Re: [linux-audio-user] status of ams

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On Sun, Jan 07, 2007 at 06:02:01PM +0100, Atte Andr?? Jensen wrote:
> Folderol wrote:
>
> >It gets nice results but seems a *lot* of effort to get them.
>
> If you're not used to modular synthesis, yes. Plus don't have a stock of
> presets to load...
>
> >Also I'm
> >used to fully polyphonic synths (both hardware & software).
>
> For the record ams is polyphonic, use -p when you start the program

No F'in way.... [looks at man page]... wow, you're right! Dunno how I missed that when I first read the docs; must have een on info overload mode at the time.

OK now I'm making AMS my main synth. I really like AMS, but what has stopped me from using it more has been what I thought was a lack of polyphony. With "--poly 6" I can get some killer pads going here.

>
> >>3) If you ever tried what did you love about it and what did you hate?
> >>Did you find user friendly? Did it perform well?

What I love about it is that it sounds a lot like an old modular synth! Works like one too, with control voltage.

What I also love about it is that every little thing is MIDI controllable. I like to tweak knobs, and I've got a couple dozen of them on my M-Audio Keystation Pro 88. The MIDI assignment is pretty straightforward: put it in "follow MIDI mode", tweak a knob, then assign it to some parameter or another. Other software synths drive me crazy when I have to sit there with the mouse trying to grab a little circle on a screen...

There are other nice things like the phaser being integrated in as a module. The sample patches and tutorial are great. It seems like a very deep package.

> >
> >Not at all user friendly - couldn't find any help information.
>
> This wasn't the purpose of this thread, but for the record there are
> included example patches +
> http://alsamodular.sourceforge.net/alsamodularsynth_doc.html
>
> >>4) To rephrase 2): If the project was resurrected, what would it take
> >>for *you* to start using it.
> >
> >Doubtful that I'd be interested actually.

I am using it, and now that I know how to make it polyphonic I will be using it a *lot* more.

What are the things I'd like to see?
        1) Standard keybindings for Load(Open?)/Save/Exit
        2) Some way to have multiple patches going simultaneously, and to switch them via MIDI program changes.
        3) Some way to quickly disconnect a module and eliminate all its connections, without right-clicking on each connection and then the module itself.
        4) Did I mention that the right-clicking makes me crazy sometimes. Between AMS and Rezound I've had more than enough right-clicking. Left clicks would be nicer IMHO, like Om.
        5) The ability to separate the sound engine from the GUI, like Om does.
        6) I haven't figured out how to connect the velocity to, say, the attack time of an envelope. It may be possible already and I just don't know how to do it.
        7) Oh, and if I don't have a particular LADSPA module present on my system, it'd be nice if AMS tried to at least connect the modules that *are* present (I believe Om does this correctly), instead of just giving up and connecting nothing at all.

BTW, I have a dream of taking something like Om/Ingen, or a headless client/server version of AMS, and running it on a Linksys box with OpenWRT and a USB audio interface-- connected to a USB keyboard like the Keystation, and playing live with it. A $100 modular synthesizer module that fits in your pocket.... that'd rule...

>
> Fair enough!
>
> >><snip>I'm interested in helping with
> >>bringing it to a state where it's a bit more usable...
> >
> >Kudos to you if you do, but personally I'd be more interested in (what
> >you're already doing with) ZynAddSubFX :)
>
> Well, first ams and zyn are quite different and would make a great
> combo. Secondly it seems that zyn has problems that go so deep a
> complete rewrite is needed for it to perform well in a jack/low
> latency/realtime environment. And such a rewrite is totally out of my
> league + the people that IMO could take on such a task choose not to,
> probably because of the size of the task...

Ah, thanks! That'd explain why one of my songs that has a Zyn pad in it was causing massive Xruns. I will avoid Zyn from here on.

>
> This means that I (put harshly) have to consider zyn dying, whereas to
> me ams is more in hibernation...
>
>

And I hope it comes out of hibernation soon...

- -ken
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Received on Wed Jan 10 16:15:01 2007