Sends a MIDI note-on message, and appropriate MIDI values whenever the gate input goes over 0 Volts. The voltage at the pitch input determines the MIDI note number, and the voltage on the Velocity plug sets the MIDI velocity number.
Trigger to MIDI
Plugs and properties: Left Hand Side: ->Gate:- (Voltage) Triggers the Note on message ->Pitch:- (Voltage) Sets the note pitch. For details see signal level conversions. ->Velocity:- (Voltage) Sets the note velocity. 0 – 10V maps to MIDI Velocity from 0 to 1. he default level is 0.5 ->Channel:- (List) MIDI Channel number (or “All”) to output on Outputs: <-MIDI Out:- (MIDI) Standard MIDI 2 Output Properties: **Freq Scale:- Select from: 1V/Octave or 1V/kHz. **Channel:- Select the MIDI channel number or “All” Note: If you connect a MIDI-CV2 module to this module it will still produce the usual Trigger pulse as the Gate button is pressed.
MIDI Monitor.
Displays the MIDI status and MIDI values being received.
The display format. Sound ON = Sound engine is running. 2C1 shows that you are using MIDI Channel 1 as the output channel. Note on shows that the module has received a gate signal. Turning the gate off will result in a Note off output.
2C16 Note On (111, 0. 84): Channel 16: Gate is on, 111 is the MIDI note value, 0.84 is the velocity.
2C16 Note off (111, 0.5) Channel 16: Gate is off, 111 is still the MIDI note value, and the velocity has returned to it’s default of 0.5
2C16 Note On (116, 0.84) Channel 16: Gate is on, the MIDI note is now 116, and the velocity is still 0.84.
MIDI Note to voltage conversion.
Note: By this table middle C (60) is C3, not C4 as per ISO system standardized by Acoustical Society of America This conversion table doesn’t apply to MIDI note lists of the sort contained in the ‘MIDI Filter’ module. For those a simple ’10/127 x note number’ formula works.
The volts values can be fed to ‘Trigger To MIDI’ and ‘SampleOscillator2’ modules at ‘Pitch’ pin for example, the values can be calculated as well, but it’s not so straightforward and due to deviations product requires constant manual adjustment, the table saves you this tedious process, it’s accurate and verified
The idea is that a normal control knob (Using Vector, SVG or a regular image) can be connected up to the standard Level Adj module, but the control will behave like a regular dB volume control, and will show the equivalent dB gain in a text entry module.
The GUI value conversion.
The neatest and simplest way to do this uses third party modules. Elena Novaretti has a dB to Volts converter in her module pack, which do the job very nicely. All we need to do is set the Patch Memory Float3’s Min and Max values to some useful levels such as -40 to + 3, which then gives you a gain range between -40 and +3 dB. I have also used the Name plug set to “dB Gain” to use for the control’s title display module The only GUI conversion needed is the float to text module for the readout. This is already scaled for our needs.
Most VCO’s have a PWM function on the square wave audio output, but it is possible with some use of comparators, and by using Level Adjustment modules as “audio gates” we can achieve a similar function on sine, saw, ramp and triangle waves. The example prefab is here
Keeping the PW input under control.
Due to the way the gating works, we need to keep the range of the CV input under control. Rather than leaving things so that each CV you might use to control the prefab would have to be range limited I have done this in the prefab itself. We just need to limit the output range really, this needs to be from +5 volts, to +9.9 V. Going outside this range won’t cause the prefab to crash, or do anything bad to the VST, it just won’t work as expected. However I have limited the input range from 0 to 10 V. Negative CV’s won’t work at all.
Setting the width of the output waveform.
This is done by controlling the point at which the Level Adjusters used as audio gates switch on, and whether they turn on on the positive or negative cycles of the input waveform. Here I’m feeding in a +/- 5V peak to peak sine wave from an Oscillator, and the PW input as at 0 volts, by using the Scope3 we can see what’s going on.
