Solaris roadmap for availability of Expansion Packs, etc..

[galaxiesmerge]

Hi,

I was wondering if there was a quasi intended roadmap for new SOLARIS extensions, like for example, Phase Modulation Oscillators (hint - the synergy did 32 of those on a Z80!) with 16 or 32 stage envelopes (or using samples to modulate the phase).

Also, FM Synthesis --- what would be a timeline?

Any other expansion packs?

Of course, I have not gotten my SOLARIS yet but I am keen and eager to get my hands on it when it is all ready

I am just curious to know if your coders would have a release in 3 months after SOLARIS delivery or 6 months or 12 months --- or what the constraints might be that drive the notional timeline for these things.

At the very least, it would be nice to know in what ways you envision a roadmap for the future development of expansions, tutorials or other things.

Looking forward to any reactions you have

Thanks,

-Arun

[John Bowen]

Hi Arun,

What we have discussed is having the first update around June 2011. This would include "DX-7 style" FM, otherwise known as Phase Modulation. (I understand that the Casio version of Phase Distortion is a different approach, and we can also consider adding some for of that.) We do have true linear FM on there now....which may or may not be what you mean when you say FM synthesis.

Further on, we have plans for a Filter Bank/resonator, vocoder, and Multi-timbre Mode. I'm sure user requests by then will be added to the list, including some enhancements to the current functionality (like adding a choice of smooth or coarse transitions to the Wavetable indexing).

re: constraints that drive a timeline - money, mostly.

cheers,
john b.

[ThreeFingersOfLove]

Hi Arun,
We do have true linear FM on there now....which may or may not be what you mean when you say FM synthesis.

Well, it is my understanding that when people mention FM they usually mean exponential FM, unless otherwise stated. In linear FM, the harmonics are added without shifting the pitch of the notes, except at extreme settings. I would like to hear some examples, when possible.

Further on, we have plans for a Filter Bank/resonator, vocoder, and Multi-timbre Mode.

Can you please move Multitimbre mode to TOP priority?

[HUROLURA]

The SonicCore CZ osc available in Mod IV would be a great addition (similar to waldorf osc ...)

My 2 cents

[John Bowen]

The SonicCore CZ osc available in Mod IV would be a great addition (similar to waldorf osc ...)

Yeah, exactly...those are the ones we would convert to the Solaris.
-jb

[HUROLURA]

Great news !!!

[n1nj4]

(like adding a choice of smooth or coarse transitions to the Wavetable indexing).

Hi John,

Which transition method will be used in the initial OS?

[John Bowen]

The current OS uses the abrupt transitions, because I wanted to have the older style PPG sound, since Hans Zimmer had commented that he liked the character of that. We then planned to put in a choice for smooth or not, but this has been put on the list for later now.

-jb

[n1nj4]

The current OS uses the abrupt transitions, because I wanted to have the older style PPG sound

Just as I had hoped.

[galaxiesmerge]

Hi Arun,

What we have discussed is having the first update around June 2011. This would include "DX-7 style" FM, otherwise known as Phase Modulation. (I understand that the Casio version of Phase Distortion is a different approach, and we can also consider adding some for of that.) We do have true linear FM on there now....which may or may not be what you mean when you say FM synthesis.

Further on, we have plans for a Filter Bank/resonator, vocoder, and Multi-timbre Mode. I'm sure user requests by then will be added to the list, including some enhancements to the current functionality (like adding a choice of smooth or coarse transitions to the Wavetable indexing).

re: constraints that drive a timeline - money, mostly.

cheers,
john b.

Hey John this is a great look forward and I really appreciate this! The timeline is fine though of course, impatient as I will always be, I wish it was there yesterday

However, this helps me a lot --- one thing that I think is useful is polyphonic vocoders (like 8 or 16 band vocoders) for modulating polyphonic oscillators - I hope I communicated this well enough ... you get really cool movement in sounds with a few bands but working polyphonically (I can currently do this with the Kyma - you only need like 8 bands max - from 4 ot 16 bands is fine). You could do this with multple bandpass filters that are tempo-synched to Midi also, but, the vocoder approach allows some really cool organic polymods. Just an idea for the future.

I am looking forward to phase-modulation as mentioned and it would be nice to replicate the DX7 operators to some level as I believe the patents have now run out.

In any case, this is a really good update - thank you so much!

[John Bowen]

Well, it is my understanding that when people mention FM they usually mean exponential FM, unless otherwise stated. In linear FM, the harmonics are added without shifting the pitch of the notes, except at extreme settings. I would like to hear some examples, when possible.

We have both linear and exponential frequency mod provided, but figured that there may be a lot of people who are less familiar with those descriptions, so we changed the labeling to 'Pitch' for the exponential and 'FM' for the linear. (Personally I was fine with expo and lin, but others felt more strongly for Pitch and FM).
-jb

[galaxiesmerge]

Well, it is my understanding that when people mention FM they usually mean exponential FM, unless otherwise stated. In linear FM, the harmonics are added without shifting the pitch of the notes, except at extreme settings. I would like to hear some examples, when possible.

We have both linear and exponential frequency mod provided, but figured that there may be a lot of people who are less familiar with those descriptions, so we changed the labeling to 'Pitch' for the exponential and 'FM' for the linear. (Personally I was fine with expo and lin, but others felt more strongly for Pitch and FM).
-jb

Hi John,

I really like the VIMEO demo of the Munich meeting and I have to say that I was really excited --- count me in for the future expansion packs --- I an already see clearly that this is a *players* instrument but one that will also keep the sound *tweakers* happy. Great job John!!!

-A

[John Bowen]

I forgot to mention 2 other items on the list:

1) A ‘MultiMode Osc 2’ - this is a ‘less perfect’ multimode osc that has more low frequency content, but susceptible to some aliasing in the upper registers...a bit ‘dirty’.

2) CS-80/60 filter block emulation.

jb

[lotus-eater]

Both of those seem like great additions.

Is this second multimode osc already in place in the plugin solaris, or did the idea evolve out of something else?

[John Bowen]

Both of those seem like great additions.

Is this second multimode osc already in place in the plugin solaris, or did the idea evolve out of something else?

This MM2 Osc Type is basically what the plug-in already uses as its MM1 Type. Because it’s been over 10 years since Klaus first designed that oscillator, he wanted to update and improve his models, especially concerning any aliasing in the very high range (it is a certain mark of pride among these coding guys!). But there is still a certain character that I liked about the older ones, so I’ve asked if he could put in a version that had those elements as well.

john b.