Indeed, cool then,
Faded clarity
Bass Modular HH( tweaked)
Forbidden planet (tweaked)
Bebe Mallet ( very tweaked + arp added)
PQ Sad Ghost ( tweaked)
Echos 03
There s a few, glad to send you the tweaked versions if you want.)
I don't think it's just for people who are unfamiliar with the modular synth, I know some of the patches I've made I've forgotten the key knobs to twiddle and if I could have put a front on those to just expose the interesting bits it would be handy.
For example there's one that I've been playing with recently called LOOKATMYGROWLER where you use 2 knobs at the same time to increase 'Anger' which would be dead handy to map to a front plate. As well as a cutoff control which I would name 'Filth' where it's operating boundaries are between 9o'clock and 3o'clock. And then finally there's a LFO control which gives it gurgle panning between two oscillators. So to cut the massive amount of knobs down to a simple Anger, Filth and Gurgle I think would be awesome.
I know it may be a ways off yet on this, but I am ready to integrate this thing with my current and upcoming projects.... FWIW, I am still (albeit patiently of course) VERY interested in this.
Have you guys considered an XY pad? Basically it's a midi controller type of instrument that could take the singnals from different sources such as the filter cutoff or delay feedback etc..
I would definitely use this. It would be nice to create a thread full of new machines for people to share between each other on here. Speaking of which it's be nice to have some extra components so other types of machine could be created alongside normal keyboard controlled synth. I'm thinking drum synths, where the key inputs from the piano roll would need to be split off into different parts of the machine for example. I'd love to get my hands on a module that could do something like the granular synth prototype thing that req was kicking around once. But i'm getting ahead of myself, i'm sure the modular will expand into that eventually.
And obviously a nice UI is very important. I haven't been using Caustic long but i find myself wanting to tweak controls on the back panel that are usually obscured my cables. Custom access to those on a front panel would be great.
Oh and would each custom machine be able to save it's own presets?
Btw, I have to keep reminding myself, 'this is running on my phone'......
Yes, but if i made a little synth with the modular and then wrapped it up in a skin, like say a recreation of a yamaha cs01 for example and then made a bunch of different presets for that just using the front panel knobs once it were loaded back into Caustic, would i be able to save each one of those out as presets in the same way that subsynth etc can?
Eh, well Rej and I haven't yet done the official powwow on this yet so there are things like this yet to be decided.
By the amount of interest in this, I can really see this become a huge part of Caustic and using the modular obviously gives Rej a lot of freedom to add little toys down the road and not "commit" them into a real synth he has to maintain.
I had forgotten about this until I just reread this thread, are you and Rej still thinking abut doing this or has it been pushed to the side in favor of more important projects?
Reading thru the whole thread at once painted a clear picture of your idea and it s a really good one, not only for new users and for sharing, but as Rob pointed out, for customizing Modular controls.
It is a good idea and Rej and I still want to do it. We talked about what we needed 3 weeks ago and I plan on talking chat style with him next week some time about a couple things, this will be brought up again. He "might" have actually been tinkering with this I don't know yet, he needs to be able to load it on his end.
But yes, both our lives with family and other things have been very busy.
I know the feeling...... But yes, I am standing by to put such a feature to work.....big time, if and when this sees the mainstream light of day.... I have an enormous amount of material to test this out if desired.
The only problem I can see with OP idea of custom interface is the fact that it's required to have knob routings too.
I think a solution to this might be to simply expand the MODULAR to a 3rd panel (1 is now the normal interface, 2 is the patterns, so 3 would fall between those two...) with identical interface as panel one with the grid of +'s and the X button to kill the space on the top of the screen. Except when you click a spot to add, it asks you if you want a toggle 2, toggle 3, toggle 4, slider, digital rotary 16 or digital rotary 32 (number of steps) or analog knob. Based on their size and such, they'd occupy more slots (similar to how modular works now when adding a module that's 2 slots instaed of 1). This would limit the user from being able to bog down their unit with retarded knob routing.
To route each item, you'd just long press the item to bring up a checklist of control points from the 1st panel. You can brows by module nested style or alhpabetical or something (with the written display saying something like DECAY - ASDR1, where the '1' refers to the first one encountered when looking at the panel slots left to right, top to bottom). Each knob can select 3 points of control. When they're added, you can then set the min/max value of selected knob. This list of 3 items again, to change what it's controlling, long press the line item to return back to the modular machine control selection menu.
Overall, I think this would work as it would probably feel like the file loader in looks, and since it would be separate screen, one wouldn't have to figure out how to draw or interface routing wires on the back side of one screen to the back side of a 2nd screen.
This is just my initial brainstorming on the idea. For the look, I think the preset name could just take the place of the MODULAR name on the 2nd screen. So that the preset looks like the synth name instead. Then the user could pick an overall color for the synth, maybe that's the first slot on the front. It looks blank maybe but long pressing it would bring up a color swatch or something and that slot is always simply to change the color. Any crazier than that, and the whole plug in thing will get nasty and unmanagable. Keeping it within the paradigm of what the user can put together in the program I think would help keep the fresh feeling of a new preset, along with custom controls, in tact without resorting to 3rd party solutions or adding too much work for a user to just have a nice preset (graphics aren't many people's forte nor concern (especially), when they're just trying to make their speakers bleed.