By the time we get to 5 V on the PW input you can see how the gate pulses have changed, and with that, the output is no longer a sine wave. It’s not clipped but the shape has changed.
And at 9 V on the PW input the change is quite drastic.
And the effect of the prefab on a Sawtooth-
This module will work on all waveshapes except a square wave (Square wave is just an on/off signal, so changing the module doesn’t work at all on a square wave). Feeding noise through the modulator will give an output ranging from full noise, to more of “static” type noise.
This is a question I have seen asked on the Synthedit group, and the Forum, so I thought it would be a useful sub-control & conversion prefab post to save others the hassle of re-inventing the wheel as it were. Whilst it’s a definite advantage in SE, not everyone is a mathematics wizard (including me!)
Converting voltage to time for the ADSR2 module.
The heart of the process of adding a time readout for the Knob is using this small prefab Volts2-ADSR-Time. The conversion takes place in the Waveshaper2B module using the formula (10^(x * 0.4-3))*10 – (note the order of the brackets). This method is not 100% accurate, but is close enough for our purposes. once the input Voltage has been converted to the correct curve it’s then converted to a GUI float value, and from there to on converted to a text string, and displayed in the ED Text Entry box. By connecting the second text box to the PatchMemory Float3 module and changing its name to the appropriate Attack/Decay/Sustain label we have a convenient way of adding a control name to the Knob.
You don’t have to use one of the Vector knobs, you can just as easily use the standard sub control Image2 as a control knob.
I have made the prefab available as a download here but as you can see from the screenshots you will need some third party modules, and the vector control is only for V1.5.
I’m covering this as (as when I first started out in SynthEdit there are a few little “gotchas” that can leave you scratching your head.
I’m getting no audio out, what’s “broken”?
It’s tempting to jump straight and in leave out the VCA and ADSR… if you do you may well not get any audio out of it, just a low frequency buzzing. Synthedit expects the VCA to be there, and to be connected to the Trigger and Gate plugs.
The ADSR isn’t triggering properly when I play quickly.
You must have both the Trigger, and the Gate connected for the ADSR to work correctly, these two signals work as follows; Trigger: This is a short pulse received every time a key on the keyboard is depressed. This initiates the ADSR cycle. Gate: This is necessary for the sustain portion of the ADSR envelope to be present. If it’s not connected then at best you’ll just get the Attack and Decay cycle, or it will just fail to work correctly .
The Tuner (AKA Detuner).
I recommend connecting this module up, and having a look at what goes on inside it, as it will give you an insight into how the 1 volt/Octave pitch to voltage works in SynthEdit. The octaves are just steps of one volt, and the fine tune knob is set with a maximum value of 0.083 V so that you can fine tune against other instruments, or if you have two oscillators you can vary the pitch of one to get a (very) basic chorus effect. I have added a Level Adjust module on the output and fed this to the Pitch plug on the VCF, that gives us the classic “Moog” filter sweep sound especially with the Resonance or “Q” turned up to about 8 Volts.
I’m getting a pronounced click at the start of the note, why?
This often occurs when you have a very short (or zero) attack time set, it’s unavoidable, just set the attack time so the click disappears.
Measuring Pitch voltage.
I tried to measure the voltage on the Pitch plug on the MIDI-CV2 module and the readings don’t match what I would expect. Why is this? Because of the way SynthEdit works you’ll just keep getting voltages coming and going as keys are depressed your Synth will work out what’s going on, but the voltmeter can’t make sense of it. Likewise if you hook up the ‘scope to the VCO while you’re playing you will see multiple signals instead of one composite audio signal. This is normal, and is due to the way SynthEdit handles Polyphonic operation. You’ll only see a single signal if you force the Synth to operate as “Monophonic” i.e. one note at a time.
A Saturator is a good way of adding a bit of colour and “oomph” to a bass or lead synth line, but how can we make one in SynthEdit? What we want to do is not to introduce hard clipping to the signal, that would be too noticeable we are after something more subtle that just adds a few more harmonics to the signal.
Creating a basic saturator.
