randy's Recent Posts

It's a fine question! My synths work with pretty easily alternate tunings but not with MTS-ESP for now. I may add it in the future.

Cool! I had a beer and watched you play with my synths, it was fun.

I'm working to finish up that Aaltoverb release. The M1 code is done. I plan to release Aalto 2 early next year.

here you go:
http://madronalabs.com/media/aalto/_read_me_first.txt
http://madronalabs.com/media/kaivo/_read_me_first.txt
http://madronalabs.com/media/virta/_read_me_first.txt

Sorry that didn't help. I can find the info for you, if you let me know what plugin or what particular info you were interested in.

All the existing plugins will definitely be getting major updates in the coming year. I'm excited to be rolling out a new graphics layer that will make things generally faster, better multi-core support, native Apple Silicon support and lots of other improvements. These will be v2 versions and will be paid upgrades.

At one point I did promise at least some new models for Kaivo for free so I'll sneak some into another 1.x update before I send out v2.

Thanks for the note!

Thanks for the info. I'm working on an update that will fix this.

It's cool—I'm a bit embarrassed it's taken so long! I really don't know about a timetable—as you say, I'm just trying to get Sumu out—but I can commit to doing at least another couple of resonators or bodies for Kaivo soon after Sumu ships.

Thanks for the good report and the additional info. If it does it outside of MPE mode, that will make it easier for me to track down. I've made a bug report.

I don't test much in Reaper, so I wonder if this is an initialization problem in Virta that is triggered by Reaper. If you have a chance to try a different DAW, please let me know if you see the issue there. Thanks again.

that's great to hear, thanks for sharing this info!

shipping this fall.

@thetechnobear thank you for posting the info!

I'm not an expert with Ableton and I have to look this up every time. So maybe someone else can explain better. If I remember right, sending the output of the synth track to another audio track, then recording that track, is the simplest way.

Hi, I guess when the Soundplane app was made I never considered much the idea that there would be hardware synths with MPE. While I can't be of much help immediately, I'll add an MPE MIDI out mode to the Soundplane app feature list.

Do you have Max/MSP? That's probably what I would use to make something that does what you want.

I appreciate your thoughts on smoothing. The code in this case does not help because it's not something I can just drop into my own framework. Finding the time is the hard part. I'll be making a big list of Aalto enhancements soon and this should be near the top.

Thanks for the thoughts @pdt.

@aleatoire, I played the WAV sample you sent me and on the long decay there is only DC, in other words, a constant value that slowly decays. This is at under -50dB, so I don't see it as a major problem. But I wonder if something in your audio chain does not like the DC and is converting it into high frequencies somehow, with the distortion you are describing. From the sound you sent me that is my only guess.

In any case this explains why the "leak" setting removed the problem. It removes DC.

I appreciate the reminder. I'm not sure how I missed this the first time around, so sorry about that!

It's an easy fix if some params want to be smoothed and others don't. But in the case of the waveguide frequency some people might want this to be smoothed and others might not. A user-configurable smoothing frequency for each parameter would be too complicated, I think.

I could see an approach of smoothing changes, unless the parameter has not been changed for a short while. So if you start modulating gradually away from 0, the first change won't be a jump anyway and it will still sound smooth. But if the first modulation is a high value, it would immediately jump to that value, then begin smooth changes if values kept flowing in, as from poly aftertouch and so on.

Woo! I know, I was thinking I should mark the occasion somehow but I'm so busy trying to finish software... ha.

I guess it's my right to have a ten-year anniversary any time I want. So maybe in the near future.

It's about time for Aalto 2. I should probably have a paid upgrade more than once a decade!

Hey, nice to see you here—thanks for the update!

I really like that cyborg shoegazey piece and would love to hear it longer.

I thought also that you were just experiencing the normal operation of Kaivo's resonator. But this sounds like something different. I'll try to reproduce this with your patch. Aléatoire, please feel free to send me a wav file of the artifacts to support at madronalabs.com.

FYI I've added NEON support to madronalib now using sse2neon and everything runs as expected. I've merged this into the master branch. Updates of the plugins, starting with Aaltoverb, will be coming soon.

When Aalto gets a program change N message it's supposed to select the Nth program in the "MIDI Programs" directory and switch to it. Max doesn't look for or know about these files at all.

Oh there should be some unique controls all right. Excited to share more concrete info this summer.

Aalto responds to the MIDI program change message, not the VST concept of effect programs. It's the "midievent" stuff you were trying to do originally that should work. There's no setting to disable it.

I just pulled up Live to verify that the program change message is working in Aalto and it is.

I'm sorry I don't have more time to dive into making a Max patch right now. I'm sure someone at the Max forum could help.

Unfortunately I'm not really an Ableton expert! I generally muddle around and figure things out. The answer is probably in where you are sending audio from the track with Kaivo. You may need to send it to another audio track and record that.

Happy Solstice, and here's to change and evolution. This goes out with all my best wishes to everyone for health, peace and prosperity in what has been such a hard year for so many. I hope that, despite COVID, you are finding ways to keep sane and happy, to nurture your body and spirit. A few weeks ago I got away on a short trip to meet some friends at the Pacific Bonsai Museum. That's where the lovely grouping of golden larch trees on the sale image here comes from. Visiting was a meditative, inspiring and world-expanding trip for me and if you're in the Seattle area, I recommend it highly.

From now through January 6 2021, our year-end sale is happening! You can use the code EVOLVE to get 30% off all our software. If you're an Aalto fan but you've been holding out on getting Kaivo or Virta or Aaltoverb, now's a great time. And yes, our simple bundle deal is in effect along with the year-end discount, if you choose to take advantage of them both. This results in some big discounts!

Finally, if you're looking for a last-minute gift, you should know that it's easy to give a Madrona Labs software license! A gift license can even be part of a simple bundle with one you bought for yourself and I'll be happy to transfer it free of charge (and judgement). Just email me at support@madronalabs.com to let me know. I'm taking Dec 25, Dec 31, and Jan 1 away from the computer but otherwise I'll be available within 24 hours (and probably less) to help make your holiday dreams come true.

Yes we do, please email me at support@madronalabs.com and I'll set you up.

From what you wrote, that all looks like it should work. Does the vst~ have its own program change message you can try?

I have to get Sumu out first. My plan is to be working on v2 by this Fall.

Hi, Aalto v.1 does not do MIDI mapping in the synth itself—you will need to use the MIDI mapping features of your favorite DAW.

By popular demand, version 2 will have MIDI mapping.