This wish proposes a simple 9th Engine called MIDI.
Tt would free up cpu and memory. So instead of always 3 Synth-Engines loaded, a user can load one, or two “MIDI-Engines” to use the chordstuff, arps, sequencers and Pads with other equipment elegant and easy.
Instead of Waveforms, shapes, etc, a user could change on the fly Midi Channel, Bank, SubBank and Program Change. My head explodes with this possibilitys in mind
What is the problem?
No problem, but a possible enhancement that would also help CPU performance.
What should this feature achieve?
Save CPU and make the experience with synth more consistent and easier to understand (and also more useful).
Are there any workarounds?
Yes, but this isnt even close to fun and doesn’t solve cpu problems
Any links to related discussions?
Nope
Any references to other products?
Newer elektronshizzle with “machines” (you can load a midi machine with easy access to channel, and program change)
Click encoder knob by screen and go to “synth” and in there you can make any of the grids into a midi controller or mix and match with the internal synths etc.
Your explanation inspired me to try something out and it turns out half of your wish is already the reality:
As I understand it from explanations from Polyend staff, the amount of voices for a synth slot defines the amount of CPU taken by it. No matter if you are playing those voices or not. So setting the voice count to 0 should mean that the synth slot takes up (close(er) to) 0% CPU. What I was wondering then was: How does that affect MIDI out? And it turns out it doesn’t affect MIDI out at all. If you set the voice count to 0, you can still play chords and so on externally via MIDI.
The missing part is the dedicated MIDI engine that allows all the synth engine parameter pages to instead be controls for banks, PC and CC as you suggest. That would be really cool.
But for saving on the CPU and still playing external gear, we’re already there, yay!
I made a video showing that, while playing a recorded chord sequence, as I turn down the voice count all the way to 0, the external MIDI still plays all the notes of the chords in Bitwig.
thanks and i know that, but the loaded synth engine is still loaded and eats up some cpu and memory, even with zero voice.
with a dedicated “midi engine” we could free up both memory and cpu and on top we can utilize a much more elegant way to the most importand midi settings like channels, program change and even midi cc stuff (like on the swedish hipster toys)
with synth, i use most of the time one. or max two engines and a “midi track” and use a “machine” from syntakt and also play with the synths pads my shizzle in the elektron sequencer (with or without arps), so no meed for an extra controller.
it handles the midi stuff like a engine, instead of going in a menu, so the same beautyfull workflow.
and maybe it will free up that much, maybe we can use more voices for the “more power hungry” engines.
That is an excellent wish, making Grid, Seq, Arp and Knobs available to play other devices just the way they work in internal engines.
Elektron has this feature in many of their machines, instead of selecting an engine, you can switch a track to a MIDI track (or, in the older devices lie OT and DT1/DN1 you have dedicated MIDI tracks), and the knobs can send various kinds of fixed and user definable midi messages. The implementation is, as usual, quite elegant and simple.
Take a look at the Syntakt manual, p.57, (11. MIDI TRACK PARAMETERS).
The LFOs are available via MIDI, too, and I can also see applications for sending Macros and Envelopes. Maybe it makes sense to set polyphony for those.
Combine that with presets, and it’s simple to recall the settings for any of your other machines. I’m in!
with midi engines we save up cpu and memory, so we can use hopefully more voices on the heavyer demanding internal synth engines, and as abig bonus, external synths are not so “external” anymore, it is much more like “enhanceing” synth’s sound palette.
i really hope this will come to synth, because it should be doable and solves many problems at once
I doubt that this would have a noticeable influence compared to setting the number of voices to zero. From what was explained by @Mitch in the thread about CPU load, I would guess that being able to set the number of voices to zero is already the feature you’re looking for here.
Disabling effects, especially the reverb, might make more of a difference.
What helped me is that I now see the Synth as something akin to the Elektron Analog Four: a collection of monophonic synths that can be combined for polyphonic stuff. More voices = fewer synths.
Nonetheless, a MIDI engine is a great feature to have.
