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Triple Play 1.5 Update


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Recently I added IK Multi Clavitube sounds for SampleTank 4, I wanted to play them with the Triple Play - seemed like it would be intuitive and work well.

I charged the controller battery, hooked up the pickup and checked Fishman's Triple Play page. They had an update to 1.5.14, the last one was 1.4, which I installed but didn't really use.

 

They've changed their free software, most of the older stuff has gone away. They have a Synthmaster One plugin, Native Instrument stuff and EastWest stuff. I have the NI stuff, I've had no luck with the EastWest stuff and the Synthmaster was included in the update. Installed update, tried to get Triple Play up and running. A firmeware update for the Receiver came up so I installed that. It said it failed to install. I restarted the computer and Triple Play and the reciever was fine but now a firmware update for the Controller. Installed, it connects but no sounds. Scan plugins, nothing, repeat, restart, there are no plugins. I tried to use the Synthmaster website to license their plugin, that got weird quickly, no results. Restarted, Triple Play up and I fiddled around with scanning Synthmaster until the prompt for licensing came up. I entered the information, it said it failed. I followed the instructions for having the Synthmaster website email me a new license number. They sent me the same number. I restarted, fired things up again, got the licensing prompt for Synthmaster from Triple Play, entered the number again and this time it worked. Still no sound. I restarted again and then it started and it played. Having figured out by now that rescanning all plugins only showed my few VST plugins which are all EQ, Dynamics, Delay etc. that cannot be played. I tried re-installing SampleTank 4 and scanning again. Finally, something working the first time I try it. It reinstalled the VST version of the sofware and it populated itself with the Sampletank Sounds.

 

So, I fired up the Clavitube with the Triple Play and started surfing the presets. There are tons of them and they sound fantastic. They are easy to play on guitar too, there is a certain similarity that works very well.

I could easily have tracked a part on a Bob Marley record or got my Superstition on (multiple flavors of wah clav) and nobody would be the wiser.

 

I just reinstalled a couple of Native Instruments things. Tomorrow I'll see if it can scan them now. I went for the players, if those can pull sounds it will save a lot of time.

It took a chunk of my life to get here and I am still not sure where "here" is.
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How do you get the best results out of Triple Play? I have triggering problems, which I suspect is because I use a thumbpick.

 

I am accustomed to using a heavy pick - current choice is a Dunlop Gator 2mm, just the standard pick profile. I do have an accumulation of picks, they all sound different. Sometimes an acoustic guitar strummed with a thin pick is exactly the sound one needs. I've got one of each of everything and then some!!!!

 

I have to remain aware of my palm muting while picking, it doesn't translate well on Triple Play but I do it often gigging and it is very effective there. A habit to be changed circumstantually.

 

If I want to mute I must pick cleanly and then mute. Muting isn't as "organic" or I could say incremental - as it is when I use my guitar as a guitar.

It seems to be more effective to mute by raising the finger on my left hand enough to un-fret and mute the note. That finger is much farther away from the pickup. That has it's own can of worms, if the note happens to be at a place (for example 7th fret) that can also trigger a harmonic then that could happen instead, which is not always a bad thing.

 

The synths have a different threshhold and that is not consistent from one synth to another. Sometimes I can get an incorrect note simply by muting, I suppose it is because the pickup is so close to the bridge and the strings. A natural sounding decay on a mute is a delicate matter and often I simply give up and find another way to express that part.

 

So yes, there are triggering problems and they are related to our own personal approach to the instrument.

 

All that said, even with the heavy pick I found some of the Clavitube settings very easy to "strum" like a guitar and it adds another set of attractive sounds to that important aspect of playing guitar.

 

I am also enjoying the "splits", turning the 2-3 lower strings into bass instruments is fun. With the right delay timing, one could bounce between bass and guitar and be able to change things on the fly. I always seem to feel trapped by loopers. Compiling loops in the DAW is different, you can mix, match and bungle them up..

 

One question deserves another!!!

 

Your favorite free VST synths? I had U-he Zebralette and another developer's Crystal and liked them both. I think I'll go get them again if they are still available. I will also search "best free VSTs" which is a good way to end up with too many plugins!!!!! As near as I can tell (waiting to hear from Fishman support), Triple Play scans VSTs only. I need to rebuild a VST synth library.

 

Will be making a dedicated folder for all things Triple Play, Waveform allows redundancy in custom plugin folders which is handy.

It took a chunk of my life to get here and I am still not sure where "here" is.
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^^ Further thoughts ^^

 

There is certainly an adaptation required to resolve the profound differences encountered when one uses an instrument capable of speaking in microtonic increments to trigger plugins that are designed to represent the tempered scale. A violin sampler will often allow the expression without excessive glitching and a piano will only want to play the tempered scale unless you use another way to control the pitch (could probably be an expression pedal).

 

This can also lead to new sounds, a properly executed (for the circumstances) bend on a Triple Play guitar can trigger an interesting flurry of piano notes - this may or may not have a use of some sort.

