• Registered: 2011-03-04
  • Posts: 17

Topic: VSTSynthFont pitch modulation

Kenneth,

I have just had reason to check the pitch modulation of VSTSynthFont.
I made a test soundfont of 440 Hz sine, using Viena, and set, in turn, the Mod LFO and Vib LFO parameters at 5 Hz frequency and 20 cents pitch.

I got the following results, using the Graphical display of AP Tuner, which shows pitch over time:

Viena itself    plus or minus 14 cents (i.e. total sweep of 28 cents)
VSTSynthFont plus or minus 2.5 cents ( total etc. of 5)

Fluidsynth   plus or minus  10 cents approx  (total etc. of 20)
SFZ+           plus or minus 10 cents approx   (total etc. of 20)

It may be a slightly old version of VSTSynthFont I am using, and I will send you the version in a later post if it matters.  The Viena version is also a little old, I think.

Do these results surprise you?

John Reimer

  • Admin
  • Administrator
  • Offline
  • Registered: 2011-01-31
  • Posts: 660

Re: VSTSynthFont pitch modulation

Yes, these data indeed surprise me!
I will have to do a test on my own.

  • Admin
  • Administrator
  • Offline
  • Registered: 2011-01-31
  • Posts: 660

Re: VSTSynthFont pitch modulation

I haven't tested VSTSynthFont yet, but I run a test on Viena today (as I'm working on an update). I used my 440 Hz standard SoundFont as well and the AP Tuner. I used a pith shift of 50 cents, which is the maximum for the AP Tuner. When setting the LFO frequency to 1 Hz AP Tuner nicely swings between -50 and +50. With 5Hz you must set the Analysis Quality to Fast on AP Tuner. The needle swings too rapidly to see exactly where it lands, but to me it is still close enough within the +50 or -50 ramge. Also, knowing the code (in Viena) I cannot see any reason for 5Hz behaving differently from 1 Hz.

The code in VSTSynthFont seems to be exactly the same as in Viena, but I have not tested it yet. There is a small chance that something is different, though. I will test it at a suitable moment next week.

  • Registered: 2011-03-04
  • Posts: 17

Re: VSTSynthFont pitch modulation

Thank you, Kenneth.

I shall have another go, using LFO frequency of 1 Hz, and shall send a report.

John Reimer

  • Registered: 2011-03-04
  • Posts: 17

Re: VSTSynthFont pitch modulation

Kenneth,
I used Fast Analysis Quality on AP Tuner and got the following better-looking results ( soundfont pitch 20 cents set in Viena):

VIENA   1 Hz frequ    +19.5 c to -19.5 c
              5                   + 18 c   to -18 c

FLUIDSYNTH  1 Hz frequ   +17.5 c  to  -18.5 c
                         5                 +9.5 c to -11 c

SFZ+                 1 Hz frequ   +18.5 c  to  -19.5 c
                          5                 + 13.5 c   to  -16.5 c

Unfortunately, for reasons I do not understand, I was not able this time to do a meaningful test on VSTSynthFont.
So you should certainly do your test when you have the opportunity.

John Reimer

  • Registered: 2011-03-04
  • Posts: 17

Re: VSTSynthFont pitch modulation

Kenneth,

I repeated my tests using an old version of VSTSynthFont.
Using my Viena setting of 20 cents, I got these results:

1 Hz frequ     +20 c to -20 c
5                    +18c  to  -18 c

This is identical to the Viena results in the previous post, and presumably the slight decrease at 5 Hz could be due to AP Tuner.

It is the NEW version of VSTSynthFont which is giving me problems re Mod LFO pitch readings.

John Reimer

  • Admin
  • Administrator
  • Offline
  • Registered: 2011-01-31
  • Posts: 660

Re: VSTSynthFont pitch modulation

Indeed! There was a bug in VSTSynthFont, introduced in version 1.070. A very, very silly one...
Here's a new version for testing:
http://dl.dropbox.com/u/1733095/VSTSynthFont1073.dll

I will have to release this son, but I'll look for some other bugs for a few days.
Kenneth

  • From: Kent, England
  • Registered: 2011-02-03
  • Posts: 323

Re: VSTSynthFont pitch modulation

May I ask what VSTSynthFont is for?

  • Admin
  • Administrator
  • Offline
  • Registered: 2011-01-31
  • Posts: 660

Re: VSTSynthFont pitch modulation

VSTSynthFont is the VST instrument I've created based on SynthFont. So it is only of interest for users of sequencers that support VST instruments. It CAN be used in SynthFont as well, but that would be kind of silly...

  • From: Kent, England
  • Registered: 2011-02-03
  • Posts: 323

Re: VSTSynthFont pitch modulation

So it emulates SynthFont through VST inside VST programmes?

  • Admin
  • Administrator
  • Offline
  • Registered: 2011-01-31
  • Posts: 660

Re: VSTSynthFont pitch modulation

Well, I wouldn't say "emulates SynthFont" as it is so much simpler. It has the same rendering engine and lets you load SoundFont files (or GIG, SFZ, DLS) into 16 midi channels (VST instruments do not have tracks), but it doesn't let you use VSTInstruments instead of SoundFonts nor does it support VST Effects. Currently no multicore support, of course.