full of loads of details about what it can do. Please try not to drool onto your screen...</p><p><span style="font-family: inherit;"><i>(Note that I bought the EHX 8 Step Program with my own money, from Andertons. This blog post was not sponsored by EHX or Andertons. I just buy stuff from them because I like them!)</i></span></p><p><span style="font-family: inherit;">---</span></p><p><span style="font-family: inherit;">If you find my writing helpful, informative or entertaining, then please consider visiting this link:</span></p><div><div style="font-size: 18.72px; font-weight: 700;"><span style="font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: small;"><a class="bmc-button" href="https://teespring.com/en-GB/stores/synthesizerwriters-store" target="_blank"><br class="Apple-interchange-newline" /></a><a class="bmc-button" href="https://teespring.com/en-GB/stores/synthesizerwriters-store" target="_blank"><span style="margin-left: 5px;">Synthesizerwriter's Store</span></a> (New 'Modular thinking' designs now available!)</span></span></div><p style="font-size: 18.72px; font-weight: 700;"></p><div style="font-size: 18.72px; font-weight: 700;"><div style="font-size: 18.72px; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: small;"><a class="bmc-button" href="https://www.buymeacoffee.com/synthwriter" target="_blank"><img alt="Buy me a coffee" src="https://www.buymeacoffee.com/assets/img/BMC-btn-logo.svg" /><span style="margin-left: 5px;">Buy me a coffee</span></a> (Encourage me to write more posts like this one!)</span></span></div><div style="font-size: 18.72px; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: small;"><br /></span></span></div><div style="font-size: 18.72px; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: small;"><br /></span></span></div></div></div><p><br /></p><p><br /></p><p><br /></p><p> </p>Synthesizerwriterhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13668943829180629830noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5222520500837940683.post-35370506318181369652021-09-26T16:42:00.008+01:002022-08-04T13:55:29.938+01:00MIDI Velocity Splits<p>I've been playing with <a href="https://www.youtube.com/c/DavidHilowitzMusic" target="_blank">Dave Hilowitz's</a> excellent <a href="https://www.decentsamples.com/product/decent-sampler-plugin/" target="_blank">Decent Sampler</a> quite a lot recently. One of the things that I've been exploring is velocity-switching, that time-consuming process where you record the same pitch at various intonations, strengths, powers,...velocities! </p><p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-dfxZvdoJgo0/YVCE6NIvZuI/AAAAAAAAF-k/B2pvwn-GzhIphawBiEchw6DCmQqzi9NCQCLcBGAsYHQ/s1920/keys1.png" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1440" data-original-width="1920" height="300" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-dfxZvdoJgo0/YVCE6NIvZuI/AAAAAAAAF-k/B2pvwn-GzhIphawBiEchw6DCmQqzi9NCQCLcBGAsYHQ/w400-h300/keys1.png" width="400" /></a></div><p></p><p>I've always been intrigued by the way that MIDI terminology has become so deeply embedded in electronic music making. Playing notes harder and softer may have given us an instrument name derived from the Italian for those words: the Piano-Forte (or just Piano for those who know it well.), but somehow, the MIDI output related to how quickly you hit a note has become synonymous with 'how hard you hit a note'. I had always though of pressing piano keys as being an 'amount of forc'e thing, but MIDI forced me to realise that to measure that force you needed to make a measurement of the speed of the key as it moved from one stationary position to the other. And so the posh word for speed: velocity, became the word for what your fingers do on a piano - they change the velocity of the keys: the harder you press the key down, the higher the velocity. Hence, you must be controlling the velocity of the keys with your fingers, because that's what the MIDI output says you are doing!</p><p><i>(Note: Okay, so when they aren't moving, then the 'velocity' of the keys is zero, unless you factor in <a href="https://www.forbes.com/sites/startswithabang/2017/06/16/how-does-earth-move-through-space-now-we-know-on-every-scale/?sh=42ccb487861f" target="_blank">the rotation of the Earth, and the movement of the Solar System, and...</a> Lets just say that when the keys are 'at rest' they have no velocity relative to the rest of the keyboard...) </i></p><p>In MIDI 2.0, of course, velocity is 'the same, but also different' - it's a 16-bit value, which allows for 16,384 different velocities. Which is a lot of fine detailed control. If I'm honest, I'm not sure that my fingers are capable of anywhere near that many levels of conscious or physical control!</p><p>For the rest of this blog post, I'm going to stay in MIDI 1.0 land, where velocity is only 7-bits, and so has a mere 128 different velocities (Now this sounds more like my abilities!). And, as so often happens, the very first thing that comes up is not actually correct. Nope, there are not 128 different velocity values in MIDI 1.0. There are only 127, because the velocity value of zero is special.</p><p><i>(I'm deliberately not going to try and figure out how many 'bits' a range of 127 values is equivalent to! 