[HN Gopher] SunVox: Powerful Modular Synthesizer and DAW
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SunVox: Powerful Modular Synthesizer and DAW
Author : timkq
Score : 137 points
Date : 2024-09-28 13:00 UTC (9 hours ago)
(HTM) web link (www.warmplace.ru)
(TXT) w3m dump (www.warmplace.ru)
| sillyenski wrote:
| https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/SunVox
| mastazi wrote:
| Around 2000-ish I was making music with a similar piece of
| software called Jeskola Buzz which is also a modular[1]
| tracker[2].
|
| About 5 years ago I remember thinking it would be cool if I could
| use that type of UI again and it would be great if something like
| that existed that could run on my tablet. So I searched and I was
| amazed when I found SunVox. It's a very capable piece of
| software, highly recommended
|
| [1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Modular_synthesizer
|
| [2] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Music_tracker
| puppetmaster wrote:
| Jeskola Buzz[1] is a very influential tracker. The source code
| was lost for a while, but I recently learned that development
| re-started around 2008.
|
| [1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jeskola_Buzz
| keyle wrote:
| Buzz was amazing. Although it crashed quite a lot it was a
| marvel for my music production in 2000.
| mouse_ wrote:
| man that's so frickin' beautiful
| Carrok wrote:
| We have vastly different perceptions of beauty.
| slackfan wrote:
| It truly is in the eye of the beholder
| bwanab wrote:
| It's possible they mean the sound as opposed to the look.
| honkfestival wrote:
| For the adventurous, a new beta was released earlier this month:
|
| https://warmplace.ru/forum/viewtopic.php?t=7005
| bowsamic wrote:
| I always thought this software was weird. To me modular implies
| parameter modulation for sound design, but this seems to be
| designed around sequencing fixed sounds, or am I missing
| something?
| multjoy wrote:
| Modular, not modulator.
| bowsamic wrote:
| But typically modular synthesis allows you to modulate almost
| any parameter
| TeddyDD wrote:
| https://www.warmplace.ru/soft/sunvox/manual.php#ctlauto
|
| It seems it's possible
| JodieBenitez wrote:
| It's nice to have, but it's not audio-rate modulation.
| gldnspud wrote:
| You can do audio-rate modulation (up to 32768 Hz) of any
| controller using Sound2Ctl:
| https://www.warmplace.ru/soft/sunvox/manual.php#sound2ctl
| JodieBenitez wrote:
| Give Drambo and Bitwig a try.
| PaulDavisThe1st wrote:
| VCV Rack or Cardinal would be the more obvious "modular
| synthesis" environments to try. Both are available at no
| cost; Cardinal evens run in the browser if you want to.
|
| Bitwig is a crazy powerful tool, but as a modular
| synthesizer, it's not particularly distinguished.
| smnc wrote:
| There are a bunch of modules, you can connect them in various
| modulation configurations.
|
| > Module is a basic element of the SunVox. There are several
| types of modules (...)
|
| https://www.warmplace.ru/soft/sunvox/manual.php#mod
| packetlost wrote:
| There's almost no fixed sounds/sampling in it. It has that, but
| it's a relatively small part that doesn't usually get used in
| isolation. The sequencing is for notes and time-domain
| parameterization of the synthesizers.
|
| Regardless it's modular in the software/building block sense,
| which was what was being referred to in the description.
| mambodog wrote:
| modular synthesis isn't named 'modular' in reference to
| 'modulation', it's in reference to synth 'modules', which are
| units of functionality from which you can build a synthesizer.
| for example with an oscillator module, a couple of envelope
| modules, a gain module and a filter module you can build a
| typical monophonic subtractive synthesizer.
| bowsamic wrote:
| Modular synthesis usually has a lot of modulation capability
| though
| packetlost wrote:
| I've been using SunVox on and off for like 15 years now. I'm not
| really musically inclined, but I always come back to toy around
| for a bit. The creator is the sort of mad genius type, he seems
| to have made his own programming language and cross-platform
| rendering toolkit to make it all work and has a number of
| projects based on it. Because of this, SunVox is available on
| basically any platform you can think, including both major mobile
| OSes app stores and Linux for a few dollars ($5, iirc) and is
| definitely worth it. If you're familiar with a sequencer workflow
| (other notable projects: LSDJ [^0]), it doesn't seem too "out
| there", though the built-in synthesizers tend to lean towards a
| more airey feel. Highly recommend loading up the example
| projects, lots of people (including the creator) have some
| samples in there to poke around with. It's really interesting
| seeing how different people use the tools provided to compose,
| sometimes taking wildly different approaches to get similar
| results.
|
| TLDR: download it and load up the sample projects, it's really
| fun
|
| [0]: https://www.littlesounddj.com/lsd/index.php
| windowliker wrote:
| A more 'hi-fi' alternative to LSDJ is M8 Tracker:
| https://www.dirtywave.com
| packetlost wrote:
| I want one of those so bad, but not musically inclined enough
| to justify the cost.
| adw wrote:
| Polyend Tracker is the other hardware tracker out there.
| Similar price though.
| porkloin wrote:
| It's never too late to get started! Also, if you're keen to
| try M8 before investing, you can make a "headless" M8 from
| a $30 teensy board, but you have to use it via a web
| emulator. If that sounds intimidating in any way, it's
| really not - there's no enclosure, no soldering, and no
| real configuration other than just flashing the teensy with
| a GUI app.
|
| https://github.com/DirtyWave/M8Docs/blob/main/docs/M8Headle
| s...
