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13 hours ago, Starship Krupa said:

As suggested by @Brian Walton, here's a bump to alert you all to the newest version of the amazing freeware synth Surge:

https://surge-synthesizer.github.io/

New features including a theme that complements CbB's Tungsten very well.

If you haven't checked this pup out, it's a freakin' powerhouse.

It shouldn't be an issue for most folks but the Surge Synth team are only distributing built binaries of v1.7 as a VST3 and AU plugin.

Details here from the developers: https://surge-synthesizer.github.io/formats

It has mainly to do with the open source licensing path that has been chosen by the team. But you are free to build your own VST2 from the source code, if so desired.

VST2 is not free and open source software, and Steinberg, the copyright owner of the VST2 code, is no longer making licenses available to developers.

 

Edited by abacab
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I wasn't aware that VST3 conformed to free and open source software? Did Steinberg change the licensing?

So far I haven't run into VSTi's being the buggy poop in VST3 form that FX can be.

With VST3 vs. VST2 the dance is: "plug-in developer announces favorite effect now available as VST3, try VST3, VST3 crashes or otherwise has horrible results in Cakewalk and/orMixcraft, revert to VST2 version, VST2 version is solid as a rock."

I'm sure they all work fine in REAPER, but I don't.🤣

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14 minutes ago, Starship Krupa said:

I wasn't aware that VST3 conformed to free and open source software? Did Steinberg change the licensing?

So far I haven't run into VSTi's being the buggy poop in VST3 form that FX can be.

With VST3 vs. VST2 the dance is: "plug-in developer announces favorite effect now available as VST3, try VST3, VST3 crashes or otherwise has horrible results in Cakewalk and/orMixcraft, revert to VST2 version, VST2 version is solid as a rock."

I'm sure they all work fine in REAPER, but I don't.🤣

VST2 is officially dead as far as new developers are concerned. Steinberg, the proprietary owner of the VST development kit, has discontinued the licensing for it. VST3 is the future...

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1 minute ago, abacab said:

VST3 is the future...

Well, I hope VST3.5 is the future, because VST3, the New Coke of plug-in technology, has been nothing but a headache so far, the sole exception being that it has a canonical location for the plug-ins themselves, which of course some people don't like.

The touted new features were either already well-implemented by most developers in their VST2 plug-ins or, like the one where the plug-in is supposed to suspend itself when its not processing audio, pretty much not utilized, at least so far. And having gotten everything to play pretty nicely together with VST2, host and plug-in developers are still having troubles with the new format.

I always try the VST3 first, and if it doesn't work, fall back to the VST2, which usually does.

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I have just found a very under rated VST for using Sound Fonts and SFZ files. Its called "BassMidi VSTi"

http://falcosoft.hu/softwares.html#bassmidi_vsti

I have only just started looking into it, but it appears to be a better alternative to SFZ/SFZ+

  • Its Multitimbral. up to 16 parts
  • It can load up to 5 different Soundfonts/SFZ's
  • I loaded a 4GB soundfont, and it didn't skip a beat, or even pause while loading it!
  • it has some extra options regarding reverb (room, hall, plate etc etc) and chorus (mild flanger etc)
  • Its 64b.
  • Its not an over-sized UI. Its more to the point, minimalistic, which is what I want out of a Rompler.
  • Its not abandoned like SFZ/SFZ+

Some things to note:

  • Its some kind of super secret. There is virtually no YouTube vids on the VSTi, But some on a related Midi player.
  • It uses controller 100 to change banks (ie switch between different soundfonts/SFZ) NO it uses the normal method. BANK=(MSB*128+LSB)

This VSTi, is looking really good so far! It replaces SFZ and SFZ+ and all the other soundfont players I have tested. I have 4.5K Soundfonts (at 36GB) and 12K SFZ files (at 38GB)

Now that I found it, it really seems like some best kept under ground secret. It deserves soooo much more attention considering the number of rubbish SynthEdit ones.

EDIT: The current version has an issue specifically with Cakewalk sample rate (VSTi defaults to 44.1KHz)

Edited by John Kalabric
correct bank select info
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Just saw this from rekkerd.org

Quote

 

Audio Vitamins has released the source code for the previously closed-source commercial offering Stochas under the GPL license.

Stochas is a step sequencer that has a unique randomization and humanization engine. It empowers the user to create constantly evolving melodies and drum patterns via the programming of random and semi-random sequences.

"The original idea sprang from a JSFX plugin (Reaper plugin) created by Andrew called Stochasticizer which allowed semi-random sequencing of melodic and drum lines. Andrew was contacted by Dave who suggested creating a plugin that would work on any DAW. The two worked together to design the product which was released a few months later.

Due to lack of time to devote to marketing a commercial product, in 2020, it was decided to release the software as open-source in the hope that it would be useful to music producers around the world."

Stochas is now available as a free download for Windows and Mac (VST/AU). The source is available in a GitHub repository.

More information: Stochas

 

Looks very interesting:

 

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Whoa, Hillmy, that looks interesting indeed, and they mention Cakewalk compatibility, good on 'em.

Ob. pun about being stoked-a55 about Stochas. All groan.

In other freeware news, thanks to @Fleer, we know about OB-XD 2.0.

I haven't tried it yet, but I've been sprinkling some Synthwave sounds into things lately, so an Oberheim tribute will be a welcome thing. It is free, the button that says "49.00" is for if you want to donate $49.00. If you want to download it, click the appropriate download button.