Nothing to add. Rej is hella busy and I have my things I am working on. This project would require Rej and I to be on the same wave for more than a day to do anything.
I have my plugin framework that is bridging the gap for myself right now.
yeeeesssss!!! he's still workin' on it!! go mike go mike go go go!!!! go mike!! wait.... this ain't the cheerleadin' on the support team of mike's apps???
If I clearly understand, it's like if we would hide all the knobs inside the machine, like if they were adjustable resistor, and would chose 3 of them, and place them on the case of the machine, for performance editing ?
Like some preset synths in the 1970s..
That sounds good, to me.. But why 3 and why not choosing, for each preset, if we want to keep not 2 or 12 ?
> But why 3 and why not choosing, for each preset, if we want to keep not 2 or 12 ?
It would be what ever you want, 1 or 20. We talked about linking more than one together as well as macro knobs controlling more than one value for one knob. I have this stuff working in my apps but Rej doesn't have time for this, so it's mainly a pipe dream.
While I have been itching with excitement over this, I am also a patient man, and have resolved myself to expect to wait probably a year or more for something like this to manifest itself, as there are other priorities at hand at this stage of the game. An x.2 build is not expected to have any major features' upgrade....
A single knob controlling several parameters ? sounds nice.. But we risk to be facing a bias or issue ? Do we want this knob to control those several (2 or more) parameters, to the same extend ? I mean.. Maybe we want this know to have a small effect on, let's say, the VCF Attack, and a bigger effect on the AMP attack ?
Yeah, I already have the Math in my apps that uses ratios and +- adjustments. You can set a range for each mapped parameter. So if you have a cutoff and resonance mapped, and you want the cutoff to move 0.5 verses the resonance range of 0.3 the whole 0..1 knob movement calculates the ratio of those two ranges within 0..1 plus you can offset them positive or negative.
Also the ratio takes into account the original value of the parameter. It works, I tested the math calculations. But that is for my apps, if this ever were to come into the world, that math would be on Rej's side.
No iOS until I make some ROI with Android. I have a Mac and an IPad AIR and the ui framework I use is cross platform but I would need to figure out ios's programming language(ObjectiveC) which I hate anyway AND Rej would have to get me something compiled for iOS with the core. I don't see that happening for a long time, if ever. (but you never know, if my apps take off on google play, then I would have a reason to expand)
It's a LONG story and not yet. I have 2 apps that are going into beta in the next few weeks and I have a list of people that will be testing them through Google Play dev beta.
My last 4 years of life have been anything but "normal" in the sense of 9-5.
Well I still don't understand much, but I'll be very much interested by the Caustic Guide when it is available.. Even for testing.. The main reason is, to save drum patterns, and use them as a library where I can pick up a pattern when I need it in a song.. That is something I miss a lot..
But sure, other features will be of great interest, even if I don't figure out clearly what they bring to us..
This multi parameter control with a single knob thing. You can already do that. If you increase the output of the 2>1 mixer (bottom right), you'll close a filter cutoff whilst increasing resonance and FM depth.
Interesting (and applied) thought........ at this point it is just a matter of getting to that "faceplate" stage and have the extra open slots on the 4x4 for other things.
Voltage is voltage..... how we use it in a modular synthesizer is up to you...... gotta think of that, and its value, be it static or animated...
IOWA. Very diverse and pliable instrument that has many different LFO and pitches to adjust. Ilove ththngs like these because I can rely on them for solid melodies for my trapStep
I know I'm late to this, and the thread's been untouched for a while, but I have some questions for Mike.
1. I know that this is a very time-complicated and schedule-restrained project, not to mention that you both (you and Rej) have busy lives, but is this project still in consideration? If not, go ahead and ignore the rest of my questions, as they all pertain to your software.
2. If I had one of these presets loaded up, and I felt like I wanted to change an initial setting that resides in the backend, would there be a way to "flip the panel over" and change some settings? I know you mentioned that an Edit Mode would only be available for your application, but I feel like there could be a direct workaround in Caustic.
3. If I were making a machine in this application, could I edit the amount a backend knob is affected by a frontend knob? It'd be cool to set a ratio that says [let's consider a 1:2 ratio] if I rotate this knob on the front panel, the knob in the back panel will rotate by increments of 2, or maybe twice as much if the knob doesn't snap to certain time frames. I'm not asking to push knobs further than they are allowed, the knobs (perhaps) would lock into place once they reach a maximum amount. This way a knob for something like saturation won't go to something ridiculous like 200 percent.
4. Would there be a grid for dragging and dropping; would it have a snapping option? Y'know, so OCDs like myself won't flip out over their knobs being slightly to the left or right of the center.
