WIP blog - MAKENOISE 0COAST

mschenkel

Hi everybody,
long story not-so-short: I'm a absolute beginner at modular patching but it is something I've always been on and off with near 0 results due to wrong or "out of my range" concepts most of the times. So, with a learn-by-doing state of mind, I'm trying to clone the functionalities and workflow of some random real modules. So I choose the 0coast to begin with and here I'm reporting my progress and stops I'll find along the way.

SESSION 1
I'm building it from the line out to the OSCs and inputs and placing dummy inputs and outputs where the CV and audio outputs are since with Audulus I won't need 'em as long as I don't box it further.
I'm using the 0COAST manual(http://www.makenoisemusic.com/manuals/0-coast_manual.pdf)as reference and some other bits and pieces around the net about the modules inside the 0C(like the DYNAMICS are a buchla 292 LPF+VCA clone).
I'm not really interested in quality output right now so patching the line out, the DYNMC(with some curve shaping) and the CNTR but for the EndONset gate out(this Gate OUTput goes high after the Onset portion of the CONTOUR is finished, and goes low after the Decay portion is finished). I'm kind of stuck at a logical level on how to make it go high AFTER it reached the max amp.
And now I'm at a wall with the slope module. It is a loopable AR or LFO and I don't know either how to make a AR at all and then make it cycle at the push of a button nor make an adjustable shape LFO do a single cycle when triggered.
I'll keep you updated and any help will be much appreciated.

biminiroad

Nice! Let me know if you need any help figuring out how to do stuff - I know Taylor said eventually we'll have normalized inputs - this has those, doesn't it?

mschenkel

MacroMachines

biminiroad

Yeah, that works for most situations for sure!

MacroMachines

Not perfect yet but here's a looping envelope with variable curve

MacroMachines

@biminiroad I know there must be some things that would be a tiny bit funky if the input hits zero often, I was trying to see if there might be a way like an envelope follower slew filter to smooth out the input and use that as the selector, that might be the best way to go

mschenkel

@macromachines
Many thanks for both the AD module and the normal expression and lesson

BUT[there always has to be a but]

I had gone a slightly different way with the Rise&Fall build up:
At very first I was trying to sync up two phasors(one rising and the other falling) but it was too much complicated to be good; so I set up a single slew limiter with different rates for gate HI or LO. And it works definitely well but for: a) quite limited frequency range(0~50Hz instead of 0~1000Hz); b) I have no clue about how to adjust the slope curve; c) I don't know how to make the CYCLE function Gate dependent; d) I'm not able to make good use of the normaling expression: this module has to have a gate/pulse controlled S&H but for now on one hand I can't get the S&H to sample a 0 as soon as its trigger input zeros(I unplug the gate source) so I'm stuck with the last value sampled while OTOH (picture), since I'm using a 0-1 square wave to trigger the S&H, when it is cycling through the low portion it also switches to the un-sampled envelope.

The patch attached is a clone of the MAKENOISE FUNCTION module(which is the core of MATHS and SLOPE section from 0COAST).

mschenkel

UPDATE
I managed to make a normaled input working also with zeros

MacroMachines

If you check out the internal of the cycling envelope I posted there is curve for up and down

mschenkel

@MacroMachines
Thanks so much but unfortunately your curve module in my patch faces the same problem of my experiments: I cannot get my core signal, a basic slew limiter with its, back to a linear behavior so I would be able to actually "curve" it.

Then I'm having some more issues managing external triggers but I will explain em better the next time.

Thanks again everybody

MacroMachines

@mschenkel
Im not sure if I understand the issue you are having with the curve module? Could you explain a bit more on what you need specifically?

I ended up making an integrator/ accumulator that is the actual equivalent to the circuit used inside the function, and I will post it soon. Its very simple and incredibly useful, and I believe it could work as the core of your 'function' with simple changes to the naming and look of the panel.

If you have any specific questions, I will be at knob con in chicago this weekend and I will likely be hanging out with Tony Rolando, the owner and designer of Make Noise.

biminiroad

This is a slew limiter that @Drewyeah came up with - do you need it? It has two modes - one where there's equal time between each note transition, and one where larger intervals take longer to transition between.

mschenkel

@macromachines
My issue is that, with the little maths I know, I'm not able to obtain drastically different shapes out of my envelope but for a slightly less/more exponential while in the original it should range all the way from exponential to logarithmic thru linear.
Thanks for the chance to ask directly to them but so far I haven't any question that can't be solved with the read of a manual

@biminiroad
Thanks. I was also thinking about a timer based approach so any example is more than welcome

RobertSyrett · Screen Shot 2017-02-01 at 7.28.43 PM.png

@mschenkel I was working on recreating some of the functionality of the Makenoise 0-Coast I'm posting a cycling function generator that sounds like what you were trying to make.

