Various Questions

malc · 17 Mar 2005

Ok, here I go...

1- Because im fairly new to this app im still not sure what modules equal fixed Voltage and Khz, I think i know but having everything named differently in this app im a bit confused.

See my reply to your other post here.

2- Is there a yahoo user group or something similar with module examples, I noticed there is a few on these forums but i get error when loading some of them and they wont load.

This is the user group 🙂 . There are no examples that I know of yet. SynthMaker is just beginning to stabilise. As more people start using it I'm sure there will be sharing of modules. When we have time we'll certainly be producing some.

I suspect any modules you've found may be very old ones. When were they posted?

3- What is the correct way to use the various scope modules when i connect them they only update after much longer than they should do. Also can you set delay times on them like in Reaktor.

Do you mean the Displays (FFT, Wave) ?

4- How can you set hi and low values on a slider ect.

The slider module we've provided doesn't do this, but it would be easy to modify it to do it. I'll knock something up for you and post later.

5- As i have knowledge of modular synthesis im getting the feeling that Synthmaker is based on schematic type synth design.

Err, no not really - unless Jorge can claim otherwise - sorry 🙂

6- Is there a plan for a default multi OSC unit with a list entry box and sync Pitch PM ect. I know they can be made in the structures but i think it would be cool if there was a default osc like this.

We'd like to have a whole set of high-level modules like this. there are just so many other things taking priority at the moment. The current example file uses something like this.

7- Is it possible to make an XY pad type control.

You betcha. We just need to finish and release the XY Drag Accumulate component for handling the mouse. With that it would be a doddle.

Phewph - stop the clock 😉

malc · 17 Mar 2005

Ok, as promised here's a very quick stab at a slider with range parameters. I've done two in this schematic. The first requires you to set the range inside the module (there are two float components named Min and Max). The second slider has the ranges on the slider front panel itself for instant access.

To get the schematic with the sliders click here.

In the future we'll have a properties component that will allow you to set values for a module in a pop-up dialog.

Hope this helps.

Tom7777 · 17 Mar 2005

suspect any modules you've found may be very old ones. When were they posted?

Yeah i think they were for the older versions of SM. I think you should try and keep it so older modules and synths load in SM though or users will have to keep updating there modules with certain new releases.

Do you mean the Displays (FFT, Wave) ?

Yeah i couldnt really work out how to use them at right. An idea for when you release new modules to the library would be to maybe have an examples folder with it running in a system so users can see how it is connected and what its doing. As you say though theres no modules but if you included something like that every updated module then the library will slowly build over time and users would add modifications ect. I think that you should also allow sub folders and folder options within the library structure maybe on a right click command, eg rename, delete, add new folder, move folder up and down 🙂 Then everyone can have there own customized setups. Maybe have the default folders non deletable so that updates stay correct for everyone.

The slider module we've provided doesn't do this, but it would be easy to modify it to do it. I'll knock something up for you and post later.

Synthedit allows you to right click or every and set a high and low value for each slider and also a contoller so you can link the pitch of an osc to a midi keyboards pitch bend ect. This is a feature i feel Synthmaker is currently missing so i hope you add a right click properties menu which would speed things up alot i think.

I can't wait to try out the XY unit. Does it have inputs also?

malc · 17 Mar 2005

I think I missed your last few questions in my previous post.

8- Has anyone got any examples of vocoder and good reverb yet or are these going to be added later.

We haven't I'm afraid. Someone may be working on something but I haven't heard or seen anything. It's still early days for SM. We haven't got the stage of creating modules ourselves yet. These things will come though.

9- Is it possilble to build synths entirely withing the coding modules?

🙂 Well, not at the moment. Who knows, maybe in the future but we think that a combination of graphical programming and coding is the best way to go with SynthMaker.

10- I notice that with the different versions released there has been different example files is there anywhere to get all of them without the installs for older versions. I guess i dont mind if I have to get all the old install files too.

There have only really been two different example files. There were some very early ones but they wouldn't show you much. The first proper example was pretty basic, you can get this here.

As the software has developed, components have come and gone and the way that we do things has changed in some areas. For this reason looking at the old example may not be the best idea as many things are done 'the old way'.

malc · 17 Mar 2005

Yeah i think they were for the older versions of SM. I think you should try and keep it so older modules and synths load in SM though or users will have to keep updating there modules with certain new releases.

When I say old versions I really mean old. We started a complete re-write of SM in July last year. It's kind of hard to maintain compatibility when this happens. If we'd had a huge userbase at the time then maybe we'd have considered it.

Anything created since July last year will be compatible and this will continue to be the case for future versions.

I can't wait to try out the XY unit. Does it have inputs also?

The XY Drag Accumulate will be very similar to the Y Drag Accumulate component that is already in the toolbox (under the GUI group).

Tom7777 · 18 Mar 2005

Thanks for your quick replys 🙂