'Slightly less than 7 bits' is one imperfect way of expressing it. '7 bits, where 0 is a special value' is perhaps better.)</i></p><p>When you think about it, a velocity of zero makes no sense. No matter how lightly you press a key on a piano, it will always go from one stationary position to the other, and so the velocity has to be greater than zero. If the velocity was zero, then the key would not move! So, when the MIDI Specification was developed back in the 1980s, a velocity of zero was used as an optional 'special purpose' shortcut that avoided needing a Note Off message to accompany every Note On message. Under ideal circumstances, this 'Running Status' tweak means that you can reduce the amount of data required to send single channel MIDI information by up to a third. So instead of sending this:</p><p><span style="font-family: courier;">Note On Status</span></p><p><span style="font-family: courier;"> Note On Number 60 (Middle C)</span></p><p><span style="font-family: courier;"> Note On Velocity 1-127</span></p><p><time the note stays on></p><p><span style="font-family: courier;">Note Off Status</span></p><p><span style="font-family: courier;"> Note Off Number 60 (Middle C)</span></p><p><span style="font-family: courier;"> Note Off Velocity (0, but could be up to 127)</span></p><p>then the next note...</p><p>What gets sent instead is:</p><p><span style="font-family: courier;">Note On Status</span></p><p><span style="font-family: courier;"> Note On Number 60 (Middle C)</span></p><p><span style="font-family: courier;"> Note On Velocity 1-127</span></p><p><time the note stays on></p><p><span style="font-family: courier;"> Note On Number 60 (Middle C)</span></p><p><span style="font-family: courier;"> Note On Velocity 0 (equivalent of a 'Note Off' message)</span></p><p>Yep, there's no Note Off messages at all when you are using the Running Status' mode', and a velocity value of 0 turns what looks a lot like a Note On message (but without the initial status 'byte) into the equivalent of a Note Off message. So instead of 6 MIDI bytes, only 5 need to be transmitted. But for longer sets of notes, then you don't need to send any status bytes, and so instead of sending 6 bytes (3 bytes for the Note On message, and 3 bytes for the Note Off message) then you only need to send 4 bytes. Of course, any messages that require a change of status will require a new Note On status byte to re-establish what channel the notes are playing on - one example would be notes on a different channel, or MIDI Controller messages (which aren't Note On messages!). </p><h3 style="text-align: left;">A quick aside about MIDI Implementation Charts:</h3><p>Keyboards that implement the 'release' velocity when you stop pressing a key down are not very common, but not as rare as you might think, by the way... And often, this feature is not documented. Yes, many MIDI keyboards send MIDI Note Off messages containing release velocity, and they don't always mention it in the user manual. The place to look is the MIDI Implementation Chart: in the 'Velocity' section...</p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-7jK38oGbkf0/YVBitN5hyeI/AAAAAAAAF-c/jhZ-8mfis5w0E6SDnUoua5KYD7BrYnEwACLcBGAsYHQ/s1298/MIDI%2BImplementation%2BChart%2BVelocity.png" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="356" data-original-width="1298" height="176" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-7jK38oGbkf0/YVBitN5hyeI/AAAAAAAAF-c/jhZ-8mfis5w0E6SDnUoua5KYD7BrYnEwACLcBGAsYHQ/w640-h176/MIDI%2BImplementation%2BChart%2BVelocity.png" width="640" /></a></div><div><br /></div>So this MIDI device implements Note On Velocity (the 'O' in the second column ('Transmitted') and the third column ('Received'), but does NOT implement Note Off (aka 'Release') Velocity (the 'X' in the second and third columns). <div><br /></div><div>What you are looking for 'transmits and receives release velocity' could be something like this:</div><div><br /></div><div><span style="font-family: courier;">Velocity Note On O 9nH, v=1-127 O 9nH, v=1-127</span></div><div><span style="font-family: courier;"> Note Off O 8nH, v=1-127 O 8nH, v=1-127</span><br /><p>My Yamaha Montage 7 looks like this:</p><div><span style="font-family: courier;">Velocity Note On O 9nH, v=1-127 O 9nH, v=1-127</span></div><div><span style="font-family: courier;"> Note Off X 8nH, v=0 X</span></div><p>Which means it doesn't send Note Off (Release) velocity, but it does clarify that it sends 0 (zero) for a Note Off message!</p><p>Some devices don't send a velocity of 0 (zero) for Note Off messages. here's a Roland TD-50 drum module:</p><div><span style="font-family: courier;">Velocity Note On O 9nH, v=1-127 O</span></div><div><span style="font-family: courier;"> Note Off X 8nH, v=64 X</span></div><p>And, just in case you were wondering what does implement Note Off (Release) Velocity, here's just one example: the Kurzweil PC-4:</p><div><span style="font-family: courier;">Velocity Note On O O</span></div><div><span style="font-family: courier;"> Note Off O O</span></div><h3 style="text-align: left;">And back to the main story:</h3><p>So, now that we know that a MIDI Velocity of zero isn't the lowest value, but instead 1 is the lowest value, we know that there are 127 different velocity values in MIDI 1.0 - that's from 1 to 127, just to be precise. Luckily, it isn't necessary to sample every possible velocity, and as I said above, my fingers are not good enough to play exact velocities anyway. </p><p>Velocity switching allows a sampler to play different samples depending on what the MIDI input velocity is. Sometimes people assume that this means that the samples which are going to be used for lower velocities have to be quieter, but this isn't the case. All of the samples have about the same volume level, but the velocity value in the MIDI message will determine how loud they sound when they are played. Velocity switching is not about volume - it is about timbre...