The core part of this module is the waveshaper, and for saturation we use the formula 5*tanh(x). The idea is not to clip the peaks of the waveform, but to try and emulate the sound of a slightly overloaded (or saturated) valve pre-amplifier which tanh(x) does quite well. This formula applies tanh to the input signal, and then multiplying the result of the tanh(x) calculation by 5 restores the output to the normalized +/- 5 Volts peak to peak. The VCA on the input of the waveshaper controls the level of signal passing through the waveshaper, and being applied to the output mixer. The inverter and divider are used to keep the output level as constant as I could, this works by inverting the slider voltage from the waveshaper VCA’s volume control and applying it to the Volume control. The adjusted negative voltage then reduces the gain of the output VCA as the Waveshaper signal is increased in level . The optimum division value seems to be 2.3 Volts (but may need “tweaking” slightly). The input VCA has its response set to Exponential, and the output VCA is set for a linear response, I found this gave the best results with signal levels. The input level control is set to have a range of 0 to 20 so that we have plenty of gain. This is the only non-standard min-max range on the controls.
A basic stereo saturator structure.
The output with no saturation applied: The signal is passed directly to the output VCA and is a pure sine wave with no added harmonics.
The output with maximum saturation applied: Here you can see that once we pass the signal through the waveshaper the sine wave peaks have been reduced smoothly which increases the level of harmonics without introducing too much harshness into the output. The higher the level of signal passed through the waveshaper the more harmonics we generate.
To give a bit more control over the audio I have added a TD Stereo EQ module, that gives us the options of Low Shelf boost/cut, Band boost/cut and High Shelf boost/cut.
The whole structure…
The finished Saturator project with its panel layout and links to the 3rd party modules, prefab and VST3.
I have made the finished project available as a V1.5 .seprefeab file and as a completed VST3 plug-in. However you will need some extra 3rd party modules from TD Modules, Sasha (Sorry, if you don’t already have the Sasha modules they are no longer available-he has left the community and deleted his website), and Davidson.
Changing the Harmonic structure.
By adding in the (highlighted) inputs to the Waveshaper modules we can offset the equation, causing the addition of odd as well as even harmonics. All it needs is for this offset Plug in the IO Module to be connected to a suitable control then we can control the amount of odd harmonics that are added to the signal by changing the offset voltage. I would suggest that a range of 0 Volts to +4 volts is a suitable range for the offset (negative voltages have the same result). The High pass filters are added to prevent DC from the offset appearing in the output, and can be set to an appropriate frequency such as 14 Hz to minimize any changes in the output signal. Here is a link to the Thoracious prefab version V1.5 seprefab file
Below is the spectrum with 0 volts offset.
Compared with an offset of 1 Volt
This was a modification suggested by Thoracious Apotite, https://www.thoracius.com/ in the comments. Many thanks Thoracious! Comments such as this are always welcome.
@Label: (Text) The text label that appears below the control. (The colour is set by the “Print” ARGB) @ Value: (Text) This is the value or alternative text that replaces @Label when the mouse hovers over the control. (The colour is set by the “Neon” ARGB) @Color: (Text) Controls the colour of the “skirt” and main body of the knob. Cap: (Text) Controls the colour of the cap insert in the centre of the knob. Neon: (Text) Sets the hover colour for the @Value text. Pointer: (Text) Sets the colour of the dot on the body of the knob. Print: (Text) Sets the colour of the scale markings and the @Label text.
Changing the behaviour of the knob.
Shown below are some useful properties settings for the knob: Offset angle: This offsets the starting position of the knob, by changing this to 90 we add 90 degrees to the starting position of the knob. Sweep Angle: By changing this to 180 we can limit the range down from the usual 300 degree control knob sweep, to a180 degrees sweep, or any other range that might be required. Note: This will not change the scale markings! Scale: Adjusts the size of the control knob. Opacity Normal: By setting this to 0 we obtain the behaviour where the @Label text is swapped for the @Value text as the mouse hovers over the control. If the value is left as 1 then only the @Label text will be seen.. Setting the Min/Max Range: This is the same as any other SynthEdit knob or Slider, and is set in the Patch Memory in the Prefab properties panel.
