Cristopher 1 is the start of a series of plugins for creating my own music.
All functions were designed to be applied in experimental music (IDM, Avant-Garde, etc.).
I could describe it as simple sound generator with a number of interesting modifiers.
In addition to a number of side effects that provide warmth or naturalness.
Named after a friend who has really supported me in trying to produce my own music.
This synth would not have been possible without the help of:
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S.T Music (GEN 16 routines performance tip and reminder).
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Rory Walsh (Really extensive help in fixing various bugs).
// Your collaboration is very much appreciated by me! :’)
Features:
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Basic ADSR envelope. Maximum 10 seconds parameters for special occasions.
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Sound wave modification. Flexible number of parameters and possibility to save and remove settings.
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Low pass, High pass and Bandpass filter.
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Butterworth Comb Filter.
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LFO applied to the output sound with high enough ranges for special occasions.
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Clipping and Waveshaping.
Questions you might ask yourself:
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Why would I use this plugin, instead of a more professionally designed one? :
This plugin was designed especially for my own use; without some need to satisfy an audience. However, I think it has good things to offer you.
/ Easy to understand how it works, simple to understand functions and minimal learning curve.
/ Some possibility to create your own sound waves.
/ Interesting variety of possible sounds.
/ Side effects and sounds that can be interesting! -
Do you plan to improve the quality of this plugin?:
For some things only. Some side effects I’ve come across seem to me to be of an organic or warm character. -
Why is there a preset called “Tim Hecker”?: Tim Hecker is an electronic music artist and a strong inspiration for me. I love when he uses sounds with repetitive interference and I think I have captured that character in the included preset.
Other artists of influence for me in making this plugin are Emma Essex, Milkfish and the duo Autechre.
Bugs or flaws confirmed:
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Modifying a waveform during sound generation leads to a crash of the plugin and most likely your host (A common error when modifying function tables used by various operators).
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To be able to play sound, you must at least activate the weak distortion option. The Waveshaping opcode is an essential multiplier in the signal flow, and a value of 0 makes no sense for it.
Set the distortion strength to 0.1 for what I consider the purest possible sound. -
You may need to click on one of the saved presets before you can make a change to any parameter. I don’t know what this is due to.
.csd file and presets:
If you wish to share this plugin, I would appreciate if you could do it together with the presets for functionality reasons.
Cristopher 1.csd (10.9 KB) Cristopher 1.snaps (8.7 KB)
I consider my code structurally weak; but I think it is easily understandable and modifiable.
Objectives for the improvement of this plugin:
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Add a button that displays a Csound Output widget. This would help in recognizing the processes carried out by the plugin.
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Add the use of more common waveforms in an accurate way. I am not sure if this can be achieved with the implemented GEN16 routines.
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Fix bug to be able to modify waveforms during sound execution. This is a Csound bug related to modifying tables used by various operators. But I guess that some process could allow such modification.
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Allow to be able to reproduce the audio signal without the execution of the waveshaping opcode when its corresponding box is deactivated.
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Create a more efficient and structured code.
Samples:
If all this gobbledygook hasn’t convinced you to download it, perhaps these audio samples will be more to your liking!
*All sound is interpreted by the synthesizer. Only a little reverb was applied by an additional plugin.
(Musical piece: Canon in D)