randy's Recent Posts
Thanks for sharing the jam and the feature ideas.
I second the recommendation on using Numerology for sequencing. I'm not going to go too deep into saving sequences within my plugins, because that's what hosts are good at... in theory anyway.
I have a few features saved up to add to the sequencer. It's too bad that the VST / AU formats are so limiting when it comes to saving sequences. The only way to automate the sequencer was with a parameter for each value, which is kind of ridiculous.
When Aalto gets t3d messages over OSC, it goes into OSC mode and stops listening to MIDI entirely. If you want to combine both OSC and MIDI I wold recommend converting the MIDI information to OSC somehow.
Noted!
Hello,
The presets for Mac are in a separate installer. It is on the page http://www.madronalabs.com/products/kaivo . Did you install these?
Hi Mark, and thanks for writing and sharing your music. I look forward to listening. I saw you had a credit on Gino Soccio’s Dancer? That's amazing. He is one of my favorite producers.
I will definitely have some kind of holiday sale.
Hi Max,
I think you got it. Even if all the settings are they same the LFOs can drift independently of each other. You can use sequencer as an LFO is you need all the voices in sync. People have asked for a way to sync the LFO as well, so I am likely to add that feature.
I am with you—I'm still trying to think of a good way to do this without cluttering the UI. Thanks for the input.
I have wanted to do this for a while. Thanks for the feedback.
Our third run of Soundplanes is looking good. Here are all 30 enclosures after three coats of oil finish.
There is some particularly nice variety in this batch of cherry.
Cutting the veneer is a fun part of the process, where I get to decide what part of the crazy abstract walnut grain landscape to turn into each playing surface. This is done now, and the sandwich of materials that forms each Soundplane surface is ready to be laser-cut by our friends at Gurian Instruments here in Seattle.
You might wonder why Madrona Labs doesn't have a laser cutter, since they are such fun tools. The kind of laser cutter that can do the needed cuts through the surfaces is a big, expensive, and sometimes tempermental beast. To do that work with precision takes a lot of practice and I'm happy to have it done by experts.
I am definitely lucky to have such craftspeople to work with, so close by. I look forward to more Michael stories when I get the chance—he is a busy guy whose guitars are the stuff of legend. A cool short doc on Michael and the shop: https://vimeo.com/51647584
Soundplane production is in full swing here, and a busy month is planned so we can start shipping in early August. Here's Christopher tapping the walnut eyes into some Soundplanes:
Here are some of the new cherry enclosures with eyes awaiting final sanding and finishing. The wood has milled just great and is very smooth and dimensionally stable. I like the figure in the cherry very much, there are some nice waves and topographies going on and I’m excited to see how they pop when we put the finish on. Part of the charm of cherry is that it takes on a darker patina over time with light exposure and handling.
Thanks to my friends Alex and Erika we are the proud caretakers of a Shopsmith Mark V. I remember these being advertised on late-night TV long ago. Sort of a giant multi-tool with saw, drill press, lathe and boring capabilities. Turns out it's actually a good sturdy tool, much nicer than my loud old contractors' saw. It transforms into various configurations including a lathe, but I will probably leave it set up as a table saw most of the time.
And that's the news from the shop. The next couple of weeks are all about sanding and finishing the enclosures, then we can start in on the surfaces.
Hi Mark,
I'm glad to hear you've been diving deep into Aalto and using the OSC features! Glad that not only Soundplane owners are finding OSC useful. Thanks for the feedback.
I can definitely add some of these features when time permits.
note-per-channel over MIDI is already implemented for the next release.
Yes, outputs from the patcher are summed. Your multiply idea is intriguing because I've been wanting to add multipliers but I like the current complement of modules, especially in Aalto. I'll think over the ramifications.
I'm definitely interested! For me the most exciting feature would be making patches with the iPad, then taking them back to the studio for production.
It's not coming anytime soon though. I have another plugin planned first, and there is only me doing the programming.
Thanks for your continued interest in Soundplane drivers for Windows. No breakthroughs there yet, but after I'm done with this Soundplane run I should have some time to spend on Windows / Linux support.
Delete the plugin files /Library/Audio/Plug-Ins/Components/Aalto.component and /Library/Audio/Plug-Ins/VST/Aalto.VST. There are no other files anywhere.
Sorry there is no uninstaller, that would be nice but I haven't had people asking for it.
There are two Library folders on the Mac, one is ~/Library (home directory) and one is /Library (system disk root.) You can put plugins into either one, which is confusing. I put Madrona Labs plugins into /Library.
Sorry, I forgot to include them in the most recent app distribution. Here's a new 1.2 version with the patches back:
The only changes from 1.1.2 should be some minor cleanups. I will send out a new Soundplane app soon with more improvements.
