Some basic questions

Hello all,

I just downloaded psycle, some samples and some VST's and am becoming a bit confused. I was quite used to Impulse tracker which had only samples (ok, and instruments) but now I have all sorts of stuff at my disposal and I'm a bit unsure when to use what.

I used to rip all my samples so I have no experience with Synths

I also downloaded a VST that handles soundfonts so there's another possible source of sound.

So:

When do I use a sampler and not a Soundfont VST?
What's the deal with all those native plugin Synths, do you use them to make Basses or Strings?
Are there some must-have VST's (free, or cheap, things that are so good that everyone uses them)?
What's the best way to get some suitable Strings: Samples, Soundfonts, Synths or some odd VST?

And alot more of these questions but I guess you've got a feeling where I'm coming from.


Hopefully some answers will raise more questions and I'll be "unnoobyfied" in a no time.

Well. You should use whatever gives you the sound you like!

You can get synth strings very easily with almost any plugin, but if you want orchestral sounding strings, a soundfont or some samples is probably the easiest way.

Just play around with the synths and their presets, you'll find many sounds you will like.

Here's some great synths to get you started: (there's more, but these are what I'm used to and these work 100% in psycle)
Polyiblit - very clean sound, lots of presets
http://213.238.212.33/public/polyiblit_1_1.zip

Synth1 - good sound, good programming capabilities, lot's of presets
http://www.geocities.jp/daichi1969/softsynth/synth1.zip

Silverspike Roommachine 844 - a good room reverb
http://www.silverspike.com/Download/RoomMachine844.zip

Kjaerhus Audio Classic Series - VERY good basic FX, you'll get along a BIG way with even only these! The reverb is awesome for example!
http://www.kjaerhusaudio.com/classic-series.php

Supaphaser - The best free phaser
http://www.smartelectronix.com/refer.php....0_20040403.zip

Ambience - A great reverb for big spaces
http://www.smartelectronix.com/refer.php...-2003-10-25.zip

Nyquist EQ - A very flexible equaliser for shaping the sound
http://www.smartelectronix.com/refer.php...-2004-11-10.zip

Cyanide 2 - a good distortion plugin:
http://bram.smartelectronix.com/plugins.php?id=3

Ah, thanks seems like a good beginning. I'll try 'm out tonight.

Another thing I came across. Something by the name of Kontakt and it uses .nki files. From the looks of it seems something like a soundfont but can anyone explain, and more importantly can Psycle use it?

Last edited by Duisterprei on 05.08.2005, 00:33 o'clock.

ok. i'll post a long reply here.

Kontakt is a sampler. You know what is a sampler?
hehe, i think i'm the man to explain it, isn't it???

Well, a sampler is an instrument made for play and play (the two meanings) with samples. We can speak a bit about history of samples. The most simple format was and is a raw audio file (.wav is the most extended extension). A simple recording of ANY sound/noise. It's still very used mainly for percussion sounds. Psycle's sampler only allows playing this kind of samples format (.wav and .iff). Which is the problem with this kind of samples, what are SF2s, GIGs, nki, dls... and why exist them?
Ok, all the trackers can play any sample at different speed, this way the pitch changes. That's a very easy operation, but the problem here comes if the sample is a note of any instrument/synth (specially real instruments). The simplest example is a piano note sampled. As u play it quicker (higher pitch) or slower (lower pitch) the sound starts to differ from the one of a piano.... sounding like shit!
Well, which is the solution to this? Sampling not only a note of the piano, sampling a number of them. The perfect would be to sample every note This is done in professional digital pianos (as my Clavinova ) This technique needs a different, a bit more complex format to store a number of notes. Here come formats as SF2 (prolly the most used).
Psycle doesn't support natively these formats but there are many commercial and free samplers that support them.
Kontakt is one of the best commercial synths and of course supports SF2 format as well as its own format (nki) and many others.
If you want to use real instruments SF2 is the way to go. I recommend RGCAudio sfz VSTi for using SF2s in Psycle, it's free, really easy and works perfectly in Psycle (at least for me).


