John Bowen Synth Design

John,

I'm certain something like this would have to be approached in a post-release OS update, considering how much is already on your plate , but I was wondering . . .

Some Kurzweils and the new Roland Fantom G have settings for the pitch wheel that allow you to bend a single note in a chord. I think three choices are available: high note, low note and last note.

On a rompler this is merely a novelty, IMO - questionable imitations of pedal steel guitars and such - but on a synthesizer, especially one with the depth of Solaris, I think it would be very expressive and useful. Imagine taking a thick, rotor-fied closed-voice triad and glissing the middle note down an octave, for instance.

How difficult would this be to implement?

My apologies if this functionality already exists in the plugin; my knowledge of it consists entirely of audio demos (props to Jimmy V) and screen shots.

Thanks for bringing this beast to life. I (and I'm sure the entire "Solarium") await September with great anticipation . . .

Jody

Jody,

This actually was a feature found many years ago in some synths - I don't remember which models, but I do remember having the ability to bend one note individually and separately from the others, primarily, as you say, to emulate things such as pedal steel guitar. I know we talked about it at Sequential. I think back then, though, that the pitch bend was only upper or lower note, and perhaps in a duophonic situation (my memory is not good on this, though).

In any case, this is not a function of the plug-in, as it requires a specialized voice handler function that the Scope modules do not have. What it takes is a way for the system to 'know' which voice currently playing is the target voice for pitch bending, and filtering out the pitch bend so that the other voices do not receive it. As you describe, the low/high/last note function is about the only way we can know which voice has 'special' assignment, since that's how functions such as re-triggering for legato mode must work. Since we have to do this already, I can ask as to how much more coding it would be handle the Pitch Bend signal in this way. No guarantees, though!

john b.

Good Old Ensoniqs.

They were a nifty way for a keyboardist to do those 2 string bends of a guitarist.

For example a guitar player would have the E string 5th fret as the intended target glide, while bending the B string a whole step below, up to match the pitch of the E string. Very cool on a keyboard w/ a decent sample of say distorted Guitar. It could be bent by using aftertouch also.

Trust me guys, nobody listens to customers like JBowen.

Even if Solaris was 5 large, I'd still buy it since John never stops updating his creations.

They are his children in a sense, and he does want them to grow up strong.

My problem is always trying to master one of his synths.

Just when you start thinking you got it down, he adds more shit.

A never ending learning experience in signature sounding synthesis.

John Bowen wrote:What it takes is a way for the system to 'know' which voice currently playing is the target voice for pitch bending, and filtering out the pitch bend so that the other voices do not receive it. As you describe, the low/high/last note function is about the only way we can know which voice has 'special' assignment, since that's how functions such as re-triggering for legato mode must work. Since we have to do this already...

Does this also mean that MIDI polyAT reception will be supported?

John Bowen wrote: No guarantees, though!

Totally understood; no worries there. I'm thrilled and humbled that you will even explore it. Your level of commitment to your customers is greatly appreciated.

In truth, this synth is already so far beyond my expectations (and current programming abilities) that it'll be a long while before I even fully grasp what it can do. I'm looking forward to the challenge!

CA3080 wrote:Does this also mean that MIDI polyAT reception will be supported?

Yes, that was the plan last time we discussed it.

-jb

That would be extremely appreciated.