VST recommendation please
- Thread starter VeganPete
- Start date
You could have a look at this one.
It may be too “wild” though for what you need…
I personally really enjoy it!
Auxture (Audiobulb)
Edit: note that this is a standalone app. Won’t work as plugin if it’s mandatory for you.
It may be too “wild” though for what you need…
I personally really enjoy it!
Auxture (Audiobulb)
Edit: note that this is a standalone app. Won’t work as plugin if it’s mandatory for you.
Bee_Abney
How long have I been out?
I would use a sample player such as Kontakt (or Halion, Flacon, MSoundFactory, Decent Sampler, Sforzando, and such like). Load the samples as velocity layers on a single note. Trigger that note in my DAW (just record or key in the midi notes), then set that track to play with random velocities and adjust the percentage chance of the note sounding if I wanted that to be random too.
Auxtare goes beyond that, though!
Some of the players I mentioned can also have their own randomisation settings. But if you want something that will read your file folders without loading them in to the sampler - or if you want a really big collection of samples, perhaps there is something much better. I'm sorry, I don't know what it is, but I'd be interested to find out.
Although, if you were to load in the samples to all of the different midi notes (and perhaps velocities as well), you could set up a sequencer to trigger a random note. Just using Falcon, I'd do it by setting it to play monophonically so only one could play at a time, and then set a random value to any note triggering. Whenever a note/sample is played, no other one will be played at the same time. There might be an easy way to get a random note to play, but a less fun method would be to write in every midi note on the timeline with every note set to, say, a 5 or 10% chance of playing.
Set the release to maximum on the ADSR envelope, so that whenever a midi note is triggered, you get the whole length of the sample to play.
Auxtare goes beyond that, though!
Some of the players I mentioned can also have their own randomisation settings. But if you want something that will read your file folders without loading them in to the sampler - or if you want a really big collection of samples, perhaps there is something much better. I'm sorry, I don't know what it is, but I'd be interested to find out.
Although, if you were to load in the samples to all of the different midi notes (and perhaps velocities as well), you could set up a sequencer to trigger a random note. Just using Falcon, I'd do it by setting it to play monophonically so only one could play at a time, and then set a random value to any note triggering. Whenever a note/sample is played, no other one will be played at the same time. There might be an easy way to get a random note to play, but a less fun method would be to write in every midi note on the timeline with every note set to, say, a 5 or 10% chance of playing.
Set the release to maximum on the ADSR envelope, so that whenever a midi note is triggered, you get the whole length of the sample to play.
doctoremmet
Senior Member
Or use Voltage Modular, or some Toybox Nanopack modules in REAKTOR. Have some type of randomizer trigger your samples?
OP
OP
VeganPete
New Member
Thanks for the great suggestions everyone...
@nordicguy Auxture sounds great, it doesn't really matter to me that it's a standalone program (not a plugin) but it doesn't really fit with what I wanted, simply because it continually triggers samples to create a textured layer - it drowns-out my other audio - but I've downloaded it and do really like the way it works and sounds.
@Bee_Abney Triggering samples with random-velocity Midi might be the way forward for this - I found an old plugin called "Complete Drums" (by FrettedSynth Audio) which loads 12 samples, so I'm going to reduce all sample sizes and run two instances (giving 24 samples loaded into RAM), then I'll trigger them with a Midi pattern with random note velocities. I did manage to find a sample-player that can load a random sample from a folder collection - it's called "SPDP" (Small Pattern Dual Player) by Tekky Synths - but I'm not too sure how to use it for what I want.
@doctoremmet Reaktor does look amazing, the modular approach seems a little intimidating tome but it's something I may purchase in the future and delve into. From what I read, Voltage Modular looks like it's a pure synth (not a sampler) - but again it does look like something I'd really f.love to get into, just probably not for this project.
Thanks again!
@nordicguy Auxture sounds great, it doesn't really matter to me that it's a standalone program (not a plugin) but it doesn't really fit with what I wanted, simply because it continually triggers samples to create a textured layer - it drowns-out my other audio - but I've downloaded it and do really like the way it works and sounds.
@Bee_Abney Triggering samples with random-velocity Midi might be the way forward for this - I found an old plugin called "Complete Drums" (by FrettedSynth Audio) which loads 12 samples, so I'm going to reduce all sample sizes and run two instances (giving 24 samples loaded into RAM), then I'll trigger them with a Midi pattern with random note velocities. I did manage to find a sample-player that can load a random sample from a folder collection - it's called "SPDP" (Small Pattern Dual Player) by Tekky Synths - but I'm not too sure how to use it for what I want.
@doctoremmet Reaktor does look amazing, the modular approach seems a little intimidating tome but it's something I may purchase in the future and delve into. From what I read, Voltage Modular looks like it's a pure synth (not a sampler) - but again it does look like something I'd really f.love to get into, just probably not for this project.
Thanks again!
jcrosby
Senior Member
Which DAW are you in. Many DAWs have MIDI plugins that will allow for things like randomizing incoming notes. Live, Logic, Bitwig can do this. I'd be shocked if Cubase can't, as well as most other DAWs... In the average DAW you'd just load up 128 samples and have the randomization set to cover the entire keyboard range. Live can take this a step further by assigning 128 samples to each key, i.e. 16384 samples (pretty sure Bitwig can too). It would take quite some time to set the patch up, but you'd rarely if ever trigger the same sample...
You can take this concept and run in all kinds of directions like also randomizing pitch. I've used both of these together to make all kinds of pretty incredible sound design I would have never come up with using any other method...
Basically there are many ways to achieve this, most likely with something you already have...
You can take this concept and run in all kinds of directions like also randomizing pitch. I've used both of these together to make all kinds of pretty incredible sound design I would have never come up with using any other method...