If you have more questions ask here or join #psycle IRC channel.

__________________
Am i going to be the same next year???? Will i use Psycle next years?? :rolleyes:

So, basically the -F3- screen of Impulse tracker worked like a sampler?

I don't remember which was the F3 screen

...but i suppose yes. And Impulse Tracker and Fast Tracker had its own mutilsamples format, ITI and XI. Something similar to SF2.

__________________
Am i going to be the same next year???? Will i use Psycle next years?? :rolleyes:

i would to add one :

Free alpha from linplug
http://www.linplug.com/Download/download.htm

very good for strings !!

..and if you want ...from andreas ersson's site you can download also "iblit" because polyiblit is too cpu hungry for some kind of synths

__________________
www.track3z.net

Right, I'll download that one as well and head to the IRC channel to bug people with my questions there.

[had to leave before getting an answer, here's the question again:

Cheers, two more stupid questions if anyone has the time/inclination to answer:

1. I have a pressure sensitive machine:
If I play it at full volume in the pattern editor it sounds horrible (and definetly different), but when played at (for example) 0CB0 volume it sounds fine. Now is there a faster way to get the "not so loud" sample to play instead of type OCB0 after every sample?

(I tried lowering the input volume from the sampler to the machine, but it didn't help. It just played the "Loudest"-sample softer)

While basically I could just shift the "nod-so-loud" sample a few notches up in the sampler, it brings me to the more general case: is there a "Track volume" command?

(Akin to the Mxx command in IT.

2. How do I get the pattern highlighting to correspond to a 48 row 3/4 beat, since it's time for Polka?]

Last edited by Duisterprei on 06.08.2005, 00:20 o'clock.

1. If you want to keep the volume lower, but constant, go to the Instrument Editor and there's a volume slider there (search for instrument editor in the help file, you'll find it)

There's not a track volume command per se, but there is a command for machine volumes and wire volumes.

It's not a good idea to tweak wire volumes, since it's good to keep them at set levels, and use a gainer (Ayeternal Gainer) plugin to actually fade volumes etc.

To tweak machine volumes for VSTs, you need to use the twk/tws command with the internal volume parameter of the particular VST.

To tweak native machine volumes, use the mcm command to control the internal volume parameter(s) - find mcm in the index of the help file, and read the section on natives.

2. At the moment you can't really set up a 3/4 beat in terms of highlighting, you can only change the lines per beat function (DEVS: another simple highlighting option to add?). However, if you find the highlight of every fourth bar to be confusing, just set the 4-bar highlight to be the same as the every-bar highlight (see Configuration, visual in the help file index).

Hope that helps

__________________

www.quantinuitymusic.com

Ok let me rephrase the original question:

When I press my Midi-keyboard button hard the sampler (not the internal one) plays sample X.wav
When I press it softy it plays sample Y.wav

If I leave everything at it's default entering notes in the pattern editor will play sample X.

Now for some odd reason, turning every volume nob (I know of) EXCEPT single note volume seems to just play sample X softer.

But when I set the volume of a single note soft enough, it plays sample Y.

...ah well, doesn't really matter. It's now purely a matter of vexing curiousity.

ah i get ya

then you've got a VST "problem"

you need to tweak/set/change some type of volume command within your sampler...and if you're having problems with that, sounds like it's a problem with the VST or you've misread the manual


and since your machine is pressure sensitive, you will have to enter "0CXX" for each note, or enter the notes using your external MIDI keyboard....

__________________

www.quantinuitymusic.com

Last edited by TranceMyriad on 06.08.2005, 02:14 o'clock.

Duisterprei, for your velocity problems :

What is your midi configuration in psycle ?
Psycle works well with my midi keyboard :

- configuration --> settings --> midi controller

check "map velocity" to cmd c from 0 to ff

It works for me (i'm using 1.73 version of psycle, but i don't think the midi implementation have been improved since)

Last edited by nolwenn on 06.08.2005, 13:39 o'clock.