Fred's lab - Manatee - Multitimbral MPE Synthesizer

[drewinnit]

there is a MIDI CC list included in the pamphlet mini-manual, pic attached

[mbang]

I am aware of this, thanks!
Cheers!
M

[Tchu]

For anyone wondering about duty and taxes (Quebec, Canada) :

[Tchu]

Here it is. Unfortunately, mine arrived with some blemishes and scratches on the front panel. Solid build, though.

I know it’s only cosmetic, but you know how it is, don’t you?

[jemmons]

More tips for the Manatee (this time general navigation). But I thought I’d try something different and do a web post where I could easily include images:

https://centerpositive.tips/2024/08/28/navigating-the-manatee.html

[Tchu]

Awesome, right on time. Thanks @jemmons!

[drewinnit]

very cool @jemmons, thank you!

[pmags]

Nice website / blog!

[jemmons]

Manatee discovery of the day:

Fine tune (FIN in the PTC menu) pitches the spectral generator up very slightly as expected… but actually pitches the sub down! This lets you detune the two of them with respect to each other in a single parameter, which is pretty clever.

One of my favorite tones right now is setting both to simple sine waves (sub with WAV of sine, spectrum generator set to “PART” with a sine WAV), and then detuning them to phase against each other while thickening things up with a bit of chorus.

[Tchu]

Thanks for the tip. I didn’t have time to sound design something. I can’t wait to sit and forget.

Bookmarked.

[Tchu]

Where are the Firmware updates? I can’t find them. Thanks!

[jemmons]

The actual sysex can be found here.

But there’s a web-based updater that’s a convenient way to get the firmware you want on the Manatee without dealing with MIDI and transfer programs (though it requires a web browser that supports MIDI, so Safari won’t work )

[jemmons]

New post diving into the (really surprisingly capable) sub oscillator:

Center Positive - The Sub Oscillator

[Tchu]

Thanks a lot @jemmons!

[Bignill]

@jemmons

though it requires a web browser that supports MIDI, so Safari won’t work

Brave browser works a treat, and firefox also supports webmidi on macOS

[drewinnit]

New firmware available

Also an experimental MPE firmware available, too

[harmonj]

TLDR: I used EG-F in cycles mode as a custom mod source–and mapped this to parameters in spec-gen instead of the multimode filters. Varying attack and decay allows you to slowly or quickly excite harmonics via formants and rotation. It’s as if you were arcing across a string as you were bowing–or changing the length or width of a resonating body in real time.

I made an inspiring patch this morning–metallic, bowed arpeggiations using EG-F (in cycles mode) as a mod source for the rotation or formants of the spectrum generator–I’m also bypassing its regular multi-mode filter assignment. This might be a bad metaphor–but EG-F to filters, almost sounds linear or 2 dimensional; mapping EG-F to spec-gen parameters sounds dynamic and 3-D.

I set the spectrum generator to square wave and then made a custom spectrum that emphasized the 2nd and 3rd harmonics (a bit of the 4th, and none of the rest), in xDSR mode for EG-A. *it was important for me to not have attack on EG-A since I need it for EG-F. (If I wanted soft attack on EG-A I might be able to do so by mapping a phased-one-shot-ramp LFO to the oscillator’s level?)

This is where it gets fun,

After EG-F is mapped ‘[alt] + [lfo 1]’ to spec-gen rotation (I might have mapped it to formants) I Set EG-F in ADxR with the decay a bit longer than the attack–

EG-F ascends through the first harmonics quickly an Oct, a 5th, and another Octave, then slowly decays, and descends down the same path–I like putting it in cycles mode and playing with reset being on or off.

I’m also having a fun time with the comb delay/filter–it’s really fun to duplicate this patch onto different voices and then set up unique different comb delay/filter for each-- getting something like inharmonic-esque resonances–utilizing many LFOs can get percussive patterns.

Looking forward to hear what you guys are up to.

[Tchu]

Any recording of this?

[jemmons]

Trying to wrap my head around how to define “Spectral Synthesis”, I ended up with enough for a post. I figure folks here would be interested:

Center Positive - What is Spectral Synthesis?

Those also using the Manatee, how’s this align with your understanding?

[Ixindamix]

Audio splitting : you don’t want to use panning and such for splitting in 4 mono tracks. You need to go in MIDI configuration and set the routing to what is desired - replace the “mixer” option with what’s needed. This setting is to be programmed PER part and automatically saves.