</p><p>Woah! Velocity switching is not about volume? Absolutely. Let's take the example of no velocity switching, so there's a single sample, and it plays for any incoming MIDI message with a velocity between 1 to 127. (For a velocity of zero, then it won't sound at all!) Now you can think of this either as 'No Velocity Switching', or alternatively, as 'Velocity Switching with One Zone'. Whatever you call it, the sampler plays that sample, regardless of the incoming MIDI Velocity value in the Note On message, BUT it will play it louder or quieter depending on the Velocity value. </p><p>For two zones of velocity switching, then there are two samples. Typically, one of them will be for the sound that you want when playing hard (high velocities!), and the other for playing softly (low velocities). So the loud/hard sample might play for MIDI velocity values of 127 to 64 (inclusive), whilst the soft/quiet sample would play for MIDI velocity values of 63 to 1 (inclusive). If you listened to the samples themselves with the same velocity value, then they would be similar volumes, but the timbres would be different. (One interesting thing to explore is to reverse the samples for a velocity-switched instrument like a piano, so that the hard samples play for low velocities, and the soft samples for high velocities. The result is a very strange piano...)</p><p>One important thing here is those two values where the sample switch over: the 63 and 64 numbers. I chose these values because they are approximately half-way between the 1 and 127 limits of velocity value: 64-1 = 63, and 127-64 = 63. So, really, 63.5 is half-way, but MIDI 1.0 doesn't work like that, so convenient ranges for the two velocity zones are 1 to 63, and 64 to 127. The full range from 1 to 127 is covered, and there is no overlap. If the ranges were 1 to 64 and 64 to 127, then both samples would play for a MIDI Velocity value of 64, which would probably make that single sound much louder (by about 3dB, but there's another whole story about how that would work...) and that would sound silly. So 1 to 62 and 63 to 127 would also work, and this would mean that there would be a very slight bias to the hard sample instead of the soft sample - assuming that I could play a range covering all the available MIDI Velocities. </p><p>For two zones, then it is quite easy to look at the 1-127 range and figure out that 63 or 64 is about half-way. When you have more zones, the it isn't quite so obvious. For three zones, then the starting point would be to use 127/3, which is 42 and a bit. For four zones, then 127/4 is slightly less than 32. For five zones, then I decided that I would use a spreadsheet.</p><p>I also decided that since my fingers don't do precise MIDI Velocities anyway, then the nearest 10 or 5 was probably going to be fine. So here are the ideal values, which are absolutely not very memorable numbers in most cases:</p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-j5G6eVKkb2I/YVCNAkWwgcI/AAAAAAAAF-s/yT6_hyAbj9wBbqlPESgb-ZOQcRTq_Ku8wCLcBGAsYHQ/s1325/real%2Bsplits%2Binv.png" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="332" data-original-width="1325" height="160" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-j5G6eVKkb2I/YVCNAkWwgcI/AAAAAAAAF-s/yT6_hyAbj9wBbqlPESgb-ZOQcRTq_Ku8wCLcBGAsYHQ/w640-h160/real%2Bsplits%2Binv.png" width="640" /></a></div><p>Remember that the values show are for the low (Lo) and high (Hi) thresholds of the velocity split points. So the two zone section on the left hand side has 1 to 63, and 64 to 127. </p><p>And here are those values converted to the nearest 10 and 5:</p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-t-1HoYUob0g/YVCNM8RcCeI/AAAAAAAAF-w/ygYhZ3qX9BIm1cdPihhHHXQ4PwjwTvWbQCLcBGAsYHQ/s2100/nearest%2Binv.png" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="430" data-original-width="2100" height="132" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-t-1HoYUob0g/YVCNM8RcCeI/AAAAAAAAF-w/ygYhZ3qX9BIm1cdPihhHHXQ4PwjwTvWbQCLcBGAsYHQ/w640-h132/nearest%2Binv.png" width="640" /></a></div><div><br /></div>More than 8 zones of velocity switching is probably only relevant to very high quality piano samples, and would probably require some quite sophisticated mechanical systems to play notes with consistently repeatable MIDI Velocities. If you need more zones, then a spreadsheet, or even paper and pencil, is all you require, plus some time. Of course, based on some of the posts I have seen on various music-oriented Facebook groups, then you could just ask there, and I'm sure someone will say 'Buy a PC!', someone else will say 'DAWless rules!', and someone else will say 'Here's a spreadsheet with all of the values for zones from 2 to 127, and if you could just subscribe to my YouTube channel...'