5. What format image would you have to use, and what would the file size limit be?
6. If I really wanted the big "FLUFFY" knob that Rob suggested a while back, just how large or small could knobs get?
7. Because I'm pretty sure that I'm irreversibly confused on this topic: on a scale from 1-10, how dumb was I to post this? XD
I only just started reading this thread, and from the sounds of it you both have a lot on your hands, but from the very first post here, hell yeah, this would be absolutely amazing. It really would be like Caustic having it's very own VST type of thing. The only downside I can think of is that the Modular is only monophonic, so no chance of producing polyphonic synths with it (unless polyphonic ability was added to the modular). I'm guessing the modular had to be monophonic due to CPU load though.
I really hope the day will come when you can sync your development practices and make this a reality.
Been a while since I posted anything on this site but, I think I am a bit burnt out with the "community" stuff.
I did ask Rej months ago about this and he wasn't interested at the time since he is into other projects.
I am pretty sure it's something I could implement and prove to him it works, he might even integrate it someday but the thing is, there is nothing really in it for me. :) I made some apps specifically for Caustic users eg Caustic Guide and pretty much most people on the site didn't really care, so things like this are pipe dreams now.
Sorry to hear that, Mike. I just took a look at Caustic Guide and to be honest I'm not sure I would find a use for it either. I notice you made the Skin Editor for Caustic as well, now that's something I reckon I'll make use of further down the line, cause like most people, I love the ability to customize.
I'm just guessing here, but the lack of interest in Caustic Guide might be due to it being external to Caustic. One of the biggest attractions of Caustic, I think, is that it's totally self-contained. Each user knows that every other user has access to the exact same set of features (like early versions of Reason did before they ruined it). In general I think things will only ever go down well if that remains the case. In other words, your product would have probably been widely accepted if it was an internal feature that everyone has access to, and lets face it, it would have to go down well if it was part of the main system.
The idea you discuss in this thread was a touch of genius. Cause when I think deeper about it, it actually exceeds the benefit of VST technology. What I mean is, due to it being basically a customizable front-end for code that is already written, it removes the unreliability and uncertainty of quality control we all face whenever we use a VST from a third party.
If this idea became a reality, it means that although the users can create their own instruments, the quality of the underlying code remains with the developer of Caustic. So that's quite something, to have a very productive environment like Caustic, and to be able to create custom instruments that rely on reliable, pre-made code, and all without the end user having to code a damn thing.
Really is a good idea and would seem criminal not to implement it.
I hope you can work something out with Rej and somehow find time to work it into Caustic.
Well with Guide I knew I took a risk doing something that was external, and my intuition was correct. It's also why I didn't bet the whole farm on the app, also, the users that are starting to use it really love it so that is fine.
What I have done is realigned what i actually made Guide for. It's not that it's bound to Caustic more so that it solidified my own internal file format for passing large and complex objects back and forth between my apps. There is another app I am working on right now that will prove that Guide is multi purpose and does not have a dependency on the Caustic app.
So really what I am saying is, I am happy that users are finding Guide helpful and I understand others that want it all in one app but, they will never get features that Guide can do, Rej has said this many times.
Anyway, with this idea, it really comes down to there is no money in it for Rej or I, so it's one of those things that yes, sounds great to the user, but ROI for the devs?
Regards ROI, I haven't a clue, but one thing I do know is that I'd be charging more than £5 for Caustic anyway. If there's lack of enthusiasm due to ROI, then I'm hardly surprised about that due to the low price. Things have certainly changed since I got into synths, sequencers etc, that's for sure. I remember sitting at a Bus Stop in the dark, getting soaking wet during a downpour, and all because I needed to pick-up a second-hand sequencer someone was willing to sell me. I got my sequencer, it cost me a fair bit of cash, and even then it looked like it had narrowly escaped a war zone.
All that, just for a very basic hardware sequencer.
These days, all people need to do is cough-up a fiver and click download, yet unbelievably, you see people whining their heads off on the Play store because a fully-equipped mobile studio they just paid peanuts for, doesn't do this or that. Personally, I'd ignore the half-wits who have no idea of what goes into developing these products, and charge accordingly. As long as Caustic doesn't go down that slippery slope of using DRM or any of that subscription crap, I think Caustic cannot fail if it continues in the direction it's already going. So personally, I would charge more, but keep it affordable.
And I was not going to say this, but as you ask about ROI, I will.
My impression is that Caustic is more a labour of love for Rej, than a commercial venture. On the one hand, that's a good thing because it means he can take his time and do things right (and he's definitely done that, he's definitely got it right with Caustic). On the other, the price he charges shows that he's not specifically in it for the ROI. So seeing as Caustic is at least half the price it could be, have you thought about teaming-up, signing an NDA so that, for example, while Rej is busy with other stuff, he could hand it over to you for you to add your part. Then you hand it back to him so that he can make any relevant changes he feels is necessary in order to keep the product in line with what he has in mind?
If you did something like that, and raised the price accordingly, then you both get paid - you both see a ROI.
Have to say though, I really feel like I'm stepping out of line here because it's none of my business. I have no idea what's involved in either of your lives, or the sort of things Rej or yourself would or would not be happy about doing. I only mention it because you ask about ROI, and I think it would be one way to evolve the program quicker, and to generate a better ROI for both of you.
