Vember Audio Surge is now open-source

[Tj Shredder]

How come the Clarinet and Flute 2 sounds are completely out of tune? Playing an octave is not an octave at all...? I could not find the part of the preset to correct it...

[baconpaul]

Hi! We’ve just released 1.6.0-beta-8. It is available (as always) at

https://surge-synthesizer.github.io

and the changelog detailing the differences are

https://surge-synthesizer.github.io/man ... eslog.html

1.6.0-beta-8 fixes two bugs which had been reported frequently. The “Click and Pop” bug where sometimes Surge would just go unstable and make a massive one channel blast is fixed, and a memory leak, which we suspect was causing problems when you played “lots of notes” or “for a long time” are fixed.

Recommend everyone updates to 1.6.0-beta-8.

Enjoy!

[baconpaul]

How come the Clarinet and Flute 2 sounds are completely out of tune? Playing an octave is not an octave at all...? I could not find the part of the preset to correct it...

Clarinet is a super weird patch. All the oscillators are muted and it just makes sound because they excite the filter network somehow.

But therein lies the start of the answer to your question. The pitch is velocity sensitive. That's odd. But try it. Bang harder and pitch goes up same note etc...

So I took Clarinet and killed all the modulation (there was a velocity -> scene pitch routing). But even then it did it.

So then I saw that the envelope velocity sensitivity was used. When I set that (AMP/VEL) to 1 then it is all in tune.

So what's happening is that the envelope velocity sensitivity is changing the filter envelope. Since the entire patch is made (somehow - I don't know how to be honest) by filter excitation (if you change the "2" and "4" to "1" you get no sound) that envelope is changing the pitch.

So if you take clarinet and

1. Kill the velocity -> pitch modulation
2. Set filter EG delay to 100% -or-
2. Set AMP Vel to 100%

it's all in tune.

If you figure out how it makes sound through the filter network, I would enjoy reading that.

[Tj Shredder]

Thanks for the explanation. That makes perfectly sense...
I just start out to dive into Surge, though its on my hd for a while. OSC is a good occasion to learn a synth even if I couldn’t finish the last couple of OSCs...

[baconpaul]

Thanks for the explanation. That makes perfectly sense...
I just start out to dive into Surge, though its on my hd for a while. OSC is a good occasion to learn a synth even if I couldn’t finish the last couple of OSCs...

If it’s been on your hd for a while please do update to beta8. It fixes a couple of important bugs

[Tj Shredder]

Yes I know, lurking around here anyway... Btw. the vst3 does not do any MPE pitchbend in Bitwig no matter if I set it to MPE or expect expressions... No problem for me, the vst2 is fine...
It seems I cannot mix vst2 and vst3 though bitwig has seperate processes for them... I do not consider this as a problem for the moment...

[Ah_Dziz]

Also, does the MPE implementation include release velocity?

Reading the code, the velocity sent with note off goes through to the synth and gets sent to the voice in the release cycle. I'm honestly not sure how you'd use this in surge easily but haven't played with it or even thought to! Would love to know what you find. The VST2 and AU are better with MPE than the VST3 at this point.

If the release velocity could be added to the mod matrix, it’s incredibly useful. Mostly for modifying effects to change how long a delay keeps going or adding a longer release with a slight pitch drop if you pull your finger off very fast, but having no release at all if you lift your fingers gently.

[Ah_Dziz]

Anyway this thing is as solid as zebra and better at some things (using the vst 2) on my system. I’m gonna try it out on some actual work to make sure it holds up in a heavy use scenario. I gotta say “Thanks!!!!!” for releasing this thing into the wild for free, and another one for the folks actively developing it. It’s more stable than strobe 2 for me and has almost as deep an MPE implementation. Just bumped Synth 1 from the top of my freeware list.

[layzer]

Just bumped Synth 1 from the top of my freeware list.

it joined synth1 as a #1 for me, Synth1 is still #1 in VA, but this
is #1 in WT for me atm.

[k2006]

there is explanation abt how clarinet patch works in pg34 of manual.

When the sub-type is set to 2 (or 4) and resonance is 0% the comb-filter will work purely as a delay-unit (with sub-sample precision).
This can be used together with the other filter-unit along with filterblock feedback to provide interesting options. The “wind/clarinet” and “pluck (fast)/simple waveguide” presets showcase how this ability can be used for simple physical modeling. They only use the oscillator section to ignite the sound, the rest is in the filterblock.

-in clarinet patch noise osc is on.

[lalo]

Would be really great to have modulation sources parameters as modulation destinations...

[EvilDragon]

You can already do that... can modulate LFO rate etc. Use the down arrow on the right of each modulator's box to select a different modulator for modulating its parameters, while you're in modulation assign mode (mod box blinking). SLFOs cannot be modulated by LFOs, but can be modulated by monophonic modulators.

[baconpaul]

Also, does the MPE implementation include release velocity?

Reading the code, the velocity sent with note off goes through to the synth and gets sent to the voice in the release cycle. I'm honestly not sure how you'd use this in surge easily but haven't played with it or even thought to! Would love to know what you find. The VST2 and AU are better with MPE than the VST3 at this point.

If the release velocity could be added to the mod matrix, it’s incredibly useful. Mostly for modifying effects to change how long a delay keeps going or adding a longer release with a slight pitch drop if you pull your finger off very fast, but having no release at all if you lift your fingers gently.

OK added this conversation https://github.com/surge-synthesizer/surge/issues/811 so we don't forget it. Thanks!

[functionform]

I personally think this is easier to use than Synth1. With Synth1 you have just one env to use for controlling things which makes sound design a challenge. Once you figure out the envelope concept, in Surge you have a wealth of envelopes to use which lets you try out ideas.

I do wish the filter was enabled to LP4 by default, that makes more sense to me, the slider should just work.

[baconpaul]

there is explanation abt how clarinet patch works in pg34 of manual.

When the sub-type is set to 2 (or 4) and resonance is 0% the comb-filter will work purely as a delay-unit (with sub-sample precision).
This can be used together with the other filter-unit along with filterblock feedback to provide interesting options. The “wind/clarinet” and “pluck (fast)/simple waveguide” presets showcase how this ability can be used for simple physical modeling. They only use the oscillator section to ignite the sound, the rest is in the filterblock.

-in clarinet patch noise osc is on.

Thanks! I should really read that manual one day