"Realms of Fantasy" Soundbank for the Prophet REV2 has been released!

Razmo

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Re: "Realms of Fantasy" Soundbank for the Prophet REV2 has been released!
« Reply #20 on: January 16, 2019, 02:38:04 PM »
Maybe the use of the 5 pins DIN over USB would garantee you have the right speed in all cases?

Nope not at all... even that in some cases need a delay... it depend on the speed of the receiving device and what it needs to do... in cases like the REV2 that needs to receive one program at a time, process it and then wait for it to be stored into flash memory, you would need a certain amount of delay before you send the next program...

In the REV2's case, I measured that delay to be 32ms... I measured this by looking at a MIDI monitor that show timestamps on incomming SysEx messages... that way i could see exactly how big the delay time was between programs send by the REV2 (via global mode)... that delay has to be correct, otherwise you'd have a problem when you connect two REV2's together via MIDI DIN and send the bank from one to the other.

this delay works with my editor... no problems moving programs about between all banks and memory locations... even whole banks copied from one to the other.

Another thing is that with windows MIDI drivers (which is used by the USB connection! Sequential do not provide custom MIDI drivers for their synths!), you have faulty drivers... any MIDI message more than 1024 bytes in length will give errors according to the bug reports I've read... USB MIDI on Windows have had this problem for ages now, and MS do not fix it for some obscure reason.... so any device that use the class compliant drivers of Windows are subject to this... with normal MIDI messages only being a few bytes in length at a time, it's no problem... but if you send a SysEx dump greater than 1024 bytes, you could be in for trouble.... this is the case with REV2's USB MIDI connection.

So the most safe solution is to connect it with a MIDI DIN interface, and that be an interface that has working custom drivers so it does not use the Windows drivers.... for SysEx dumps at least... that include OS updates via MIDI.
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Re: "Realms of Fantasy" Soundbank for the Prophet REV2 has been released!
« Reply #21 on: January 17, 2019, 04:03:20 AM »
Is the issue on sending or receiving? I would think the second. There is a buffer to receive data and somehow swallow it in the system if the data is received quicker than the device capability to handle it chances are we will face major issues. The midi DIN is operating at 31250 bauds and with 10 bits protocol we can transfer 3125 bytes/s hence it takes a bit less than 328ms to transfer 1kB. Compared to the 32ms you mentioned this is ample time for the system to swallow the data.
With USB I don’t know how midi is emulated but for sure the information goes light speed compared to the vintage midi protocol.
Note that I don’t have a particular knowledge on this topic, just sharing thoughts. Sequential is not very keen on sharing information.
« Last Edit: January 17, 2019, 04:11:29 AM by Tugdual »

Razmo

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Re: "Realms of Fantasy" Soundbank for the Prophet REV2 has been released!
« Reply #22 on: January 17, 2019, 09:58:09 AM »
Is the issue on sending or receiving? I would think the second. There is a buffer to receive data and somehow swallow it in the system if the data is received quicker than the device capability to handle it chances are we will face major issues. The midi DIN is operating at 31250 bauds and with 10 bits protocol we can transfer 3125 bytes/s hence it takes a bit less than 328ms to transfer 1kB. Compared to the 32ms you mentioned this is ample time for the system to swallow the data.
With USB I don’t know how midi is emulated but for sure the information goes light speed compared to the vintage midi protocol.
Note that I don’t have a particular knowledge on this topic, just sharing thoughts. Sequential is not very keen on sharing information.

Depends on how it receive the data... If it need to receive it all first before being able to process and store it, you would still need the delay... The data is packed for example
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Re: "Realms of Fantasy" Soundbank for the Prophet REV2 has been released!
« Reply #23 on: January 19, 2019, 04:38:16 AM »
An additional note to my soundbank:

I initially thought that a document describing the modulation controls would be appropriate, but after giving it a more clear thought, it really serves no purpose because the controls like Foot Pedal and Mod Wheel are used in so many varied ways in the same program, and in many cases for more than just one parameter... It is really hard to describe what each do, and what they modulate in a program... and also in stacked programs, they may modulate one thing on one layer, and another in the other layer.

