Hi Y'all, I'm currently enjoying working my way through the Kaivo PDF Manual (which is awesome BTW) and exploring this brilliant synths inner workings and sound palette which is delicious! Really mind bending sounds and architecture, just so much fun to explore! Anyway, through this process I came across a strange phenomenon that I can't explain but its possible its just a MIDI Protocol thing to do with the way that the Pitch Bend CC is handled, so I thought I'd mention it to try and determine if its a bug or a feature!
Basically, there's this amazing Default patch (Kaivo Percussion --> Slap Tube) that sounds (to me) like Indian Percussion such as a Tabla or Dholak and I thought it would be awesome to be able to subtly (or non-subtly) bend it as a drum I used to own had tuning blocks on the side and you could twist them or pull them to create a pitch modulation (its also possible there's a playing style that creates this phenomenon too); but its an awesome sound regardless and really characteristic of the unique Indian percussion sound!
I'm not using an MPE controller, but a cute little Novation Launch-Key-25 Mk3 instead (which is incredible BTW) and it has Polyphonic After Touch on its drum pad section (fortunately for moi)! This is also perfect for what I wanted to achieve and sounds incredible (e.g. simply route After --> Linear Pitch) on the Resonator for instant sonic gratification! I'm so glad After Touch is a feature as it can add an incredible dimension to sounds, and its a somewhat ideal usage scenario in this particular case!
What this made me wonder is if the Pitch Modulation Wheel thingy could be used as well so you could switch between subtler pitch bends (e.g. a semitone) with After Touch, and perform more adventurous pitch deviations (e.g. Whole Tones++) using the Pitch Wheel! Unfortunately when I tried this, it seemingly creates a strange 'stair stepping' like sound (which traditional MIDI's limited CC resolution of 128 steps is known for, but usually with filter sweeps etc)!
Except, its a little more complicated than that as it sounds like the equivalent of tapping a drum membrane gently with your fingernails in a percussive motion, so its appears perceptually more like adjustments with the Pitch Wheel are somehow creating transient spikes/fluctuations, or somehow forcing the Resonator Module to reinitialize its simulation for each pitch deviation?
Fortunately this Patch makes this really easy to hear as the Modulation Wheel is already setup to control the decay, so merely winding it up to maximum allows you to clearly hear the transient stepping as with a lower register (C0 or C1) you literally get seconds to hear its deliciously lush, growling, resonating decay! What I thought was weird is that 'After' doesn't produce the same artifacts even if you crank its range up high but surely that's still limited to only 128 steps of resolution?
Upon further investigation I established that you can create these artifacts with the After Touch drum pad method too, but only if you alter the value of the Resonators Linear Input Dial whilst you are still modulating it (and its still decaying). Further, if you apply a relatively small pitch deviation with the Pitch Wheel, played on a low register (e.g. C1) it doesn't do it, but the higher the pitch the artifacts begin to appear in case that helps investigate or recreate the issue (or understand its cause/effect etc)!?
As such, I'm just wondering... Is there a way that the 'Pitch Wheel' functions over MIDI that is causing these artifacts, or is it actually a form of software bug in Kaivo? I'm just curious either way as naturally I love this synth (smitten in fact) and want to understand its weirding ways as much as possible! Regardless, its an incredible synth Randy - many thanks! :)