randy's Recent Posts
Thanks for the comments—what's harsh is very subjective, and another person might want to make sounds that you think are harsh. So my job is to leave room for all these possibilities!
When the filter is in "thru" mode, it doesn't take up CPU. Disabling space also is a reasonable idea. I'll take a look thanks.
Yes the filter section is very non-linear so turning up the gain 2x pre-filter will not result in 2x after. The output volume dial is post-filter and this is part of the reason for that. If you want more precise metering I recommend YouLean's loudness meter.
Thanks for this and the other reports. I'll look at them for the next update.
Thanks for the update
Thanks for the feedback!
Are there plans to make it resizable or different scaling options in the future?
It is resizable now. I did see the resizer disappear once and make a note to investigate. Can you please make a screen shot with the missing resizer and send it to me, and include your resolution settings in it?
It may work for you at a different resolution.
(This already went out via the mailing list. I'm posting here for people who are just joining us.)
Sumu update.
Hi folks, thanks all of you who have purchased the Early Access release of Sumu or the Studio Bundle! Though I’m still deep in Sumu work, I’m also looking ahead to the updates of the other instruments, and to future projects I want to get started on. I couldn’t even imagine doing some of these future projects without full time to devote to Madrona Labs work. Based on the success of the Sumu launch so far, it looks like I’ll be able to have that time. This is huge for me.
So, the release got out, but not without hiccups. There are a few bugs that I created in my last week of work and as such, evaded beta testing:
- crashes on load on Windows, in DAWs including FL Studio and Cubase
- window too big on launch, preventing easy resize
- distorted sound coming from oscillators mod osc output
I am going to get a release out ASAP to address these—but also take the time to beta test everything properly. I have already fixed two out of three of these issues here, so I think June 3 is a realistic date for the next update. Other fixes will be in it also.
Sumu FAQ.
The scales menu is grayed out. Is it unimplemented?
Yes, everything grayed out is that way on purpose because it is not implemented yet.
I'm not finding the popup menus for patches and partials.
These need a right-click (Windows) or ctrl+click or two-finger click (Mac). This is confusing a lot of folks so I'm going to change it in a future release.
When will the 1.0 release come out?
Given a reasonable pace of three or four betas, I’m shooting for 8–10 weeks from now.
I’m trying to import my own partials but it’s not working.
The documentation is not complete but please look at this topic on our forums: https://madronalabs.com/topics/9253-sumo-preset-and-partials-maps-menu-selection
See also this Vutu quickstart, which is a little behind the current Vutu but a good intro:
https://youtu.be/crvpsnbLtt0
I can’t find the global settings […] menu described in the manual.
The manual has it wrong—I removed that one after telling George it would be there, because it wasn’t done yet. Please look forward to more menus in the future.
Is the Vutu / Sumu partials format proprietary?
No. Vutu exports partials as editable JSON text files with a .vutu extension. When Sumu imports the .vutu files it does two things: compresses them and moves them into the Sumu/Partials directory where they are saved as .utu.
Feature X is not working, is this a demo restriction?
The only demo restrictions are as follows:
- saving patches is not allowed
- a soft “demo wave” sound plays every two minutes Anything else that seems wrong is either a bug, or a weird synthesizer working properly.
The window size is too big, how can I change it?
To change the window size, you need to drag the triangle in the lower right corner. But this is impossible if it's offscreen! You can work around this in the meantime by setting your display resolution high enough to see the resizer in the lower right, resizing Sumu to a reasonable size, and saving that state in your DAW. On opening the saved patch Sumu should start with the saved size.
The 1.0.0b15 release of Sumu, also known as Early Access 2, is now available on the Sumu page. It has the following changes since Early Access 1:
ui: fix bug if Scope was drawn before resize (crash on launch)
ui: fix collectionPicker bug not showing last few files
ui: fix excess drawing of Popup menus (caused slow UI)
ui: fix too-big window on creation
ui: remove mouse reposition on windows pending fix
pulses: allow turning bpm down to 0
demo noise: half as loud and half as often
core: fix recent mod osc sound bug
core: fix AM sound bug
core: fix beta expiration bug
patches: set all to 4 voices
patches: fix inaccurate Fargo quote
Thanks for your good reports that led to some of these fixes. And if you were trying to run Reaper, Cubase or Studio 1 on Windows, thanks for your patience—the problem affecting those DAWs is fixed.
It's June 1 and Sumu users will see a message that your beta has expired. This is obviously a mistake on my part and I'll be working to get an update out today. I'm sorry for any inconvenience!
fixed, thanks for your patience.
Isnt this the same type of converting audio as Harmor (fl-studio) does?