. </div><div><br /></div><div>For me, the 'nearest 10' values suffice for the two, three and four zones of velocity switching that are the limits of my patience. When I recorded the samples for my <a href="https://www.pianobook.co.uk/library/vacuumtap/" target="_blank">'VacuumTap' Pianobook.co.uk</a> Virtual instrument, then I did 8 zones, and I am not keen to repeat the process! If you look at the <a href="https://www.decentsamples.com/product/decent-sampler-plugin/" target="_blank">Decent Sampler</a> <a href="https://www.decentsamples.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/06/format-documentation.html" target="_blank">XML file</a>, then you will find that I used a variety of different velocity splits. Consistent: me?</div><div><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-xMViMWiZKOs/YVCUAZrxPxI/AAAAAAAAF-8/wb2mYTf8AQ8R4h6BhI45Mq5pr-2srv04gCLcBGAsYHQ/s2556/example%2BDS.png" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="738" data-original-width="2556" height="184" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-xMViMWiZKOs/YVCUAZrxPxI/AAAAAAAAF-8/wb2mYTf8AQ8R4h6BhI45Mq5pr-2srv04gCLcBGAsYHQ/w640-h184/example%2BDS.png" width="640" /></a></div><div><br /></div><h3 style="text-align: left;">Linear?</h3><div>All of the velocity splits shown here assume that the 1 to 127 range needs to be split linearly into zones. Human beings tend to interpret many things with non-linear scales: frequency doubles for every octave you go upwards in pitch, sound gets quieter with the square of the distance from the source, and so on. Most MIDI keyboards have a way to adjust the 'Velocity' 'Law' or 'Scaling' or 'Curve' so that it feels right to your own preferences, and so after setting that so it suits my playing style, then splitting the output into linear ranges (same sized!) feels right to my hands and ears. There's nothing (pencil & paper, or a spreadsheet) to stop you calculating your own custom non-linear zone split values, if you want. </div><div><br /></div><div><p><span style="font-family: inherit;">---</span></p><p><span style="font-family: inherit;">If you find my writing helpful, informative or entertaining, then please consider visiting this link:</span></p><div><div style="font-size: 18.72px; font-weight: 700;"><span style="font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: small;"><a class="bmc-button" href="https://teespring.com/en-GB/stores/synthesizerwriters-store" target="_blank"><br class="Apple-interchange-newline" /></a><a class="bmc-button" href="https://teespring.com/en-GB/stores/synthesizerwriters-store" target="_blank"><span style="margin-left: 5px;">Synthesizerwriter's Store</span></a> (New 'Modular thinking' designs now available!)</span></span></div><p style="font-size: 18.72px; font-weight: 700;"></p><div style="font-size: 18.72px; font-weight: 700;"><div style="font-size: 18.72px; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: small;"><a class="bmc-button" href="https://www.buymeacoffee.com/synthwriter" target="_blank"><img alt="Buy me a coffee" src="https://www.buymeacoffee.com/assets/img/BMC-btn-logo.svg" /><span style="margin-left: 5px;">Buy me a coffee</span></a> (Encourage me to write more posts like this one!)</span></span></div><div style="font-size: 18.72px; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: small;"><br /></span></span></div><div style="font-size: 18.72px; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: small;"><br /></span></span></div></div></div><p><br /></p><p><br /></p></div>Synthesizerwriterhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13668943829180629830noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5222520500837940683.post-82617250427469703312021-09-12T18:09:00.006+01:002021-11-08T23:20:00.058+00:00Repairing a Vintage Expression Pedal<p>I've had my Casio VP-E Volume Pedal (which also works as an Expression pedal) for what is probably well over 30 years. So I wasn't hugely surprised when it started to get a bit noisy. Now it is very robustly constructed, with lots of aluminium extrusion, and it is a classic mechanical foot pedal, so it seems as if it would be a very good candidate for trying to fix - probably by replacing the potentiometer inside.</p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-ESrxt2HGqYw/YT0O9iW7a2I/AAAAAAAAF8A/P_lxeOHkHT0u4wXRfq4s0oly0wFOqvI1gCLcBGAsYHQ/s1080/01%2BIMG_2188.png" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="810" data-original-width="1080" height="300" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-ESrxt2HGqYw/YT0O9iW7a2I/AAAAAAAAF8A/P_lxeOHkHT0u4wXRfq4s0oly0wFOqvI1gCLcBGAsYHQ/w400-h300/01%2BIMG_2188.png" width="400" /></a></div><p>There are quite a few designs of foot pedal, ranging from simple passive mechanical designs (with levers or gears) through to sophisticated active electro-optical or magnetic circuits. The Casio VP-E wasn't crazily expensive when I bought it (to go with a Casio <a href="http://www.muzines.co.uk/articles/casiotone-ct1000p/4595" target="_blank">CT-1000,</a> if memory serves me...), and you can see a white plastic lever when you move the top plate of the pedal, so it looked like it was a straightforward mechanical design.