The best way to find out is simply by experimenting with the controllers, and listen to what they do... there are some common guidelines though that I will explain in detail here:

Pitch Wheel:
On almost all programs, pitch wheel will control pitch, and nothing else... there are a few programs that use it to pan the sound left and right instead, but they are very few.

Aftertouch:
In ALL cases where aftertouch is allocated to anything, it's vibrato. I find no other real use for aftertouch, and that is why.

Velocity:
May be used in many different ways, too many to explain separately. adjusting volume, filter EG amounts, envelope attack rates etc... you can hear clearly what velocity does to a sound simply by playing.

Mod Wheel:
Many varied uses, but in most cases this control is used for static changes to a sound... you set it once, and leave it at that... This is because realtime modulation is left for the Foot Pedal as Mod Wheel requires a free hand which is not convenient while playing with both hands.

Foot Pedal:
Probably the most important control of them all. It allow you to change a sound while you play with both hands at the same time for a lot more expressive possibilities. It will control just about everything imaginable... try it out to find out. Getting a Foot Pedal is heavily recommended for use with this soundbank... you can though, use an external controller knob/slider or a DAW automation to do the same thing... all they have to do is send CC#04 (foot pedal) to the REV2 (and make sure your foot pedal is also set up for CC#04 in the global menu).

That is about it... there is a few things worth noticing about some of the programs though:

A few programs will have the Foot Pedal assigned to VCA Level... this will increase the volume on ALL voices at the same time, resulting in a 16 voice drone... thus the 8/16 last notes you have played will start sounding all together at once... this means that these programs can be made to sound radically different, depending on what you played BEFORE you increase the VCA with the Foot Pedal... two programs that uses this to a great effect is "Desert Storm" and "Wet Caves".

With Wet Caves, try to hold a few high keys down... they will sound... try pressing more high keys until you have run thru at least 16 keypresses, and then move the Foot Pedal up... the water sound will now sound high pitched with clear droplets... now with the Foot Pedal still pressed, press some keys in the lower range, and notice how those get mixed in... this way you can design your own density of the water dripping... the same is tru for the program "Desert Storm"... press 16 times on keys in the upper range, and you get i typical wind howl... add a few lower to get some deep whistling tones in... again you can tailor your own special wind sound this way. "Desert Storm" is also completely silent, until you move the Foot Pedal... Wet Caves let's you play the water sound by pressing the keys as well.

A few other presets also raise the VCA amount via Foot Pedal... this is to give you the option to start a drone with the sound whenever you want... "Dreamscape" is such a program.

Other than this, there is not much more to it... just remember that the Foot Pedal is what makes the sounds come alive... make them evolve as you play along on the keys... this is critical to getting the same moving textures as are in all of my previous demos of the sounds.

On some presets, the Mod Wheel is not allocated to anything... feel free to add something yourself if you like. It may seem odd that i did not program anything there, but there are several reasons for that... the most common is that I found no parameter to modulate with it that gave me anything useable, or in other cases it is because there simply are not modulation slots enough left to do it... also on some programs, Mod Wheel and Foot Pedal does the exact same thing... one thing to notice about that though is, that this lets you increase the modulation by using both controls, which in some cases can lead to insane sounding modulation... but that is how the Mod Matrix works if two controllers are routed to the same... they are simply added up.

If you have any special questions about the modulation controllers, just write them in this thread :)

Hope this info clears some things up.
« Last Edit: January 19, 2019, 04:45:13 AM by Razmo »
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DiScO

Re: "Realms of Fantasy" Soundbank for the Prophet REV2 has been released!
« Reply #24 on: January 19, 2019, 11:35:55 AM »
OK I've waited in anticipation for this but no link to the product? I've done all the searches I'm all timed out.

timboréale

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Re: "Realms of Fantasy" Soundbank for the Prophet REV2 has been released!
« Reply #25 on: January 19, 2019, 11:55:32 AM »
OK I've waited in anticipation for this but no link to the product? I've done all the searches I'm all timed out.

