Old 02-21-2017, 06:39 AM   #1
geraintluff
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Default Hammer And Chord - Polyphonic String Resonator

EDIT 2018-04-23 - I've added two demo/tutorial videos to my YouTube playlist

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OK, I know I've spammed this board a lot recently (sorry) - I've been getting all my ideas out while I have free time before I start a new job next week.

Here's my latest synth/effect: "Hammer And Chord", a polyphonic string resonator. This effect (and its monophonic counterpart Hammer And String) have been added to my JSFX collection (ReaPack or download from Stash).

Here's a basic example that includes a few different plucked instruments, and then use as a multi-string resonator against a drum track.

Here's a short demo track to show the cool things that can be done with the resonator. In this track, a set of resonators (pitch controlled by MIDI) are all hooked up to one input source (the drum track), with some delays so that the drum hits reach the resonators at different times (to produce a pattern instead of a chord), plus some chorus/EQ/reverb for ambience. Here's the project file (you'll need Hammer And String, Spring Box, and Sandwich Amp from my JSFX set) so you can see the rhythms aren't coming from the MIDI.


Last edited by geraintluff; 04-23-2018 at 03:18 AM.
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Old 02-21-2017, 06:50 AM   #2
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Nice !

-Michael
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Old 02-21-2017, 05:59 PM   #3
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That audio demo was awesome. Will totally look into this, great work!
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Old 02-22-2017, 05:48 AM   #4
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Quote:
Originally Posted by SaulT View Post
That audio demo was awesome. Will totally look into this, great work!
Thanks!

Here's a longer demo (which I threw together extremely quickly as backing music for someone) - this time there are three instances of Hammer And Chord (with slow-changing chords) being driven by two different drum loops, to give a range of timbres and rhythms for the different chords, plus another trio of Hammer And Chord instances being driven by one drum loop with different delays so they form a complex pattern of notes.

Last edited by geraintluff; 02-22-2017 at 09:08 AM.
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Old 04-17-2018, 11:22 AM   #5
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I can't get this thing to work at all, it does nothing? (nor the mono version).

Maybe a short tutorial on how to get started, i.e. getting a sound out of it?!
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Old 04-17-2018, 12:44 PM   #6
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Quote:
Originally Posted by chumbo View Post
I can't get this thing to work at all, it does nothing? (nor the mono version).

Maybe a short tutorial on how to get started, i.e. getting a sound out of it?!
This video of one of another of Geraint's plugins includes a small section using this plugin.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BZ-1z7IKYTs&t=8s

I think you need to feed MIDI (as well as audio) into the Hammer & Chords plugin for it to do anything.
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Old 04-17-2018, 02:54 PM   #7
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Yes, you may be right and I think that's why the plugin has it's own 'synth' to work as a carrier should you want/need to. So I was hoping to using it that way, with the built-in synth/impulse.
In the video you posted, he does in fact introduce Hammer & Chord at 4:23 but immediately makes the point that he won't explain it as it's not the point of the video and just goes ahead and loads a preset from Hammer & Chord...unfortunately, in my setup I don't have any presets!?

I went to his github hoping to find simple presets download to copy/paste to the folder but it wasn't that simple at all. I fumbled a bit, thought I maybe did the right thing but no, I still don't have any presets so the video is of no help I'm afraid.
Thanks anyway!
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Old 04-17-2018, 03:22 PM   #8
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Quote:
Originally Posted by chumbo View Post
I can't get this thing to work at all, it does nothing? (nor the mono version).

Maybe a short tutorial on how to get started, i.e. getting a sound out of it?!
Yeah, it's one of the more complicated ones - it's on my list, so a video will come at some point.

With the default settings, it should produce some sound when you give it MIDI input. It doesn't need audio input - there's an "impulse" section where it provides its own input, and you can turn this down/off if you're using an external audio source.

If you're not getting any sound at all when you put MIDI notes into the default settings, then something's definitely wrong - could you send a screenshot, so I can see the config? What REAPER version are you running?
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Old 04-17-2018, 04:09 PM   #9
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Ok, well I clearly didn't even understand what this plugin does or how it works. I just put it on an audio track expecting wonders to come out of the speakers!

I've fooled around a bit and I guess I've somewhat figured it out: You put it on a MIDI track and route an audio track to it to use that audio as carrier...right?

After that, no idea what all the knobs do but I'll just twiddle a few to see what happens.
A tutorial would certainly be very welcome!
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Old 04-17-2018, 04:42 PM   #10
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Quote:
Originally Posted by chumbo View Post
I've fooled around a bit and I guess I've somewhat figured it out: You put it on a MIDI track and route an audio track to it to use that audio as carrier...right?
Yeah, that's the idea. (Or put it on an audio track and route MIDI to it, or instead of routing use a child track, et cetera).

You can use it without audio, and it will generate its own impulse to create a basic pluck sound.

If you are providing your own audio, you should turn the "Impulse Volume" dial down to 0 (so that it's not generating its own impulse).

If you are holding MIDI notes down in a chord, and the rhythm is coming from the audio, then that's all you need.

If you are using some continuous audio source (e.g. pink noise) and the rhythm is coming from the MIDI notes, then you probably want to only use a short burst of that input audio for each note - set the "Input decay" dial to a non-zero value to determine how long that burst is.

If you are using a triggered sample as your impulse (for example, using a kick-drum in ReaSamplOmatic just before H+C), then the release tail of the previous note might catch the kick sample for the next note - if this is a problem, "input decay" will help here as well.

There's one switch that changes between "linear" and "all-pass" mode. All-pass mode allows for longer resonances, but the tuning gets bad at higher frequencies. Linear mode has consistent tuning, but higher notes don't ring on for as long as they should. I'm still working on this, it's a tricky challenge.

Here's a presets library, in case you haven't found it already. The presets labelled "Synth" don't need audio input, the other ones have suggestions in the name for what audio you can feed them. I really wish that presets could be shipped with JSFX, instead of having to download them separately and click a little "+" symbol to load them in.

I hope that's enough to get going. Let me know if something's particularly confusing.

Last edited by geraintluff; 04-17-2018 at 04:58 PM.
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Old 04-18-2018, 12:16 AM   #11
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Wow! Thanks for the lengthy and detailed reply!

I'll play around with it a bit more today using your suggestions and see how it goes.

Still, a youtube tutorial would be welcome...someday. And I imagine you'd +- kill 2 birds with one stone because I guess the other plugin Hammer & Strings is quite similar.
Cheers,
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Old 04-18-2018, 12:25 AM   #12
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Quote:
Originally Posted by chumbo View Post
I guess the other plugin Hammer & Strings is quite similar.
Yeah - I haven't really looked at that for a while, and don't use it myself. At some point I'll implement legato/portamento in H+C, and then Hammer and String will be completely redundant.
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Old 04-23-2018, 02:39 AM   #13
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OK, here are the Hammer and Chord tutorials! I split it into two videos - one part goes into detail about using it as a self-contained synthesiser, the other explains how to use it to resonate existing audio (or in combination with other audio-producing effects).

Part 1: using as synth (YouTube)


Part 2: using to resonate audio (YouTube)
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Old 04-23-2018, 08:35 AM   #14
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AWESOME! Thanks so much, that helps a lot! I really love all your plugins, congrats
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Old 04-23-2018, 09:29 AM   #15
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Excellent tuts geraintluff, thanks a bunch and really awesome stuff you make !!
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Old 04-23-2018, 10:24 AM   #16
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your plugins are awesome!
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