</p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-gYdhIebWwH4/YT0PFHsjyHI/AAAAAAAAF8E/2WP0WttZRPIyzJopZaWQjf9X4uGb9O_QACLcBGAsYHQ/s1080/02%2BIMG_2190.png" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="810" data-original-width="1080" height="300" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-gYdhIebWwH4/YT0PFHsjyHI/AAAAAAAAF8E/2WP0WttZRPIyzJopZaWQjf9X4uGb9O_QACLcBGAsYHQ/w400-h300/02%2BIMG_2190.png" width="400" /></a></div><p>Opening the VP-E is easy - there are three self-tapping screws that hold the metal end-cheek in place. </p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-fXcA7XqlcAA/YT0PPqCC9gI/AAAAAAAAF8I/YgthMTt9J70C87Y2yP2xCwvVcYlEnv88ACLcBGAsYHQ/s1080/03%2BIMG_2194.png" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="493" data-original-width="1080" height="183" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-fXcA7XqlcAA/YT0PPqCC9gI/AAAAAAAAF8I/YgthMTt9J70C87Y2yP2xCwvVcYlEnv88ACLcBGAsYHQ/w400-h183/03%2BIMG_2194.png" width="400" /></a></div><p>Self-tapping screws into aluminium extrusions was a standard way of making guitar pedals back in the 70s - I can remember a Carlsbro Flanger pedal built exactly that way from the late 1970s the was built that way. Not exactly an EHX Electric Mistress, but I'm sure it was cheaper... You can see one of the <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=k2nlamFouog" target="_blank">Carlsbro Flange pedals here</a>... and (closer up) in <a href="https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/284355922029" target="_blank">this eBay advert</a> (over $600!), although it will probably be gone by the time you read this... <a href="http://www.effectsdatabase.com/model/carlsbro/alu/flanger" target="_blank">and here </a>(from an effects database)... It's interesting to see that the Carlsbro pedal is now worth more than the CT-1000, although the Casio was a very early 'almost a synth' from Casio, but only two and a half years before the <a href="http://www.muzines.co.uk/articles/casio-cz-101/8865" target="_blank">CZ-101</a> et al, which were definitely synthesisers! </p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-1HPTBurfyyA/YT0PY9_8QvI/AAAAAAAAF8Q/ZJwWEafei3sxQBk2qoI-FwJ-CE2LOuKuwCLcBGAsYHQ/s1080/04%2BIMG_2196.png" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="662" data-original-width="1080" height="245" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-1HPTBurfyyA/YT0PY9_8QvI/AAAAAAAAF8Q/ZJwWEafei3sxQBk2qoI-FwJ-CE2LOuKuwCLcBGAsYHQ/w400-h245/04%2BIMG_2196.png" width="400" /></a></div><p>So here's the mechanical arrangement. A bent (probably white (natural) nylon) lever, with a pivot underneath the foot plate on the top of the pedal, a second pivot close to the potentiometer, and result is that the potentiometer rotates a lot more than the foot plate. The 15 or so degrees of rotation of the foot plate is converted to something like 130 degrees of the 270 or so in a typical potentiometer. There are designs with gears that can do more, but this design is robust and has lasted decades for me so far. </p><p>It all looked very straight-forward, and so would be easy to fix myself. Remember that I've been doing this stuff for decades, so I have lots of experience. If you aren't sure, then go to an authorised, approved, qualified repairer or service centre and get a quote for what you want doing... Keep safe and carry on!</p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-7yGEhG8TLvQ/YT0Pgu5OTbI/AAAAAAAAF8Y/2iq2NVfJa-s8x088pUd-Tnjy4bjL8JIbQCLcBGAsYHQ/s1080/05%2BIMG_2198.png" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="626" data-original-width="1080" height="231" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-7yGEhG8TLvQ/YT0Pgu5OTbI/AAAAAAAAF8Y/2iq2NVfJa-s8x088pUd-Tnjy4bjL8JIbQCLcBGAsYHQ/w400-h231/05%2BIMG_2198.png" width="400" /></a></div><p>The short black piece of plastic (at the end of the white lever) is wrapped around the potentiometer shaft and tightened with a grub screw. Loosening this screw allows the lever to be moved out of the way. </p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-CYjIq-22ZRg/YT0PsEHY4lI/AAAAAAAAF8g/PI2NymOm4lcxJbd6ajUfV3F9w0Vq1p9CQCLcBGAsYHQ/s1080/06%2BIMG_2200.png" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="810" data-original-width="1080" height="300" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-CYjIq-22ZRg/YT0PsEHY4lI/AAAAAAAAF8g/PI2NymOm4lcxJbd6ajUfV3F9w0Vq1p9CQCLcBGAsYHQ/w400-h300/06%2BIMG_2200.png" width="400" /></a></div><p>Yep, as suspected, it is just an ordinary (for the 1970s or 80s) potentiometer - and easy to replace. </p><p>Now that it is exposed, the potentiometer nut can then be removed and the potentiometer unsoldered. Note how the wires are connected to it - take a photo with your mobile phone!