At the end of the day, I'm just someone who would love to see it happen because I would prefer Caustic to keep everything integrated. But even the way things are right now, I'm extremely happy with what Caustic and Mastering has to offer.
Well, Rej and I have talked about this a bunch of times and in the end, we both agree it's a novelty item. BTW, there is about 4 times more work on my end then what it would take Rej. I am not even downplaying what he would have to do.
Rej has taken a break from Caustic so this isn't even something I would bring up again until I saw that he was working on Caustic again (which is anyones guess).
I'll tell you what a novelty is. A novelty is successfully single-handedly creating a DAW that is not only identical across mobile platforms, but desktop as well. I mean those big-budget peeps at Steinberg, for example, have been making DAWs for years and they've still not managed to get it right. That hasn't stopped them charging almost ten times the price for Cubasis though.
Yup, Caustic is definitely a novelty - LOL!!!
I was being a bit sarcastic there, I must admit. It sounds as if you both underestimate Caustic then. If Caustic really is some sort of novelty to you both, then you're both seriously lacking on the business side of things. If I were an investor who's job it was to survey the current bunch of mobile DAWs out there (for a buy-out), I'd want to be buying Caustic.
Anyway, from the sounds of it, my idea to drop the mainstream DAWs and settle on Caustic might have been a bit hasty. I genuinely wanted to do that but I wasn't aware of how laid-back it's development is. I don't even have a tablet, it was Caustic that finally pushed me to consider buying one.
I said the idea of making custom presets with a UI is a novelty INSIDE Caustic.
One other thing, Rej started Caustic in 2010, right before tablets were released, just as the first ipad was unveiled by Apple. Since it's apparent Rej has spent 6+ years on that app, it's also obvious why he is doing other things right now. He mentioned in previous posts it IS burn out.
He also stated he never wanted to run Caustic as a "business" because it wouldn't be fun. So I guess you can say being hasty to drop DAWs but that just doesn't seem to make sense to me. I use a crap load of tools to make apps, not just one, there is no difference when I make music. I can understand why people want ONE tool for everything but in reality, anything professional requires more than one.
Well, I have talked too much on this thread but it's old. Rej was/is never competing with the mainstream and I think that is why Caustic became a cult classic. That is the difference between genuine creative flow verses a big corporation trying to push things as strictly logic and money. There are advantages to being small, agility allows 100% freedom of expression in programming.
I agree wholeheartedly about that, absolutely. Like I said, I think he got Caustic right because it's more a labour of love than a business. Thanks for clarifying what you meant, and yup, I genuinely did want to ditch the mainstream DAWs and settle on Caustic (very much so). I hate having to hop between different DAWs for different reasons, so the fact that Caustic is fun and immediate to use (and is the same on Desktop and Mobile), well, that's very attractive to me.
I'm not blinded by fancy graphics, I'm attracted to a workflow that actually works.
For me, Caustic does that, it works how I like to work more than any other DAW I ever used.
Anyway, thanks for taking the time. I suppose we'll just have to see how it goes.
my Favorite Presets are which i made my myself :D i'd love the idea; if i could add preset based fx in there that would be great too;
idnk how guys are you going to do that but when i create my own sound i use: Synths + modular + Vocoder +Fx to get 1 sound and automate them though entire song as one instrument.... and it kills me; some times i ouse 6 channel as 1 instrument, 2-3 channels for Drums... then i run out of channels.
i have over 100 self made presets and sounds (trying to replicate in Reason: Malstrom & THOR) ; if i could build my own synth & preset in one environment that would be wonderful;
I Don't remember posting on this. But.... As of late for past better part of just more times than not i have use the modular inna short change of what is missing over adding extra two boost for mixing.
And i don't a full control of what i am doing and what i want.but i get a minor satisfaction of i have created something
Machine input either 4 or 6. With a mixer. 2 full left and right mixer. For stereo((( I can get it two come completely like i want it. )))
And then variable state.
Attack release to create a dry / wet knob.
so win i go two master of caustic i can adjust the room a bit more and the all the other knobs accordingly.
Just the idea is good in theory but i have never got it right.
Indeed, cool then,
Faded clarity
Bass Modular HH( tweaked)
Forbidden planet (tweaked)
Bebe Mallet ( very tweaked + arp added)
PQ Sad Ghost ( tweaked)
Echos 03
There s a few, glad to send you the tweaked versions if you want.)
I don't think it's just for people who are unfamiliar with the modular synth, I know some of the patches I've made I've forgotten the key knobs to twiddle and if I could have put a front on those to just expose the interesting bits it would be handy.
For example there's one that I've been playing with recently called LOOKATMYGROWLER where you use 2 knobs at the same time to increase 'Anger' which would be dead handy to map to a front plate. As well as a cutoff control which I would name 'Filth' where it's operating boundaries are between 9o'clock and 3o'clock. And then finally there's a LFO control which gives it gurgle panning between two oscillators. So to cut the massive amount of knobs down to a simple Anger, Filth and Gurgle I think would be awesome.
My latest track on show and tell
My Soundcloud page
I know it may be a ways off yet on this, but I am ready to integrate this thing with my current and upcoming projects.... FWIW, I am still (albeit patiently of course) VERY interested in this.
