Quilcom OscVerb: Not actually a reverb!

[Spogg]

The OscVerb is a result of an idea I had which I wanted to hear.
Instead of making a reverb using delays and comb filters, or convolution, it employs 61 basic synths which generate single pitches across a 5-octave chromatic scale. The amplitudes of these are determined by pitches present in the input sound. It’s not actually a true reverb, but it behaves a bit like one.
The advantage of using this method is the degree of control over the “reverb” tail. It’s a weird and possibly useless effect plugin, but at least I now know what it can sound like!

Download:

https://www.dropbox.com/scl/fi/ab4nw0wq ... kfguj&dl=0

Video:

https://youtu.be/0MLX8lUXKBY

[billv]

Interesting work Spoog.. ..Strange concept...61 synths in one schematic must be some sort of record.
Don't worry if no-one uses it....It's all about "Art for Art's sake"...and going down that rabbit hole.

[Spogg]

Thanks Bill.

If you look into the schematic, you’ll see the synths are not really synths (nor is the plugin a reverb!). I could have called them voices or something but that’s also not really right. So, I took some poetic license and called them synths. It sounds more impressive (for which I feel a little guilty).
I made heavy use of mono4 to get the count up, and considering what’s going on, the CPU isn’t too bad.

[R&R]

As an onlooker I felt obliged to report this to the ministry of Silly Walks...

I meant, ministry of Silly Verbs.

Expect issuing papers delivered by ministerial couriers within two days.
Don't plan any trips abroad

[R&R]

...and yes. I myself am already on the radar of the ministry of Silly Synths.

[tulamide]

How I explain it is simple: Mr Vocoder and Mrs Reverb had a child.

Mr Vulcan, Sir, if I may:
There's something severely wrong with the volume knob. It reports clipping, although in my DAW it is shown way below (e.g. -6 dB). It doesn't sound clipped and in some instances it reported clipping until I went down to under 50% of the volume knob in OSCverb, at which point the real volume was below -20 dB.

I wish, some of the knobs were exponential instead of linear, for example decay, min note and max note.

I wish, I had more choices on the waveform(s).

Same for the LFOs. Especially for rythmic effects, a saw and everse saw would be extremely helpful (sines have their max amplitude half way into the chosen beat, which make them sound too late)

In my DAW, I can copy an effect between tracks by just holding control and moving to a new track. This works the same way as when saving a project. The plugin is asked for its state, and after inserting, the state is sent back to the plugin. This works reliably on all plugins I use (ca 600). OSCverb fails to work at all. The meter stops working completely in terms of graphics while you can still use the volume knob, but the volume does not correspond with the knob position, the LFOs show the dialed-in values but you hear the init values being applied (e.g. it shows 1/8, but is on 1/2), and so on. Something with the preset manager therefore isn't connected correctly.

[Spogg]

How I explain it is simple: Mr Vocoder and Mrs Reverb had a child.
Yes, I guess it could be a bit Vocoder-ish. If you set a pentatonic scale and hum or sing into it you can get a nice accompaniment (or a horrible one if you can’t sing, which is why I didn't demo it).

Mr Vulcan, Sir, if I may:
There's something severely wrong with the volume knob. It reports clipping, although in my DAW it is shown way below (e.g. -6 dB). It doesn't sound clipped and in some instances it reported clipping until I went down to under 50% of the volume knob in OSCverb, at which point the real volume was below -20 dB.
I checked this with a scope in FS and the reporting is correct. The meters show an averaged peak value (not rms) and they’re not calibrated. Clipping occurs at 0.99 plus/minus as per MV’s clipper. It’s the same volume control I’ve been using for a long time.

I wish, some of the knobs were exponential instead of linear, for example decay, min note and max note.
The attack and decay knobs are logarithmic so you have finer control at short times. I wanted the min and max notes to indicate midi notes rather than frequency, so they needed to be linear.

I wish, I had more choices on the waveform(s).
Valid point, but I wanted to keep the thing as simple as I could. The waveform morphs between a sine wave and a sinewave with phase feedback, so it approaches a saw-like wave. I couldn’t really use a filter because the CPU would be too high, so I decided to use the scheme I did because it can sound a bit like a filter. Without a filter a square wave, for example, would always sound bright.

Same for the LFOs. Especially for rythmic effects, a saw and everse saw would be extremely helpful (sines have their max amplitude half way into the chosen beat, which make them sound too late)
The LFOs were included simply to provide a bit of “wobble” to the sound. They’re free running and there’s no midi keying, so strict rhythmic effects wouldn’t be repeatable. Maybe I shouldn’t have added sync as an option…

In my DAW, I can copy an effect between tracks by just holding control and moving to a new track. This works the same way as when saving a project. The plugin is asked for its state, and after inserting, the state is sent back to the plugin. This works reliably on all plugins I use (ca 600). OSCverb fails to work at all. The meter stops working completely in terms of graphics while you can still use the volume knob, but the volume does not correspond with the knob position, the LFOs show the dialed-in values but you hear the init values being applied (e.g. it shows 1/8, but is on 1/2), and so on. Something with the preset manager therefore isn't connected correctly.
The plugin uses the same Preset Manager module I’ve used for ages, so when you have a minute could you kindly see if this happens on any of my other recent plugins? I don’t know what to do about this and I suspect it’s a FlowStone issue.

Thank you for your detailed feedback. Always appreciated.

[R&R]

The waveform morphs between a sine wave and a sinewave with phase feedback, so it approaches a saw-like wave. I couldn’t really use a filter because the CPU would be too high, so I decided to use the scheme I did because it can sound a bit like a filter. Without a filter a square wave, for example, would always sound bright.

