Absynth 3 notes

I just want to clarify one thing, when I said "one CPU enabled" I didn't mean disabling HyperThreading but selecting only one CPU by setting the Affinity mask in the task manager (I have a dual CPU PC).

 

I also having sticking notes, and sometimes missing notes. It basically makes Absynth 3 unplayable. This is using the RTAS version of Absynth 3 in WinXP Pro Tools TDM.

In a simple test bypassing the MIDI interface, I can play a sequence of repeated three note chords in the host DAW and Absynth 3 won't always play back all notes (I've discovered RTAS Battery 2.1 has the same problem).

When playing my keyboard controller, Absynth 3 notes will sometimes stick. I have a USB Digidesign MIDI I/O.

This does not happen with other virtual instruments, so it appears to be an NI bug.

System:
Windows XP SP2, Asus P4C800-Deluxe, 3GHz single CPU P4, HT off, 2GB RAM. Pro Tools

 

It became a bit quiet here lately - all Absynth junkies busy with working around bugs? ;-) Thanks to Bingo, voodoo and sfx for confirming sticking notes problem which seems to occur in various disguises.

+ good:

• envelope cursor for control driven too
  (didn't realize yet because cursors are hardly visible, sorry)
• ... erm.... well, er.... unison... ;-)

- not so good:

• adjustments in notescale map can't be heard instantly
• still control-driven envelopes won't work correctly with velocity as the controller
• still no option for different response curves for velocity etc.

-- bugs:

• if the release section of an env has more than 1 bp, at release Absynth will resume with a wrong amplitude, which seems to be that of the 1st bp after release/sustain marker, regardless what amplitude was reached at this time
  Thus the sound is "jumping" (get's too loud) on release, if the env has a slow attack and the note is played very short - the same with Aby2!!! I don't think that it's intended this way!?
• midi- and lfo-area and breakpoint values cannot be accessed or/and are showing wrong time-values, if env-window is scrolled down a certain amount (tested with 6 envelopes!) - workaround: hide some envs, but doesn't help always (I'm not talking about mere graphics niggles!)
• sometimes envelope-lfo doesn't work - happened after adding a bp, was OK again after deleting that point
• sometimes wrong breakpoint is deleted with right-click
• keyboard (midi and virtual) does not select note in notescale map (as opposed to the manual)

...to be continued (I think)

oh, btw: MSI KT 266pro2A, AMD 1.5 GHz, 1GB RAM, m-audio audiophile 2496, WinXPproSP2, Sonar4 SE

 

thanks for you work, dreamkeeper.
by the way. i have no problem with seeing "my" envelope cursors.
maybe you just have to adjust your monitor?

 

I have trouble seeing the envelope cursors too, they are dark, dark grey on a black background.

 

Don't think so ;-). It depends a bit on the shape of the envelopes. Because the cursor seems to be supposed to highlight a small portion of the env by graphical XOR-operation (that's why it's dark-grey on black background, I think), it's better to see with steeper env-segments. for instance rhythmical stuff. Also with activated narrow grid it's not that bad. But if you have smoother envelopes or/and zoomed in it's a bit tough to find that little light-blue spot on a medium-blue line, esp. if you're trying to keep track of what is going on with 5 or more looped desynchronised envelopes ;-).

Like many things in Absynth it was a good idea, but realisation isn't appropriate imho.

 

I recall Absynth 1.34. That GUI or interface. What a mess! They fixed it half the way in A2. That version was usable and not only for playing the factory presets!

I have a good feel for A3. It sounds great and finally it has become user friendly. It really makes sense to me now as a VST plug-in. Also, I haven´t noticed any bugs yet.

There is one thing I don´t like about Absynth (all the versions). It´s not possible to make some triplet beats in the envelope section. All the rythm oriented material sounds bad when doing triplet songs. Very irritating for a real and groovy drum performer like me. The gridline only offers 8, 16 and 32th beats. Why not 6, 12 and 24th beats? It should be easy to implement. I don´t understand. I can do triplets when using the Spektral Delay. I don´t think Absynth is that flexible. Number 3 should be for triplets. Do it for the musicians too...

 

... again another update - and where is your's, Native Instruments?

+ good:

• with activated grid new pitch envelopes are generated in a "sequencer-style"
• moving breakpoints of pitch envelopes in semitones
• moving multiple breakpoints of pitch envelope retains pitch relationships
  (all 3 features not explained in manual)
• bigger waveform editor

- not so good:

• multiple selected breakpoints cannot be deleted easily
• with grid on an added new breakpoint is not being placed on the grid and pitch value is not a whole semitone - thus making it very inconvenient to add breakpoints to a quantised envelope
• "Initialize Envelope" yields not the standard ("sequenced") pitch envelope with grid on
• there is no more a value display for channel pan in the patch window, so you need an external meter to adjust panning
• the effect of breakpoint lfo on a panning envelope is not intuitive - adding a lfo with 100% depth to a breakpoint at value 0 (= middle position) only pans between middle and left (yes, I'm aware that there's a dilemma regarding consistency ;-))
• the effect of front-back panning on stereo output is not explained
• copy/paste of complete LFO settings is not possible / no library for LFO settings provided
• in a library for module settings no sub-folders are provided - thus the library folders are messed up quickly

-- bugs:

• with a bypassed channel panning envelope manuell panning in patch window doesn't work properly - output will be only on the right channel - the envelope has to be deleted
• when you click-drag to select multiple breakpoints, the first bp is not being selected - it has to be selected with an additional shift-click

I'd like to point out that I came across all these issues while normally working with Aby - it's not that I'm searching for bugs, except for checking old issues of course. And as you can see, there are even positive points ;-). Also a lot of my points are just old annoyances and not specific for v3. I'm listing them here because from a major upgrade I'm expecting more than just adding some features (and bugs).