Also, for fellow ambient droners, a company called Quiet Music just released an instrument called Serenity, which isn't as sleepy as it sounds. From what I can make out it's a ROMpler with 3 drone waves in it that you can mix, plus some other basic things like an LFO, filter, reverb. Like a SONiVOX Orchestral Companion but with only 3 samples in it. Maybe "SONiVOX Hippie Companion." It's actually capable of darker moods depending on how you mix the waves and set it. C1-F1 are mapped to  field recordings of crickets, birds, then 4 different water sounds, rushing, splashing, rain, waves, and these may all play simultaneously.

Someone could, for instance, hold down C1 and C#1 to get the crickets and birds chirping, then bring the water sounds in one by one, then play some ominous intervals with the ambient drone section to evoke God's wrath upon the Earth for the sins of mankind. The UI actually kind of encourages that:

153314861_SERENITYVSTGUI.jpg.b7a3f0f72eb2afbc1b2d3f5fae0e0562.jpg

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This ones been out for a while, but haven't seen it mentioned here ...

HY-POLY by HY-Plugins.

There is a paid version for $60, but there is a limited free version.

hypoly_cover1-768x466.jpg

It’s a subtractive type poly phonic synthesizer with midi effects and audio effects.
And many of synth and audio fx parameters can be modulated.
You can create wide variety of synth sound with those midi/audio fx and modulations

 

Format:
VST2, VST3(32/64bit) for Windows
VST2 , VST3 and AU(64bit) for macOS

System Requirements:
Win : Windows7 or higher
Mac : OSX 10.9 or higher

 

Free version

Main Features:

1 oscillator mode

Maximum number of voices is 4

No midi effect unit

5 audio effect units

 

Download

Edited by Wibbles
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Yamaha S-YXG50 Portable VSTi v1.0.0 

https://veg.by/en/projects/syxg50/

Note: there are two versions on the page. The second larger one is called "yamaha_syxg50_vsti_ext.7z " and is further down the page

Its basically a GM & XG synth, but uses Yamaha's AWM2, which makes it sound a little different / special to TTS

lots of docs at: http://www.jososoft.dk/yamaha/docs_specs.htm

It is UI impared.

I also cannot seem to be able to change banks? to get to the patches defined as part of XG, found in the following doc.

http://www.jososoft.dk/yamaha/pdf/xg_spec.pdf

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18 hours ago, John Kalabric said:

Yamaha S-YXG50 Portable VSTi v1.0.0 

https://veg.by/en/projects/syxg50/

Note: there are two versions on the page. The second larger one is called "yamaha_syxg50_vsti_ext.7z " and is further down the page

Its basically a GM & XG synth, but uses Yamaha's AWM2, which makes it sound a little different / special to TTS

lots of docs at: http://www.jososoft.dk/yamaha/docs_specs.htm

It is UI impared.

I also cannot seem to be able to change banks? to get to the patches defined as part of XG, found in the following doc.

http://www.jososoft.dk/yamaha/pdf/xg_spec.pdf

IIRC support for Bank Select messages in VSTi's was introduced back in 2019.09.

It's certainly working fine for me:

image.png.4d7425a8ede757283a5309e02a85727b.png

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i understand how to select banks (I remember that it was available in  at least SONAR 1.0), it is that I was trying to select a very specific patch/bank from the XG specs. However, looking at it now, I noticed the one I was trying (as a test) to get to is flagged with an asterix, meaning "Ext". So I am guessing it does not support these. I was trying to get to the reverse snare, which is patch 120 (119 in cakewalk) on bank 96.

I also just tried something else that was a little more audible different, and that made it clear that it does work. Patch 8 on bank 27 - ClaviWah. Now, if only I could actually play the clav from Superstition.¬¬

 

 

Edited by John Kalabric
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1 hour ago, John Kalabric said:

actually I just reread my original post, and the file I downloaded has "ext" in the filename>:( Boy, you really cant expect much from free these days...

The ext version on that site just provides the XG Lite (2MB) and the standard XG Level 1 (4MB) wavetables as external files.  The standard yamaha_syxg50_vsti.7z download has the XG Level 1 (4MB) wavetable embedded - this is the one I use.

This is different from the extended XG Level 2 / XG Level 3 sets offered by say, the MU80 /  MU100R  which is what the asterisk is referring to.

I use this VSTi as a stand-in for my MU10 when I'm not in the studio, and it supports the full set of sounds that the MU10 does ( 676 tones compared to the 128 GM tones).

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51 minutes ago, msmcleod said:

The ext version on that site just provides the XG Lite (2MB) and the standard XG Level 1 (4MB) wavetables as external files.  The standard yamaha_syxg50_vsti.7z download has the XG Level 1 (4MB) wavetable embedded - this is the one I use.

This is different from the extended XG Level 2 / XG Level 3 sets offered by say, the MU80 /  MU100R  which is what the asterisk is referring to.

I use this VSTi as a stand-in for my MU10 when I'm not in the studio, and it supports the full set of sounds that the MU10 does ( 676 tones compared to the 128 GM tones).

I think you are confusing the two files. The yamaha_syxg50_vsti.7z is the 2MB file (actually closer to 3MB), and has no Voice Table files (*.tbl) contained in it. The yamaha_syxg50_vsti_ext.7z is the 4MB file.

If I am reading the included doco correctly, the "ext" sounds are only supported by the  S-YXG100 (via software implementations); not the S-YXG50 like in this case.

But the other thing I garnered from your post, is that you have been using it for a while, but have kept it a secret from us.>:(

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