|
| I've been using M8 for ~4 years now, it's an amazing and
| fun way to make music, and I think it gels for a lot of
| people who aren't traditionally trained in music.
| sneak wrote:
| For the iOS version: $6, no subscription, no tracking?
|
| Bought it before even looking at all the screenshots, if for no
| other reason than supporting developers like this.
| ashdnazg wrote:
| I used it in a few game jams and can thoroughly recommend it.
|
| The interface might be intimidating at first, but with two wave
| generators and a couple of patterns you can already conjure a
| passable background track. A bit more complexity and it can sound
| pretty good.
| atorodius wrote:
| Wow can't believe this ran on a Palm. I wish I had known this
| back in ~2005
| gldnspud wrote:
| Ah, SunVox. It's like an instrument that Alexander Zolotov (AKA
| NightRadio) made for his own (excellent) music, and has
| generously shared with the world, creating a virtuous cycle of
| refinement in both his music and the instrument.
|
| I can't say enough nice things about SunVox. When I first saw it
| I was looking for trackers, and didn't spend much time with it.
| The second time I was looking for modular synthesizer apps, and
| that's when I fell in love. SunVox was my "gateway drug" to
| deeper learning about audio synthesis and processing techniques.
|
| You can create entire compositions and useful effects processors
| with SunVox using only the modular synthesis parts of it. It's
| very tracker-oriented, and you can do lots of tracker things with
| it, but don't be fooled into thinking it's a tracker. It HAS a
| tracker, and that is a strong part of its history and common
| usage, but it is much more than that. The modular interface is
| very approachable and powerful once you get accustomed to some of
| the fundamentals.
|
| "MetaModules" are one of its secret weapons. They let you package
| an entire SunVox project into a module, and expose an interface
| of up to 96 controllers, along with audio and note I/O. They can
| be arbitrarily nested... MetaModules all the way down. Besides
| sharing full compositions, MetaModules are one of the primary
| ways people share their creativity in the SunVox community. One
| prolific producer just released a collection of 236 modules built
| over the last four years. [1]
|
| Heck, it's even Turing-complete. Someone implemented a CPU using
| SunVox! [2]
|
| SunVox has a library version that lets you embed the audio engine
| into your own app [3] and there's even a WASM version. It's
| particularly well-suited for games, because you can control up to
| 16 independent SunVox instances at a time (to separate music and
| SFX for example) and it will mix them together.
|
| During my own explorations of SunVox I reverse-engineered and
| documented the file format [4] and wrote a library called
| "Radiant Voices" [5] for Python and TypeScript that lets you read
| and write SunVox files. If you read/write to specific filesystem
| locations, you can effectively hook into the SunVox clipboard,
| making it possible to write auxiliary apps that smoothly
| integrate with SunVox.
|
| One of my favorite experiments combining those techniques was to
| create a "MetaModule Construction Kit", which lets you use Python
| to create and manipulate MetaModules parametrically, experiment
| with them using MIDI and an alternative UI, then copy them over
| to SunVox itself once you are happy with the resulting
| MetaModule. [6]
|
| (Sadly, I don't find myself having enough time as of late to keep
| those side projects up-to-date with the latest versions of
| SunVox. YMMV if you decide to explore them. Contact me if you
| want to chat about them at all, especially if anyone's interested
| in collaborating to help bring them back in sync with the latest
| version of SunVox.)
|
| I could go on and on singing praises about this software (and
| other apps created by the same author), but I'll spare both the
| reader and myself... for now. :-)
|
| [1] https://vekonvekon.itch.io/acheney-modules
|
| [2] https://logickin.net/logicprocessing/the-most-ambitious-
| proj...
|
| [3] https://warmplace.ru/soft/sunvox/sunvox_lib.php
|
| [4] https://radiant-voices.readthedocs.io/en/1.0.0-dev/sunvox-
| fi...
|
| [5] https://github.com/metrasynth/radiant-
| voices/tree/sunvox-2.0...
|
| [6] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ckgn4xGt8bc
| ofalkaed wrote:
| One of the very few softsynths that has good interface for
| touchscreens, think it is the only one I have found that I
| actually enjoy using. Not a big fan of its sound, just not what I
| am after, but I don't mind it and it works great as a portable
| scratchpad.
| Rochus wrote:
| This is a great sounding synthesizer; but closed-source as it
| seems; the compiled shared libraries can be downloaded and I
| found an old version of the source code here:
| https://github.com/bohwaz/sunvox.
| gldnspud wrote:
| The audio/synth engine source is MIT licensed as part of
| pixilang: https://www.warmplace.ru/soft/pixilang/
| Rochus wrote:
| Great, thanks for the hint; though the included lib_sunvox
| source code looks very different from the one I found on
| github (which is much older).
| pixelpoet wrote:
| So much love and respect for SunVox, watch this unbelievably
| beautiful example song with crazy surprise about halfway through:
| https://youtu.be/AHFSrxlouh8
| qwertox wrote:
| Immediately reminded me of Jeskola Buzz [0]. While most
| screenshots don't show it, it also had a tracker included [1].
|
| [0] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jeskola_Buzz
|
| [1] https://youtu.be/gLwWMfJLXcM?t=454
| asimovfan wrote:
| Best example of a work done with this software imho
|
| https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2eLs7i9CsAo
| _spduchamp wrote:
| I used his PhonoPaper software to do this...
| https://youtu.be/HT0HH_fc4ZU
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