Quick BS2 test...
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BigSeq2 Self Osc Test by Chris Randall
I’m writing the presets for BigSeq2 today while Adam works on the AU, and here’s one of them. This is preset #8 - Self Osc Acid. The drums are a separate loop and not running through BS2. The “synth” sound is coming from BS2 entirely, no input. I made it using the self-oscillating 4P LP filter, then through the Bits engine to turn it in to a square wave.
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BigSeq2 Gate Test by Chris Randall
Here’s a test of the gating. You can hear the original for a measure, then I kick BS2 on. Fairly self-explanatory, I think.
10 comments
Okay, I have a question.
You know how when Fluid came out, you guys were talking about how plug-in choruses always sounded bad? And this one sounded better? Well, it was true. Fluid sounds better than every other plug-in chorus effect I have heard.
But in my theory, a chorus is a very simple process and should be really easy to implement. But apparently it's not, because all other choruses seem to sound bad.
So my question is why is gating so hard to do? Seems like the easiest thing in the world to me to do --- I mean, it's not like a reverb or anything, right? Sound on, sound off.
Software gates are always so terrible. (One exception: Sonalksis makes the only one I have been able to use in the typical level/frequency-reactive mode similar to the Drawmer DS series. It's called the 719. Catchy name, that.)
Digital Performer has a feature called Pattern Gate and... man, it's just awful. I don't know why, but it is. The gating timing is really awkward.
BS2 sounds like it's getting it right! Super-precise turn-off / turn-on. I would think this would be relatively simple, but there's something you guys are doing right that other people aren't.
I hope I'm making sense.
- c
I'm sure writing a good gate has nothing to do with AD's R&D (chuckle) team and the years of experience they have working with effects. I'm sure the gold record on the wall has sumthin to do with it as well as the pre's created by 40 virgins and a membership card to the gear snobbery analog taliban.
..ohh congrats. ..and yes pun intended on the comment above.
Why the hell is soundcloud a blocked site from my office?
fairly unrelated, but i'm interested in the drum samples. what are they?!
btw, the gate does in fact sound really good and yes, DP's pattern gate is absolutely terrible, but then again 99% of DP's effects are terrible. The only one I really like at all is the delay plugin, and the masterworks EQ.
Sounding very, very good.
Can't wait.
There's a difference between a sequenced gating plugin and a plugin such as the sonalksis; the purposes are much different.
Great samples though, I was thinking "do I need another sequenced fx plugin" but it looks like I do...
Good stuff!
If the filter's just self-oscillating, what's giving the first example it's liquidy quality?
I'd guess the liquidness is due to the frequency shifter.
I'll do them in ascending order.
@Wilson: Don't forget there are six blocks comprising a total of 10 effects, so there's a lot else I can do with the sound after the filter. In that particular case, it's from the frequency shifter, with a short shift and mild feedback. I've got a little bit of panning happening, and so you're getting a little bit of phasing as the dry signal interacts with the delay and the freq shifter.
@bryantwell: The drum loop is off of one of the roughly 10,000 CM or FM sample disks I seem to have.
@beauty pill & others: this sort of gate is quite different than, say, the Sonalksis gate, or a hardware gate. It's more about timing really. One thing we're very good at here at Audio Damage is straight time sequencing, and the gate in BigSeq2 is just getting turned on and off by our sequencer. We've expended a ton of development time on sequencing when you accumulate the time spent on BS1, Replicant, Automaton, and Dr. Device, and we're able to do quite a bit with it.
BS2 has a total of twelve sequencers running in sync, against six time bases. It's a fairly complex pile of code; the gating part is actually fairly simple by comparison.
I will say one thing about the gate, though. One of the fairly cool ramifications of the way our mod routing works is that you can sequence the gate time, and send the inverse of the mod sequencer to the decay time. So you can have a pattern where the length is determined either by the mod to gate or the inverse mod to decay. You can hear a bit of this on the second example. It's much more lively than just using a static time base for the gates.
The most interesting thing I've learned since I started doing the presets is how powerful this plugin is. I've obviously worked a lot with the individual effects as Adam built them (or Sean Costello, in the case of the freq shifter) but it's only starting yesterday that I was able to use the whole thing in entirety, and it is quite something.
-CR
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