dougd's Recent Posts
This might make me finally get a Soundplane. I'd recommend posting on the Euro forum of Muffwiggler, I'm sure people there would have great suggestions.
Paul Schreiber of MOTM is developing a 4 oscillator version of his e340 / e350 modules that I am especially interested in using with the Soundplane.
Very cool, saw the video on Matrixsynth. Looking forward to hearing it with Aalto.
Aalto is my favorite softsynth. It's one of the few AUs that holds its ground with my hardware (Eurorack modular, TR-909, Sidstation etc.) in a mix.
I still am concerned enough about its stability that I won't use it live, but that is a minor trade-off that I'm sure will be resolved as it iterates.
A great improvement to the GUI would be the ability to type in exact parameter numbers - for example it is difficult and annoying to try and get the oscillators to line up exactly in tune, as the values jump around when using the mouse. Often I just want to set the 2nd osc to 2.000 or w/e and leave it!
Anyway, keep up the good work, and please email me when v1.2 is ready.
PS: have you considered making a version of the Soundplane that sends CV/gate? There is a large community (such as http://www.muffwiggler.com/ ) of modular synth enthusiasts who use experimental controllers and might be interested - for example as an alternative to the expensive and hard to find French Connection ( http://www.analoguesystems.co.uk/Reviews/fconnection_review.htm ). A multi-CV/gate out Soundplane would be amazing. If you're interested, come talk to us in the Muff's general forum - as a prospective market, modular users spend a LOT of money and might have useful suggestions.
Looking forward to 1.1 arriving! I haven't used the sequencer at all because it wasn't bpm synced, so that is a big improvement right there.
Thanks for your earlier answer Randy... I went ahead and purchased Aalto. So much fun to play, but the real version has even more crackle than the demo! It seems to be especially intense when it is open in my Logic 9 Studio, and much less (but still some) when the synth is closed but still playing. It also de-syncs from MIDI often.
These issues might be related to the huge CPU load Aalto requires, as one voice uses 70-90% of Logic's CPU meter on a current-generation Macbook Pro. In its current condition I can't use this synth for a show next week, although I would like to.
I'm excited for 1.1! Do you have an estimate for when it will be ready?
I'm imagining the following version of Soundplane (let's call it Soundplane B) that I would consider ideal:
1) Several octaves of keyboard etched into one half of the surface, so that touching a key would generate that key's pitch - boring right? BUT then once the initial pitch is established, you could move your finger around to bend it on the y axis (assuming that's like up and down the keyboard) and control another parameter on the x axis).
On the other half of the Soundplane one portion of it would be an area to control (on xy axis) the intensity and speed of portamento, so you could control that in real time with one hand while voicing the notes with your other hand. And leftover space would be used for other parameters.
This would lead to a very cool performance controller, and then you could turn all of that off and just use it for regular Soundplane duties if you needed to.
If I buy Aalto now, will updates be free forever?
I am still hesitant to purchase given that the synth often generates crackle/static-y sounds when patches get complex, especially with more than one voice or when using the AD envelope's repeater function.