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I have just been playing around with two new Libraries.... EasySounds "Analog Xperience" and "Nostalgia".
The marketing pitch on these is ultra realistic recreation of select Vintage Analogue "Classics".
My first impression is they sound wonderful. But I noticed something odd happening compared to my usual (and only) synth experience with the MODX.
If I play a Lead, and without particularly intending to play "legato", the first note has the desired Open & Close of the Filter (FEG Attack & Decay), but the second note comes in with the filter cutoff still at the "sustain" level of the first note. The third note similarly, is still at the Filter Sustain level of the First note, even though the first note has long since been released. I could "string together" many notes like this without the filter ever "opening" again.
The way around this I found is to deliberate and make sure the first key is released before playing the second key, same for the third, fourth, fifth etc.
The other way is to just change "Mono" to "Poly" in the Part settings, which seems to have no ill effects.
So I was wondering, using the MiniMoog as an example, is this "Filter Behaviour" normal and expected on Vintage Analogue Synths?
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As a side note... the EasySounds guys have employed a "multi sample/multi element" approach, where the 1st Sample is an actual Recording of the original Synth's EGs ... Attack, Decay, or Attack and Decay followed by the 2nd sample, the Oscillator looped*. They call this method "Pluck and Sustain". In addition to this they have designed/programmed "Magic Knobs" on the Control Assign Knobs, which they claim provide realistic/similar control and behaviour to the original Synths. They certainly work, but I am no expert to comment on realism.
You can relinquish the "Pluck and Sustain" methods, and instead just use Presets with the standard "Oscillator Loop" samples (e.g. MM Saw, P3 Square etc), and just use the MODX EGs and Filters in the "normal" way.
*In MODX I know these samples are usually suffixed with "_Of" for Offset... i.e. attack/decay portion removed.
Posted : 12/02/2022 7:26 am
The filter envelope shaping facilities and manner in which they squelch resonance are the biggest flaws and idiosyncrasies of AWM2. It's very unfair that FM-X must suffer these, too.
Synths of the 70's and 80's had vastly better filter envelopes, which is why EasySounds must "render" in the filter envelopes to get the character of the classics.
This is why people ask for VA to be added to Montage/MODX. They hope it will bring better filter envelopes.
We are very lucky the guys from EasySounds bother, as most pro sound designers walk away from Montage/MODX the moment they test these filter envelopes and realise their limitations and horribleness.
Posted : 12/02/2022 10:20 am
On most of my analog synths there’s a setting where you can set the envelopes to be reset every time you press a key. On my Moog Sub37 most of the preset patches are set to not reset things and so behave like you have described above.
It’s a shame that we can’t do this on the MODX/Montage and still keep it in mono mode… the only way I know of doing this is as you have done - set it to poly.
Posted : 12/02/2022 11:44 am
Topic starter
Thanks for the confirmation. At first I wasn't sure if I was using the "Magic Knobs" incorrectly, or using the wrong type of Sample.
The MODX behaviour in Mono does have a certain "correctness" to it, as in, you can get even flow without it sounding like you are stepping on a Wah pedal for every note.
In my particular case for the OP, the sound required a low filter cutoff in the Sustain portion, so in that case it meant every note except the first disappeared in the mix. Anyway, no dramas, I just set it to Poly, it makes no difference in my opinion. Besides on deeper consideration, the Filter cutoff values I was using were way too low.
Posted : 12/02/2022 1:07 pm