In the first post in this topic:

If you are interested in buying the soundbank, just write me a Private Message her eon the forum, giving me your email address, and I will request a payment to you... and when the payment has been received, I'll send the bank to you via the same email address. That is as easy as it gets :)
Prophet 6 keyboard, Rev2-16, Prophet 12 Keyboard, Nords, etc...

Razmo

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Re: "Realms of Fantasy" Soundbank for the Prophet REV2 has been released!
« Reply #26 on: January 19, 2019, 12:08:19 PM »
OK I've waited in anticipation for this but no link to the product? I've done all the searches I'm all timed out.

It works like in the first post of this thread :) ... i have not set up a homepage for this yet as i decided to release the bank first so people did not have to wait any longer (it's been 7 months after all)... Just write me a Private Message with your email, and I'll send you a request via PayPal :)
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DiScO

Re: "Realms of Fantasy" Soundbank for the Prophet REV2 has been released!
« Reply #27 on: January 21, 2019, 04:15:44 AM »
Ok thanks Razmo

Shaw

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Re: "Realms of Fantasy" Soundbank for the Prophet REV2 has been released!
« Reply #28 on: January 21, 2019, 10:28:37 AM »
@Razmo(taz)... Do you have any sound clips of the bank online somewhere.  I've heard bits and pieces (which were all really good, by the way) over the last few months, but do you have a run through of all the sounds online somewhere (YouTube, SoundCloud, etc...)?  Would love to hear them.
"Classical musicians go to the conservatories, rock´n roll musicians go to the garages." --- Frank Zappa
| Linnstrument | Suhr Custom Modern | Mayones Jaba Custom | Godin Multiac Nylon | Roland TD-50 | Synergy Guitar Amps | Eventide Effects Galore |

Razmo

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Re: "Realms of Fantasy" Soundbank for the Prophet REV2 has been released!
« Reply #29 on: January 21, 2019, 10:43:07 AM »
@Razmo(taz)... Do you have any sound clips of the bank online somewhere.  I've heard bits and pieces (which were all really good, by the way) over the last few months, but do you have a run through of all the sounds online somewhere (YouTube, SoundCloud, etc...)?  Would love to hear them.

No, only the ones I linked to earlier in this thread which are those from my rant thread being posted over the last 7 months... I have what you seek in the pipeline though, as I want a YouTube video up soon for this purpose... I'll link to it in this thread as soon as it has been created :)
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Shaw

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Re: "Realms of Fantasy" Soundbank for the Prophet REV2 has been released!
« Reply #30 on: January 21, 2019, 10:45:37 AM »
Thanks!
"Classical musicians go to the conservatories, rock´n roll musicians go to the garages." --- Frank Zappa
| Linnstrument | Suhr Custom Modern | Mayones Jaba Custom | Godin Multiac Nylon | Roland TD-50 | Synergy Guitar Amps | Eventide Effects Galore |

Re: "Realms of Fantasy" Soundbank for the Prophet REV2 has been released!
« Reply #31 on: February 02, 2019, 09:52:11 AM »
Greetings all,
I just wanted to congratulate Razmo on this sound bank - I finally had enough time to go through the patches and I found them inspiring, giving me all sorts of ideas and possible directions!

Razmo, thank you and I look forward to your future efforts!

