Re: Synthmaker bundle
Posted: Sat Aug 20, 2016 2:07 pm
Well, I just had to interfere
I’ve tested all 56 synths now and I’m totally gobsmacked by the amount of quality work that’s gone into this amazing stash. Here’s what I’ve done:
All loaded into Flowstone, tested, modified if required and re-saved as FSM files in version 3.08.1
All tested with ASIO out.
Some had significant stream disruption (clicking, repeat notes on key down, release and Pitch/Modwheel operation). These issues had 2 main causes:
One was down to the scope’s waveform display being switched on/off when a MIDI note ON was received. This was operated by detecting 90h (144) in the MIDI stream so was not reliable and also there was overhead in the View display switching. I removed the whole display switching so the scope trace is always visible. This method wasn’t used in many of the synths and there seems to be no sonic or graphic trade-off.
The other disruption was caused by a weird and complex de-zipper module found in some of the Mod and Pitch wheel modules using a windows timer and other green stuff. This was simply fixed by using the stock de-zipper instead. My guess is that since the stock Prim-based de-zipper was used exclusively by Mr Brown in many synths that this was down to the development stages of Synthmaker. Or maybe I missed a reason for using an exotic de-zipping solution but the results seem fine with the stock one.
On a very few occasions some front panel graphics were displaced. I found this too when I was mining the old SM forum so I guess this is a minor version issue and I corrected the positioning.
Any synths that were spogged have been re-exported as VSTs and the originals deleted. Where I made no changes I didn’t re-export. I haven’t tested any of the plugins created or originally included.
Notes:
None of the synths have unique preset parameter names. This can mean that the DAW may not reproduce patches stored for the synths in the song file. However, if the DAW is set to save the whole VST state this may not be an issue. It certainly will be an issue if any of you want to create presets in the Flowstone edit environment. This can be fixed of course, but with 56 synths that’s a lot of work. I may be inspired to do this for one or two personal favourites.
Mr. Brown (I’m clearly a bit sexist since it could quite easily be say Karen Brown) has naturally used stock Prims for oscillators and so on, so the CPU hit will be much higher than with Martin Vicanek’s optimised wonders. In many of the synths there are not so many oscillators and filters running but when playing chords and sustaining the CPU hit can be quite high. If you have a favourite it would be a great idea to replace the relevant modules with current optimised ones. Again, I may be tempted with one or two (but not 56!).
The download below (298 Megs) is the whole set with the same directory structure as before but with the relevant FSMs and VST dlls updated as above. Note that some are exported as VSTs (effects) since additionally they have an audio input for external input processing.
EDIT: Kevin asked me to remove the old links in this thread and explain that he has re-worked so many of these they should now be downloaded from the locations in his signature.
Plug-ins can be downloaded here:
https://ln.sync.com/dl/62c9b9f70/bbjdaw ... 9-q3tygvzs
Website for the plugins : http://kbrownsynthplugins.weebly.com/
There’s a lot to learn from this work, especially in the graphic, control and routing designs so I hope you benefit from Mr Brown’s lovely gift to us all.
Cheers
Spogg
I’ve tested all 56 synths now and I’m totally gobsmacked by the amount of quality work that’s gone into this amazing stash. Here’s what I’ve done:
All loaded into Flowstone, tested, modified if required and re-saved as FSM files in version 3.08.1
All tested with ASIO out.
Some had significant stream disruption (clicking, repeat notes on key down, release and Pitch/Modwheel operation). These issues had 2 main causes:
One was down to the scope’s waveform display being switched on/off when a MIDI note ON was received. This was operated by detecting 90h (144) in the MIDI stream so was not reliable and also there was overhead in the View display switching. I removed the whole display switching so the scope trace is always visible. This method wasn’t used in many of the synths and there seems to be no sonic or graphic trade-off.
The other disruption was caused by a weird and complex de-zipper module found in some of the Mod and Pitch wheel modules using a windows timer and other green stuff. This was simply fixed by using the stock de-zipper instead. My guess is that since the stock Prim-based de-zipper was used exclusively by Mr Brown in many synths that this was down to the development stages of Synthmaker. Or maybe I missed a reason for using an exotic de-zipping solution but the results seem fine with the stock one.
On a very few occasions some front panel graphics were displaced. I found this too when I was mining the old SM forum so I guess this is a minor version issue and I corrected the positioning.
Any synths that were spogged have been re-exported as VSTs and the originals deleted. Where I made no changes I didn’t re-export. I haven’t tested any of the plugins created or originally included.
Notes:
None of the synths have unique preset parameter names. This can mean that the DAW may not reproduce patches stored for the synths in the song file. However, if the DAW is set to save the whole VST state this may not be an issue. It certainly will be an issue if any of you want to create presets in the Flowstone edit environment. This can be fixed of course, but with 56 synths that’s a lot of work. I may be inspired to do this for one or two personal favourites.
Mr. Brown (I’m clearly a bit sexist since it could quite easily be say Karen Brown) has naturally used stock Prims for oscillators and so on, so the CPU hit will be much higher than with Martin Vicanek’s optimised wonders. In many of the synths there are not so many oscillators and filters running but when playing chords and sustaining the CPU hit can be quite high. If you have a favourite it would be a great idea to replace the relevant modules with current optimised ones. Again, I may be tempted with one or two (but not 56!).
The download below (298 Megs) is the whole set with the same directory structure as before but with the relevant FSMs and VST dlls updated as above. Note that some are exported as VSTs (effects) since additionally they have an audio input for external input processing.
EDIT: Kevin asked me to remove the old links in this thread and explain that he has re-worked so many of these they should now be downloaded from the locations in his signature.
Plug-ins can be downloaded here:
https://ln.sync.com/dl/62c9b9f70/bbjdaw ... 9-q3tygvzs
Website for the plugins : http://kbrownsynthplugins.weebly.com/
There’s a lot to learn from this work, especially in the graphic, control and routing designs so I hope you benefit from Mr Brown’s lovely gift to us all.
Cheers
Spogg