First, a very brief hello: owned a TI for several years, but as a general rule, simply don't tend to look at support sites (save to DL updates), forums etc.: I had no idea even that the Feature Request forum existed until a few days ago. I simply haven't had the time. My apologies also for the need to split this into three parts: some twit has decided individual posts should be limited to ten-thousand characters (probably some predefined default in the software). Fair enough, but it might just possibly be an idea should that fact be indicated on the submission page: i.e. *before* post submission. Ah well...
Anyway, on to my own personal wish-list. I've read few a few pages of the forum in an attempt to avoid going over old ground, but a few old favourites do get a mention. A warning BTW; this will be quite extensive, simply because it struck me as more sensible to put everything in one place. Also, a few things at the end of this post relate to Accessibility for those unable (for whatever reason) easily to read the TI's visual display, but may still be of general interest. Having myself something of a sight problem, I am aware at least of two people who are totally blind and so need to rely on memory and the fact that the TI (whether by design or astonishing good fortune) is one of the most friendly pieces of equipment to operate without being able to see the display.
Right; here goes.
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Classic Oscillators:
Oscillator Contour:
Modelled after the LFO Contour, this would add a staggering number of new sonic possibilities for the classic oscillators. Depending on how the waveforms are generated, this could be extremely simple to implement and should add absolutely no additional DSP overhead. It would allow also (e.g., should sine be selected) such things as morphing continuously between triangle, sine and square, with superb modulation possibilities.
Oscillator & LFO duty-cycle bias:
This would shift the waveform centre position within each duty-cycle with a negative/positive bias (a visual representation would show the negative and positive half of the cycle as stretched or compressed in relation to one another depending on the bias). Of course this has existed always for square wave (the simple `pulse width') and can in some fashion be done now for the wave-tables with PW (although of course actually the effect is quite different), but allowing it for all classic waveforms would open up yet another tremendous array of unique possibilities without adding any additional DSP overhead. As an example, for sine, certain settings would create an effect somewhat analogous to classic SY/TG77 (*not* DX7) two-operator PM, but vastly more versatile for creating unique sounds with a single oscillator and without the need for multi-operator FM/PM. For square, one could set one oscillator to a positive bias, the other to a different negative with differing amplitude, and generate some fascinating complex pulse-width combinations.
Oscillator & LFO Waveform compression/Expansion:
Not to be confused with any kind of audio compression/expansion, this would `squeeze' or `stretch' the waveform in relation to it's duty-cycle. For compression, a visual representation would look as though the wave had been `crushed' from each end towards its centre position, leaving a zero-amplitude gap at each end so the over-all amplitude and cycle length itself would remain the same. Expansion would do the opposite: increasingly expanding the centre zero-point whilst squeezing each half of the waveform towards its own respective centre-point (halfway between the over-all cycle centre position and each half-wave's respective end), again whilst not changing each half-wave's amplitude or the over-all cycle length. For sine, the sonic result of compression would be _somewhat_ similar to some grain-table effects (in reality the AM of the new frequency with the cycle fundamental), but would sound very different indeed for other classic waveforms. For expansion, sine would begin generating two distinct `half-sines', resulting in new complex harmonics somewhat analogous to self-ring-modulation. Again, depending on the waveform generation implementation, this should add no extra DSP overhead and open up yet another vast array of tonal possibilities. For LFO and given the correct waveform, a combination of this and duty-cycle bias would implement the `swing' effect some have requested.
Hyper-everything:
Although at present limited to saw, I don't see why this couldn't be extended to include some other classic wave-shapes (even if only sine, triangle and square) without adding any additional overhead.
Additive sine:
Although a full additive engine implementation would I imagine *vastly* be beyond the scope of any plans for the Virus, building e.g. a simple 9-voice additive sine engine based on the hyper-saw concept should be possible without further taxing the DSP. Each sub-wave could be tunable to harmonics derived mathematically from the fundamental, and the volume of each adjustable theoretically without adding any additional overhead, in the same way as hyper-saw; indeed I would imagine an optimised implementation might use even less DSP than the hyper-saw, since detuning wouldn't be necessary and the calculations would be fixed to harmonics. This would give the additive proponents a good deal of what they want without the need for any fundamental change in the TI's design philosophy. Theoretically, a sub-oscillator for each sub-wave also would tax the DSP no more than hyper-sub, since it would be derived from a divide on each sub-wave.
FM/PM:
In the same way as allowed for wavetables, a choice of classic analogue-style FM or DX-style PM for the classic oscillators would be an excellent addition. Self-FM would also be nice, although that might be getting into increased overheads and a lot of fiddling.
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Wavetable Oscillators:
Harmonic Sine table:
A table allowing sweeping through fundamental-derived harmonics as sines would be a nice addition. I realise this can be done with formants, but that chews up a lot of power for something that could just be another table.
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Envelopes:
Envelope Contour:
This would behave exactly as the LFO Contour, and allow a stunningly versatile envelope-shaping tool without any need to redesign the envelope algorithm. One could shift from linear to curves to a square-type straight-line envelope, allowing such things as delayed sharp attack, and probably a very close approximation of almost any analogue synth envelope shape one would care to name. Assuming the envelope generation algorithm is analogous to that used for LFO, this should not be more simple to implement with a minimum of time and trouble.
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Filters:
Analogue emulations:
As so many others have requested, analogue HP/BP/Notch to complement the excellent LP. Other analogue emulations (classics, and also partialclassics such as e.g. the Roland MKS80 which has a unique sound) would be magnificent additions.
Digital: 6/12/18/24DB for each filter:
It would be superb also should one be able to set each digital filter between 6 and 24-db. This would allow up to 48db/Octave, but more importantly, allow far greater versatility when using the filters in parallel.
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[Continued in 2/3]