[HN Gopher] Show HN: Anyma V, a hybrid physical modelling virtua...
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Show HN: Anyma V, a hybrid physical modelling virtual instrument
Hi HN! We're a small team in Lille (France) who make synthesizers
and MIDI controllers. We've just released a virtual plugin version
of our hardware synth Anyma Phi, which offers a semi-modular
environment with a focus on physical models, although there are
several other kinds of synthesis. Here's a video:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6efDQ9GmRpg We're not pivoting to
VSTs, it's just that it was a practical way of investigating
several issues and helping us with the ongoing development of our
upcoming Kickstarter-backed synth (Anyma Omega) and MPE controller
(Loom), and a gift to thank our backers for the wait they gave to
go through due to several manufacturing and production issues. I
enjoy reading music-related entries here, so I thought I'd
contribute this time and I hope it will interest some. I'm here for
any question or remark.
Author : oinj
Score : 36 points
Date : 2024-08-01 18:35 UTC (4 hours ago)
(HTM) web link (aodyo.com)
(TXT) w3m dump (aodyo.com)
| efnx wrote:
| What is your sound engine built with? What tools are you using
| for the GUI?
|
| I've found the GUI the hardest part of VST development (but I'm
| not on a traditional C++ Juce stack).
| oinj wrote:
| We use JUCE for building the app/plugin. It handles the GUI,
| the audio/MIDI devices and the plugin API. The synth engine was
| originally developed to run on a STM32F4 (what the Anyma Phi
| uses), so almost everything is purpose-built (with good old
| Makefiles). On the hardware, we use an immediate-mode UI and
| it's hard to go back to something like JUCE, which is flexible
| but a bit quirky. I often write GUIs with Cocoa for our
| internal tools (simulators, DSP models, etc) during the
| development of our hardware products and it's a much more
| comfortable environment.
|
| In 2019 I had an early version of the Anyma engine running on
| Dear Imgui, it was really fun, but it would have required too
| much effort to properly manage audio/MIDI/plugin aspects in a
| cross-platform way, and the backends were incomplete at the
| time. JUCE was too much of a time saver to ignore for a team of
| 1.5.
|
| I'm curious, if you don't use C++ and JUCE, what is your stack?
| pyinstallwoes wrote:
| Did you entertain choosing anything outside of juice?
| oinj wrote:
| We also investigated iPlug2, but ultimately decided on JUCE
| partly because it was easier to find help.
| vegadw wrote:
| Cool to see you on HN!
|
| What do you see as setting your synths and hardware apart from,
| say, the Osmose and Hydrasynth?
|
| If you don't mind me asking, for your hardware, what's running
| under the hood? Big ARM cores / SOC? RTOS on a Cortex-M? What
| challenges have you faced working on whichever you're less used
| to? (The VST if you have more hardware background, the hardware
| if you have more desktop software background)
| oinj wrote:
| The EaganMatrix (inside the Osmose) and the Hydrasynth are both
| great and each one has its own approach. I think the Anyma
| synths are less beefy, in terms of computational resources, but
| the synth engine offers more kinds of modules, more freedom in
| some way. Not that it's always useful to have 16 LFOs or
| envelopes, or to be able to modulate the curve of a mapping,
| but it sometimes makes trying an idea easier during sound
| design. As we started with a wind instrument (Sylphyo), we also
| take special care to make support for this kind of MIDI
| controllers effortless.
|
| The synth engine in the Anyma Phi runs on a STM32F4. The UI and
| MIDI routing runs on a separate STM32F4. No RTOS, we find it
| much easier to reason with cooperative multitasking, and easier
| to debug. So far, we don't have any latency/jitter issue with
| this approach, although it required writing some things (e.g.
| graphics) in a specific way. The Omega runs on a mix of
| Cortex-A7 and STM32.
|
| I have a pure software background but I came to appreciate the
| stability, predictability and simplicity of embedded
| development: you have a single runtime environment to master
| and you can use it fully, a Makefile is enough, and you have to
| be so careful with third-party code that you generally know how
| everything works from end to end. The really annoying downside
| is the total amount of hair lost chasing bugs where it's hard
| to know whether the hardware or the software is at fault. In
| contrast, programming a cross-platform GUI is sometimes hell,
| and a VST has to deal with much more different configurations
| than a hardware synth, you're never sure of the assumptions you
| can make. The first version of Anyma V crashed for many people
| but we never had the case on the dozen machines we tested it
| on.
| vegadw wrote:
| Interesting prespective. I can definitely see how you have
| the immediacy edge over the pain of the EaganMatrix, and
| having different engines besides the core wavetabel-y of the
| Hydra is a win, IMHO - though, yeah, both fit different
| needs.
|
| I'm mostly an embedded guy (Usually much lower power ST
| parts), so it's neat to hear about how you approached it.
| Having multiple chips separate so can't underrun as easily if
| the UI needs to react is really nice design!
|
| I see a lot of your engine is modified from from Mutable
| Instruments, but you do have a good selection of original
| sound sources as well. What sets yours apart? Did you have a
| strong background in DSP before Aodyo?
| oinj wrote:
| I did a tiny bit of DSP and I've been exposed to the
| HCI/NIME community in the past, but that's it. Many modules
| in the Anyma are just reasonable implementations of clever
| formulae I didn't design but studied from papers :). And
| for the Mutable stuff, a lot of optimization work and
| tradeoffs to make. We are lucky to have a sound designer
| with a good ear. That said, we've been working for a while
| on our own waveguide models (Windsyo and others), and we
| have found some tricks I've never seen elsewhere. There's a
| lot to explore, especially when looking for "hybrid"
| acoustic-electronic sounds.
| anjel wrote:
| Looks very cool but note, Virus Total fails the windows installer
| (twice)
| https://www.virustotal.com/gui/file/29c67d9d9725178a2337f6d0...
| oinj wrote:
| Thanks. It's weird, we cross-compile using llvm-mingw from
| macOS and then run the Inno Setup compiler using Wine inside a
| fresh Docker image (Linux guest). I'm not sure how I could
| obtain more info on what caused both antivirus to trigger, but
| we'll look into it.
| Rediscover wrote:
| Thank You very much. It is extremely nice that a virtual piece of
| hardware such as this is created AND shared.
|
| High regards!
| ajxs wrote:
| This is very cool! Some of the samples in the Soundcloud playlist
| sound really amazing! Is it possible to use the paid version
| offline? I keep my studio computer off the network so that I can
| totally avoid distraction.
| oinj wrote:
| Thanks! The software doesn't connect to the network. You can
| use another computer or your mobile phone for activation.
| henearkr wrote:
| Hi! Would this would be misplaced hope to wish that in a near
| future there would exist an electronic instrument reproducing
| physically the clarinet (with the same keys), while simulating
| finger holes physics and (most importantly!)
| reed/lips/tongue/breath interaction?
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