Here's a thread for users to post Soundplane Max examples.
There are also some instructive Max patches in the Soundplane software distribution.
Thanks for the report, I'll check into this.
Hi there,
I wrote up an article about this very thing and it is available here:
http://madronalabs.com/topics/3565-getting-the-most-out-of-kaivo
And as I mention there I do plan to distribute processing to multiple cores in the future, which should help a lot on your setup.
I'll look into adding search to the forums.
Thanks for writing, and let me know if you have any other questions.
This is fixed for the next release. I'm working to finish another couple of fixes and get Aalto 1.6 out ASAP.
OK, I uploaded the current Soundplane app with docs and extras. It's at the same link for the previous 1.1 version: Soundplane 1.1 package
Soundplane application v.1.1 is now available at the usual spot in the hardware forums.
This is an interim release with a few important fixes to issues that cropped up in 1.0. It works with Aalto 1.0 and Kaivo 1.5.
Please note that I moved the zone configuration files to the new location ~/Music/Madrona Labs. You will have to move these files from their existing locations in ~/Library. Why did I do this? With Apple making your Library folders hidden by default, ~/Music is becoming the default location for various software makers to put things like patches and saved presets. Now I don't have to explain to people how to get to their Library folders. Sorry for any inconvenience.
Remember, this is open source software! All the code is viewable at github/madronalabs. I welcome your suggestions and contributions. Thanks to Greg Wuller for the note-off fix.
Changes:
- PLEASE NOTE: moved support files to ~/Music/Madrona Labs.
- fixed a problem where the wrong note value was sent on note-off
- fixed a potential crash sending MIDI if a MIDI device was not set
- made benign errors less alarming
Hi Anatoly,
Thanks for bringing up the memory issue. I had to keep the code simple for 1.0 (just load all files), but I will figure out how to improve RAM use in future versions.
I believe reason the audio is so big in memory is that the files on disk are usually in a packed 16-bit format, while the buffers in memory are 32-bit float per sample.
The code for loading / unloading samples should not be rocket science, but it's the kind of thing I will need to test well with different DAWs so I know it's not causing problems anywhere.
The main reason to use MIDI would be so you can record the note data--as yet, there isn't a DAW that supports recording and editing OSC data.
OSC goes directly to the plugin, bypassing the DAW itself. The right data rate will depend on your system and how loaded down it is with other work. I have good results with 100 or so. Note that the timing of an initial note onset is not affected by the rate dial---notes are always sent ASAP, then pressure and other continuous information is sent at the rate you select.
I guess there will be differences between the results with MIDI and OSC. In the dizi example, which is basically a physical model, things like the timing of the pressure data could for sure affect how the instrument speaks.
Please see my other message about documentation, I'm going to repost the docs for the Soundplane app today and take the opportunity to clean things up a bit.
I was looking for the documentation for you and I realized that I made a mistake with the latest software release. Normally it comes with a lot more support files and documentation! I forgot to include these extra files with the 1.1 update. So anyone who got a Soundplane since the update would understandably be confused.
Sorry for the oversight. I'm going to get those files up later today.
The only danger I can think of is that if there are duplicates, there will be confusion over what presets you have modified. Putting everything in the System Library should be fine.
In the future I'm taking a cue from Ableton and putting all the presets in ~/Music/Madrona Labs where they are easier to access and there should be less confusion.
One trick with OSC is to turn down the continuous data rate. That's just the "rate" knob. Otherwise all the data sent over OSC can flood the system.
The main drawback with MIDI, especially in Live, is that each voice is not independently controllable with pitch bend. Everything gets sent to one channel, essentially. If you are not using smooth pitch changes polyphonically then Live and MIDI may be fine.
I don't know why the presets wouldn't show up with the others. I am actually moving them again soon because of some Apple hassles. But then they will stay in one place after the next Aalto release, so I'm hoping the confusion will end soon.
I don't plan any sales on Kaivo until the Winter holiday season.
OK, thanks for the feedback. As you found out, it quickly gets cluttered, which is always a challenge. But I'll mull these ideas over.
As far as triggers, I think the move is to go to a dedicated trigger input like Kaivo has. Then you can use it form aftertouch or whatever you like. Same with LFO sync.
The reverb tune is kind of a cool idea, I like that it's a one-knob reverb now like the Arp 2600 etc., but there is room for more controls if they are just the right ones. Maybe hidden behind an "Expert" panel for not modulatable stuff, is my current thinking.
Noted. I guess most DAWs provide a way to do this, but I agree it would be helpful in the synth itself.