REAKTORコミュニティー

DESCRIPTION

WEST// is a west-coast style monophonic synthesizer.
Since there aren’t too many of this kind of synths available for Reaktor I decided to try to create something. WEST// was inspired by the sounds of the Buchla modules and the semi-modular workflow from the ARP 2600 synthesizer.

The workflow on it is a bit particular so here are a few tips to get started:
- The VCA 1 is linked to the Master output and it’s always controlled by the ADSR 1.
- The sliders available on the Complex Oscillator behave as offsets when there’s no Modulation selected. Once you select a modulation source, the sliders turn into attenuators for the incoming modulation signals.
- Shape 1 and 2 are a bipolar slider

I’ve also created some custom sliders with a particular color scheme (inspired by the Buchla Easel):
Gray Sliders - Control Voltage
Blue Sliders - Audio Signals
Yellow Sliders - Time-based controls
Green Sliders - Audio Modifiers
Orange Sliders - Sequencer

The Self-Influenced Random (SIR) module is a special S&H circuity that can take the CV output of the S&H to control the frequency of the clock oscillator used to trigger the S&H. The SIR CV output is available in almost all of the CV inputs spread throughout WEST// however I've also added gate outputs which can be used to trigger the 3 envelopes.

"If I have seen further than others, it is by standing upon the shoulders of giants."

WEST// uses a couple of previously programmed parts:
- Wave Multiplier by Sandy Small and Kim Boestrom
- Frequency Shifter by Sandy Small, Sean Costello, and Jesse Voccia.
- Spring Reverb by Boscomac
- Source of Uncertainty by ReaktorTips.com
- Low Pass Gate by arachnaut
- The Revenge of Bucket Boy by Colin Brown

Original presets created by Ícaro Ferre.

CHANGELOG:

1.3:
- New Harmonic Oscillator module inspired by the Verbos Harmonic Oscillator
- New Quad Function Generator module.
- New BBD module based on "The Revenge of Bucket Boy" by Colin Brown
- New Control Voltage Processor module.
- The internal routing of the ensemble is much cleaner and easier to upgrade / modify.
- Added a subtle slew to ADSR 1 and 2 to make them sound more "organic".
- Fixed a bug that would prevent the Noise source selector to be properly saved in snapshots.
- Channel #4 of the VCA 1 is now selectable.

So, good news is that all the blank panels are now gone and WEST now features 4 new modules.
Bad news is that snapshots created with previous versions of WEST// won't work in this new version because of the new internal routing system, sorry once again about that.

I create 20 new snapshots which showcase most of the features available in WEST//.

1.2:
- Fixed the clock source selector for the Sequencer
- Fixed some of the snapshots included in the Factory bank.
- WEST// now uses 2x oversampling by default (I recommend running it at 4x if you can). This means that WEST// will use more CPU but it'll sound a lot better.
- Added an Off option to some of the CV input selectors.

1.1:
- New Spectral Processor module – this is a morphable fixed filter bank inspired by the Buchla 296e module. It's a bit more limited than the original module but it's still pretty cool.
The Spectral Processor has 3 different outputs (regular / all, odd and even). Regular / All output will output all the bands while odd (O) and even (E) will only output odd or even bands. Try processing the 2 bands in different ways and mixing them back together, it's pretty cool.
I also added individual VCAs for the Odd and Even outputs.

- New Wave-Folder module – wave-folder with selectable number of folding stages (2, 4, or 6).
- New 3-band Master EQ (Bass, Spectral Tilt, and Treble).
- New custom UI for the buttons inspired by the Buchla 200e series.
- Through-Zero FM now works properly.
- Added a toggle to switch Through-Zero FM on and off (available in B view).
- Added Key-Sync to LFO 1 and 2.
- LFO 1 and 2 were almost completely re-designed: the symmetry control in the factory LFO I used for the 1.0 version didn't work like I expected so I re-designed some parts (specially the triangle waveshaper). Theses changes also improved phase resets.
- Fixed the range of the ADSR 1 and 2 sliders .
- Added keyboard scaling for ADSR 2 (meaning the overall length of the envelope changes according to the note being played)
- Added MIDI Mod-Wheel (CC #1) and Aftertouch as modulation sources

This new version may not work well with existing presets / snapshots since the range of some of the parameters was changed / fixed.
The structure behind the instrument looks like a mess and I'm completely aware of that. My plan is to move everything to Send / Receive in the next update.
The interface is now a lot bigger and I'm not yet using 100% of it. I decided to leave some room so I can add more modules in future updates (or you can feel free to hack it up and add your own stuff). After all, many modular systems have blank panels ;)

I apologize for not adding many new snapshots to this update. I've been pretty busy and I didn't have time to make them. I'm hoping Paule Amca and other great guys here can help me out with that :)

Overall, I'm a lot happier with this new version. It sounds better, it is a LOT more flexible and the CPU usage is not as bad as I thought it'd be.


1.0.1:
- Added "Mostly Sequenced" bank by Paule Amca (Thanks Paule!)

1.0:
- Initial Release

WEST// was created by Ícaro Ferre
http://icaroferre.com
http://spektroaudio.com/