The Quilcom SIM-W: Whistle while you work

[tulamide]

I’m concerned about the lockup though. I use 3.06 and at no time did I get any weird behaviour, otherwise I would have been onto it directly

I did wonder if that might be the case, as you are always so thorough with your designs - if it weren't so repeatably only the same two presets, I'd have definitely assumed a problem at my end. If I get a moment, I'll have another go to see if I can isolate the problem and see if using the alpha makes any difference. Now that I know it's just me, I suspect it might be soundcard related; I've had nothing but problems with my USB ports following a Windows 10 update a while back (not just audio, even my USB mouse is glitching occasionally).

I didn't test this specific problem yet, but I remember that when working on Razorblade, I found an issue, that nobody else from the team experienced. It took some time convincing Rex that it isn't local (which I understand!), but in the end it turned out to be some tiny bit in the schematic (it was about loading times of presets, iirc). So I have high hopes!

EDIT: No, it was about first time scanning, which took forever.

[kortezzzz]

Here it is with the midi learning feature and the automation menu. Right mouse click on any button or knob to learn\forget. The automations then can be saved to a text file.

Cheers

[Spogg]

Wow that was quick kortezzzz!

Now I need to be educated, if you don’t mind. How is this feature used in practice?

My understanding of automation is that you record the actions of a knob in the DAW in an automation lane, which you can edit as you wish. Any knob or control which has automation checked can be controlled by the DAW assuming it has a unique preset parameter name. My only experience of doing this is in Reaper, so I’m wondering if this is something that not all DAWs can do.

I do understand that if you’re using a hardware control device you can map a hardware slider or knob to a VST control, but that too can be achieved in Reaper. So is the advantage that you can save the mapping for the VST and reload it in another song to save time? Maybe I’m confused by the term “automation”.

I crave clarity! Maybe I should include this feature in future projects, but I need to get a handle on it first.

Pardon my ignorance!

[kortezzzz]

No ignorance here . It's exactly as you've described it. The original mean of "automation" in the DAW universe is to describe the action of recording midi control's movement that can be then edited. But as time goes by, the word started also to describe the process that causes this result from the vst side. You're probably right and "automation" is not the best word to describe this and I should stop using it. Simply "midi learn feature" would be the best suggestion because that's what this feature does. It sounds less sexy of course, but it's better than making such a misunderstandings since it doesn't records your control's movement to the vst itself or something similar. Just allows learning and then saving the learnt settings to a file.

There are many methods for midi learning from both the DAW and the vst sides in the nowadays. I find this one the most simple to use and the most un-oppressive as well and fortunately, the people who use my plug-ins loved it too and probably got use to it and that's what they expect, so I'm staying with it. Now I only have to make them to get use to "midi learn" instead of "automation" (unless, you guys have something sexier to suggest )

[newdsp]

Here is a flute song done with CHAOS + SIM-W. The video should be uploaded soon.

https://youtu.be/IVAEYdz_PJM

[Spogg]

Here is a flute song done with CHAOS + SIM-W. The video should be uploaded soon.

https://youtu.be/IVAEYdz_PJM

I love it!
Thanks for that, very much

[newdsp]

That one was recorded using the computer keyboard without any metronome. After recording it I turned on the metronome and try to stretch it and shift it to match the tempo. LOL. It's not really there yet but I tried to keep it more organic and without quantize. Only the bass notes are fully quantized. I wanted to paint the notes with the mouse but then I realized it would take too long. It's better to record quick full of errors and then edit the errors.

We should make those articulations + ornaments + glide get triggered by something other than velocity because I don't like to connect my midi controller. I mean I can randomize the velocities after but it would be nice to have it fully automatic and not depend on velocity. The "chance" probably depends on velocity too which is why is not triggering much. It should be based on tempo or the note numbers or bar number or something else. Maybe random combined with tempo or timer or probabilities. I will try to modify it later. Maybe I can make it more automatic.

[Spogg]

Yes I agree fully about difficulties controlling a synth so the player can add expression.
My goal was to make it as easy as possible to use what a typical controller keyboard has available, namely velocity, mod and pitch wheels, along with legato/staccato playing when simulating a monophonic instrument. If I made it so a breath and foot pedal controller was required I don’t think anyone would ever bother even trying it!

As I think I said in the video, and you have echoed here, it’s probably best to just enter or play a tune and then edit it in the DAW using the velocity ranges and note overlap/separation to add ornaments/articulations. This is especially so for the glides which are actually quite tricky to play accurately.

The Auto Ornaments system will always produce an ornament when the threshold velocity is exceeded but the ornament chosen will be random, based on the Variety setting. I originally intended a much more sophisticated system where you can set weighting and user ornaments, but I stopped myself because I think nobody would actually want the extra complexity.

The overblow system is different and velocity isn’t taken into account, just the chance of a new note having an overblow sound as set on the Chance knob. What is random however is the length of the overblow sound within defined limits, so that you actually hear it but it’s never too long. Also you never get an overblow when playing legato, the logic being that once you’ve got the correct whistle sound a player would maintain it and just change fingering. This isn’t strictly true since higher notes need harder blowing, but a skilled player would rarely make such a sound and I didn’t see the point in making a simulation of a beginner!

[k brown]

I imagine what you learned on this could lead to a recorder SIM too, no?

Those little devils jump a full octave when overblown.

[newdsp]

If it's all based on incoming velocities... I could add a random velocity modifier so that the threshold is always reached maybe once or twice per bar or depending either on the tempo or the length of the incoming midi notes or based on the difference of note numbers. Which means we have to keep track of the previous note number and compare it with current note number. If the difference between the 2 is higher than 3 or 4 or 5 or 6 or 8 (that part can be user configurable) then it could do an automatic articulation or ornament or a glitch or a glide or something random like that. Even the difference number can be randomized based on tempo so that the probability is higher or lower depending on user preferences.