Model:Cycles Q & A with Ess

[Tchu]

Can you Latch CTRL ALL? I found myself needing my two hands when using CTRL ALL.

If not, Feature Request.

[phaelam]

Do the trigs have velocity, or are they fixed?

[AdamJay]

Can you Latch CTRL ALL?

No

[Seta]

You can edit velocity per trig, standard beeing V100. Retrigs can fade in or out

[phaelam]

Like all the other boxes.
Struggling over here…the sounds are so sweet…uuuhhhggg!

[Ess]

What is the core cpu on the Model:Series, at what clock speed?

Do you do all of the FM purely in assembler on the CPU or is there an FPGA /dedicated FM hardware to assist?

You talked about using 4 operators during your launch party speech - was that a personal/creative limitation or a hardware processing power hard limit, and did you end up sticking to no more than 4 op algorithms?

Is the FM linear, exponential, or a mix of both as needed?

The CPU is a Coldfire MCF5441 with up to 385 dhrystone 2.1 MIPS @ 250 MHz … Same one as in our other current lineup of products sans the Octatrack. (But before anyone asks - no that doesn’t mean we can run anything on everything, it’s a general purpose CPU and it does very different things across all machines.)

All DSP is done in assembler. Our process for this project was that first I made prototypes in Max which I made Max4live Devices out of and sent out to all my colleagues. We then collectively tested them and improved the patches based on the feedback received. After we were happy with how they sounded we started translating the patches to run on hardware, and this was quite a long process where I worked closely with our amazing DSP engineer Oscar A who dealt with my stupidity for a few months until we had all of the machines running on hardware. Thanks Oscar!

4 Operators are a very good amount I think, it’s a perfect balance between easy to handle and versatility. Add different waveforms to the mix and some other tricks, not really necessary to go above unless you want to do some very specific things.

The FM is not FM at all; it’s phase modulation just like the Yamaha stuff etc. PM has many advantages, but the biggest one is the possibility of doing feedback without detuning the sound.

Have you had any inspiration when you created poly wave table voice? Can you share with us what wave tables have u used?
Also, the whole box sounds great, kik drum seams especially versatile, i quess the maine factor for that is we can go from sine to square continuously? Or was it something else?

Not really, I was just messing around with some ideas. At the time I was obsessed with trying to make all parameters feel ‘smooth’, so I came up with the oscillator balancing thing. At first it was sort of a mix between additive synthesis and chord intervals, but we later as a team made it much more musical by introducing the idea of using chord inversions for the interval mixing.

The voice itself is simple - it’s just four oscillators that each play the same wavetable. I made the waveforms with a max patch which later turned into Hard/Softcore. All of the tables in the Cycles are made strictly with additive synthesis. Sorting them in the particular order took a long time, it was really hard to find an order that felt logical and nice to sweep through, hehe.

I would like to add graphs of all the waveforms in the manual, but I haven’t had the time to plot them out yet.

The Kick drum is inspired by classic drum machines but with some FM sprinkles. It started off a bit wilder, with a ratio control and stuff, but Tone is so much better for that and I wanted the Kick drum to be fool-proof and always sound fat and punchy. Plus, having the setup it currently has is super specific and allows for some very cool ticks. I think there is so much more to FM than what you would expect, so having the triangular waveform shaping that goes to feedback is kind of unique and something I think sounds really good. Can’t do that on the Digitone!

I do think this model needs a MUTE PER PATTERN function in order to experiment and or cycle between patterns and grooves. I think it would make this groovebox stink awesomeness even more.
Question!
Do you think we can see an update of this nature in the near future?

I hope so, I think it’s very necessary for live performance.

What was the rationale behind not giving the Model series a battery compartment and going for the handle instead? Regarding the handle - why the external cable connecting the battery compartment to the plug? I like the option to tilt the M:C, but I find the cable looks not very elegant.

From what I understand it was to keep the form factor slimmer and the handle was an interesting design decision. The cable is quite stiff, so it doesn’t really pose any issues.

Just theoretical pure for the sake of interest. Are there major differences between the DSP in the M:C and the Prozessor of the Rytm. Could the rytm theoretically run those Maschines you put in the M:C.

Theoretically yes, but in practice the Rytm does a lot of other stuff so it won’t have enough power to run it. So short answer: no. Long answer: nooope.

As I understand it you developed the pure algos for the Maschines completly on your own in Max as prototypes, right? Was it always those 6 maschines and you polished each of them, or where there many others and those were the ones that were the keepers and just needed a little polish?

Did you have a prototyping hardware which resembles the interface of the hardware, or did you focus just on the sound and then make it controlable with those four macros?

Yes. There were one patch that didn’t make the cut, but it was mostly due to time constraints and its structure being radically different to all the other patches. The system in the Cycles that Oscar (DSP engineer) put in place is quite ingenious. It’s a huge structure that can dynamically change, this is what allows us to swap machine per step. It’s wild!