</p><p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-5NDLZskVSCo/YT0PxzbLBsI/AAAAAAAAF8o/B-9hxv8_YEgmQrjnrco05WXX_xauVnAwwCLcBGAsYHQ/s1080/07%2BIMG_2202.png" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="720" data-original-width="1080" height="266" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-5NDLZskVSCo/YT0PxzbLBsI/AAAAAAAAF8o/B-9hxv8_YEgmQrjnrco05WXX_xauVnAwwCLcBGAsYHQ/w400-h266/07%2BIMG_2202.png" width="400" /></a></div><p></p><p>It is a 47 kOhm Logarithmic pot (short for 'potentiometer' - can't think why anyone would want to shorten that word!), indicated by the 47K and LogB labelling. European pots of this vintage are usually marked A for linear, and B for log, which is different to the rest of the world, where A often means log, B linear, and C anti-log. </p><p>Linear means that the output of the pot changes as you might expect when the shaft is rotated, so it outputs half when half way round. A logarithmic pot doesn't do this - some things just aren't linear. one example might be a frequency control - human beings hear octaves when a frequency is doubled, so if you had a linear pot, then going from 110m to 220 Hertz would be fine, but the next octave up is 440 Hertz (A3 or 4, and that's another story), and the next one is 880 Hertz, and the 1760 Hz. So if we used a linear pot to set frequency, then the low octaves would all be squashed up at one end, and the high octaves would be widely separated at the other end. A log pot would space the octaves out evenly as you rotated it.</p><p>Even though the intention is to get a control voltage from our expression pedal, the lever doesn't convert the rotation of the foot plate into rotation of the potentiometer shaft perfectly linearly, and so a log pot is used to give a 'compromise' that feels okay when you use it. Some high-end optical or magnetic expression or volume pedals have a much better relationship between the foot pedal movement and the output, but then they don't have pots inside...</p><p>If you feel like becoming a scientist, then you could try plotting the output of the pedal against the foot plate rotation. It ought to be linear-ish. Here's what I found with some of my 'basic' expression pedals:</p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-lqHfPmsccqc/YT43AOkEVQI/AAAAAAAAF-M/DsJCp7VhLQQ5bZdpOYakkaxIQD0yEVdVACLcBGAsYHQ/s549/expression%2Bpedal%2Btable%2B2.png" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="396" data-original-width="549" height="289" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-lqHfPmsccqc/YT43AOkEVQI/AAAAAAAAF-M/DsJCp7VhLQQ5bZdpOYakkaxIQD0yEVdVACLcBGAsYHQ/w400-h289/expression%2Bpedal%2Btable%2B2.png" width="400" /></a></div><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/--KOHIjQ-hjU/YT43GGmbI2I/AAAAAAAAF-Q/N2byKj3vYBokFfwvosY4PNEqVwFzNkC_ACLcBGAsYHQ/s1179/Graph%2Bpedals%2B3.png" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="904" data-original-width="1179" height="490" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/--KOHIjQ-hjU/YT43GGmbI2I/AAAAAAAAF-Q/N2byKj3vYBokFfwvosY4PNEqVwFzNkC_ACLcBGAsYHQ/w640-h490/Graph%2Bpedals%2B3.png" width="640" /></a></div><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><p>I should point out here that I don't calibrate my expression pedals, and this is the first time that I've done any comparison process. I'm now wondering if I should do some work on getting them more closely aligned / linearised, although I don't use them interchangeably - they are each usually assigned to a specific role with a particular guitar pedal or synth. I haven't included my Yamaha FC-7 pedals because they are only ever used with my SY99 and Montage. If I was to try and align the pedals detailed here, then that would probably require some custom hardware and software, and that could easily turn into something expensive and time-consuming. I have worked on International Standards (I was one of the Editors of an ISO-MPEG standard...) and I'm not aware of a formal standard for expression pedals - but there are definitely two different ways of using the Tip and Ring connections. As always, my advice would be to use the expression pedal that is recommended by the manufacturer of what you are plugging the expression pedal into. So for my Yamaha synths, then that is the FC-7. </p><p>There are other types of resistance law as well, with various special audio tapers that are found in some amplifiers. If in doubt, then measuring the end-to-end resistance with a multimeter and then plotting the resistance from one end to the wiper, will quickly show if it is linear or logarithmic (or something else!).</p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-SbKdKcLgCcU/YT0QBp762RI/AAAAAAAAF80/YWUaZNQxHZQ4c9sthFV07GvmhoXkYHpqACLcBGAsYHQ/s1080/08%2BIMG_2204.png" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="810" data-original-width="1080" height="300" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-SbKdKcLgCcU/YT0QBp762RI/AAAAAAAAF80/YWUaZNQxHZQ4c9sthFV07GvmhoXkYHpqACLcBGAsYHQ/w400-h300/08%2BIMG_2204.png" width="400" /></a></div><p>There are several different types of potentiometer that are available: ranging from the expensive Cermet track material that has good thermal characteristics, through more modern 'plastic' materials, and finally to the cheap carbon tracks of ordinary 'basic' potentiometers. There are wire wound pots, but these are coarse and noisy, and would not be my first choice for a pedal. </p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-xpGsjX1I25A/YT0QJJU4ABI/AAAAAAAAF84/uiMpZ4yUfqUsD4wzHg1Wx6XtuVIYUbBQwCLcBGAsYHQ/s1080/09%2BIMG_2209.png" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="810" data-original-width="1080" height="300" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-xpGsjX1I25A/YT0QJJU4ABI/AAAAAAAAF84/uiMpZ4yUfqUsD4wzHg1Wx6XtuVIYUbBQwCLcBGAsYHQ/w400-h300/09%2BIMG_2209.png" width="400" /></a></div><p>eBay.co.uk rapidly provided a replacement pot, and this was quickly fitted. Well, I say quickly, but the soldering to the pot was very much 'old school' soldering, maybe from a person used to valve circuitry, because the wires were threaded through the holes in the three terminals tags, then wound around and soldered. This sort of arrangement doesn't fall off, even when all the solder is melted. Pulling at the wire, especially with molten solder present, isn't very good at removing the wire either - and it can spray molten solder everywhere. One effective technique is to cut the wire with cutters, close to the tag, and then to remove the remaining copper wire and use a solder sucker to clean it all up.