DVC-1 licenses giveaway

[Faastwalker]

Still not hit TRY on this one. Will do tonight. If I come up with anything interesting I'll post here. There's still dammit!!!

[ravisoni]

I won't get enough time to meet the deadline, but I'll continue to post some more later. I'm really getting a kick out of this device (in fact, this device is the reason I am experimenting with CV so much)! The following are just some ideas that I may or may not get to complete, but maybe somebody else can pick these up and get creative, too:
1) DVC-1 Vocal Rider
2) DVC-1 Auto Smooth Delay (auto delay trigger, timing and level)
3) DVC-1 Patternizer (some type of arp)
5) DVC-1 Gate Out is the New In (similar to the "reject out" of G8 gate dynamic)
6) DVC-1 Auto EQ (refined)
7) DVC-1 De-esser (based on 6 above)

To Ravenherz: It would be super cool if you could add some type of audio to cv converter within the device.

[jdub]

I've given it a go.
It's basically an auto-EQ thing. I routed the audio to BV512 (into the modulator in), and once the EQ was activated, I used CV out from band 4 to trigger auto carving out of ~480Hz in the MClass EQ. Also, if the high bands were not high enough (i.e. if CV value was less than a given number), I used inverted values to boost the highs. I am using CV values as sort of band-loudness readers. If a band is too loud (the low-mids, for example), cut it out. If a band is not loud enough, boost it (the highs).
Not sure if I'll have enough time to give it a go, but this could potentially be used to make an automatic vocal rider as well. I'll have to first figure out how to change audio levels to CV.

If you're using BV512 for its band outputs, you're already converting audio levels to CV, and what you've made is actually more sophisticated than a volume rider (single- vs multiband) would be. Pretty cool for a "noob to CVs".

What you need for extracting audio level information is an envelope follower, and there are a number of devices that have them built in, both native & RE, or if you're still feeling ambitious you can build your own. Scream 4's auto CV, the M-Class compressor's gain reduction output, Pulveriser's follower output, BV512's band outs (scaled down & summed together), Code Diggers' Audio to CV RE, and Red Rock Sound's RE 180 Dynamic Driver are all possible sources that I can think of right now, each with their own unique behavior.

I wasn't getting the results I wanted in my brief testing of Scream 4, the M-Class, BV512, & RE 180, so I decided to make one myself. The raw envelope of any given source is nothing more than a rectified version of the source, and Thor can perform this function using the rectify setting in its shaper; because I'm lazy and I already had BV512 out anyway, though, I simply used Thor to convert the audio to CV (not the same as measuring its level, mind you) and the vocoder for rectification, a process which takes advantage of the fact that BV512 ignores negative CV values, wherein both a signal and the same signal inverted are fed to different band inputs before summing their outputs. You could actually do the same thing using DVC-1 by setting it such that if the input is less than zero, its output will be the input inverted. Neat. Anyway, next just feed the rectified signal back into Thor's lowpass filter for smoothing, and after a little calibration what comes out is a very handy envelope you can route anywhere. I can walk through the whole thing in detail if you'd be interested.

Also, I'm a noob to CVs, so perhaps you can answer this for me: Some CV values that I've seen in reason go from -127 to 127 (if looking at it from a bipolar perspective). Any reason why you've chosen -1 to 1? Does 127 correspond to +1 and -127 to -1?

The -127 to 127 scale is a vestige of Reason's early days when good old MIDI was the best available, and in CV it's really only useful anymore in that 0-127 still represents the MIDI note scale. Because Reason uses 32- or 64-bit math (someone more knowledgeable will have to verify for me) the actual CV scale has 2^32 or 2^64 possible discrete values(!), so using -1 to 1 or -100% to 100% is just a way of simplifying how we think of it.

[ravisoni]

though, I simply used Thor to convert the audio to CV (not the same as measuring its level, mind you)

First of all, thank you so much for that detailed reply. It answers so many questions I had, without me even having to ask them. For the quote above, that's what I've been thinking non stop for the last couple days, just didn't know whom to ask, so thanks for that as well!

Anyway, next just feed the rectified signal back into Thor's lowpass filter for smoothing, and after a little calibration what comes out is a very handy envelope you can route anywhere. I can walk through the whole thing in detail if you'd be interested.

Yes, please! I'd love to understand this in more detail, didn't think CVs would be so much fun!

[jam-s]

My entry:


DVC-1 is used on the drums and percussion to give them some edge and also on the filter of the bass.

[challism]

I added another track with some more DVC-1 craziness (Malstrom being modified by 2 DVC-1s). Also added some more mixing, sequencing, etc to this version. It clocks in at 22 bars, so if that disqualifies this entry from the contest, please consider my previous posts/parts (1, 2 or 3). Thanks!
https://allihoopa.com/s/UXz3DnnL

I'm having a blast with this RE! I hope I win a license!

DVC-1 contest part 4.zip

(345.22 KiB) Downloaded 56 times

[WongoTheSane]

Just for fun, here's another helper: a trifader. Here's a short (30s) video to demonstrate, it fades from three different sources with the modwheel:

Usage: plug 3 different sound sources into the mixer's first 3 inputs, then use the modwheel to fade between them.

Song:

tri-fader.zip

(184.48 KiB) Downloaded 60 times

Patch: no patch because it can't easily be drag-dropped onto an effect slot (the 3 inputs have to be manually plugged).

The CV splitters don't do anything, they're just visual separators for the 3 logic blocks (not allowed to use TMA or ReMark...). The Thor only forwards the modwheel CV to 3 DVCs.