Basically there are many ways to achieve this, most likely with something you already have...
Bee_Abney
How long have I been out?
I'll take a look at Small Pattern Dual Player and see what it can do, thanks.
Voltage Modular has sample modules too. If you are into random sequencing, it is very good for that. Buying all the modules can get addictive and expensive, though...
This is definitely something where internet research is likely to reveal ways of doing it with your DAW. But if a free or cheap product makes it easy, then that may be a good choice.
doctoremmet
Senior Member
It has many modules, it’s more like a software version of Eurorack. Mainly synths, but there are excellent sampler modules as well. Cherry Audio offer a free tier. An alternative that’s excellent would be VCV Rack. You are right though, it does have a slight learning curve!
I created this horror soundscape with a bunch of samples I lifted from the most excellent Karoryfer Samples Vengeful solo strings and mangled with a bunch of Voltage Modular modules:
b_elliott
A work in progress.
If you happen to use Reaper there are the LKC series of scripts to randomize lots of things.
Inside the LKC Variator GUI there is a list of 11 options to choose from to randomize file selection, content, pitch, stretch, rate, etc.
If new to you, watch this walkthru by ReaperBlog.
Hope this adds to your randomize quest. cheers, Bill
Inside the LKC Variator GUI there is a list of 11 options to choose from to randomize file selection, content, pitch, stretch, rate, etc.
If new to you, watch this walkthru by ReaperBlog.
Hope this adds to your randomize quest. cheers, Bill
Bee_Abney
How long have I been out?
It has many modules, it’s more like a software version of Eurorack. Mainly synths, but there are excellent sampler modules as well. Cherry Audio offer a free tier. An alternative that’s excellent would be VCV Rack. You are right though, it does have a slight learning curve!
I created this horror soundscape with a bunch of samples I lifted from the most excellent Karoryfer Samples Vengeful solo strings and mangled with a bunch of Voltage Modular modules:
Well, that cleared the sawdust out of my brain box.
Ooh, I feel fresh and alive again!
(Fear is good for you.)
OP
OP
VeganPete
New Member
I do normally use DAW's as a hobby but I'm not really using any DAW for this project, just using an old program (I guess technically it is a DAW of sorts) called "VSThost". It basically just loads VST/VSTi instances and has MIDI in/out and also allows Keyboard/Joystick control for MIDI and some basic effects channels. It's designed for minimal CPU use and live-performance so there is no built-in sequencer - pretty bare-bones but ideal for what I want. I'm using it as an alternative to "Cantabile" which was very good but VSThost is easier/quicker (for me) to set up and is a lot more stable in practice.
It does also have a built-in MIDI player which can be used to control the VST plugins across 16 channels - I'll have to re-check through the manual to see if it can load samples to memory and randomise their playback - if not, I can use a plugin. You're right I can probably already achieve this just with the built-in features and a little bit of thinking outside of the box.
The main reason I'm using VSThost (instead of a more feature-rich DAW) is that I'm cramming a tiny computer into a small metal box and I've wired a home-made MIDI controller with some buttons, dials and sliders to make a hand-held drum-machine/synth - so I just needed direct control of the VST's with no DAW to worry about. It will be headerless (just bottons, no screen). It's working really well at the moment - but the final software stage (before I put it all together in the box and finish wiring it up) was to add some random sounds, whale-noise, vocal hits, jazz riffs etc - just to spice it up a bit.
Not used reaper in a while but I do have Reason which has some similar features. Voltage Modular does look very tempting indeed - I love things like random sequencing and TB303 programming and am also a big fan of those battery-powered "Pocket Operators", they inspired me to try and make my own, lol.
It does also have a built-in MIDI player which can be used to control the VST plugins across 16 channels - I'll have to re-check through the manual to see if it can load samples to memory and randomise their playback - if not, I can use a plugin. You're right I can probably already achieve this just with the built-in features and a little bit of thinking outside of the box.
The main reason I'm using VSThost (instead of a more feature-rich DAW) is that I'm cramming a tiny computer into a small metal box and I've wired a home-made MIDI controller with some buttons, dials and sliders to make a hand-held drum-machine/synth - so I just needed direct control of the VST's with no DAW to worry about. It will be headerless (just bottons, no screen). It's working really well at the moment - but the final software stage (before I put it all together in the box and finish wiring it up) was to add some random sounds, whale-noise, vocal hits, jazz riffs etc - just to spice it up a bit.
Not used reaper in a while but I do have Reason which has some similar features. Voltage Modular does look very tempting indeed - I love things like random sequencing and TB303 programming and am also a big fan of those battery-powered "Pocket Operators", they inspired me to try and make my own, lol.
Pier
Senior Member
If you have Live or Bitwig you can just use any sampler, and then add a probability chance for the notes to trigger.
You could also use any sampler that allows for round robins. I think most samplers can do that these days. From Kontakt to TAL DRUM. You could add blank samples if you want to not trigger samples too.
If you don't want to use a DAW you could maybe use something like Freestyle to load any VST you want and trigger small midi sequences.
You could also use any sampler that allows for round robins. I think most samplers can do that these days. From Kontakt to TAL DRUM. You could add blank samples if you want to not trigger samples too.
If you don't want to use a DAW you could maybe use something like Freestyle to load any VST you want and trigger small midi sequences.
Superabbit
Erik
For the sampler, a sample-per-note type ("pad" sampler) is probably the best. TX16Wx is an excellent free one. Load up as many samples as you want. It even has an arpeggiator with a random function that might be useful.
For triggering it at random, Stochas is a freeware "advanced probabilistic polyrhythmic sequencer plugin."
For triggering it at random, Stochas is a freeware "advanced probabilistic polyrhythmic sequencer plugin."