Just a thought.

Tried hijacking MV's transition saw (from the sync LFO you posted me)? I use it frequently all over. But might have harmonic distortion though? Would add CPU but not as much as full filters perhaps?
Does require a little pre-adjust spaghetti or ASM to make sure each transition saw has it's correct transition according to osc freq. So it might not be viable since this adds some more CPU, atleast if not using static transition for each note/osc freq... that might be placed in a stage0.

Then a single HP placed before the all osc's summed out.. controlled by the envelopes, that either opens up or closes? Like simple dampening in either direction opposing the transition direction?

You have alot of fun ideas... I get OCD looking at them

I did like this experiment of yours... Gave valuable insight into how my harmonic mixer by waveform might sound, sort of... even if radically different thing and simple. Even so I haven't managed getting it to work yet though. I'm a halfwit

[tulamide]

How I explain it is simple: Mr Vocoder and Mrs Reverb had a child.
Yes, I guess it could be a bit Vocoder-ish. If you set a pentatonic scale and hum or sing into it you can get a nice accompaniment (or a horrible one if you can’t sing, which is why I didn't demo it).

Mr Vulcan, Sir, if I may:
There's something severely wrong with the volume knob. It reports clipping, although in my DAW it is shown way below (e.g. -6 dB). It doesn't sound clipped and in some instances it reported clipping until I went down to under 50% of the volume knob in OSCverb, at which point the real volume was below -20 dB.
I checked this with a scope in FS and the reporting is correct. The meters show an averaged peak value (not rms) and they’re not calibrated. Clipping occurs at 0.99 plus/minus as per MV’s clipper. It’s the same volume control I’ve been using for a long time.
I know! That's why I was so surprised by this misbehavior. It's not the first Quilcom plugin I use. I would not recommend to use a clipper for an effect. In the digital realm, no clipping occurs anyway, only at the output (the DAW's master). It's fine for an instrument, but with an effect you need more headroom. With the current behavior of OSCverb, wether there's an error or not, I can only use it as a send effect, to get a notable effect to mix in with my music.

I wish, some of the knobs were exponential instead of linear, for example decay, min note and max note.
The attack and decay knobs are logarithmic so you have finer control at short times. I wanted the min and max notes to indicate midi notes rather than frequency, so they needed to be linear.I should be more precise with my words when talking to an experienced dev. What I meant is, that currently you have only about 10 pixels to control the important range of min to 1 sec decay.

I wish, I had more choices on the waveform(s).
Valid point, but I wanted to keep the thing as simple as I could. The waveform morphs between a sine wave and a sinewave with phase feedback, so it approaches a saw-like wave. I couldn’t really use a filter because the CPU would be too high, so I decided to use the scheme I did because it can sound a bit like a filter. Without a filter a square wave, for example, would always sound bright.

Same for the LFOs. Especially for rythmic effects, a saw and everse saw would be extremely helpful (sines have their max amplitude half way into the chosen beat, which make them sound too late)
The LFOs were included simply to provide a bit of “wobble” to the sound. They’re free running and there’s no midi keying, so strict rhythmic effects wouldn’t be repeatable. Maybe I shouldn’t have added sync as an option…But rythmic effects are the most interesting part in this. So many things could be realized with it. For example, in techno the kick is paired with a rythmic low freq noise rumble (the rumble hits the offbeat).

In my DAW, I can copy an effect between tracks by just holding control and moving to a new track. This works the same way as when saving a project. The plugin is asked for its state, and after inserting, the state is sent back to the plugin. This works reliably on all plugins I use (ca 600). OSCverb fails to work at all. The meter stops working completely in terms of graphics while you can still use the volume knob, but the volume does not correspond with the knob position, the LFOs show the dialed-in values but you hear the init values being applied (e.g. it shows 1/8, but is on 1/2), and so on. Something with the preset manager therefore isn't connected correctly.
The plugin uses the same Preset Manager module I’ve used for ages, so when you have a minute could you kindly see if this happens on any of my other recent plugins? I don’t know what to do about this and I suspect it’s a FlowStone issue.Will do, but I don't remember anything like this with Razorblade or SIM-Handpan

Thank you for your detailed feedback. Always appreciated.

You're welcome. And in case you want to test the quick copy yourself with Reaper (it still is your number one, right?), here's how!
https://youtu.be/5mPmKOX7pWM?si=rpLQIy7Fp1qi_pib

And in case, Cakewalk is your second opinion DAW, here's how to there.
https://youtu.be/HEpWiqTWMtQ?si=ETTPlG8MLPdtpoP0

[Spogg]

@tulamide

Thanks for the info about Reaper. I did what the video said and it worked. The current settings copied over and the copied plugin worked as expected. So I don’t know what to say about what you found!

About the LFO sync thing: The signal goes into steep bandpass filters and their output goes into envelope followers for the oscillator outputs. It took some time to get the best settings, but one issue which would affect timing for beats is that the response time of the system varies with the frequencies being detected. This means that lower frequencies have longer attack times. The minimum is 20mS for higher frequencies but it gets quite a bit longer as you go down in pitch. I wasn’t too worried about this because the plugin is meant to operate more like a reverb, but that means you’ll never get tight rhythmic performance from the synthesised tail.
Me calling it “sync” is definitely misleading. I guess it’s a way to simply set ratios to the BPM and the LFOs to each other. I did find it useful to realise that a sine wave LFO (in a midi poly situation) will seem to come in late. That could easily be corrected by adding a phase offset, but would make no sense in the OscVerb.