Synthesizer

[sys64738]

Patch Lock is completed, I got a bit sidetracked and added random patch button, I feature I love on one of my hardware synths. It made mostly garbage sounds so I've added some code to so that it mostly will make a nice sounding a patch but still has a lesser chance of going a bit more wild on the parameters, it's made a couple of real nice sounds for me, I had to take a photo of the displayed patch code for later use! I also added another feature from real synths, they generally have a pitch wheel or ribbon to the left of the keyboard, so I've added that in.

Here is the video, it's actually quite fun to mess around with.

Which leads to some bad news and some good news, as I get more and more complicated the code the arrays are not seeming to cope and trying to find workarounds to bugs that make no sense seems time not well spent. the newly added randomizer, which you would never want to press while the sequencer was running, would you? would you!? well it crashes the synth. Timer for the sequencer just seems to bug out the arrays when it's running. On the other hand the pitchbender would be a blast to use while the sequencer is playing, imagine how much fun that would be but nope, array once again no longer recognises itself if the timer is running and crashes if you touch the pitch bender.

I would normally not ever post or publish code that I know can crash, I could disable these features while the sequencer is running to prevent the crashing but I'm hoping this is just a temporary issue with the fuze software, or even something I've done wrong. So the bad news is, I'm going to leave it using a single voice with a single sequencer until the array bug is resolved. The good news is, it's almost finished, if I didn't spend so much time writing these giant posts I'd have finished it already.

I am going to add keyboard tracking (what Nisse5 called Ratios) that increases the modulation frequency inline with the frequency changes from pressing keys, this is a pretty standard thing on real synthesizers, might make it a toggle , we'll see.

and then I'll add the step recorder, clean up the code and make sure it has lots of commenting and share it with my friend code. Next post here will be the finished program.

[Dave]

This is above and beyond. I can't believe what you've done in the time you have. Congratulations on your incredible work, I'm so glad you got the product. Very excited to see the final result. I'm dying for a go on this!

[sys64738]

@Dave thanks so much! I have finished the synth.

Will post a video overview and share the program tomorrow. Is nice to be programming again.

[sys64738]

As promised, I'm calling this version 1.0 and sharing it, I will fix or change the BPM as it's only barely working though.
There is a new video showing the new features.

Here is a list of controls and features, the synth is monophonic, you play one note at a time, it does not support multitouch or chords (maybe in the next one)
D-pad - up and down cycles through the parameters of the sound and modulator, you can press right or left on these to adjust, if you want to make a sound (patch) from scratch you can.

A button - starts the sequencer playing, if it finds a green block it will play the sound stored in that block
Y button - stops the sequencer

Touch ribbon - the black area to the left of the keyboard can be used to bend the pitch of the note

BPM - triangles on the left cycle the BPM up and down poorly!

Randomizer - just press the yellow square to get a random new sound!

Step - recorder - if this is red it's in record mode, any notes you play will be saved into the sequencer blocks automatically

Patch lock - lets you use your current sound on another block on the sequencer, if you want a different sound on a block, disengage the patchlock then select the block

Sequencer - the sequencer holds 16 sounds, if a block is white the sequencer will not play a sound as it passes over it, if it's green, it will play the stores sound, you can toggle a block from green to white simply by pressing it, your currently active block will have a small red square in it, which should be the last block you pressed, if selecting a block untoggles it from green to white and you wanted it to be green, just press it again. while the sequencer is not playing in note you play will be recorded into the block with the red square, any adjustment to parameters with the dpad, will be adjusting the sound in the block with the red square.

Known bugs - it seems very stable when the sequencer is not playing, and generally will not crash unless you use the touch ribbon or randomizer while the sequencer is playing.

friend code is in my signature, love to hear some feedback.

[sys64738]

No update to the code, though I did get around to making a musical sequence to show the sort of thing I envisioned the synth could do.

I have about 10 more synths in mind to make, so probably start again from scratch.

[Ancientspark]

Most excellent! I'll add you right after my surgery is over and take a look. I'm a pianist myself :) I have a broken DGX-640 from YAMAHA but it's too expensive to repair so I'll have to buy a new one as I am terribly out of practice and really need to get back to my music. Thanks for the inspiration!

[Electric Dreams]

Wow !
wonderful job, i will download it tonight.

[sys64738]

Updated the synth today, fixed the BPM it's now in intervals of 10 and recognises touch much better. There was a bug in the sequencer making it record the previous note instead of current one, it was also sounding the incorrect note if step sequencer was on. thats fixed, new randomizer button graphic. fixed sequencer highlight, little yellow box now floats above the playing sequencer block, new colour scheme to celebrate. Oh and squeezed in an extra white key, because it was bugging me I couldn't play stranger things.

Have shared new version.

Also if anyone knows how to stop the clicking noise when a note plays before the old note finishes let me know. Generally hardware synths don't do this even monophonic ones.

[Nisse5]

@sys64738 Regarding the clicking, do you close the channel before you play the next sound?

BTW, another alternative to BPM markings in 10 steps is to use the standard metronome markings. They are listed in the "Standard Appearance" section in the Wikipedia article:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Metronome

[pianofire]

@sys64738 This is awesome! FYI we have started using the #Fuze4Switch tag as #F4NS seems to be used for other things.

[sys64738]

@Nisse5 nope not closing channel ! I will look into that and the metronome link thanks

@pianofire Ok I am scared to look at the #f4ns tag then. Not used Twitter in awhile but it's handy to upload directly. I might need to add touch markers back in. So can see what I'm pressing on direct feed

[pianofire]

@sys64738 Nothing sinister it seems to be short for #follow4nosmoking

[Nisse5]

@sys64738 Tested it now - excellent work! The randomizer feature was great fun! Is it possible to change or randomize the waveform for the main note sound?

[sys64738]

@Nisse5 thank you. You have spotted a bug, it was randomizing the mod wave type twice instead of doing the note source and the modulator, fixed and reshared as v1.11

explains why I was not getting a good stranger things sound with no saw!

Tried stop channel. Still clicks when a note plays before the last one is finished.

Sequencer is playing up again and not playing back correctly. Was hoping the patch for fuze with the fixed timers would drop soon. I will have to fix it in the mean time.

V1.11 known bug. sequencer playback issues.

[senas8]

Wow very nice I’d like to add your friend code so I can see how this works.
My friend code: SW-8581-8532-8511
senas8

[spikey]

@sys64738 when I was looking into sound, I just remembered this extraordinary Synthesizer project. It would be lovely to see more of your project and enjoy some demo spirit.

[sys64738]

I am back from the real world of synths, after a year of studying more synthesis. I have submitted this project to the new share feature in Fuze. There is still a bug with the sequencer. I'll fix it if I can if not maybe someone else can.

[pianofire]

Awesome! Great to have you back

[vinicity]

Really great news! Looking forward to trying out the synthesizer!

[sys64738]

@pianofire Thanks guys, break must have improved my brain. Fixed the sequencer bug, improved the step sequencer. Now v1.2 I assume the shared version will always be latest or do I have to re-submit it? Do I post the ID now or wait until it stops saying pending (new to the sharing feature)