The DVCs split the course of the mod wheel in 3 sections and map them to 3 level scales, which are then routed to the combi's CV inputs, in turn programmed to control the mixer's levels. I could have simply plugged them in the back of the mixer, but it's nicer when the faders move

[challism]

That's really cool, Wongo!

[jdub]

Yes, please! I'd love to understand this in more detail, didn't think CVs would be so much fun!

No problem, and absolutely. The true power of Reason really is in CV, and it can be very rewarding to carry some wild idea into reality --and sometimes to fail in the attempt, but there's always something to be learned in the process.

For the audio-to-envelope conversion:
1) Route your audio source to Thor's audio input 1 and program the following line in the mod matrix:
[Src: Audio In 1][Amt: 100][Dst: CV Out 1]
This is the audio-to-CV conversion, which basically just downsamples the audio by 1/64th of your project sample rate; you can see this for yourself by sending a copy of the source to one of the sampling inputs, reconverting the CV back to audio, and sending that to the other sampling input before recording a sample to analyze in the editor.
2) Route Thor's CV output 1 to the split input on a Spider merger/splitter, then route one split out and one inverted split out to two band inputs on a BV512. As I mentioned in my last post, BV512 ignores any negative input, only using and passing positive values through to it outputs, which means that when you...
3)...route the two band outputs back to the Spider's merger, the summed signal will essentially be a full-wave rectified version of the input. Thor's rectifier can do the same with fewer wires, but because anything routed to the per-voice section requires a gate to pass through, and there is an unaddressed bug in Thor that makes him grumpy about always-on gates, I tend to avoid patching things through it. It can be worked around, but it's a bit of a nuisance. More information here.
4) Route the Spider's merged output back to Thor's CV input 1. Now that we have the rectified signal, it can be lowpassed to smooth it out and turn it into a proper envelope. Program the following line:
[Src: CV In 1][Amt: 100][Dst: Filter 3 L. In]
The LP12 filter in the state variable module seems to affect signal gain the least with the default drive setting (boosts by ~1.2%; the others boost or attenuate it by greater amounts), but you can use any of the lowpass filters; steeper rolloffs will give you stronger smoothing, and you can adjust the cutoff frequency to vary how intensely it will be applied. This is your 'attack & release' setting in a single knob.
5) Now, because routing CV into the filter effectively reconverted it back into audio, we have to re-reconvert it to CV. Route Thor's audio output 1 to its audio input 2 and program it just like the first time:
[Src: Audio In 2][Amt: 100][Dst: CV Out 2]
CV output 2 is now your processed envelope ready to go, and you can tweak Thor's master volume to adjust gain as needed.

Go forth and be crazy. I always enjoy seeing someone new get into CV.

[ravenherz]

Submissions are no longer accepted. Hold on a bit!

[Benedict]

Oh, end of the month.

I almost hope others wins because what I did was so simple and most have done far more imaginative things.

[challism]

I absolutely love this device. I really do. I think it's really unique and it's been a lot of fun to play with the last 2 days. I think every CV tweaker should own it. I will most likely be using it a lot in all my projects because I am a CV tweaker, for sure. That being said, I would like to suggest some improvements, which will help make it easier to use, and look more attractive to users.

The knobs are really hard to see where they are pointed. They are also very hard to click on because they are so small. And the sensitivity you have the knobs set to make them really hard to adjust. I would suggest making the knobs twice as big and put a really obvious white dot where the knob is pointing. The font is also really hard to read. I have it memorized now, but at first I had to keep looking at the picture on your website. You could increase the size of the fonts and the knobs and shrink the size of the device name on the right side. I think these small changes would really help improve your device and make it more attractive to potential buyers.

[ravenherz]

First of all, I would like to thank all the participants! And also I'd like to thank ReasonTalk for warm welcoming and providing a platform for this contest.
The most important thing of all contest consequences for me - now I know I'm not the only one CV-maniac.

There there wasn't any video submissions there are 4 winners:
1. WongoTheSane (both of your conventions was very unsual and similiar to my use - I use DVC-1 to produce level depending tremolo, which frequency also depens on inout level, and secondly for the trifading video demostration
2. Benedict (thank you for these patches related to LFO reshaping, transforming and all)
3. challism (pt.4 was especially awesome!)
4. ravisoni (great idea for EQ-ing)
In order to recieve DVC-1 license I expect you to PM me with your propellerheads' username (your login, do not provide a password, but login is the only way I can provide you a license)

Your suggestions (named in this thread were written to my TODO list, so you will see the results soon after I finish first minor update 1.0.1).

See with my next RE some day!

With love from Russia
ravenherz

[challism]

YAY!!!!! I'm very excited to have this RE. I'm going to continue having fun with it. Thank you for having this contest. Congrats to the winners.

[ravisoni]

Thank you! And congrats to everybody! Thanks to Wongo as well, because he got me thinking about CV and actually putting forth a submission for this challenge!

[WongoTheSane]

Aw, so happy, although two things I want to point out: evidently, ravenherz didn't quote the winners in any particular order, because honestly challism and ravisoni's submissions where way better than mine (not only did they do actual music with the DVC-1, where I only did helpers, but it was really good music too!); and Benedict was the one drawing us (me at least) in this competition. Frankly, if he hadn't started the ball rolling, I probably wouldn't even have noticed the thread.

So thank you ravenherz for both the device and the competition, I hope there are more REs from you in the pipeline!