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Turning soft instruments into hardware, it's happening


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Wasn't the idea of a dev having to spend time coming up with s special build of their softsynth one of the things that doomed the Receptor? Do you think Native Instruments or Spectrasonics (for just two examples) are going to spend resources to port their stuff to a format that the Raspberry Pi can run? Can the Pi actually run heavyweight VSTs like those? I think these might be the flies in the ointment here.

 

I would be totally cool with a light and inexpensive R-Pi type of computer that could be built into a keyboard and give me a nice multi-sampled AP and EP, and maybe a few other basic sounds. This sounds like a project that might take some time and would probably not offer much of a monetary return for whoever works on it. And truth be told, for me, some of these cheaper 61-note lightweight synths are showing up with fairly decent sounds these days. But I would still love to be able to bring my 10-lb Roland APro to a gig, fire it up, and have my Native Instruments Grandeur acoustic piano and Scarbee EP ready to make noise, without bringing anything else. That would be a kick - but it doesn't sound like something that's gonna happen, unfortunately.

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Recompiling for different Cpu and OS is only difficult when the OS and the interfaces are very different. Cross compiling from Apple Unix to Linux or even to a working windows program can be easy when the software is professionally set up, more or less similar between x86 and Arm (like the new apple or, differently, the RPi.

 

Specific hardware will not run "VST"s mostly because dedicated chips can run specific tasks faster than general purpose CPU's.

 

T

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Wasn't the idea of a dev having to spend time coming up with s special build of their softsynth one of the things that doomed the Receptor? Do you think Native Instruments or Spectrasonics (for just two examples) are going to spend resources to port their stuff to a format that the Raspberry Pi can run? Can the Pi actually run heavyweight VSTs like those?

 

I think any proprietary software of one company that is linked to/dependent upon the proprietary software of another company can mean trouble at some point for the user in the future. The Receptor was a good example of that, but actually so is any Apple or Windows software for that matter. Perhaps an open OS that the developer has control of could end the update game of chess.

 

I am sure there is some software like the Sprectrasonics that the current Raspberry Pi is not ready for. Will it or a similar sized computer on a card ever be? Who knows. There are some very powerful mini computers though. The fact that a few newer Korg synths are built on a Raspberry Pi is telling of the possibilities of that tiny thing.

 

We have discussed these ideas for many years now, but I still think it is doable and can happen at some point. I wish it would be sooner rather than later. All we need is some creative thought in how to, and in a way that makes it profitable for developers and midi controller manufacturers to be interested.

"It is a danger to create something and risk rejection. It is a greater danger to create nothing and allow mediocrity to rule."

"You owe it to us all to get on with what you're good at." W.H. Auden

 

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Do you think Native Instruments or Spectrasonics (for just two examples) are going to spend resources to port their stuff to a format that the Raspberry Pi can run?

The Raspberry Pi is pretty underpowered for running some of the more demanding VST software, but the bigger problem is that there are (almost) no VST makers offering anything on Linux. I'm hoping Apple's switch to ARM results in more VSTs ported to Linux, but it's still a long shot. While it's the same hardware architecture, developing for Linux is not as attractive as the Windows, MacOs and iOS markets.

 

That may all change if Intel and AMD decide to start producing ARM hardware for something other than the mobile and server markets, but in the meantime ARM is either Apple or maker/developer boards like the Raspberry Pi.

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I would be totally cool with a light and inexpensive R-Pi type of computer that could be built into a keyboard and give me a nice multi-sampled AP and EP, and maybe a few other basic sounds. This sounds like a project that might take some time and would probably not offer much of a monetary return for whoever works on it.

I have a DIY Pianoteq Sound Module built around a competitor to the Raspberry Pi - with a touchscreen for ease of use (click here to see). As I mentioned before there are almost no other commercial VSTs for Linux on ARM, so while I've got Acoustic and Electric pianos covered in Pianoteq, I'm still hoping someone will port over a decent Hammond organ. To round out the the sound set I will install the U-He synths which support Linux ARM.

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As I mentioned before there are almost no other commercial VSTs for Linux on ARM, so while I've got Acoustic and Electric pianos covered in Pianoteq, I'm still hoping someone will port over a decent Hammond organ.

 

Have you tried setBfree?

 

(I've only played with it for a few minutes, and it seemed OK to me, but I'm very much not a Hammond expert.)

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Yes. But when compared to the commercial offerings on Windows/Mac/iOs ... it's just okay.

 

Thanks, I can believe that.

 

For my purposes it seemed like it would be good enough.

 

Personally what I never figured out on Linux was how to manage the VSTs, map MIDI (e.g. for splits and layers), manage playlists of preset configurations, etc. I tried a few things but didn't manage to get anything working. Admittedly I didn't put a lot of time into it.

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Something else to keep in mind: the VST format is very Windows-centric. It's basically a .DLL with extensions, which is why you don't see VSTs supported in non-Windows environments.

 

In order for there to be a hardware-agnostic universal sound engine platform, somebody would need to come up with a hosting environment that isn't tied to a specific operating system. Which I think it totally doable. The hard part would be convincing enough publishers to sign on to it, and it would need some sort of DRM so that publishers could be confident they weren't going to get ripped off.

