randy's Recent Posts
Run 3 of Soundplanes is all wrapped up, and for a couple of weeks most of the instruments have been in happy new hands. Some people weren’t available to receive them, so here are a couple of stragglers going out this week.
After this run, I find myself with two or three remaining sets of good parts, as well as some prototype cases I had milled from walnut. I look forward to building out these instruments when I have time to get back into the shop, so watch this space for info if you're looking for a Soundplane because I plan to put one or more them up for sale if they make the cut.
Right now, though, I am on a dive back into Aalto land, and I'm not coming out until the 1.6 version is ready. This will fix the bug with the preset converter in version 1.5, as well as many other issues. This won't be a "fancy new features" release, rather the result of a whole lot of work under the hood that should make everything more solid and efficient. You know, the kind of release you wish companies would devote more time to.
Apple just released a new version of MacOS called Yosemite. I haven't tried it yet because of the aforementioned Aalto work. I have heard a few rumblings about problems with window management in VST plugins. So for now, I would recommend that you not upgrade, unless you can't resist all the nice new eye candy, and you're not in the middle of a project. If you do try it out, please drop by the forums and let us all know how it's going.
I want to believe...
More seriously, I want to get this done well again (with local printing, sewn-in tags, etc) but that takes time. Especially the mailing part.
I could just use some online service but that's not very Madrona Labs-like!
I'll look at getting some local help and doing another run once I get Aalto out...
Yosemite: I haven't tried it here because I have software to write. Someone on another thread was saying that closing windows on the VST versions wasn't working? Hopefully others can chime in with their experiences.
What version are you using?
Can you go back to the previous version with your previous installer?
Some OSC issues should be fixed in the 1.6 release coming very soon, so if nothing else is working please wait just a bit and try 1.6.
Oops, looks like I deleted part of my comment when posting.
I wrote something about how with overlap, isn't an overlap of
[EDIT] Oh wow, it did it again, looks like a problem with writing the "less than" sign in our Markdown engine. Will look into this.
was trying to say, with overlap less than 1, it sounds like what you are describing to me, how is that different than what you want?
Good feedback all around, thanks for the good words Tobias.
I have plans to address some of these mixer features soon.
With overlap
It sounds like the OSC port got "stuck" at some point and now Aalto can't reconnect. Hopefully a restart will fix this.
I mean, use the VST plugin.
I can confirm the problem and have it fixed for the 1.6 update. I'm working hard to release it soon.
Hi Richard,
Thanks for your patience, I know it's been a long time. I had a new run of Soundplanes in the shop, and those were taking up most of my work hours the past few months. Now that the Soundplanes are done, all my time will be going towards Aalto 1.6.
The main way to load a preset is through the big menu at the top of the plugin. If Kaivo (either AU or VST) is installed using the .dmg installer, all the presets should be in place, and viewable through this menu.
Hi Kurt,
Sorry this is frustrating you. I hope I can help.
First of all let me clear up the aupreset issue. Logic Express (or any DAW) will be able to read Aalto / Kaivo presets in the new format just fine! Otherwise it wouldn't be much good to me and the many users of my AU. Both the AU and VST will use mlpreset files going forward.
In general, it looks like your biggest complaint is that there has to be a DAW in the chain. I guess the main thing that would help you is a standalone version of Kaivo. You're not alone in wanting this so I'll plan to make standalone versions available for v.2. Either that or my own dead simple VST host.
Meanwhile, I think the channel mapping you want can happen in the Soundplane client, so you just need a simple VST host.
I use Apple's free AU Lab all the time for testing. I assume this is what you have. Just start it, select "Add Audio Unit Instrument" and start playing. The Soundplane will talk to the AU over OSC, so there will be no MIDI setup required. This ought to be easy.
There is also Apple's GarageBand which probably came with your Mac. Just type "Audio Units" into GarageBand help and it shows you how to start an AU synth. I just tried it out with Kaivo and it worked fine.
Thanks for sharing this info.
Very cool! I'm glad you're using the OSC capabilities from somewhere other than Soundplane---that is a huge deal. Keep the feedback coming and I'll do what I can to support.
Or you can use the VST format for now. The update should be very soon.
The 1.6 update fixes the preset converter issue but is not out yet.
I'm going to make OSC "channels" too so I'll work this in somehow.
Currently I make a run of 30 more Soundplanes when it seems that there is enough demand. Interest seems to be increasing so this could be as early as Spring or even this Winter, but I'm not sure exactly when it will happen.
Please stay tuned via the Madrona Labs mailing list here: http://eepurl.com/hsZjQ
or my Twitter feed: https://twitter.com/madronalabs
Hey, I am working a ton of bug fixes into this release and it is taking some time. I hear your frustration and I empathize but I can't just release Aalto 1.6 tomorrow, there are many changes I need to wind down and test. I'm working on automating my release process better so I can turn around updates more frequently in the future.
