Modulation Wheel Group Crossfade

[conrad3dc]

I came across TX16Wx while looking for a VST sampler that would let me combine a number of existing instruments (soundfonts, Akai instrumental etc.) under one program and then crossfade between the different dynamic layers using the modulation wheel. This is essential for sustained orchestral instruments that have evolving dynamics.

I have figured this out and it's working perfectly For anyone wanting to do the same here is what I did:

1. I loaded a soundfont that had 3 velocity layers.
2. Under "Groups" I duplicated the initial group 2 times so that I ended up with 3 groups and named them soft, medium and loud.
(You can also build your groups by loading a different instrument into a new program slot and then drag groups from one program to the other which is super handy for grouping old Akai samples, which load as separate dynamic ranges, into one program!)
3. For each group I opened the region and removed the sample layer that did not correspond with that group and then set the velocity on each sample region (in all groups) from 0 to 127
5. I opened "Sounds", removed the default and created 3 new sounds and named them soft, medium and loud.
6. In the groups I assigned, under the "Sound" column, the group to the corresponding sound that I had just created.
7. Under each sound in the "Modulation" module I set the source to "Mod Wheel", the Dest to "AEG Amp" and the Amount to "-40 dB"
8. I opened the curve editor (Sh.) and set the curve type to "User" and drew my curve for each group. NOTE: 0 starts at the vertical grey line in the center. The curve to the left of the line does nothing.
9. I balanced each group using the volume under the AEG module.

The end result on my string patch is that I can dynamically sweep/crossfade through my sample layers using the modulation wheel but this can also be used to create evolving synth pads and a ton of other cool things.

modlayers2.png

So far I'm super impressed by the flexibility of this sampler... and it's only day one!

[elcallio]

Glad you figured this out before I had time to respond.

A quick explanation as to why "the left side does nothing": The mapping curve maps an input modulation from range -1 : 1, to a different output, still in the -1 : 1 space. Now, MIDI controls like mod wheel are unipolar, which means they are treated as giving values in the range 0 : 1. Thus the "left" (negative) source range in the curve is indeed ignored.
If the source was a LFO or ENV, the input would instead be bipolar (-1 : 1), i.e. utilizing the whole mapping range.

You can instead of mapping mod wheel directly instead assign mod wheel to an Ext Ctrl (16 avail, in settings), and set the ExtCtrl set bias to 64 (half of 128, i.e. middle of MIDI ctrls such as Mod wheel). This will now treat your mod wheel as going from -1 : 1 instead, perhaps making at least cross fading two groups quicker.

[conrad3dc]

Thanks for the explanation. That makes complete sense. I've updated the program to use the ExtCtrl I am really loving this sampler and have only scratched the surface!

I have a couple of nice to haves (ok, I'm just being greedy!). It would be great if there were two additional source options. These being (1) timing duration/ms and (2) velocity difference between the last note played and the new note that is played which would trigger the group if they fell within the range. I don't know enough to understand if this would create too much delay to use for group switching but it would be cool. The other nice to have would be one more option in the sample folder naming drop down which would be: ".\Samples\<Program_Name>" It would be a good way to reduce folder clutter while keeping the program samples separate from other program samples.

I am really happy I found this gem! Thanks you elcallio!