Have you guys considered an XY pad? Basically it's a midi controller type of instrument that could take the singnals from different sources such as the filter cutoff or delay feedback etc..
True - makes sense. Like the idea of locking down the range on a potentieometer too.
Looking forward to hearing what a 'LOOTATMYGROWLER' patch sounds like too
https://soundcloud.com/james-muir
https://www.facebook.com/james.muir.77
Big thumbs up from me
I would definitely use this. It would be nice to create a thread full of new machines for people to share between each other on here. Speaking of which it's be nice to have some extra components so other types of machine could be created alongside normal keyboard controlled synth. I'm thinking drum synths, where the key inputs from the piano roll would need to be split off into different parts of the machine for example. I'd love to get my hands on a module that could do something like the granular synth prototype thing that req was kicking around once. But i'm getting ahead of myself, i'm sure the modular will expand into that eventually.
And obviously a nice UI is very important. I haven't been using Caustic long but i find myself wanting to tweak controls on the back panel that are usually obscured my cables. Custom access to those on a front panel would be great.
Oh and would each custom machine be able to save it's own presets?
Btw, I have to keep reminding myself, 'this is running on my phone'......
www.youtube.com/chrislody www.robotsfounderrors.com www.etsy.com/uk/shop/SymetriColour
> Oh and would each custom machine be able to save it's own presets?
A "machine" IS a preset for a modular, its just a special preset that Caustic can read and create the new machine faceplate and control hookup with.
Mike
Yes, but if i made a little synth with the modular and then wrapped it up in a skin, like say a recreation of a yamaha cs01 for example and then made a bunch of different presets for that just using the front panel knobs once it were loaded back into Caustic, would i be able to save each one of those out as presets in the same way that subsynth etc can?
www.youtube.com/chrislody www.robotsfounderrors.com www.etsy.com/uk/shop/SymetriColour
Eh, well Rej and I haven't yet done the official powwow on this yet so there are things like this yet to be decided.
By the amount of interest in this, I can really see this become a huge part of Caustic and using the modular obviously gives Rej a lot of freedom to add little toys down the road and not "commit" them into a real synth he has to maintain.
Mike
Sorry yes i understand. Getting a little excited as it sounds ace. I'll look forward to when its ready to try.
www.youtube.com/chrislody www.robotsfounderrors.com www.etsy.com/uk/shop/SymetriColour
Hey Mike,
I had forgotten about this until I just reread this thread, are you and Rej still thinking abut doing this or has it been pushed to the side in favor of more important projects?
Reading thru the whole thread at once painted a clear picture of your idea and it s a really good one, not only for new users and for sharing, but as Rob pointed out, for customizing Modular controls.
It is a good idea and Rej and I still want to do it.
We talked about what we needed 3 weeks ago and I plan on talking chat style with him next week some time about a couple things, this will be brought up again. He "might" have actually been tinkering with this I don't know yet, he needs to be able to load it on his end.
But yes, both our lives with family and other things have been very busy.
Mike
I know the feeling...... But yes, I am standing by to put such a feature to work.....big time, if and when this sees the mainstream light of day.... I have an enormous amount of material to test this out if desired.
The only problem I can see with OP idea of custom interface is the fact that it's required to have knob routings too.
I think a solution to this might be to simply expand the MODULAR to a 3rd panel (1 is now the normal interface, 2 is the patterns, so 3 would fall between those two...) with identical interface as panel one with the grid of +'s and the X button to kill the space on the top of the screen. Except when you click a spot to add, it asks you if you want a toggle 2, toggle 3, toggle 4, slider, digital rotary 16 or digital rotary 32 (number of steps) or analog knob. Based on their size and such, they'd occupy more slots (similar to how modular works now when adding a module that's 2 slots instaed of 1). This would limit the user from being able to bog down their unit with retarded knob routing.
To route each item, you'd just long press the item to bring up a checklist of control points from the 1st panel. You can brows by module nested style or alhpabetical or something (with the written display saying something like DECAY - ASDR1, where the '1' refers to the first one encountered when looking at the panel slots left to right, top to bottom). Each knob can select 3 points of control. When they're added, you can then set the min/max value of selected knob. This list of 3 items again, to change what it's controlling, long press the line item to return back to the modular machine control selection menu.
Overall, I think this would work as it would probably feel like the file loader in looks, and since it would be separate screen, one wouldn't have to figure out how to draw or interface routing wires on the back side of one screen to the back side of a 2nd screen.
This is just my initial brainstorming on the idea. For the look, I think the preset name could just take the place of the MODULAR name on the 2nd screen. So that the preset looks like the synth name instead. Then the user could pick an overall color for the synth, maybe that's the first slot on the front. It looks blank maybe but long pressing it would bring up a color swatch or something and that slot is always simply to change the color. Any crazier than that, and the whole plug in thing will get nasty and unmanagable. Keeping it within the paradigm of what the user can put together in the program I think would help keep the fresh feeling of a new preset, along with custom controls, in tact without resorting to 3rd party solutions or adding too much work for a user to just have a nice preset (graphics aren't many people's forte nor concern (especially), when they're just trying to make their speakers bleed.
