<![CDATA[ChipMusic.org - Nautilus (1-bit VSTi for Windows) WIP]]> 2011-10-07T07:41:15Z PunBB https://chipmusic.org/forums/topic/5242/nautilus-1bit-vsti-for-windows-wip/ <![CDATA[Re: Nautilus (1-bit VSTi for Windows) WIP]]> 30 1-bit voices? Awesome!

]]> https://chipmusic.org/little-scale 2011-10-07T07:41:15Z https://chipmusic.org/forums/post/79663/#p79663 <![CDATA[Re: Nautilus (1-bit VSTi for Windows) WIP]]> cool sounds! that thing might get me to use a vst again, after maybe 3 years of abstinence wink

]]> https://chipmusic.org/irrlichtproject 2011-10-07T00:58:49Z https://chipmusic.org/forums/post/79650/#p79650 <![CDATA[Re: Nautilus (1-bit VSTi for Windows) WIP]]> Awesome job, sounds great so far. Can't wait to try it out when it's completed!

]]> https://chipmusic.org/fluidvolt 2011-10-07T00:10:53Z https://chipmusic.org/forums/post/79648/#p79648 <![CDATA[Re: Nautilus (1-bit VSTi for Windows) WIP]]> Very cool!!!

]]> https://chipmusic.org/Tinctu 2011-10-06T20:01:51Z https://chipmusic.org/forums/post/79635/#p79635 <![CDATA[Re: Nautilus (1-bit VSTi for Windows) WIP]]> Nope, synthedit is windows only.

Still cool!

]]> https://chipmusic.org/herr_prof 2011-10-06T19:40:46Z https://chipmusic.org/forums/post/79633/#p79633 <![CDATA[Re: Nautilus (1-bit VSTi for Windows) WIP]]> Sounds awesome! Forgive if I'm jumping ahead here, but is there any chance of an OSX port? ^.^;;;

]]> https://chipmusic.org/Subterrestrial 2011-10-06T19:11:06Z https://chipmusic.org/forums/post/79632/#p79632 <![CDATA[Re: Nautilus (1-bit VSTi for Windows) WIP]]> buzz buzz buzz

]]> https://chipmusic.org/Chip+Champion 2011-10-06T17:50:55Z https://chipmusic.org/forums/post/79630/#p79630 <![CDATA[Re: Nautilus (1-bit VSTi for Windows) WIP]]> This is great

]]> https://chipmusic.org/trough 2011-10-06T17:50:42Z https://chipmusic.org/forums/post/79629/#p79629 <![CDATA[Re: Nautilus (1-bit VSTi for Windows) WIP]]> sounds cool :-)

]]> https://chipmusic.org/ant1 2011-10-06T15:58:11Z https://chipmusic.org/forums/post/79621/#p79621 <![CDATA[Nautilus (1-bit VSTi for Windows) WIP]]> I've picked up work on Nautilus again. My goal for it is to create a usable VSTi platform for writing 1-bit tracks with an instrument editor that allows for flexible waveform manipulation, so each voice can have its own character. I'd also like to stack a lot of channels on top of each other and still keep it listenable.
The basic idea is to have something to simulate a beeper in a DAW, but also allows you to go beyond that.

Shiru has a nice write-up for the first beta build (which you can download) here:
http://shiru.untergrund.net/1bit/pivot/entry.php?id=13

Although it worked ok-ish, there were some things I wasn't satisfied with.

The build allowed for about 4 or 5 simultaneous voices before it degraded to noise. Since I have the power of a DAW behind it, I wished for something more; how cool would it be to have 15 voices and drums play in 1-bit and it'd still sound good!
This is tricky. The nature of 1-bit waveforms makes stacking voices complicated. You either end up with a complete ON state, or noise if you make every other voice substractive. Also, I want to maintain the instrument character of each voice, which includes PWM; once you have many voices, the PW of each has to be reduced, which leaves less space for that and thins the sound. I started to experiment with dynamic PW size algorithms, depending on pitch, number of voices, total average of ON states and so on.

This took a lot of time. I tested various setups for quality of sound, based on binary logic, subtractive algorithms, MUXing.. you name it. Eventually I grew frustrated and moved on to other things. Recently, I hit a slump with writing music and started to play with Synthedit again. By chance I stumbled over a OSC setup that created a pleasing dynamic PW on voices, at which point I decided to pick up work on Nautilus again. I made some modifications to the auto-arp to make it fit better.

Here's a mp3 render of a 11 channel MIDI. Multiple voices on the same channel are auto-arpeggiated. This test doesn't have instruments (no detunig, PWM, vibrato, portamento or anything). Keep in mind that the MIDI file wasn't made to be played like that, so there are a few annoying notes. The main test here was to have about 30 voices playing in 1-bit without having it dissolve beyond recognition. (Check your volume, it's a bit loud)


Next thing to do is to CPU optimize the core, and then find a workable interface solution for instruments.

Also, sorry for the blog post, but usually I keep better at projects once I made some kind of public commitment tongue

]]> https://chipmusic.org/%C2%B5B 2011-10-06T13:34:05Z https://chipmusic.org/forums/post/79615/#p79615