Changing from a continuously variable control to stepped. It’s a simple as changing the Patch memory From Float3 to List 3, and connecting up a module with a list plug, then connecting Choice and Item List plugs. Add a List to Text module to feed the choice to @value and it’s done. The Patch Memory sets it all up for you.
I am maintaining the pages on the SVG controls for those that already have these controls, but sadly Sasha deleted his website and appears to have left the SE community, so they are no longer available (one reason being that they were paid for, not free modules). Whether Sasha will return to the SE community no one knows, as we have been unable to contact him.
Unfortunately I am unable to provide any more assistance with these modules than the basics I have given here. These controls have two main advantages: 1) They can be re-sized with no loss of quality. 2) Highly customizable. The basic set of controls is shown below.
Making the controls your own.
Lots of options here but I would suggest that you create these controls in containers, and link only the plugs you know you will use through IO modules.
The Help Files.
s SVG Control: This is the module on which all the SVG controls can be created. It displays SVG files and makes them interactive by using @commands, and animation Filename: (Text) Supplies the SVG file path. Important Note: If you are finding that when you select a new file name you get a “broken” control that has no image, then your SVG files need to be copied into the Skins/Default folder. Leave the originals in the folders as they are, just copy the folders and their contents. The reason for this is that SE “assumes” that the files will be in the Default Skins folder, and SE offers no way to change this. Animation X/Y: (Floating Point) These plugs send and receive (exactly as the default SE controls) the horizontal (X) and vertical (Y) animation position of the control as a GUI Float value between 0 and 1. Modulation Value: (Floating Point) The input plug for animation modulation. This animates each layer which name contains the “@modulate” command with the modulation value. This must be connect to a Patch Memory Float Out’s Value pin. Input is scaled so that 0-10 corresponds to the default of 0-1. List Choice: (Integer) Sends and receives index value of the selected List Item as with other SynthEdit sub-controls. List Items: (Text) Input for the list of items. Any input other than blank makes module the operate in a stepped mode, a blank input allows for a continuous (un-stepped) movement of the control. A single item input makes the module operate in trigger (on-off) mode. Each list item’s text will replace the “@item” text in the SVG file. Note: For the stepped option to operate correctly there must be the same number of List items as there are list choices. Important: the Integer list for choices must start at 0, not 1 if there are 5 List Items, then the List Choice shall be 0,1,2,3,4. Mouse Down (X/Y): (Boolean) Outputs mouse pressed state. @image: (Text) Supplies the bitmap file path. The Bitmap is displayed on a rectangle in the layer name (in the SVG file) which contains the “@image” command. @label: (Text) Inputs the text string which is used for replacing the “@label” text in the SVG file. @value: (Text) Input to supply the value text. This is used for replacing the “@value” text in the SVG file when the mouse pointer is over the control. Note about Hover: For the @value text to be visible the Opacity Normal value in the s SVG Control’s properties must be set to 0. All Color plugs: How to specify the colours- This is either standard HTML colour names (i.e. Red, Orange, Yellow…), or hex color codes in the following formats: #RGB, #ARGB, #RRGGBB, #AARRGGBB. @color: (Text) Input for the main control colour. Cap: (Text) Input for the colour of the cap on the control knob. Neon: (Text) Input for the hover text colour, and the “slot” for the slider control. Pointer: (Text) Input for the colour of the pointer control knob. Print: (Text) Input for the default text and scale colours. Hint: (Text) Input for hint text (mouse hover) Menu Items: (Text) Input for context menu items Menu Selection: (Integer) Outputs the context menus item index value. Position (X/Y): (Floating Point) Outputs the mouse pointers horizontal (X) and/or vertical (Y) position in the normalized floating point range (0.0 to 1.0) Mouse Over: (Boolean) Outputs the mouse hover state.