 

I've also attempted to play "drums" with the Triple Play and the only path forward for that would be to go into the mixer and turn most of the voices off. Too many subtle touches cause unwanted drum sounds to trigger if you leave them all on. I've abandoned the idea completely for now but I may revisit it moving forward.

It took a chunk of my life to get here and I am still not sure where "here" is.
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Last nights reinstall of some Native Intruments plugins brought back the VST versions. Triple Play scanned and found them. Have not tested Komplete Kontrol yet to see if it can play AU plugins through it's VST interface, that would be super handy.

 

Today I did a search for "Best free 64 bit VST Mac" and checked out a few lists. I added the following, one of my methods for choosing was sliders vs "knobs". Sliders win but not all of my choices have them.

 

I added Crystal, Surge, Tyrell N6, and U-he Zebralette.

 

I loaded 4 synth patches and got them all playing at once. Still a few things I need to learn to get the whole thing going.

So far I think the interface works better but the Triple Play itself is still more or less the "kinda amazing and kinda annoying" tool/toy it's always been.

 

I'll find uses for it, it does some things pretty well and my limitations as a keyboardist lead me to prefer doing things on the guitar where possible.

It took a chunk of my life to get here and I am still not sure where "here" is.
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Craig, another thought I've been having regarding Triple Play performance is - maybe it works better with heavier strings?

My usual 10-46 set has been on the 2 guitars that I've used for mounting the pickup system.

 

I might try 11-49, somebody gave me a few sets. I also have a set of flatwounds, fairly light guage. Maybe those work better.

It took a chunk of my life to get here and I am still not sure where "here" is.
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I use 010s, but I want to try flatwounds as well. As to synthesizers, I really haven't looked much into free synthesizers - between what I have in Studio One, Rapture, Arturia, IK. and Kontakt, I'm pretty much covered! However, I am a big fan of the free TX16xw sampler. I'm designing my various virtual instruments to be compatible with it because there are no copy protection, file path, or compatibility issues.
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I use 010s, but I want to try flatwounds as well. As to synthesizers, I really haven't looked much into free synthesizers - between what I have in Studio One, Rapture, Arturia, IK. and Kontakt, I'm pretty much covered! However, I am a big fan of the free TX16xw sampler. I'm designing my various virtual instruments to be compatible with it because there are no copy protection, file path, or compatibility issues.

 

 

Thanks, I'll take a look at TX16xw.

 

And, you reminded me of Arturia, I have the Analog Lab Lite and they had an upgrade so I installed it and it added a VST. One more for the Triple Play.

 

Yes, I have more synths and sounds than I know what to do with. Quite a few from Waveform, plus IK, NI, Arturia, the SynthMaster One that came with the Triple Play update, etc.

 

Crystal is interesting, it's has lots of evolving pads. The guy who wrote it also worked on Omnishphere. Crystal adds things I did not have already, sometimes I'll just play one note and let ti go and in my mind I can find a place for that, just once. It can be fun underneath another synth sound as well.

It took a chunk of my life to get here and I am still not sure where "here" is.
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One of the best soft synths for MIDI guitar was the late, great Rapture Pro by Cakewalk. It had six elements, so it was perfect - one for each string, if you had a controller that could generate signals on separate strings for the channels. I had good luck with the Jamstik+ and YouRockGuitar, but they're kind of cheating because they're dedicated controllers - they don't have to convert an actual guitar to MIDI.
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It is the wonderous "inconsistencies" that I love about strings and AI hasn't gotten good enough (yet) to track all the variations accurately.

 

A "keyboard" re-configured for guitarists is the best solution at this point for accuracy. I looked at the Jamstik but never played one, it just seemed pretty practical.

 

I'll make do with the Triple Play for now, it's primary purpose is decoration.

It's been a while since I messed with it so time for another round.

It took a chunk of my life to get here and I am still not sure where "here" is.
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I scanned all the new VST plugins I wanted just for the Triple Play.

The Native Instruments "host" VSTs like Kontakt and Reactor Players open but the plugins they host are all AU so nothing works.

 

I'll toss them out again, I have more than enough sounds now.

 

Surge - free synth VST - is nice and plays well with Triple Play. Arturian Analog Lab 4 is awesome. I find I need to set the latency up around 9ms or so in Triple Play even at 44.1 or 48 (where I'd prefer to stay), for the plugins to not be too glitchy, especially if I start piling notes in or using more than one synth at a time.

 

It's probably going to be best to just run one syth, choose a good sound and sprinkle just a bit of it in a recording and call that good. It's just too easy to pile things in.

 

I haven't messed with the guitar channel at all. Not sure if I will, it's not what I wanted the MIDI controller for since it is so easy to just plug in the pickups and has zero latency internally.

 

I don't thnk it's ever going to feel like playing a guitar but it's still funner/easier for me than learning keys.

It took a chunk of my life to get here and I am still not sure where "here" is.
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