Uh oh, did I just bump this thread?
No, I don't think you did Jason
My latest track on show and tell
My Soundcloud page
heheheh that's what I thought
Nothing to add. Rej is hella busy and I have my things I am working on. This project would require Rej and I to be on the same wave for more than a day to do anything.
I have my plugin framework that is bridging the gap for myself right now.
yeeeesssss!!! he's still workin' on it!! go mike go mike go go go!!!! go mike!! wait.... this ain't the cheerleadin' on the support team of mike's apps???
New to this thread..
If I clearly understand, it's like if we would hide all the knobs inside the machine, like if they were adjustable resistor, and would chose 3 of them, and place them on the case of the machine, for performance editing ?
Like some preset synths in the 1970s..
That sounds good, to me.. But why 3 and why not choosing, for each preset, if we want to keep not 2 or 12 ?
> But why 3 and why not choosing, for each preset, if we want to keep not 2 or 12 ?
It would be what ever you want, 1 or 20. We talked about linking more than one together as well as macro knobs controlling more than one value for one knob. I have this stuff working in my apps but Rej doesn't have time for this, so it's mainly a pipe dream.
While I have been itching with excitement over this, I am also a patient man, and have resolved myself to expect to wait probably a year or more for something like this to manifest itself, as there are other priorities at hand at this stage of the game. An x.2 build is not expected to have any major features' upgrade....
But anyways....
A single knob controlling several parameters ? sounds nice.. But we risk to be facing a bias or issue ? Do we want this knob to control those several (2 or more) parameters, to the same extend ? I mean.. Maybe we want this know to have a small effect on, let's say, the VCF Attack, and a bigger effect on the AMP attack ?
Ok.. I guess it's not that simple..
Yes, let's be patient..
Yeah, I already have the Math in my apps that uses ratios and +- adjustments. You can set a range for each mapped parameter. So if you have a cutoff and resonance mapped, and you want the cutoff to move 0.5 verses the resonance range of 0.3 the whole 0..1 knob movement calculates the ratio of those two ranges within 0..1 plus you can offset them positive or negative.
Also the ratio takes into account the original value of the parameter. It works, I tested the math calculations. But that is for my apps, if this ever were to come into the world, that math would be on Rej's side.
Any timeline on the iOS version....
This looks interesting Mike. Good luck!
anickt
No iOS until I make some ROI with Android. I have a Mac and an IPad AIR and the ui framework I use is cross platform but I would need to figure out ios's programming language(ObjectiveC) which I hate anyway AND Rej would have to get me something compiled for iOS with the core. I don't see that happening for a long time, if ever. (but you never know, if my apps take off on google play, then I would have a reason to expand)
I'm lost..
Does that mean that your apps, Mike, are not yet downloadable ??
It's a LONG story and not yet. I have 2 apps that are going into beta in the next few weeks and I have a list of people that will be testing them through Google Play dev beta.
My last 4 years of life have been anything but "normal" in the sense of 9-5.
Well I still don't understand much, but I'll be very much interested by the Caustic Guide when it is available.. Even for testing.. The main reason is, to save drum patterns, and use them as a library where I can pick up a pattern when I need it in a song.. That is something I miss a lot..
But sure, other features will be of great interest, even if I don't figure out clearly what they bring to us..
(and on square waves ? do you surf on square waves too ? Might not be that easy.. And even less, when the PWM makes them so unstable..)
> and on square waves ? do you surf on square waves too ?
My tag is more of a metaphor for how I live life, I surf on the sine waves of the universe as in, light frequencies.
If lightwave freqs transmitted via squarewaves, we'd all be dead....
This multi parameter control with a single knob thing. You can already do that. If you increase the output of the 2>1 mixer (bottom right), you'll close a filter cutoff whilst increasing resonance and FM depth.
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Interesting (and applied) thought........ at this point it is just a matter of getting to that "faceplate" stage and have the extra open slots on the 4x4 for other things.
Voltage is voltage..... how we use it in a modular synthesizer is up to you...... gotta think of that, and its value, be it static or animated...
soooo.....could each machine have a machine switch of the modular on or off. of what ever the modular is doin'.....
huh?
IOWA. Very diverse and pliable instrument that has many different LFO and pitches to adjust. Ilove ththngs like these because I can rely on them for solid melodies for my trapStep
I know I'm late to this, and the thread's been untouched for a while, but I have some questions for Mike.
1. I know that this is a very time-complicated and schedule-restrained project, not to mention that you both (you and Rej) have busy lives, but is this project still in consideration? If not, go ahead and ignore the rest of my questions, as they all pertain to your software.
2. If I had one of these presets loaded up, and I felt like I wanted to change an initial setting that resides in the backend, would there be a way to "flip the panel over" and change some settings? I know you mentioned that an Edit Mode would only be available for your application, but I feel like there could be a direct workaround in Caustic.