No one else aside from Kyma is using Loris analysis as far as I know. It's a little more involved to get the right parameters but it lets you do more with a given number of partials because of the enhanced bandwidth nature.
I am lucky for this community. I don't personally enjoy flogging. I do like long walks on the beach, and weird sounds.
I left a beta expiration check in by mistake. Not trying to be amusing! I'll get an emergency update out as soon as possible, hopefully today (Saturday).
I just need to take enough time with it to be sure I'm not screwing up something else. Though I try to avoid them, mistakes happen. I'm sorry for any inconvenience.
@simonkennedy I've just sent a reply to your email.
There's a question just above where @felipetellezost asks about Vienna Ensemble.
Hi, you can search the whole site by going to the Resources menu / Support. There is a search bar there.
Hey we've talked about it a little bit. No plans but who knows...
Site search will search forums, news, etc. —it is up under resources / support.
if they know that what they have received is a free program plus another program, side by side, their rights will be clear.
That's encouraging! Thanks for digging it up.
Amazing stuff.
Thank you for the kind words!
If I can be of any help resolving that, would be happy to. Can't wait for an update...
Hang in there, I'm working to get an update out ASAP.
Where are the Sumu partials stored?
~/Music/Madrona Labs/Sumu/Partials.
Vienna Ensemble can't load the interface and the plugin has induced kernel panics in my machine.
I will try Vienna Ensemble, hopefully this is fixed already.
I haven't seen any kernel panics here. If you are able to get a crash report of any kind, please send it to me via support@madronalabs.com .
This is proving to be frustrating. A document with an instance of Sumu that is generating sound is saved and closed. On reopening the document, Sumu no longer generates sound.
Sorry to hear. This is my first report of this. I test in Live Suite 12 all the time.
When Sumu is triggered with midi no sound comes out.
What if you switch to a patch that generates sound on its own? (Sumu machines / autoroute)
Do the red lights in the input module flash when there's MIDI input?
Does the sound cut off for the entire Live project, or just Sumu?
I'm trying to understand at what point the system is failing.
Resize on Macbook M2 laptop in Logic isn't working here and it's larger than my screen.
Fixed for the next update.
Re Vutu integration:
Thanks for the feedback. The more tightly I integrate Vutu with Sumu, the closer I'm afraid I get to violating the spirit of the GPL that Loris was offered under. So this is a direction I will probably want to avoid.
Amazing work.
Thank you so much!
One thing I get sometimes is the modulator oscillator seems to return back to or get stuck on a default pitch.
Fixed for the next release.
The update release is coming along well. I can hold off on shipping a thing for years while I design it, but if people have bought it and it's not working for them that's very motivating for me!
Bought the bundle yesterday and have been playing with Sumu since.
Thank you for the detailed feedback! I'm very glad you are enjoying it.
Each of Sumu's 64 playback oscillators is a 2-op FM (or AM) pair with noise. A single sine + noise goes (or can go) toward reproducing the sound as analyzed. Then the pair can do a lot more, with the partials file as a jumping off point for new sounds.
Any chance of you adding paypal as a payment method?
please write us at support@madronalabs.com and one of us will take care of it.
Unfortunately a display-related bug snuck into the Early Access 1 release that is crashing a bunch of DAWs on Windows.
I figured out where this problem lies and it will be fixed for the next update. We are aiming for Jun 3 for the next release.
Hello! I´m loving Sumu! So inspiring instrument!
Thank you very much!
But I can not find my custom folder in the drop down menu in Sumu. Am I doing something wrong?
Sorry it's not well documented yet. For now, I have this explanation:
When you import a partials folder, it imports the whole directory tree underneath the one you pick, including any folders that contain .utu files.
So if I have on my disk
~/VutuFiles/Strings/cello.utu
~/VutuFiles/Strings/viol.utu
~/VutuFiles/Noises/tinkle.utu
~/VutuFiles/Noises/harsh/blender.utu
and then bring up the import dialog (partials/...) and select the folder ~/VutuFiles to import,
the files
~/Music/Madrona Labs/Sumu/Partials/Strings/cello.sumu
~/Music/Madrona Labs/Sumu/Partials/Strings/cello.sumu
~/Music/Madrona Labs/Sumu/Partials/Noises/tinkle.sumu
~/Music/Madrona Labs/Sumu/Partials/Noises/harsh/blender.sumu
will be created, along with the directories on the way.
Importing again will (for now) overwrite these files.
The intention is to "sync" your entire partials development folder at once.
I have two non-working features. [...]
All the grayed out controls are not yet implemented.
The info about the settings menu was not correct in the manual, apologies.
Thank you Randy, I did note that this issue was resolved with Sumu.
Glad to hear!