Since its release, some savvy users have been enjoying Aalto inside of Max/MSP from Cycling74. Max is an infinitely flexible environment for composition and synthesis, but learning to make your own great sounds is difficult. Aalto provides a more limited field of possibilities, but lets you make great sounds right away. The two together can be a great combination.
Interested? This quick tutorial from our friend Mack Fisher shows how to proceed.
Hi Yorke, sorry for the delay,
This is not currently possible but it's a reasonable thing to want to do so I'll try to figure out a solution ASAP.
I've finally received all the raw walnut surfaces for this run of instruments. I've attached the images below for your perusal. Some have an intense oval grain pattern while others are symmetrical (bookmatched), and some are more asymmetrical and ambiguous.
If you have ordered a Soundplane, please take a look at the surfaces
HERE.
If you have a particular preference, please post below and I'll try to accommodate it. Just reply below with the number of the surface that you prefer.
Picking your surface is an experiment by which I hope to increase everyone’s satisfaction and connection to the project. Late last night my wife pointed out, “but won't this make some people more disappointed if they don't get the one they want?” I think that's a really good point, but my guess is that some of you won't have a strong preference and so overall, people will be happier.
Note that these keyboards are in their raw states, fresh off the laser cutter with some burn marks, and no sanding or finishing. When they are finished they will look very rich and glossy.
Excellent, I think this is going to work out just fine. :-)
Here’s a new run 3 Soundplane on the bench, with the little boxes of parts and some of the tools I need to put it together:
The little boxes are a low-tech solution that has evolved over a few generations. The weighted bases let me grab parts out of them quickly without tipping them over very often. Sometimes it's the little things.
Here’s the grain on our new friend, up close. It’s performing wonderfully. My pictures never do justice to the shell inlays, which in real life are iridescent.
Thanks for CCing me on the note to VEP. I'm very interested in what they come up with.
My parameter code is still mostly based on the JUCE framework. If you want to try another JUCE-based plugin like one of the Valhalla reverbs, it might be interesting to see if it has the same problem. (I'm not suggesting you ought to do my work for me here, but I have other things on my plate for the rest of the week, so thought I'd pass the idea along)
will look into this ASAP, thanks for the report.
I use an envelope for attack + direct pressure in a lot of situations. The envelope can have amplitude and attack time modulated with touch-on velocity.
When in t3d mode I believe the "x vel" setting on the envelope uses a "touch-on" velocity value calculated from the initial z.
In the collision of a finger with the Soundplane, or I'm guessing with the Eigenharp keys, there is not too much energy above 1kHz. So used as an envelope directly there's no way to get super sharp attacks.
I think of it this way: imagine tapping a metal bell with a drum stick. You get a nice sharp tap. Now try to reproduce that with a finger tap. We know from experience there's no way to get a sharp attack in that situation. What changed? Only the striking object. So we know that the finger's softness is dulling the sound, and therefore we can't expect to get sharper sounds out of a fingertip in any situation.
Now, in the physical world, sampling rates are very high :-) --- so, you could hit the bell with a ring or something to get the sharp attack back. The Soundplane has a 1kHz sampling rate, so that specific trick won't be of help. It's basically designed to convey any gesture you can make with a finger. At the present sampling rate, it's already using a huge amount of raw bandwidth to the sensors, and to up it to 10kHz or something would take a different and more expensive design.
This stuff never came up with MIDI keyboards. It's exciting that we now have controllers that are good enough to start experimenting with some of these issues!
sorry you're having trouble. I'm moving the location of the presets so I'll make sure to test that all this works for the 1.6 version coming very soon and apply any needed fixes.
It could be a problem with the "midi clip pgm change slots" as opposed to sending program change messages from a controller like I was doing. I'll test that case.
yes.
Hi thetechnobear, sorry didn't mean to ignore your post, I just got caught up elsewhere. These are good ideas and I appreciate the feedback from your actual experience using the thing in this way. I see Aalto / Kaivo as limited in complexity on purpose, and I know you're sympathetic. However, adding modulation curves with a right-click on the input knob would not clutter things up. This could be another option like the ( + / * ) switch we were talking about.
Smuff, glad to hear you are another Pico + Aalto player! I'm not sure what you mean by the level module. level of gate module? In my experience Kaivo has a ton of dynamic range, which can be a challenge in making sounds. Maybe try using just a single-cycle wave in the granulator to get more of a "normal" synth setup for starters. Then add resonators and see what they do.
Since resonators are after the gate, maybe it seems like the gate is not having much effect. Use the sustain on the res. in addition to the gate and you will have more control.