No, it was all made in Max and we used Ableton Live to try the different machines out as Max4Live patches. (No, I can’t share the patches and they also sound worse than the final product, much clickier and less refined overall. But the sound is pretty much the same)

Currently its very hard to visually distinguish between actual sequencer trigs vs trigless locks. Is there some insider knowledge that can help here? The diff between a fully lit and not isnt very clear right now, due to how the trigless lock led indicators “flicker” - wouldnt it be better for them to blink steadily or something instead?

Another question: As there doesn’t seem to be a dedicated HPF setting for the reverb nor delay, is there some HPF applied to the internal wetpath by design? Using reverb/delay without any lowcut in the wetpath muddies up a mix fast…

Sorry, one more question: Is the optional MIDI THRU function handled like a MIDI soft thru? As in, not an electrical copy of the data sent to the MIDI IN terminal, but a new MIDI signal reconstructed by DSP? I ask this because IME MIDI soft thru has always been an inferior solution versus a “proper” hardware MIDI THRU port, which just makes an electrical copy of the MIDI IN

Yeah we should try to improve upon that, I also think it’s too hard to distinguish.

The Reverb does have a Tone parameter (Hold FUNC and turn Reverb Size), but the Delay has a fixed HP/LP setting that rolls of nicely.

Yes, it’s a soft Thru, but it’s done right so… Shouldn’t pose any issues.

@Ess Does the M:C have the same reverb algorithm as the M:S? If not, what are the major differences (if any)? To me, the M:S sounds like a kind of Hall reverb, but I could be mistaken, especially since it sounds kind of Plate-ish when fed cymbals and crashes.

Yes, it’s the same. I think I’ve commented on this before, but it’s simply the material being put into the reverb that is different, and therefore the tone of the effect itself is perceived as different too.

@Ess : as stated in another topic, what’s the point of the “pattern save” function ?

Depends on how you want to use it. You can see it as a save point you can go back to in case you made a change to the pattern you disliked. Or, you can use it as a performance control, save current pattern status, mess with it and then reload to the point before.

Does a slow resetting random lfo produce a new unique value per key strike?

Apparently yes, I had no idea. Really cool trick! Hehe.

I would like to try and patch up some replicas of the machines in Audulus while I wait for my unit. Can you break down what sort of algorithms you were using and how you were mapping/scaling the modulations to the patch to the 4 macro controls?

No, the mapping and scaling is our secret sauce. The algorithms, maybe.

[Snipecatcher]

The CPU is a Coldfire MCF5441 with up to 385 dhrystone 2.1 MIPS @ 250 MHz

That was gonna be my guess

[Monobear]

Thanx for this insight interessting read

[Seta]

Hello,

I asked before but anyway. What was the reason not to add a Env Attack setting? I know there is no free knobs but even a two or three settings option via menu would make a big difference (Think of DFAM slow/fast switch). Could make nice subbass with kick engine, rising pads with chord one…etc… It could share the LFO menu per track

Also, would be more than one destination (With different depth setting) for LFO/Velocity to hard on the DSP?

Beautiful sounding machine by the way…

[Jeronan]

@Ess thanks for the insight! Really nice write-up!

I think there is so much more to FM than what you would expect, so having the triangular waveform shaping that goes to feedback is kind of unique and something I think sounds really good. Can’t do that on the Digitone!

You know what Digitone owners are going to ask you now don’t you…

[phaelam]

Mute per pattern!
Thanks for all the answers

[RobertSyrett]

The algorithms, maybe.

I’ll take a maybe. I know what you mean about the mapping being a bit of secret sauce. That’s where the art of synth sound design can occur.

[mess5]

I think sounds really good

it sounds great! thanks

[tdmusic]

Thanks for the replies Ess, really awesome to read about the design and development process behind this amazing instrument

(I would also be interested to hear the reasoning behind no attack control outside of the LFO, I feel like it could open a new dimension of softer sounds if it was possible but at the same time I love the punchy sound as it is now so please don’t take this as a criticism!)

[bwo]

@ess was the little stats card for the different machines your idea? its definitely a little touch that I really appreciate. I am guessing STR = Raw powerful sounds, DEX = how flexible the range of sounds you can get out of it are and MAG = is how good it is for just random knob twiddling for awesome unexpected results.

Makes me want to try my hand at some dungeon synth on it.

[josker]

Does a slow resetting random lfo produce a new unique value per key strike?

Apparently yes, I had no idea. Really cool trick! Hehe

Can’t get this to work. Random lfo, mul 1, dst pitch, dep 63, speed 0?

[phaelam]

speed 16?

[darenager]

Make sure retrig is on.

[avantronica]

Reset
✓

[darenager]

Oops yeah reset, not retrig