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How to close gate on ivcs3 au vco?
I hqve had this for a while, but never was able to figure out how to make it shut up. Basically the gate wont close and its just sending out continuous pitch of what key was pushed the last time. How do i use this like a normal synth that open gate when key is pressed and closed when its let go?
Comments
apeSoft definitely went with an unusual approach for the AU implementation of iVCS. Basically each part of the synth is run as a separate AU.
So, to get the synth to function for the configuration you want, you need to load the components you need.
E.g. If you want the VCO to not drone on, you need to run it though an Envelope: load the ENV as an effect after your VCO (make sure to load the Music Effect version to allow MIDI control). As with the standalone version, you need to set Off to Manual if you want the envelope to respond only to the keyboard gate and not run as a cycle.
This approach restricts the ability to do complex modulation as there's no matrix, and not everything is available (e.g. ring mod), but it does mean you could build a "simple" AUVCS that, for example, has 4x oscillators and 3x filters and incorporates other AU effects in the signal chain (e.g. put a frequency shifter and distortion before the VCF and ENV, or...)
@aplourde nice info! Thx
@aplourde
Thanks for this. I had almost discarded this as a possibility.
But this AU implementation makes it kinda pointless to use iVCS3 that way, since one loses the goodies of the synth (at least without major detour) or am I misunderstanding something?
Okay thanks. I guess ill just sample it if i want to use it badly enough, which i most likely wont. Kinda sucks since i bought this so that i could use its vco as an au, but this ruins it completely
I never figured the stand alone app either. It also just makes sound all the time and i get pissed off listening to it every time i can figure how to use it. But i dont need a standalone app. Would had been cool to run this vco through grind on bm3, but i got enough au synths for that, so not a big loss. Other than loss of a little money. Maybe ill sample the single cycle wave from this one day and get some use of it, so its not completely money lost.
Yes, you can set up multiple oscillators, envelopes, filters, etc and add in other AU effects to the signal path, but the heart of the VCS is it's matrix and without that you can't really get the "VCS sound". The matrix allows audio-rate modulations and feedback and sources feeding multiple destinations and destinations receiving from multiple sources. With a complex AUM routing you might achieve some of this, but not all.
Ignoring the bigger missing items that you could replace with other MIDI controls or AUs (the sequencer, sample playback, ring mod, joystick) there are things that you just can't do with this AU setup. For example, I can't see a way to set the oscillator tracking to something other than the "correct" pitch tracking. This might be useful for day-to-day melodic usage, but part of that VCS sound comes from a VCO that's set to a different pitch scaling and therefore creating inharmonic tones beating against the fundamental.
That said, there are a couple of features in the Essential and Recommended EMS Modifications IAP that are available in the AUs even if you haven't purchased the IAP: Oscillator sync and the extended Envelope times.
I would encourage you to stick with it. The VCS is not like other subtractive synths and the sounds you can get are unique. The VCS was designed as a sound exploration tool before a lot of synthesis approaches became standard, so they way things work can be a bit weird. VCS stands for Voltage Controlled Studio, not synthesizer; the keyboard wasn't part of the basic package and lots of people use it without.
As mentioned previously, to get the VCS to stop droning, you have to run the sound through the Envelope Shaper. By default the envelope is set to loop, to get it to only respond to the keyboard gate you have to set the Off knob to Manual; other settings of the Off knob control how long before the envelope automatically triggers again.
I would definitely recommend looking at the Digital Jeepney series of videos to get the basics of what's going on:
These videos and others can be accessed from within the app, as well as the iVCS manual and the original EMS manual.
This beast is all about modulations, so you're not going to get anything close to its unique sonic features by sampling single cycle waves. Also, because the sound can be so big and dynamic, I doubt you would really run more than one instance in any track!
All that said, the AUs can be very useful, especially the effects:
The utility of the filter as an effect for other sources should be obvious.
The VCA, utilizing the apeSoft per-knob LFOs could be used as a tremolo or auto-panner effect (with basic tone controls).
The Envelope Shaper allows chopping of sustained sources, or could create a pseudo-echo effect with sounds with long releases.
The Spring reverb doesn't have any real adjustability, but the algorithm can be changed between feedback delay network, parametric spring emulation, IR of actual VCS spring, a couple of hybrid models and an adjustable convolution of the IR that allows shortening and reading the IR in reverse (for a swell effect).
All in all, it's a great synth and nice package of AUs.
Nice info, but i dont really want to use a standalone synth, and im not into drone sounds, or some long evolving complex stuff that this app would shine on. But i gotta check the reverb again(IR from the actual thing sounds promising, i only tested it fast since i really like ddmf envelope reverb), and maybe look more into the envelope, if it ca be used in bm3 somehow.
No, they're different to allow different sounds:
IR is a convolution reverb of the VCS spring impulse, great if you want a realistic spring reverb sound.
FTConv uses the VCS IR, but allows you to adjust the decay for a shorter T60, or run the IR backwards for a completely different swelling sound.
Parametric is a spring emulation that has a much more fluttery sound. This isn't realistic if the reverb is clearly heard, but when you're routing the reverb inside a patch (say before the filter) and want the spring character to still come through, this often works better. It's a hyped spring sound and sometimes you want that (frankly, it's what I usually use as I treat it less as "reverb" and more as a sound manipulator).
FDN is completely different. It will give you more of a plate sound. It's not a great FDN implementation, but again, in a patch it will give a more diffuse effect than the IR.
Hybrid 1 is a mix of the IR and the FDN when you want spring realism with a more diffuse tail.
Hybrid 2 is a mix of the IR and the Parametric when you want spring realism with hyped flutters.
To be clear it's not just for drones and long evolving pads, it can create seriously fat basses and leads that have that thick, organic, 70's synth vibe.
Yea, but there are good apps for those things, so using a complex standalone synth like this for them is not worth the hassle. I bet its vco and grind would had been a nice combo on bm3 for basses
the VCO and filter have a very unique sound that's stunningly 'analog' in it's appearance.
For my taste it even beats the Model-15 in that domain by a (admittedly) small difference.
Worth having on your sound palette, as there's not even a handful of VSTs that can do this trick, let alone IOS.
The original manual is obligatory imho.