AudioRealism

[delsinboy]

i would like a feature which automatically decreases the volume when the resonance is decreased (& vive versa), as the perceived volume decreases with an increase in resonance.

in other words it would be really nice if the volume was evened out with any settings.

obviously you can achieve this with a limiter, but doing it this way takes alot away from the sound.

john

[Mike]

For ABL Pro?

[delsinboy]

no, for abl bassline!

[R.A.W.]

[Sjoerd]

I agree with delsinboy's suggestion.

R.A.W. rightly states that a compressor will do the job as well or better, however, this eats valuable CPU cycles. The trick can be achieved much more economically imho, because you can quite easily predict the effect of the resonance setting on the volume level (without listening to the output level): resonance up = volume down. I have tried to do something similar by linking (in Cubase) the resonance MIDI controller to the volume controller, inverted and calibrated (so when resonce goes up, volume decreases a fraction). Another advantage of this method is that the difference in volume between normal and accented notes (which are louder) remains intact. When using a limiter / compressor this also compresses the accents (thus, using compression does not give 'full control', because this side-effec is almost impossible to avoid). Usually I do want to neutralize the effect of resonance changes on the volume, but I do not want to 'equalize' accented and normal notes.

Of course, if possible at all, this should be implemented only as an option.

[Mike]

The volume decreases with increased resonance on ladder design filters. Sure it would be possible to balance that effect out with a compressor or something. So basically what you guys are suggesting is another filter selection setting, say a check box for Volume leveling?
--Mike

[Sjoerd]

Yes, a volume levelling check box would be nice. It needn't necessarily be in the GUI though, may also be in options pop-up menu (I see no need to switch this while playing really).

But it should not be like "a compressor": there are lots of good compressors (limiters, etc.) out there to be combined with the ABL. What I am thinking of is simply and only to neutralize the effect of different resonance settings on the average output volume, without otherwise affecting the output volume dynamics.

Perhaps some explanation is useful. When I turn a TB-303's resonance knob (it's mostly moving from fully clockwise to fully counterclockwise or vice versa), then I always feel compelled to keep my other hand on its volume knob (or the volume of its track on the mixer) and try to keep the volume at (roughly) the same level. For the ABL, it would be nice to have that 'trick' automated by the plugin itself. Especially when working with just a mouse (without external multi-knob controllers), since it's hard to turn two knobs at once with just one pointer on your screen.

John (aka delsinboy), I guess this is also more or less what you meant?

[delsinboy]

yeah thats exactly what i mean - an automatic adjustment of the output volume tied to the resonance control - not a compressor.

i agree generally with not adding features that weren't on the original (like velocity sensitivity), but i think this would be a justified exception because the original tb303 was not designed for real-time resonance manipulation, so it wasn't a problem back then.

the problem is when making pure acid house is that when the volume level is just right with a high resonance setting, it's too loud when the resonance is reduced.
this is even more pronounced without distortion (which i never use) and with bass and treble boost (or just bass boost of course).

[delsinboy]

i disagree that a compressor does do a good job at solving this because it tends to round off all the sharp edges and reduces the dynamic range to the detrement of the overall sound.
a simple automatic volume adjuster would be a much better, simpler and more efficient solution.

[R.A.W.]

[delsinboy]

a compressor will always reduce the dymanic range no matter what settings you use - thats what a compressor does.

[R.A.W.]