</p><p>(One thing that the InterWeb has revealed to me is that the British pronunciation of 'solder' says the 'L', as in 'sole' 'duh', whereas the US pronunciation drops the 'L', as in 'sodder'.) </p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-zBWx6dfqN_E/YT0QVCE_U_I/AAAAAAAAF9E/hgIVE3oKeRkJm2kRAvZ0WcogmhP7GE2KQCLcBGAsYHQ/s1080/10%2BIMG_2211.png" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="684" data-original-width="1080" height="254" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-zBWx6dfqN_E/YT0QVCE_U_I/AAAAAAAAF9E/hgIVE3oKeRkJm2kRAvZ0WcogmhP7GE2KQCLcBGAsYHQ/w400-h254/10%2BIMG_2211.png" width="400" /></a></div><p>When replacing old pots, then don't forget that pots from the 70s will probably have 1/4 inch shafts (6.35mm), whereas modern pots are more probably going to be 6mm or even smaller in diameter...</p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-RQyZDjn3yDo/YT0QyrpTPBI/AAAAAAAAF9Q/fVPnskNQ8o4iZIXYidzEXFmVDnBsx70qwCLcBGAsYHQ/s1080/11%2BIMG_2215.png" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="810" data-original-width="1080" height="300" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-RQyZDjn3yDo/YT0QyrpTPBI/AAAAAAAAF9Q/fVPnskNQ8o4iZIXYidzEXFmVDnBsx70qwCLcBGAsYHQ/w400-h300/11%2BIMG_2215.png" width="400" /></a></div><p>Once the old pot was out, the replacement potentiometer shaft was cut to length, was soldered to the cable, was securely fastened in place with the star washer and the nut, and the lever and grub screw were tightened again to grab the pot shaft. Finally the end-cheeks were put back and the pedal tested with the multimeter again. The pot measured 50k as expected (tip to sleeve), and the wiper (ring) to ground (sleeve) varied from 28.9k to 2.2k. Not perfect for a volume pedal, but fine for CV/Expression use... and I could always adjust the angle of the pot shaft if I needed to...</p><p>I did contemplate buying a dual-gang pot so that I could have two separate outputs, but decided, based on the astonishing price of the decade-older Carlsbro Flanger pedal, that it would be better to leave it unmodified. </p><p>I now have a slightly smoother and less noisy Volume/Expression pedal!</p><h3 style="text-align: left;">Theory - Expression Pedals</h3><p>Expression pedals, and in fact, any foot pedal that provides a Control Voltage that is used to control Expression or Volume in an electronic musical instrument, all tend to have similar designs, particularly at the budget end of the market. Although note that there are at least two different (and incompatible) ways to wire up the stereo jack plug (OK, the balanced jack plug commonly known as a 'stereo' jack), and specifically note that higher-end pedals might well have very different circuits and pin-outs because they use electro-optical or magnetic foot-plate rotation sensing methods. </p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-EX5QOnUwYv0/YT3Xq2lXNJI/AAAAAAAAF9Y/epvUMjMQOe8-isthWLOuihwzjzb31kdrwCLcBGAsYHQ/s1080/Slide1.png" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="488" data-original-width="1080" height="181" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-EX5QOnUwYv0/YT3Xq2lXNJI/AAAAAAAAF9Y/epvUMjMQOe8-isthWLOuihwzjzb31kdrwCLcBGAsYHQ/w400-h181/Slide1.png" width="400" /></a></div><p>Of course, you should always use the Expression pedal recommended by the manufacturer of the guitar pedal or instrument that you will be connecting the expression pedal to... but if there isn't a specific recommendation...</p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-SQ4jAFtI14Q/YT3Xypd9ByI/AAAAAAAAF9c/ceUjnRldJHI00-c0eAllUgDZ8lHt5qdJQCLcBGAsYHQ/s1080/Slide2.png" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="608" data-original-width="1080" height="225" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-SQ4jAFtI14Q/YT3Xypd9ByI/AAAAAAAAF9c/ceUjnRldJHI00-c0eAllUgDZ8lHt5qdJQCLcBGAsYHQ/w400-h225/Slide2.png" width="400" /></a></div><p>The circuit is very simple. The potentiometer (the fancy word for the electric component that a Roary control or Knob adjusts) has a voltage at one end, and ground at the other. The 'Wiper' then outputs a voltage between the voltage and ground, depending upon how mucho it has been rotated. At one extreme of rotation it will be the voltage, whilst at the other it will be ground. Most volume/expression pedals do not rotate the potentiometer through its full 270-ish degrees of rotation, and so the output never actually reaches the full range from voltage to ground. </p><p>As a side note, this is why many guitar pedals get you to use your Expression pedal when you set up the knobs that are going to be controlled by the expression pedal. By getting you to set the expression pedal to the two extremes (Toe and Heel positions) and then set the knobs where you want them for each extreme, then the guitar pedal knows exactly what the range of control voltages from the expression pedal are...