Additional settings found in the Properties Panel.
Mode; (Drop down list) 1) Control: Normal operating mode. Module responds to mouse events and animation inputs. 2) Read-Only: Module operates in display mode, useful for LEDs and meters 3) Click-Through: Module will pass all mouse events to modules below. Useful for decorative elements, like glass reflections or coloring of jack inputs/outputs Mouse Precision: This defines the precision of mouse movement in pixels. If zero, precision will be equal to the current @range setting. Fine FactorMouse Precision will be scaled by factor when CTRL key is pressed Jump to Mouse: The Animation Position jumps to the pointer location when the left mouse button is pressed Anim to Choice: If the module is operating as stepped, this sets which axis will be used to control the List Choice by using the animation position (X or Y). Scale: Scales the whole graphic proportionally (1.0 = 100%). Note: values greater than 1 can be used. Angle: This offsets center angle used by the @rotate command. Leave this setting blank to use the default value Sweep Angle: Defines the amount of rotation that is used by the @rotate command (the knob control for example has a setting of 300) which gives the normal amount of rotation, reducing that to 150 give a rotation from 90 degrees to 180 degrees taking 0 degrees to be at the bottom of the control. Opacity: Normal/Hover/Pressed Defines the amount of opacity used by the @show and @hide commands. @show command uses opacity values as they are, while the @hide command subtructs opacity values from 1.0 Note: Hover state is available only in SE 1.5 and above.
The control modules:
Note: The VU meter and PPM meter will only respond to an input signal when the audio engine is running.
These Icon symbols are also available.
s SVG Control: @commands
Add interactivity and animation to SVG files using @commands. Commands can be issued by naming layers inside a vector graphics editor (i.e. Adobe Illustrator, Figma, Inkscape), or via the id parameter of SVG tags (shape id=”@command”) using a text editor (i.e. Notepad)
Below is the list of the supported commands
Transformation
Add movement to shapes in response to mouse motion
@move: Allows you to move an object horizontally and/or vertically within a specified range. @follow: Makes an object follow the mouse pointer horizontally and/or vertically within a specified range. @scale: Scales an object horizontally and/or vertically in relation to a specified origin point. @flip: Flips an object horizontally and/or vertically in relation to a specified origin point. @rotate: Rotates an object around a specified origin point. The sweep angle is specified in the properties panel. @rotateS: Similar to @rotate, but only the shape will be rotated while its gradient fill will remain static.
Transformation Modifiers
Limit a transformation to a single axis, modulate transformation, or make a shape react in reverse to the mouse movement @X: Limits the object’s transformation to horizontal movement. i.e. @moveX. Not available for rotation. @YLimits the object’s transformation to vertical movement. i.e. @moveY. Not available for rotation. @modulate: Transformation will be modulated by the signal connected to the Modulation Value plug. @reverse: Applies a transformation in the opposite direction to that of the mouse movement.
