phase7: a new user oscillator for Korg Logue

A new user-oscillator has been released for the Minilogue XD and Prologue – phase7. This is a successor to unity, and the oscillator can emulate the Roland JP8000 super-saw as well as a range of other waveforms.

The plugin’s architecture is that of a classic super-saw emulator, with seven free-running waveform generators for each of the two oscillators. In a standard super-saw emulation each wave generator will produce a naive sawtooth with a sharp transition that will generate obvious aliasing at the 48KHz sample rate used by the Logue synthesisers. To counter this, the waveform generators are usually backed by a high-pass filter. While this can not prevent the aliasing from occurring, it will remove alias components at frequencies below the fundamental, giving a sound that is characteristic of the JP-8000 and JP-8080.

phase7 uses a state-variable backing filter which can be programmed for 24dB/octave high-pass but also low-pass, band-pass and notch-reject modes, while the waveform generators contain several shape models that include both naive and anti-aliased (poly-BLEP) models.

In its simplest operating mode, the plugin uses the classic JP8000 architecture with naive aliasing waveforms but which track the waveform and wave shape of the VCOs that is set on the Logue front-panel controls.

The pro version of the plugin extends this with additional wave shapes and filter modes, where the waves shape, filter cutoff and filter resonance can be controlled via a parameter. By combining anti-aliased waveforms with non-HPF filter modes, a range of effects can be generated – all with a stack of seven parallel wave generators.

The implementation of this on the 84MHz Cortex M4 parts used by the Prologue and Minilogue is challenging due to the limited CPU available. The plugin has to render up to 14 independent waveforms with anti-aliasing and two digital filters plus two LFO generators, all within a budget of less than 1500 CPU cycles per sample. To achieve this, a careful mix of both integer and floating point instructions are used.

The Cortex M4 FPU lacks vector processing instructions, but it does have 32 single-precision floating point data registers, allowing state to remain inside the CPU during the processing of blocks of samples. Inline assembler is used to assign specific FPU registers to the filter state, allowing the use of efficient vldm and vstm instructions to efficiently copy the FPU state to/from SRAM. In the main processing loop. FPU stall hazards are avoided by mixing both float and integer calculations where possible, making it easier for gcc’s excellent instruction scheduler to do its job.

The plugin’s oscillators and filters are developed offline, using Xcode on a Mac, making development and debugging relatively easy. However, to tune performance it is essential to run the code directly on the Logue hardware and check for performance bottlenecks, This is done using the dragon debug-over-audio library. Timing can be measured using the debug block in the STM part and the results read-back from the actual Logue hardware over the audio channel. dragon makes this easy because it is packet based, so that the Logue oscillator can run normally and is interrupted by the white-noise-like data burst as and when there is data to be read.

For more information on phase7 and download, see the oscillator page.

fusion: a user-oscillator for Prologue and Minilogue XD

fusion: a user-oscillator for Prologue and Minilogue XD

After considerable work, the new fusion plugin for Korg Prologue and Minilogue XD is released.

This uses a newly developed virtual-analogue synth engine, which runs on the Logue’s Cortex M4 oscillator CPU. The engine combines high-quality anti-aliased oscillators with true 2x oversampling for the best possible audio quality.

fusion attempts to answer the question: can I put a 24dB/octave filter in my Logue? Changing the VCF is not viable, so the fusion aims to be the next best thing: a user-oscillator that provides virtual analogue models of the Minilogue XD VCOs combined with a multi-mode digital filter. Furthermore, fusion is tightly integrated with the synthesiser’s main panel controls and modulation sources – so out of the box you can just load fusion, turn up the multi-engine and turn down the VCOs, and still use the synth in the normal way, but with digital oscillators and a multi-mode digital filter.

Two versions of fusion are available: fusion-lite, which provides the basic VA oscillators and low-pass filters, and fusion-pro, which adds additional oscillator models as well as high-pass and band-pass filter modes – all controllable from the Logue’s front panel.

For more information and the download links, see this page.

Unity oscillator for Korg Logue synthesisers released

Unity oscillator for Korg Logue synthesisers released

tSoniq is pleased to announce the release of a user-oscillator for Korg Logue-based synthesisers. The oscillator can be used with the NTS-1, Minilogue XD and Korg Prologue.

unity is a multi-model virtual analogue design, that supports morphable wave-shapes and up to 19 independently detuned waveform generators per voice. The models include simple linear wave-shaping, ring-modulation and FM. A tracking sweepable high-pass filter and overdrive unit are also included to further shape the sound. A wide range of sounds are possible, spanning simple wave-shapes though 1970’s string synthesisers to JP-8000 style “super-saw” effects.

For more information, please see the download page.

PTP SDK Released

Barcelona, December 21st 2018

tSoniq is pleased to announce availablility of a new cross-platform PTP protocol stack for use when interfacing cameras over USB or Wireless connections  compliant with PTP version 1.1 / ISO 15740 (Third Edition, 2013. The core driver is written in C++ and supports most POSIX based host platforms, such as iOS and macOS. For Apple based software development, Cocoa wrappers are supplied which permit use of the drivers from either Objective-C or Swift.

The drivers provide a simple application interface while using a multithreaded archiecture to permit background downloads. Configurable pipelining is used to maximise performance and minimise battery usage when using slower interfaces such as TCP/IP. This yields image browsing performance increases of upto 2x to 3x compared to non-pipelined implementations.

The drivers can be supplied for standalone use, or as part of a custom application development. For more information please see here.

About tSoniq: tSoniq develops drivers and applications for wireless multimedia and peripherals for macOS,  iOS, Windows and Android. tSoniq offers a range of proven SDKs and drivers for USB and Thunderbolt supporting applications spanning from smart speakers to professional audio, as well as digital camera systems. For more information please visit https://tsoniq.com

Contact:

email: inquiries@tsoniq.com

Tel. +34 635 289932

https://tsoniq.com

DFU Toolkit 3.5 adds macOS 10.14 Support

Barcelona, October 31st 2018

tSoniq is pleased to provide compatibility for macOS 10.14 (High Sierra) with version 3.5 of its CSR DFU compatible macOS Firmware Update Toolkit for USB peripherals. Developed by tSoniq, two versions of the SDK are available to provide support for both “traditional” and HID based firmware update models. We can support application development using traditional a Cocoa/Swift architecture, or via cross-platform frameworks such as Electron with support for both macOS and Windows deployment.

We also can provide kernel code-signing compliant with the latest Apple requirements introduced with High Sierra, and can support companies that need to apply for dedicated signing certificates to meet brand requirements for the new kernel driver install process introduced in macOS 10.13.

The SDK can be licenced directly from us or may be used in conjunction with our consulting services as part of a custom software project. For pricing and availability, please email us at inquires@tsoniq.com with your requirements.

About tSoniq: tSoniq develops drivers and applications for wireless multimedia and peripherals for macOS,  iOS, Windows and Android. tSoniq offers a range of proven SDKs and drivers for USB, Thunderbolt and Audio applications, and can manage a complete application development, localisation and test. For more information please visit https://tsoniq.com

Contact:

email: inquiries@tsoniq.com

Tel. +34 635 289932

https://tsoniq.com