RobertSyrett · Screen Shot 2017-02-13 at 11.29.08 AM.png

I modified the function generator so that it can also be used as an envelope with independant EXP-LOG parameters for rise and fall. That should make it more useful for anyone making percussive envelopes and is more similar to it's Makenoise progenitor.

biminiroad

I reclassified this as "eurorack" even though it's not strictly Eurorack - just thought it would make it easy for other to find - hope that ok! Let me know if you want me to change it back (if you can't yourself :) )

RobertSyrett

I'm still totally baffled with how the 0-coast combines the triangle and square waves to create the overtone series.
edit: this is the best guess from a youtube comment: "Rik MaxSpeed2 months ago
OK, I think I'm getting there: the overtone knob mixes in the differential of the square wave. i.e.: the signal that gets sent to the wave-folder is (1-overtone)*sine + overtone*dSquare. And the square wave's phase is offset by pi/2 - something like that. It explains the shape of the spike signal which correlates well with the differential of the shape of the square wave which you showed in the first part of your video. Really helpful :)"
edit 2: I asked Makenoise how the overtone worked in the 0-coast and they replied, "The 0-Coast Overtone section shapes the Triangle (odd harmonics) into an asymmetrical spike (even harmonics), the result of which is fed through the Multiplier. "

RobertSyrett · Screen Shot 2017-03-18 at 1.04.28 PM.png

So I pieced together an audulus version of the 0-coast. Everything sounds "kinda" like my actual 0-coast, but the aliased waveforms really give it a different character, especially in the upper registers (which I have denoted as the red zone on the pitch knob). Also, the 0-coast has some unspecified magic on the linear fm input which I am pretty sure has a vactrol in it and has a rather unique effect on the pitch. There are likely a dozen or so such small differences, but I set up some parallel patches and they sounded pretty close.

So without further ado, I present the RHS 0-Toast!

Kykeon

Wooaa
Thank you very much for this work!

mschenkel

Wow Robert.

seamonstermusic

How do I get this onto my iPad? Dying to try it

RobertSyrett

DrYes

Wow thanks Robert!
This thing is awesome.

biminiroad

Posted this in the wrong topic before! Here it is:

biminiroad

You mentioned something about non-linear vactrols, and I saw you posted on this - but does it help?

http://forum.audulus.com/discussion/comment/5113#Comment_5113

RobertSyrett

I just meant that the linear FM input responds like there is a vactrol on the input, there is some lag when a change comes in so it's not really as aggressive as typical FM in my experience. But the 0-Coast doesn't advertise as having a vactrol so it probably doesn't. I just put a little slew limiting on that input, and it sounds similar. The nice thing about Audulus is that you can open up the module and take that out if you don't like it!

Phal_anx

there are no vactrols used in O-Coast.. watch this .. Tony from make noise says that he used transister cause they are very fast compared to vactrols ;)
what a coincidence :D just watched this video today...

Phil999

great patch Robert. That immediately has become my favourite synth patch in Audulus. Thank you very much.

diego898

Great work everyone! Quick question - on the youtube video comments makenoise said it wasn't strictly a clone, and mark said "That said, would you prefer if we made a version that sounded exactly like the real one?" - Could you really? Would it be very different from robert's original patch?

biminiroad

It would involve a lot of analysis of the non-linear aspects of the module - you'd need to have one on hand with test gear and some transistor modelling maths that are beyond me! @macromachines is probably the most talented non-linear designer here but it might even require some internal upsampling that we dont have yet...UAD plugins just go ahead and model the entire circuit component by component. To do something convincing you'd need to do something similar, at least for the audio path...

Phil999

no, exact emulation/replication is not really possible in software. But it's a success if there is a software or patch that comes close to a hardware circuit.

spitfire79

https://youtu.be/246-Pt2305c
I'd love to find a way to do this!

RobertSyrett

This is how I would go about it.

spitfire79

That's cool!

Zjenji

Robert, that is fantastic! Thank you! I seriously love this community.

Insane82

I just joined the forum and wow ! I sent private msg regarding having a clouds mutable patch in Audulus , hope someday!!! :) thanks again Robert this is really great!

futureaztec

I am having some trouble chasing down the right version of the 1-Toast. I have the patch which includes some extra isolated parts and a bonus section. But I can't find the best place on the forum where it lives.

So these two videos are really helping me understand how it works.

RobertSyrett · Screen Shot 2018-04-17 at 12.53.36 PM.png

@futureaztec Here you go!

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