Don't get me wrong - I still consider Absynth a great music app, although it has much more issues than just minor flaws. But: to become a really useful, powerful and reliable tool for everyday's music- and sound-creation, a lot is left to be done. I'm aware that some of the listed bugs may depend on the specific system but certainly not all! And to my opinion a 289 euro application should run without problems on any standard system.

So I'm looking forward for the udate and bugfix, and I really hope that in the future some powertools will be implemented, for instance a useful patch administration, tools in notescale map for filter tuning and the like or an enhanced modulation routing, to name just a few. Absynth could easily blow away all the other stuff out there if it only would be ...umm... "finished", if you know what I mean. So please, Brian and NI, follow the path to its end!

 

bugs

"Keyboard (midi and virtual) does not select note in notescale map (as opposed to the manual)" dreamkeeper; and there also seems to be a fault in the small keyboard on/off switch and what is on and what is off (white or green?); no manual explanation, except that it is supposed to work!

Pitch wheel shows when used with mouse, but not with midi keyboard activity.

 

Good point on the pithbend wheel via midi, I noticed that and the hold pedal confusion myself.

 

RTAS question

I just got V3 for mac and plan to use it as a sound design tool in Pro Tools as a plug in with audio sent to it from a track. For it to work you have to hold a key on the virtual keyboard to allow audio to pass to the output. However, the hold button will not function and I can only click on the sustain button to hold keys down to hear the output which is a pain. The hold button works just fine when absynth is in standalone mode. Does anyone know if this is a bug or not? If not, is there a work around. Thanks

 

In trying the just arrived A3 yesterday I've encountered the same Midi problems Bingo describes: A3 (standalone) plays some notes (around 10), then stops to react to any Midi input for some time. My system is a P4 2,6 GHz with a Terratec EWX 24/96 soundcard. My masterkeyboard uses the Midi interface of the Terratec card, my microKontrol transfers its Midi messages via USB. The behaviour affects both of them. I've never encountered similar problems with any other Midi application (including Reaktor, Battery...).

Any news about "Midi bugs"?

 

Re: RTAS question

I think you need to route a midi track to the AbsynthFX and send out a midi note for it to be on all the time. With note hold you would still need to send a note on message, since the hold function is more a sustain function.

 

My guess is that your USB hub's shutting down(XP shuts power down to the hubs BY DEFAULT as a power conservation aid).Absynth and M-Audio stuff is very sensitive to this.
Go into device manager and right click on your USB hubs to bring up properties.Under power management,uncheck all boxes.Reboot.
ew

 

Thanks for the hint. This idea would never have occured to me. After rebooting and launching A3 it was indeed possible to play A3 for approximately three minutes - but then the same problem started again. Obviously this wasn't the solution. What a pity...

 

I've got the stuck notes as well. I'm using an M-Audio Midisport 2x2 USB on a PC. I've always had this problem with Absynth. I may be running Absynth in Protools from now on. Is this stuck notes problem happening with all midi interfaces or is it just USB? No other software gives me this problem.

Will the RTAS version open up a whole new can of worms?

Another minor problem that I've encountered is messed up graphics in the envelope window when you resize in FL Studio.

I've also noticed that often envelope views do not update when I edit something. Only when I click in the envelope area.

I've only just started. How many other problems will exist?

I use Logic Audio (PC) and never experience any problems with any of their instruments and I have used Logic on several different PCs.

Yes PCs can consist of lots of different hardware and software setups but with music there is only really a handful of common hardware and software that everyone is using.

 

I have the stuck notes problem too w/ Absynth 2. This has been a long discussed problem both on this forum and all around the 'net. It's really unfortunate that after all this time nobody has gotten to the bottom of it. It is the main reason I'm not upgrading to A3. As much as I love the sound of A2, once the stuck notes start appearing it becomes too frustrating to "be creative" with.

 

Strange. I'm a rather casual user of Absynth. With Absynth 2 I've never noticed the "stuck notes" problem (and so I didn't notice the discussion about it).

Btw: Using A3 as a VSTi plugin with Cubase SX 2 seems to improve the situation for me, perhaps because Cubase is handling the MIDI messages from the interface and forwarding them to Absynth. I don't know. And even then some "artefacts" of the "stuck notes" problem seem to remain (in the form of rare "dropouts" of Absynth notes when playing back MIDI tracks in Cubase)...

 

For what it's worth, by the way, I get this in standalone and as a VST and DXi in Sonar ... and both on my desktop with a MOTU 828mkII (MIDI over firewire) and my laptop with an Echo Indigo card and MIDI over USB (via Edirol PCR30).

 

Same here, on a 2 GHz P4 w/1 GB RAM, WinXP Pro SP2,
Audiophile 2496 MIDI w/latest drivers,
Evolution MK-361C. No hyperthreading.
Some other VSTi's have this problem too occasionally,
notably Atmosphere, but Absynth 3 is the worst I've
seen so far.