Transformation Helper Objects
Easily change transformation parameters (origin and/or range) by drawing helper objects. Only their position and/or size will be used to set the parameters, but they will not be displayed in SynthEdit (SE). @origin: Transforms a circle into an origin point for rotation, scale, or flip transformation. If more than one origin point is defined, only the last parsed will be used. If not specified, the center of the module will be used as the origin @range: Transforms a rectangle into a range used by follow or move transformations. If more than one range area is defined, only the last parsed will be used. If not specified, the whole area of the module will be used as the range
Appearance
Change the appearance of shapes fast and easily @color: Changes the color of an object to the one specified in the properties panel. If no layer contains this command, all layers will be recolored. Useful for fast recoloring of icons inside SE. The “@color” field accepts standard CSS color names (i.e Red, Orange, Yellow…) and hex color codes (#RGB, #ARGB, #RRGGBB, #AARRGGBB) @color + (Cap, Neon, Pointer, or Print): Assigns additional colors to the appropriate plugs. This is very useful for making UI color themes @show: Changes the opacity of an object based on the mouse state (normal, hover, and pressed). Opacity values used for each state are specified in the properties panel. If no layer contains this command, all layers will change their opacity in regard to the mouse state @hide: Similar to “@show”, but in reverse
Text
Swap labels or display values inside SE @label: Allows you to easily change a label text in SE via a plug. @value: Allows you to easily change a value text in SE via a pin. @item: Automatically replaces all the “@item” texts to appropriate List Item names. Useful for switches and selectors
Text Modifiers
Modify text alignement. Text is aligned centrally by default @L: Aligns text to the left. i.e. @labelL @R: Aligns text to the right. i.e. @labelLY
Special Objects
Transform simple shapes into objects that are common in audio plugin UI design @image: Transforms a rectangle into an image frame. The image link to a bitmap file is specified in the properties panel. Useful for applying transformations to bitmaps or adding textures to otherwise flat vector shapes @ring: Transforms a circle into a modulation ring track. The sweep angle is specified in the properties panel @ringFill: Transforms a circle into an animated modulation ring fill. @ring: FillBTransforms a circle into an animated bidirectional modulation ring fill.
Sasha, one of the SynthEdit 3rd party module developers has released some new modules which make SVG controls available in SynthEdit. The beauty of these is that they are fully resizable. In this post I’ll show you how to use the SVG Slider control. The structure for my prefab control is shown below, with the prefab control itself shown top right of the diagram.
I have added both Volts and Float DSP output plugs. We can customize the appearance of the slider using the following IO mod plugs: @Color: Sets the colour of the control knob Neon: Sets the colour of the text under the control when the mouse cursor is over the control. Pointer: Sets the colour of the pointer (line) on the slider knob. Print: Sets the colour of the slider scale and the text below the control when the mouse cursor is not over the control. @Label: The label text is the text shown below the control when the mouse cursor is not over the control. If no text is supplied the default of “Value” will be shown. @Value: This is the text shown when the mouse cursor is oven the control. We can use this to provide a display of the current output value of the control. By using the modules as shown below we can create, and customize the value displayed. The float scaler is used to multiply or divide the value to be displayed, the Float T Text converts the float value to text, and allows us to specify how many decimal places will be displayed (The output Volts/Float value is not affected). The s Merge module allows us to add our text of choice after the converted value with a preset separator character (Separator plug value). Multiply: Use to divide or multiply to re-scale the default 0-10 output range for the display (this does not re-scale the output values!) Decimal Places: Allows us to specify how many digits are displayed after the decimal point. Ctrl Key: Holding down the control key whilst adjusting the control allows us to increase the accuracy with which we can adjust the control as with other standard SE controls and sub-controls.
Note: To resize the control it’s not a matter of selecting it and dragging the outline, you can only drag the control to a new position. To resize the slider you must open the prefab and select the s SVG Control module, and then look for scale in the properties panel. To adjust the size of the control this value needs to be adjusted.
This project uses one of the Vector controls created by Davidson. It can be resized and the colours can be changed. There are GUI latching and momentary outputs along with DSP latching and momentary outputs. There are plugs for customizing the text that appears above the button, which also changes when the button is clicked. The structure of the prefab is shown in the diagram below, and the prefab file can be downloaded from here
You will need various third party modules installed for this to work however. The RH-Switch-Text: is needed to switch between the On and Off text labels, and switch their colours. The ED DSP Timer: is required as a bistable for the switch latching. Set to Bistable in the properties panel, no values are needed for T1 and T2 (they will be ignored anyway). QTN Bool2GUIBool: is needed to connect the various GUI switching modules and the ED DSP Timer. ED Text Entry: is not essential, you could us the stock one, but you’ll lose the text and background colour customization! DAM V Circle: 100% Essential, there is no stock equivalent. Notes: i) The prefab container must have its properties set to “visible” ii) The DAM V Circle module should have the mouse response set to step, unless you would rather the buttons just flash as they are clicked.
Shown below is a panel view of two of the switches in operation.