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I've compiled VST stuff on Linux too, maybe an older version but it's possible. Most likely it's possible to create a perfect audio solution on Linux in the sense that Linux is better at system talks than windows, speaking in general. There is Ladspa and Jack as "plugin" or "program audio connect" standard on Linux, so it is possible to connect a standard USB Midi keyboard and UAI 2.0 compatible USB audio interface (driver included in recent Linux), establish audio sinds and sources and run "plugins" based on Ladspa elements. Most of Ladspa (much of which used for later audio implementations) isn't very compute hungry or with complicated UI, but there are good reasons to use it. Under Jack as audio manager, those plugins will run accurate, sample for sample (something only more recently claimed by Steinberg, too), and there is quite a bunch of audio tools for Linux, not with the approach appealing to windows nerd, probably.

 

There's just one thing troubling about it, which is there is not a sample accurate Usb Midi input to my knowledge. Sample accurate midi messages is supported in the latest Jack tools, but there are not many programs that use it, and to my knowledge not interfaces that actually use it with accurate Midi time stampts or something similar. For pro type of use, the jack audio elements are pleasant because Linux is good at multi processing and sample accuracy is something I very much want.

 

It would be possible to port a Windows or Mac audio setup to Linux, but you'd need some equivalent drivers for audio and Midi, and Linux will not like the clearly undefined behaviours going on in there,and in the case of the Mac OS, there's probably commercial issues porting the Mac audio systematics, not so much technical ones. There is Jack for Windows, there are simulators, but the real problems aren't technical Linux limitations, and perfection isn't achievable with the x86 or Arm platforms mainly because none of them have true real time support for audio processing, too much virtual memory uncertainty, task switch overhead, on and off CPU network contention, so there's that.

 

T.

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I can imagine in near future something like Native Instruments keyboard with integrated Kontakt on PC that allows to load NI compatible software. The problem seems to be the compatibility. NI dont seem to support the products for the long time.

 

Yes. Or UVI Falcon, or Play or other sample player. Leave an available .nvme slot inside, and some reasonable amout of memory (or ram empty slot).

My money is ready.

 

Maurizio

Nord Wave 2, Nord Electro 6D 61,, Rameau upright,  Hammond Pro44H Melodica.

Too many Arturia, NI and AAS plugins

http://www.barbogio.org/

 

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I'm personally really excited about the ipad in my rig--I'd been using it, but I added an app called Midiflow and now a lot of different routing and midi stuff has become possible (including having Midiflow presets change patches on other apps as well as my two hardware keyboards.) All midi and ipad audio is handled over the usb cables (my two keyboards though need audio connections).

 

I got B-3X for ios and it's better than the organ in Logic, better than the one on my Electro 6 that I owned for that matter--that said, yes I have some very nice software instruments and pianos etc that I'd love to use...but the ipad form factor is just so great. A mac mini might work but the monitor becomes the hassle. The ipad is velcroed flat on my MODX7 and is essentially part of the keyboard, vs having to find a spot for a laptop and/or monitor, mouse, keyboard...

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Do you think Native Instruments or Spectrasonics (for just two examples) are going to spend resources to port their stuff to a format that the Raspberry Pi can run?

The Raspberry Pi is pretty underpowered for running some of the more demanding VST software, but the bigger problem is that there are (almost) no VST makers offering anything on Linux. I'm hoping Apple's switch to ARM results in more VSTs ported to Linux, but it's still a long shot. While it's the same hardware architecture, developing for Linux is not as attractive as the Windows, MacOs and iOS markets.

 

That may all change if Intel and AMD decide to start producing ARM hardware for something other than the mobile and server markets, but in the meantime ARM is either Apple or maker/developer boards like the Raspberry Pi.

 

VST's have had a problematic life on linux due to how Steinburg used to licence the SDK. While that's less of a problem with VST3 now being GPL it was too late and most linux audio software has standardised on the LV2 format.

 

For reference, this is a reasonable list of synth engines that run on the raspberry pi. It's not comprehensive.

 

https://zynthian.org/engines

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I popped open my Crumar Mojo61. Inside... Raspberry Pi. I'm not 100% it's doing the heavy lifting, it might just be powering the goofy WiFi Interface. But I thought it was funny!

Puck Funk! :)

 

Equipment: Laptop running lots of nerdy software, some keyboards, noise makersâ¦yada yada yadaâ¦maybe a cat?

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Some people immediately criticized the Korg Wavestate upon learning it runs on Raspberry Pi.

 

Dr. Mike Metlay has posted a couple of times how people have no idea how popular so-called hardware synths run on RPi or Arduino.

 

It's up to you if you want to base your buying decision on what type of processor is in there. I'll stick to evaluating the synth based on its sound, features, workflow, etc. instead.

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I'm personally really excited about the ipad in my rig--I'd been using it, but I added an app called Midiflow and now a lot of different routing and midi stuff has become possible (including having Midiflow presets change patches on other apps as well as my two hardware keyboards.) All midi and ipad audio is handled over the usb cables (my two keyboards though need audio connections).

 

I got B-3X for ios and it's better than the organ in Logic, better than the one on my Electro 6 that I owned for that matter--that said, yes I have some very nice software instruments and pianos etc that I'd love to use...but the ipad form factor is just so great. A mac mini might work but the monitor becomes the hassle. The ipad is velcroed flat on my MODX7 and is essentially part of the keyboard, vs having to find a spot for a laptop and/or monitor, mouse, keyboard...

 

Seems to me the time is ripe for a new iPad docking station/mixer, like an updated Mackie DL1608 that is much more compact, but still has everything a gigging keyboardist might need - several stereo ins, USB hub, USB audio/midi interface, and even din midi. Maybe put a VESA mount on it so you could use it with computer monitor stands.

"It is a danger to create something and risk rejection. It is a greater danger to create nothing and allow mediocrity to rule."

"You owe it to us all to get on with what you're good at." W.H. Auden

 

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