Razmo

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Re: "Realms of Fantasy" Soundbank for the Prophet REV2 has been released!
« Reply #32 on: February 07, 2019, 01:03:31 PM »
As promised some time ago, I have now created a full 1:28 hour long demo of the whole bank of 128 sounds... it can be heard here:

http://razmo.ziphoid.com/Realms_of_Fantasy_Demo.mp3

I know that an hour and a half is a long time, but it's simply impossible to get all sounds in, at less time, so relax, sit down, shut off the lights, lit a candle and listen it thru :)

This also means that all the small demo's from the list earlier has been deleted now... many of those were with external reverb on, and many of the sounds changed before the release... the demo above is 100% what you get in this sound bank... it's 100% REV2 playing, I have not used ANY kind of effects on this demo, and the only processing done after recording was a full normalizing of the .wav file... even the volume differences between the instruments are as in the demo.

So... what you hear is an example of the more exotic sounds you can make with a Prophet REV2 stand alone... out of the box! ... I can say that I'm pretty happy about this bank I've done... i know I can do even better, but that will be later because right now me and REV2 do not want to rub backs for a while ;) ... soon the fruits of this hard work will enter my studio; a Novation PEAK which will get my focus for the next bank of sounds, while TEMPEST is looking envious at me from the side  ??? ...

I've also finished my homepage for future use when selling my sound banks, and you can check it out here:

https://razmo666.wixsite.com/website

I am still going to upload the demo to my homepage, so right now the demo-player on the site does not play the demo... just an old riff i did years ago ...

If a moderator reads this, I'd be happy if he/she could insert the following text into the end of this threads first post:

---------------------
Here is a 1:28 hour long demo of all the sounds... it's 100% REV2, no external processing:
http://razmo.ziphoid.com/Realms_of_Fantasy.mp3"
---------------------

thank you :)
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Re: "Realms of Fantasy" Soundbank for the Prophet REV2 has been released!
« Reply #33 on: February 08, 2019, 12:42:02 PM »
Fantastic work !
I've sent you a PM.

Razmo

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Re: "Realms of Fantasy" Soundbank for the Prophet REV2 has been released!
« Reply #34 on: February 08, 2019, 02:15:09 PM »
Fantastic work !
I've sent you a PM.

Thank you for the compliment :) means a lot!
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Razmo

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Re: "Realms of Fantasy" Soundbank for the Prophet REV2 has been released!
« Reply #35 on: March 13, 2019, 06:43:43 AM »
I can tell that I've begun working on the next REV2 bank... I also have the PEAK to take care of so my time will be split between the two, but I enjoy going back and forth between the two once in a while, so I cannot say when it will be ready yet... I'll get a Prophet 12 as well next month, so I will probably also have a look at that one as well :)

The next bank will be done a bit differently than the first one, and will focus mainly on drones with a much deeper and more "evil and dark" aspect (for those who bought my soundbank, think in the style of the patch named "Nautilus") ... I've got some really good ideas for how to pull these off, and thus this will be my focus for the next bank. The bank will be named "Dronescapes" and I'll make a separate thread in here for demos and tips and tricks on how they were made... just as last time :) ... this also means that where the last bank was a "jack of all trades" in the ambient and fantasy department, the next one will be much more specialized... this is because I need such sounds myself, and realized I needed many more drones and deep ambient sounds, and also ones that are not as animated as the previous ones I did.

Another thing is, that I'll be creating the sounds initially WITHOUT any FX at all... this is done so that the raw sound will be as good as possible... then FX will be "sprinkled" on top for that extra boost... this is because many might want to use an external reverb or delay for the spatial effects... REV2's reverb is not the best, and to me it's more important to use the FX for modulation as a first priority... then reverb and delays can be added externally if wanted (everyone have external FX anyway, everyone uses them, so why not...)

I'll also try to keep the polyphony as high as at all possible... this means all programs will be made for a single-layer initially... if layer B is needed I'll use it, otherwise not... these types of sounds benefit from huge release tails so polyphony is crucial.

