Ray-V 1.1.0 released, should work well for most now ;)

[jeffh]

Hello Everybody,

I just finished a new release of Ray-V, you can get it here:

http://sourceforge.net/projects/libmodsynth/files/

Some of the major fixes are:

*MIDI CC automation works as expected
*Corrected problems with Qtractor resetting presets
*Much improved CPU performance, it's now relatively light on CPU, even when playing many notes and unison voices
*Improved voice stealing to prevent clicks when playing notes rapidly
*many small improvements

The following are the only known bugs at the moment:

*The first preset doesn't load when opening a plugin instance the first time, the knobs all take a default position
*The preset selection isn't recalled when closing and re-opening the GUI(NOT the preset itself, just the dropdown with the name of the preset, the sound itself remains intact).

Those 2 shouldn't really affect anybody's use of Ray-V, but unfortunately they'll be nearly impossible to fix until I remove the default OSC communication between the DSSI engine and GUI, and replace it with a GUI that communicates natively, which is not a trivial thing to do.

[DoosC]

I just discovered RAY-V from your post on LMS DSSI plugins. That's a nice little synth !

It's surprising how many different sounds it can generate with so little parameters.

I believe presets are a very important part of a soft synth bundle. For instance if you don't have much time to fiddle into parameters and to understand the synth engine and how you can best benefit of it then it can make all the difference between a perceived "good" or "bad" synth.
So here is a small idea for a feature i liked a lot in Alsa Modular Synth : the random parameter option.
I think it should work on two levels : random all - and random by parameters groups (for example random on Osc1 parameters without affecting the rest).
Such a feature can help to discover new presets. Then an option to submit presets would be nice too so you could add newly users created presets in each new release.

Keep up the good work !

[jeffh]

I just discovered RAY-V from your post on LMS DSSI plugins. That's a nice little synth !

Thank you very much

It's surprising how many different sounds it can generate with so little parameters.

That was my design philosophy behind it. I wanted something as uncomplicated as possible, but still capable of generating all of your basic lead, pad and bass sounds. That way, myself and others could use it as a starting point for bigger and better synths.

So here is a small idea for a feature i liked a lot in Alsa Modular Synth : the random parameter option.
I think it should work on two levels : random all - and random by parameters groups (for example random on Osc1 parameters without affecting the rest).

I'll incorporate that into future synthesizers. Ray-V is meant to be small and simple, I think it might not have enough knobs to make a randomize button very useful. My next synthesizer will feature wavetable oscillators, FM synthesis and a modulation matrix for routing envelopes, LFOs and velocity, etc... to different knobs, so there I think having a randomize button would make a lot of sense.

Then an option to submit presets would be nice too so you could add newly users created presets in each new release.

Presets are currently saved as text files in your home directory. Look here:

~/dssi/ray-v-presets.tsv

It's a simple tab-delimited text file that the synthesizer reads from every time you open it, and writes to every time you save a preset. I'm open to distributing user-submitted preset files on my sourceforge page.

[slowpick]

I like the ray_v glide implementation, you can glide up to a high note, go have dinner,
come back and play a low note note, and it glides down from the heavens

The preset format is also nice, text files similar to sfz, where you can edit sound
with a word processor. I bet a spreadsheet maven, with basic synth preset skills
could make cool presets without ever hearing them played.


hmmmn, mod matrix in Office '97

[jeffh]

mod matrix in Office '97

Better yet, I could team up with the Libreoffice folks to bring native sound synthesis to Libreoffice Calc.

Just imagine: Algorithmic music to go along with your revenue projection spreadsheet at the big meeting with the CEO. Triumphant and upbeat when the numbers are good, melancholy and depressing when they're bad.

[jeffh]

FYI, I'm making all future LMS announcements in the "New Linux Music News" subforum, since LMS is neither a recorder, nor a sequencer.

In fact, I have a new announcement over there right now.