New Free Synth - Helm - Now in Beta

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danboid
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Re: New Free Synth - Helm - Now in Beta

Post by danboid »

Hi Matt

I'm delighted to see a new, quality open source soft synth arrive with Helm. Despite Linux users having our fair share of DAWs, FX plugins and being well-catered for in many other software categories good, FLOSS softsynths are all too rare and after 20+ years the ones that people actually use and enjoy can still be counted on one hand.

I gave it a quick go last night and its sounding and looking great even in beta. I was surprised its not in the AUR already! ;)

How long has it took you to get Helm to this stage? I signed up for the Helm mailing list last night. Big thanks for the new, pro-freedom synth Matt!
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Re: New Free Synth - Helm - Now in Beta

Post by tytel »

sysrqer wrote:Thanks for the newsletter, it was really nice to find that in my mail with a long changelog 8)
danboid wrote:Hi Matt

I'm delighted to see a new, quality open source soft synth arrive with Helm. Despite Linux users having our fair share of DAWs, FX plugins and being well-catered for in many other software categories good, FLOSS softsynths are all too rare and after 20+ years the ones that people actually use and enjoy can still be counted on one hand.

I gave it a quick go last night and its sounding and looking great even in beta. I was surprised its not in the AUR already! ;)

How long has it took you to get Helm to this stage? I signed up for the Helm mailing list last night. Big thanks for the new, pro-freedom synth Matt!
Thanks for the support! This stuff is great to hear when your bug lists are long..

I started Helm on new years day this year. I had a basic synth engine to start with from my last project (http://www.gnu.org/software/cursynth/). I wrote up about some of the development this year on my blog http://tytel.org/blog/ It's fun to look back on some of it, especially that first logo attempt..
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Re: New Free Synth - Helm - Now in Beta

Post by GraysonPeddie »

I would like to hear how it sounds like when I test it this afternoon.
--Grayson Peddie

Music Interest: New Age w/ a mix of modern smooth jazz, light techno/trance & downtempo -- something Epcot Future World/Tomorrowland-flavored.
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Re: New Free Synth - Helm - Now in Beta

Post by superprick »

i normally use hardware. check ebay a lot of good ones i drooled over in the mid to late 90s when i was a kid are going for pennys. I must say this thing is awsome. I do notice that loading it in carla on a 6 core machine. that the dsp load runs to 50 pretty quick. anyone else seeing high loads. liquorix kernal 4
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Re: New Free Synth - Helm - Now in Beta

Post by glowrak guy »

Install the U-he Diva linux port, and compare the results.
Diva has an appetite for drinking the blood of high priced cpu's,
and leaving the bones behind for spare drumsticks :twisted:
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Re: New Free Synth - Helm - Now in Beta

Post by tatch »

this is pretty fun to use
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Re: New Free Synth - Helm - Now in Beta

Post by faraway1nspace »

This is great. I like the interface to assign the LFO's to parameters, brilliant!
Its quite stable on LMMS (using Carla as the lv2 plugin host). It lasted about 10 minutes of aggressive parameter tweaking, which is among the most stable of LV2 instruments on LMMS.
Great feedback effect!
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Re: New Free Synth - Helm - Now in Beta

Post by tytel »

Hey everyone! Just released a new version of Helm, now with JACK support :D
You can grab the new version on the site: http://tytel.org/helm

There's also daily builds up at https://code.launchpad.net/~tytel/+recipe/helm-daily
Though I'm traveling for the next couple weeks so changes will be slow until I get back.

Here's a full list of changes in v0.4.1:
- Add Audio/MIDI settings page under Helm logo button
- Fixed occasional hang when using MIDI learn/automation
- JACK support for GNU/Linux!
- Better MIDI default device connection.
- Reduced aliasing in sub oscillator a bit
- Added DC blocker
- Added retrigger to monophonic LFOs and step sequencer
- Added playhead sync to monophonic LFOs and step sequencer
- Improved portamento slide function
- Change white noise LFO to Sample and Hold
- Added Sample and Glide to LFO waveforms
- Fixed unintentional automation cancelling in some DAWs
- Fixed zippering when modulating some parameters
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Re: New Free Synth - Helm - Now in Beta

Post by khz »

Wow look && sound nice!
tytel wrote:- Add Audio/MIDI settings page under Helm logo button
Maybe also MIDI_channel settings, MIDI-CC and MIDI-Clock input?
tytel wrote:- JACK support for GNU/Linux!
[X] Yes yes yes THX - i see (many) audio_inputs, can i route them through helm?

hf@traveling :-D
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Re: New Free Synth - Helm - Now in Beta

Post by glowrak guy »

Thanks for the updates. Have fun ...on the road again...! 8)
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Re: New Free Synth - Helm - Now in Beta

Post by danboid »

Thanks for the update Matt - its great to see how fast Helm is improving.

Have a safe and fun trip!
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Re: New Free Synth - Helm - Now in Beta

Post by tytel »

A new version of Helm is out - v0.5.0 and it's got a new patch browser!
You'll have to download it to see what it looks like though :P

You can grab the latest here: http://tytel.org/helm
Let me know what you think :D

List of changes:
- New patch browser!
- Added a bunch of patches submitted by Cris Owl Alvarez
- Fixed latency when playing monophonically with legato off
- Portamento now always uses the last note pressed to slide from
- Saving dialog shows up over synth now
- Saving now allows to specify author
- Fixed freeze when quickly loading patches
- Fixed audio breaking bug when first note is played with formant filter on
- JACK inputs are now labeled "Helm"
- Tooltip shows better names for controls
- Fixed setting new parameters with old patches
- Added configuration file where users can customize the keyboard layout
- Added --version [-v] flag for GNU/Linux
- Fixed clipped text on GNU/Linux
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Re: New Free Synth - Helm - Now in Beta

Post by briandc »

Nice! ;)



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Re: New Free Synth - Helm - Now in Beta

Post by danboid »

I've just updated Helm to 0.5.0. I can see make install copied the patches to /usr/share/helm/patches/ OK but I don't see anything under the Helm patch browser when run within Qtractor.

EDIT

I should've mentioned I've only tried the LV2 build so far. I presume falkTX's (did I just call him that?) previous post indicates he had the same problem?
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Re: New Free Synth - Helm - Now in Beta

Post by tytel »

falkTX wrote:Do you think it's possible to implement the juce api for programs?
cause that would mean they'd be exported as lv2 presets too.
Yes I can do that. I was silly and was looking for it in a separate class. Didn't realize it was just some functions inside the AudioProcessor class.. :|
danboid wrote:I've just updated Helm to 0.5.0. I can see make install copied the patches to /usr/share/helm/patches/ OK but I don't see anything under the Helm patch browser when run within Qtractor.

EDIT

I should've mentioned I've only tried the LV2 build so far. I presume falkTX's (did I just call him that?) previous post indicates he had the same problem?
@danboid I don't think these issues are related. The installer puts factory presets in /usr/share/helm/patches/ but when Helm runs for the first time, it will copy these files into ~/.helm/patches so the user can edit/delete them. Do you have anything in that directory?
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