Just a small update, so that you know what I'm up to :)
« Last Edit: March 13, 2019, 06:46:19 AM by Razmo »
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maxter

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Re: "Realms of Fantasy" Soundbank for the Prophet REV2 has been released!
« Reply #36 on: March 13, 2019, 12:29:02 PM »
Another thing is, that I'll be creating the sounds initially WITHOUT any FX at all... this is done so that the raw sound will be as good as possible... then FX will be "sprinkled" on top for that extra boost... this is because many might want to use an external reverb or delay for the spatial effects... REV2's reverb is not the best, and to me it's more important to use the FX for modulation as a first priority... then reverb and delays can be added externally if wanted (everyone have external FX anyway, everyone uses them, so why not...)

I'll also try to keep the polyphony as high as at all possible... this means all programs will be made for a single-layer initially... if layer B is needed I'll use it, otherwise not... these types of sounds benefit from huge release tails so polyphony is crucial.

Just a small update, so that you know what I'm up to :)

A very sound approach, imo! Thanks for the heads-up! While I like your first bank, and all patches are interesting and well crafted, I personally prefer the drones and soundscapes specifically. So a bank more oriented towards this area sounds very good to me!  :)
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Razmo

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A little update:

I've been "standing still" regarding the next soundbank for the REV2 (Dronescapes) because I swapped my REV2 keyboard for a Roland - V-Synth GT which I really wanted in my studio... this V-Synth GT has now replaced the REV2 as my main master controller.

I've been saving up for a module version of the REV2 which should arrive on monday, and when it does, I'll start working on the REV2 again.

I have decided though, to delay the "Dronescapes" bank a bit, simply because I find that my realeased bank "Realms of Fantasy" has some sounds in it that should not be there, and do not fit the type of bank that it was supposed to be. This is mainly basses, a few synth sounds and sequenced sounds too.

Therefore, I'll be removing these sounds from the bank, and they will be replaced with new ones that fit the style better... the old bank will though still be in the bank archive file... I'll just up the version number to 1.1.

Also, I'll be running all the presets thru and make some changes to the way the sounds are modulated, mostly because I want to remove the use of the foot pedal... not all have a foot pedal to use, and I intend to use only the most standard controllers like Pitchbend, Modwheel and Aftertouch.

I have no planned time for this version 1.1 to be available, but I'll write in this thread when it's ready.

The bank will be free for anyone who have already bought the bank... more info on this when the time comes.

I want this bank to be perfect... this is why I'm doing this.
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Looking forward to that update.  The ambient patches are the ones I like the best from the lot.
And good call on making the patches dry, will save a lot of time.
Thanks for your work.
Prophet Rev2, SonicCore Xite-1,CP300,CS5,SK20

Razmo

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Looking forward to that update.  The ambient patches are the ones I like the best from the lot.
And good call on making the patches dry, will save a lot of time.
Thanks for your work.

Thank you :)

In general, leaving out the FX is a bit hard, since they are quite a bit a part of the sound in itself when it comes to this bank. When I talked about creating the best I can without FX, I was referring to my next bank "Dronescapes"... I'll just be  creating the presets dry first... but FX will be added after that if needed, simply because some users may want to use the sounds "as is" ... but in general it's quite easy to rid yourself of the FX in my "Realms of Fantasy"... simply turn off the FX on any layer in use... that's it... many of my presets use layer B as an FX layer... that is the only way I can create a fake modulated reverb that sound better than the stock REV2 reverb.

Besides... in my own case, I actually do not turn the FX off... I just run the sounds thru an external reverb more... that works pretty well too, making the reverb even thicker because they are run in series.

Also, I've got the feeling that many like the Ambient sounds best, so I'll make sure to create a few more of those to replace some of the sounds I want to take out of the bank... Ambient sounds was the primary goal for this bank to begin with, I just tried to create other sounds as well that would fit a Fantasy setting, thus all the bowed, struck and plucked sounds too :) ... I always wanted this bank to be a "mixed bag of Ambient Fantasy candy" so to speak.
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