Improve UI for Sound design

    Hello everyone,


    While I was sound designing this afternoon, I found that the virus can add little information to the virus control to generally improve the usage of the whole synth.



    As the virus is a VA synth with lots of knobs and parameters, I do find the comfort of operations quite important for such a product.


    1 Improve global display by using common metrics in sound design
    1.1 - adds a display of every envelope timing in ms/s,
    1.2 - adds a display of every volume settings in dB
    1.3 - adds a display the frequency values in Hz/Pitch.


    Usage of these features
    #1.1 : translate patches between synths
    One can find tons of resources about sound design, often made for other synths than the virus. I want to translate the preset designed for another synth to the virus. I can quickly copy the most obvious parameters like enveloppes and filter freq.


    #1.2 : compare synths
    I want to compare the sound of the virus against another synth I got. I can on basic patch align the two synths to compare them and use them at best.


    #1.3 : tweak faster by general sound design knowledge
    I'm designing a percussive sound, like a kick. I know by experience that the decay should be around 500 ms and the release around 1.5 seconds. I set an exact value. I can then set the values I'm looking for without having to actually play a note.


    #1.4 : tweak faster by targeting faster the soft spots
    I know the reverb is around two times too long. I can quick go around the supposed "soft spot" of the reverb decay. It avoids me to play a note, listen, blindy adjust up or down and so on and so forth.

    #1.1 and #1.2 sound really stupid requests to me.
    No way you can automatically translate patches that send DIFFERENT sysex messages and CC#, and they would anyway sound different even if programmed the very same numerical way.

    Zitat

    No way you can automatically translate patches that send DIFFERENT sysex messages and CC#, and they would anyway sound different even if programmed the very same numerical way.


    I can understand that use case #1.1 isn't relevant for everybody. I do use softsynths when I'm traveling, sometimes I later expand the patch in the studio with a synth like the virus.
    It may also provide a useful help when you try to follow a tutorial not dedicated to the virus itself.



    #1.2 is really about comparing the differences. I think you also notice that there is no way the synths will sound the same and that's what is interesting ;).



    Sheah you found a good expression to defend the feature : "0-127 aren't musical values."


    Thanks for your comments.

    A feature like that should know what every CC# does in EVERY MIDI synth ever...Seriously, do you think it is possible to do? And then convert them in sysex with the right messages for the Virus, and then you have the same patch that might still require tweaking, as for example the filters are very different...
    I'm not bashing your request: I would love something like that, even if it was just to hear what a patch sounds like on another instrument. But I understand why it couldn't be done by the biggest software houses, let alone a small company like Access that actually spends their programming time improving the instrument. The best "patch converter" you have is your own brain.


    Other features could be implemented maybe easily (it's just a matter of displaying values, for example) and some of them have been done, like FX send levels arent 0-127 any more.

    I'm not talking about an automatic patch converter. I'm talking about doing it by hand, by matching the values on the other synth. Numerous synths give their attack in millisecond, so you match the number with you virus...

    That's an entirely different matter and again, it can be done as it is probably just a matter of making the OS display a different value.


    A thing that I wouldn't really use, again, because doing it by ear is three times as fast :)