3. If I were making a machine in this application, could I edit the amount a backend knob is affected by a frontend knob? It'd be cool to set a ratio that says [let's consider a 1:2 ratio] if I rotate this knob on the front panel, the knob in the back panel will rotate by increments of 2, or maybe twice as much if the knob doesn't snap to certain time frames. I'm not asking to push knobs further than they are allowed, the knobs (perhaps) would lock into place once they reach a maximum amount. This way a knob for something like saturation won't go to something ridiculous like 200 percent.
4. Would there be a grid for dragging and dropping; would it have a snapping option? Y'know, so OCDs like myself won't flip out over their knobs being slightly to the left or right of the center.
5. What format image would you have to use, and what would the file size limit be?
6. If I really wanted the big "FLUFFY" knob that Rob suggested a while back, just how large or small could knobs get?
7. Because I'm pretty sure that I'm irreversibly confused on this topic: on a scale from 1-10, how dumb was I to post this? XD
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I only just started reading this thread, and from the sounds of it you both have a lot on your hands, but from the very first post here, hell yeah, this would be absolutely amazing. It really would be like Caustic having it's very own VST type of thing. The only downside I can think of is that the Modular is only monophonic, so no chance of producing polyphonic synths with it (unless polyphonic ability was added to the modular). I'm guessing the modular had to be monophonic due to CPU load though.
I really hope the day will come when you can sync your development practices and make this a reality.
Wow!
Been a while since I posted anything on this site but, I think I am a bit burnt out with the "community" stuff.
I did ask Rej months ago about this and he wasn't interested at the time since he is into other projects.
I am pretty sure it's something I could implement and prove to him it works, he might even integrate it someday but the thing is, there is nothing really in it for me. :) I made some apps specifically for Caustic users eg Caustic Guide and pretty much most people on the site didn't really care, so things like this are pipe dreams now.
Sorry to hear that, Mike. I just took a look at Caustic Guide and to be honest I'm not sure I would find a use for it either. I notice you made the Skin Editor for Caustic as well, now that's something I reckon I'll make use of further down the line, cause like most people, I love the ability to customize.
I'm just guessing here, but the lack of interest in Caustic Guide might be due to it being external to Caustic. One of the biggest attractions of Caustic, I think, is that it's totally self-contained. Each user knows that every other user has access to the exact same set of features (like early versions of Reason did before they ruined it). In general I think things will only ever go down well if that remains the case. In other words, your product would have probably been widely accepted if it was an internal feature that everyone has access to, and lets face it, it would have to go down well if it was part of the main system.
The idea you discuss in this thread was a touch of genius. Cause when I think deeper about it, it actually exceeds the benefit of VST technology. What I mean is, due to it being basically a customizable front-end for code that is already written, it removes the unreliability and uncertainty of quality control we all face whenever we use a VST from a third party.
If this idea became a reality, it means that although the users can create their own instruments, the quality of the underlying code remains with the developer of Caustic. So that's quite something, to have a very productive environment like Caustic, and to be able to create custom instruments that rely on reliable, pre-made code, and all without the end user having to code a damn thing.
Really is a good idea and would seem criminal not to implement it.
I hope you can work something out with Rej and somehow find time to work it into Caustic.
Well with Guide I knew I took a risk doing something that was external, and my intuition was correct. It's also why I didn't bet the whole farm on the app, also, the users that are starting to use it really love it so that is fine.
What I have done is realigned what i actually made Guide for. It's not that it's bound to Caustic more so that it solidified my own internal file format for passing large and complex objects back and forth between my apps. There is another app I am working on right now that will prove that Guide is multi purpose and does not have a dependency on the Caustic app.
So really what I am saying is, I am happy that users are finding Guide helpful and I understand others that want it all in one app but, they will never get features that Guide can do, Rej has said this many times.
Anyway, with this idea, it really comes down to there is no money in it for Rej or I, so it's one of those things that yes, sounds great to the user, but ROI for the devs?
Regards ROI, I haven't a clue, but one thing I do know is that I'd be charging more than £5 for Caustic anyway. If there's lack of enthusiasm due to ROI, then I'm hardly surprised about that due to the low price. Things have certainly changed since I got into synths, sequencers etc, that's for sure. I remember sitting at a Bus Stop in the dark, getting soaking wet during a downpour, and all because I needed to pick-up a second-hand sequencer someone was willing to sell me. I got my sequencer, it cost me a fair bit of cash, and even then it looked like it had narrowly escaped a war zone.
All that, just for a very basic hardware sequencer.
These days, all people need to do is cough-up a fiver and click download, yet unbelievably, you see people whining their heads off on the Play store because a fully-equipped mobile studio they just paid peanuts for, doesn't do this or that. Personally, I'd ignore the half-wits who have no idea of what goes into developing these products, and charge accordingly. As long as Caustic doesn't go down that slippery slope of using DRM or any of that subscription crap, I think Caustic cannot fail if it continues in the direction it's already going. So personally, I would charge more, but keep it affordable.
And I was not going to say this, but as you ask about ROI, I will.
