Rock/Metal Midi Instrument Design in Zyn

[GFX_Garage]

I've been designing some WTFPL V2, distorted, MIDI guitars for Zyn. I'm starting to sneak up on the result I want; and I would really appreciate some feedback on them. I intend to release them for community development some time this summer. I just have a release for another project to do first.

I made a video about the project; with a simple demonstration song. Here is a link:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=e1zvweoO25w

[nils]

Hey, I have watched your video.

First, as a fellow metal-head, this is a fantastic endeavour! Please carry on!
And thanks for the very free license.

I hope you don't mind, I want do bounce a few ideas around.

Of course metal is not only guitars, but the whole song.

1) As you say in your video, the drums are just GM drums. Having DrumGizmo in here, properly mixed, would already lift the mix up by a huge amount. That was maybe not the scope of your video. Maybe as a "compromise" something that is quicker to set up, like AVL Drums ? Maybe not metal enough...

2) Could you maybe do a sound demo without the lead guitar? In the demo I find that the weakest part (sorry). So I would be interested in hearing Rhythm Guitar + Bass + Drums. If you want some melodic lead maybe do something guitar-unrelated but also typical, like a synth or deep-purple like organ.

3) Since you included an EQ plugin in your setup, have you considered making Guitarix (either standalone or the LV2 plugins) part of the sound? After all.. a guitar amp modeller might be a good fit for a guitar synth

I have subscribed to your youtube channel and I am looing forward for future development.

[GFX_Garage]

Hi nilshi:

Thank you for the reply; and the sub.

I've actually been thinking about doing a drum kit in Zyn too. I usually use the avldrums Black Pearl kit; but I tweak it a bit too.

The lead guitar does need some work.

I haven't tried amp sims with any of them yet; but I may get into that, later on.

Hopefully I can release these soon; and anyone can work on it.

[Basslint]

Thank you for this, I think it's a great idea!

By the way, the WTFPL is generally a discouraged license, as you can read here. If you want to achieve a similar effect, try the CC0 license!

[GFX_Garage]

Hi Basslint:

Thank you for this, I think it's a great idea!

I had fun with this. It was a nice change of pace; from other things I'm doing.

I may just go with CC0; since it's a creative work. It seems more appropriate. Thanks for the suggestion.

[GFX_Garage]

I posted a new vid; with clips of the demo song, without the lead, and with and without post processing. It should give a much better idea of what the rhythm guitar sounds like. I have decided to go ahead and change the license to CC0. I appreciate the feedback; and I hope to hear more. I'll be releasing the instruments at least by the end of summer; but probably much sooner.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ggv4ttBhXtM

[Basslint]

On a more isolated listen, I think there are some "chirping" high frequencies which could be attenuated a bit.

[GFX_Garage]

On a more isolated listen, I think there are some "chirping" high frequencies which could be attenuated a bit.

Cleaning it up is really difficult. I'll continue working on it; but it may take some time.

The problem is pretty interesting. Synths simulate the full spectrum of tones. With electric guitars, it's constrained by the points at which the fields from the pickups sense the vibrations. I've been trying to address it by using as few voices as possible; and trying to keep the base sound as dry as possible.

The picking noise in the attack is probably the main issue. Trying to get crunch from it without artifacts has been a challenge. I'll keep cleaning it up though.

[Basslint]

Cleaning it up is really difficult. I'll continue working on it; but it may take some time.

No problem, you are doing a great job (I can already see some very musical applications)

[GFX_Garage]

No problem, you are doing a great job (I can already see some very musical applications)

Thanks.

When I release them, I'm going to include as much information as I can muster; for those who want to help develop them. I'm hoping that many hands can come up with some really good MIDI instruments for heavy modern music.

[GFX_Garage]

I'm releasing the instruments one at a time; as they begin to mature. I'll dedicate a video to each one; with information about the instrument. I'm releasing the first version of the distorted rhythm guitar now; with the detailed information about it.

Here's the video:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=El8z0teClhQ

The .xiz file for Zyn can be downloaded here:
https://drive.google.com/file/d/1tnfBO7 ... sp=sharing

Questions and critiques are welcome. Thanks for the interest and feedback.

(EDIT)
Info dump

This is a bit of a text wall so I put it at the end of the post. I want to see to it that everyone has easy access to the information about the instrument; and this forum post is where it's getting the most attention. For those who might want to tweak it to their liking or even develop one from it, I want to share my approach and process. I'll be happy to answer any questions and take any critiques. I still have much to learn about this.

This instrument is designed specifically for bar chords; but I don't see any reason that other chords wouldn't have similar results.

Electric guitars have a very simple and defined sound; because of the constraints set by the positions of the pickups. It seemed reasonable to me to have a less is more approach to the base signal because of this. (I might be wrong BTW). i was trying to approximate that simplicity.

I used only the add synth. In the oscillator, I chose stretch sine as the basic function; and added complexity by choosing sine in the wave shaping. This was a simple signal to begin with; that I added two more sine voices to, to add some fullness to the sound. I added sine modulation to one of them to make it differ from the other.

I steered away from fine detune because it can remove some of the strength from it. I was concerned that a simple basic sound might sound a bit whimpy with it. (I might be wrong BTW). I made each voice fundamentally different to make the overall sound a little more full.

To try to make it sound like a picked instrument, that might chug a little, I decreased the attack, decay and release times as much as practical; and adjusted the sustain value, in the global settings. That helped quite a bit; and seemed to simplify the sound a bit more too.

Generally I wanted it to be a simple, defined basis and take a page from Unfas' book and distort the $#!7 out of it. I wanted some blunt, flappy, defined overdrive; so added distortion in part insertion effects, and chose overdrive 1, with limiter as the type.

To adjust the tone, I also added an EQ and chose band pass as the type. I also used the high and low pass filters in the distortion to help adjust tone.

I hope this helps; and I hope you get some use out of this instrument.