Hive 2.1: new sonic territory

[EvilDragon]

Usually two parameters: type of "distortion", and amount of it.

[sinemotor]

Bend +/- mode

What does that mean? Is that something like Symmetry?

I'm sorry for not explaining it. It's indeed that "bend" feature found in Massive or Serum, like EvilDragon said :

Yeah, phase distorting the wavetable readout pointer akin to what Massive/Serum have.

from Serum manual :
Bend + : 'Pinches' or bends the waveform inwards (towards the middle of the wave cycle).
Bend - : 'Pulls' or bends the waveform outward (towards the edges of the wave cycle).



It sounds like a smooth FM or pulse-width modulation, depending on the wavetable. For example, bending a sine wave results in a (lowpassed) sawtooth.

[Biome_Digital]

Yeah, phase distorting the wavetable readout pointer akin to what Massive/Serum have.

I want,

[carrieres]

Okay, I see. Thanks for the explanation!

In the meantime, when I need fmed/synced sounds in hive I just load the serum ssq wavetable or some of the factory ones.

did you try FM Anthem for Hive :
viewtopic.php?t=555860
https://plugmon.jp/product/hive-fm-anthem/

[Urs]

Yes, we have thought about this. One of the issues with such a parameter is, internally we process Hive's oscillators almost exclusively in the frequency domain, that is, the whole oscillator is spectral, and the wavetables are stored as spectrum, not as actual waveform. Such an effect however operates in the time domain - it warps the waveform directly. We would then have to work on a version of the wavetable that's a plain waveform, then transform it into the frequency domain (FFT), then do Hive's oscillator mojo, hundreds if not thousands of times a second.

Anyhow. We will implement such a workflow for Zebra3. Once that is done we can evaluate if and what of those things we can bring back to Hive.

However, what Hive will certainly not get is a drawable shape to warp the wavetable.

[EvilDragon]

Well, I'd assume with enough fiddling one could do a bunch of such warps with UHM scripts. It's just not as accessible to casual users, needs some brainpower

[attention ♥]

I would like to know how the filters in Hive compare against other synths'? They kind of sound different to my expectations (more "digital") compared to Bazille's for example but that may all be in my head.

internally we process Hive's oscillators almost exclusively in the frequency domain, that is, the whole oscillator is spectral, and the wavetables are stored as spectrum, not as actual waveform.

So in a way that makes Hive more like an additive synth like Harmor...

[sinemotor]

Yes, we have thought about this. One of the issues with such a parameter is, internally we process Hive's oscillators almost exclusively in the frequency domain, that is, the whole oscillator is spectral, and the wavetables are stored as spectrum, not as actual waveform. Such an effect however operates in the time domain - it warps the waveform directly. We would then have to work on a version of the wavetable that's a plain waveform, then transform it into the frequency domain (FFT), then do Hive's oscillator mojo, hundreds if not thousands of times a second.
However, what Hive will certainly not get is a drawable shape to warp the wavetable.

That makes sense then. Thanks for the explanation!

[recursive one]

Okay, I see. Thanks for the explanation!

In the meantime, when I need fmed/synced sounds in hive I just load the serum ssq wavetable or some of the factory ones.

did you try FM Anthem for Hive :
viewtopic.php?t=555860
https://plugmon.jp/product/hive-fm-anthem/

I know this soundset, thought about buying it just for the FM wavetables.

[attention ♥]

Since Hive has both a square wave built in and also "Pulse" for pulse width modulation, is the latter still based on (spectrally interpolated) wavetables or is Pulse generated in a more traditional way?

[Urs]

Since Hive has both a square wave built in and also "Pulse" for pulse width modulation, is the latter still based on (spectrally interpolated) wavetables or is Pulse generated in a more traditional way?

Pulse is generated by creating a sawtooth the traditional way and adding a delayed and inverted version of that sawtooth. The delay is a fraction of the duty cycle, and modulating it creates different pulse widths.

[attention ♥]

I didn't know that was the trick to achieve PWM, makes a lot of sense though.

[llze]

That reverb filter mode is incredible, always thought about how to make these metallic transformer or chiptune sounds.
Now it is right there.
Together with FM Wavetables.

Really nice, thx!

[SamDi]

One question from my side, can anybody tell me, why Hive is so quiet? Just tested it. With init patch and Output knob fully cranked up, it's just delivering loudness -12 dBFS on the sawtooth. Peak is around -6dBFS.

Serum e.g. delivers something around 0 dBFS and and peak at around 5dbFS (good to have some headroom on Ableton)

Each patch I make needs at least some, compression, distortion or EQing to bring loudness on a decent level. Only Arturia is delivers also such weak signals, which I don't like either.

Is it a design decision or what is the sense that without any FX the signal is just too quiet?

[Funkybot's Evil Twin]

One question from my side, can anybody tell me, why Hive is so quiet? Just tested it. With init patch and Output knob fully cranked up, it's just delivering loudness -12 dBFS on the sawtooth. Peak is around -6dBFS.

Serum e.g. delivers something around 0 dBFS and and peak at around 5dbFS (good to have some headroom on Ableton)

Each patch I make needs at least some, compression, distortion or EQing to bring loudness on a decent level. Only Arturia is delivers also such weak signals, which I don't like either.

Is it a design decision or what is the sense that without any FX the signal is just too quiet?

A few things...

1. Take the Init patch, increase the output in the top right of the GUI to max, play one note. It's around -6db, play a chord: you can easily make it go above 0dbfs with polyphony. It's plenty loud.

2. Louder is not better. It's not even desirable to have your instruments near 0dbfs before you do any processing. If all of your instruments are producing levels near 0dbfs you'll be clipping your master fader in no time. You'll be overdriving your analog modeled plugins in bad ways. You'll be driving down your faders to get anything mixed.

3. Turn up your monitors/speakers/headphones, turn down your instruments. Nothing wrong with having instruments peaking at -10 or -12 or -14dbfs (ok, louder if we're talking drums but let's assume we're not). That's headroom. Those are closer to analog levels; which analog modeled gear will sound best when hit with. If you keep reasonable levels like that and it sounds too quiet, that's why you're turning up your monitors. If your channels are 14db quieter, you'll suddenly have headroom and won't be putting your master channel into the red. Or having to go crazy low with the channel faders. And the monitors being louder will make up for the difference. If you've got a weak audio interface that can't drive headphones, you may think you need louder signals, but you'd probably be better off with different headphones or a different interface.

4. You can get loudness from your mix processing and mastering, even if your instruments are outputting lower volumes than you're used to working with today.

So you never need an instrument to get to 0dbfs. It'll just make everything harder later on. Lots of instruments come with super loud presets/levels and frankly it's annoying. Headroom is your friend. There's some good YouTube videos on gain staging. I'd suggest you check them out.