My impression is that Caustic is more a labour of love for Rej, than a commercial venture. On the one hand, that's a good thing because it means he can take his time and do things right (and he's definitely done that, he's definitely got it right with Caustic). On the other, the price he charges shows that he's not specifically in it for the ROI. So seeing as Caustic is at least half the price it could be, have you thought about teaming-up, signing an NDA so that, for example, while Rej is busy with other stuff, he could hand it over to you for you to add your part. Then you hand it back to him so that he can make any relevant changes he feels is necessary in order to keep the product in line with what he has in mind?
If you did something like that, and raised the price accordingly, then you both get paid - you both see a ROI.
Have to say though, I really feel like I'm stepping out of line here because it's none of my business. I have no idea what's involved in either of your lives, or the sort of things Rej or yourself would or would not be happy about doing. I only mention it because you ask about ROI, and I think it would be one way to evolve the program quicker, and to generate a better ROI for both of you.
At the end of the day, I'm just someone who would love to see it happen because I would prefer Caustic to keep everything integrated. But even the way things are right now, I'm extremely happy with what Caustic and Mastering has to offer.
Well, Rej and I have talked about this a bunch of times and in the end, we both agree it's a novelty item. BTW, there is about 4 times more work on my end then what it would take Rej. I am not even downplaying what he would have to do.
Rej has taken a break from Caustic so this isn't even something I would bring up again until I saw that he was working on Caustic again (which is anyones guess).
I'll tell you what a novelty is. A novelty is successfully single-handedly creating a DAW that is not only identical across mobile platforms, but desktop as well. I mean those big-budget peeps at Steinberg, for example, have been making DAWs for years and they've still not managed to get it right. That hasn't stopped them charging almost ten times the price for Cubasis though.
Yup, Caustic is definitely a novelty - LOL!!!
I was being a bit sarcastic there, I must admit. It sounds as if you both underestimate Caustic then. If Caustic really is some sort of novelty to you both, then you're both seriously lacking on the business side of things. If I were an investor who's job it was to survey the current bunch of mobile DAWs out there (for a buy-out), I'd want to be buying Caustic.
Anyway, from the sounds of it, my idea to drop the mainstream DAWs and settle on Caustic might have been a bit hasty. I genuinely wanted to do that but I wasn't aware of how laid-back it's development is. I don't even have a tablet, it was Caustic that finally pushed me to consider buying one.
Not bad for a novelty item, Mike!
I didn't say the Caustic app was a novelty.
I said the idea of making custom presets with a UI is a novelty INSIDE Caustic.
One other thing, Rej started Caustic in 2010, right before tablets were released, just as the first ipad was unveiled by Apple. Since it's apparent Rej has spent 6+ years on that app, it's also obvious why he is doing other things right now. He mentioned in previous posts it IS burn out.
He also stated he never wanted to run Caustic as a "business" because it wouldn't be fun. So I guess you can say being hasty to drop DAWs but that just doesn't seem to make sense to me. I use a crap load of tools to make apps, not just one, there is no difference when I make music. I can understand why people want ONE tool for everything but in reality, anything professional requires more than one.
Well, I have talked too much on this thread but it's old. Rej was/is never competing with the mainstream and I think that is why Caustic became a cult classic. That is the difference between genuine creative flow verses a big corporation trying to push things as strictly logic and money. There are advantages to being small, agility allows 100% freedom of expression in programming.
I agree wholeheartedly about that, absolutely. Like I said, I think he got Caustic right because it's more a labour of love than a business. Thanks for clarifying what you meant, and yup, I genuinely did want to ditch the mainstream DAWs and settle on Caustic (very much so). I hate having to hop between different DAWs for different reasons, so the fact that Caustic is fun and immediate to use (and is the same on Desktop and Mobile), well, that's very attractive to me.
I'm not blinded by fancy graphics, I'm attracted to a workflow that actually works.
For me, Caustic does that, it works how I like to work more than any other DAW I ever used.
Anyway, thanks for taking the time. I suppose we'll just have to see how it goes.
my Favorite Presets are which i made my myself :D i'd love the idea; if i could add preset based fx in there that would be great too;
idnk how guys are you going to do that but when i create my own sound i use: Synths + modular + Vocoder +Fx to get 1 sound and automate them though entire song as one instrument.... and it kills me; some times i ouse 6 channel as 1 instrument, 2-3 channels for Drums... then i run out of channels.
i have over 100 self made presets and sounds (trying to replicate in Reason: Malstrom & THOR) ; if i could build my own synth & preset in one environment that would be wonderful;
What about having the interface flip to reveal a 3 knob panel, in a similar manner to how you can currently expose/hide the keyboard?
I like the complex interface, but the broad stroke option would be cool as well. It'd be like a MIDI controller within the Modular applet
I Don't remember posting on this. But.... As of late for past better part of just more times than not i have use the modular inna short change of what is missing over adding extra two boost for mixing.
And i don't a full control of what i am doing and what i want.but i get a minor satisfaction of i have created something
Machine input either 4 or 6. With a mixer. 2 full left and right mixer. For stereo((( I can get it two come completely like i want it. )))
And then variable state.
Attack release to create a dry / wet knob.
so win i go two master of caustic i can adjust the room a bit more and the all the other knobs accordingly.
Just the idea is good in theory but i have never got it right.
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