</p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-YCghxn2l6ok/YT3X8VkNo1I/AAAAAAAAF9g/F3BHP8MDi9EQzDoJYkhgx_a7qxYDzXHkgCLcBGAsYHQ/s1080/Slide3.png" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="608" data-original-width="1080" height="225" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-YCghxn2l6ok/YT3X8VkNo1I/AAAAAAAAF9g/F3BHP8MDi9EQzDoJYkhgx_a7qxYDzXHkgCLcBGAsYHQ/w400-h225/Slide3.png" width="400" /></a></div><p>Some pedals have a switch that swap the ring and tip connections, so that the two main variations are covered. Most of my equipment seems to have the ring as the CV/Wiper connection, the sleeve as the Ground connection, and the Tip as the positive Voltage connection (which can vary from 3.3V (or lower) to 5V, depending on what it is powered from... As always, if you rewire anything, then you do so at your own risk. </p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-H2zrVZQIEnQ/YT3ZIrmveAI/AAAAAAAAF9s/dFkIRzKyiokcvWd_v0vA_c6Aclnt_K-EACLcBGAsYHQ/s1080/Slide4.png" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="320" data-original-width="1080" height="119" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-H2zrVZQIEnQ/YT3ZIrmveAI/AAAAAAAAF9s/dFkIRzKyiokcvWd_v0vA_c6Aclnt_K-EACLcBGAsYHQ/w400-h119/Slide4.png" width="400" /></a></div><p>Anyway, the 'swap' circuit uses a DPDT switch (Double Pole, Double Throw) and the circuit looks complex when the two positions are shown (above). The DPDT switch has two 'Either/Or' switches: so One input and Two Output (of which only one can be connected to the Input at any time). But if you think about how you would actually solder the wires to the DPDT switch itself, then the wiring is lots simpler - the input is on one side, the output is in the middle, with a pair of wires crossing over to give the 'swap' function. And that's it. Drawing the circuit out in full kind of makes it look more complex than the actuality.</p><p>I didn't add a switch to the Casio VP-E pedal, and I didn't add in the missing series resistor between the potentiometer and the CV point. I decided to keep the pedal 'as supplied'. If I was being technical, then my defence would be that the cable and the plug/socket have some inherent resistance, and so I would just be adding a bit extra.</p><h3 style="text-align: left;">Modding / Customisation Warning</h3><p>Of course, you should always use the Expression pedal recommended by the manufacturer of the guitar pedal or instrument that you will be connecting the expression pedal to... Also, if you modify / change / rewire anything, then you do so at your own risk. If you are not confident of your ability (or your equipment is still covered by a warranty or guarantee) then you should go to an approved, qualified repairer or service centre for any repairs, modifications or customisations. Safe, not sorry, is the correct attitude to have.</p><h3 style="text-align: left;">*** 8th November 2021 ***</h3><p>I have added a few minor corrections here and there, and will add a 'voltage output' chart as well in the next couple of days...</p><p><span style="font-family: inherit;">---</span></p><p><span style="font-family: inherit;">If you find my writing helpful, informative or entertaining, then please consider visiting this link:</span></p><div><div style="font-size: 18.72px; font-weight: 700;"><span style="font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: small;"><a class="bmc-button" href="https://teespring.com/en-GB/stores/synthesizerwriters-store" target="_blank"><br class="Apple-interchange-newline" /></a><a class="bmc-button" href="https://teespring.com/en-GB/stores/synthesizerwriters-store" target="_blank"><span style="margin-left: 5px;">Synthesizerwriter's Store</span></a> (New 'Modular thinking' designs now available!)</span></span></div><p style="font-size: 18.72px; font-weight: 700;"></p><div style="font-size: 18.72px; font-weight: 700;"><div style="font-size: 18.72px; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: small;"><a class="bmc-button" href="https://www.buymeacoffee.com/synthwriter" target="_blank"><img alt="Buy me a coffee" src="https://www.buymeacoffee.com/assets/img/BMC-btn-logo.svg" /><span style="margin-left: 5px;">Buy me a coffee</span></a> (Encourage me to write more posts like this one!)</span></span></div><div style="font-size: 18.72px; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: small;"><br /></span></span></div><div style="font-size: 18.72px; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: small;"><br /></span></span></div><div style="font-size: 18.72px; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: small;"><br /></span></span></div></div></div><p></p><p><br /></p><p></p><p></p><p><span face="Roboto, Noto, sans-serif" style="background-color: white; color: #0d0d0d; font-size: 15px; white-space: pre-wrap;"></span></p><p><br /></p><p><br /></p><p><br /></p><p><br /></p><p> </p><p><br /></p><p><br /></p><p><br /></p><p><br /></p><p><br /></p><p><br /></p><p><br /></p><p><br /></p>Synthesizerwriterhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13668943829180629830noreply@blogger.com0