Malstrom

[Creativemind]

I have heard people say on different forums, that it would be great (and I agree) if you were able to record your own samples / impulses into Malstrom. A Malstrom2 so to speak.

Somebody did say though that this would never happen as Malstrom was not made by Propellerhead, it was made by a third party, Is this true? if so, can anybody tell me who made it?

It would be awesome to load your own samples into it.

Also, wouldn't people agree, that it would be useful to have 2 sliders on the Index part so not only you could move the start position of the graintable, but also the end, so you could isolate a certain section? or is this not how the grains work?

Thanks!

[Benedict]

This has been a common request (and one I made too). However if you find the articles on how the wavetables are built then you will quickly lose interest as there is a huge amount of work that would make DIY super unattractive.

And yes I believe Mal was made by someone external to the company, someone well known in synth design (as was I believe Subtractor).

[hydlide]

Malstrom was originally made by Magnus Lidström, same guy who did synthplant (VST) and also made Echobode (https://soniccharge.com/) I believe

[dvdrtldg]

I guess nothing's perfect and there's always room for improvement, but just have to say - I love Malstrom, it's an insane synth. Been using Reason since R4 and I still find Malstrom full of surprises.

[Benedict]

Magnus, that is the dude.

Can't say I ever managed to get into Malstrom (but I like the filter/drive/filter thing) but Echobode is a must have and soooo useful and versatile.

[Raveshaper]

Why did Propellerhead hand over development of such an important addition to a third party?

[Benedict]

Probably the same reason lots of companies bring in specialists to help create great product. My understanding is that Kurzweil brought in a fellow behind the Casio CZ-1000 for their VAST synthesis.

[JoshuaPhilgarlic]

Why did Propellerhead hand over development of such an important addition to a third party?

Well, a good software developer isn't automatically a good synth designer. Perhaps that's the reason?

BTW I'm pretty sure that Props own everything about Malström including source code etc. So it should theoretically be possible for them to create Malström II - if they ever feel like it.

[Raveshaper]

So, how much of Reason is curated code that someone else wrote? I would have naturally expected Mal to be in house, since nobody would know better than the originators.

[SteveDiverse]

So, how much of Reason is curated code that someone else wrote? I would have naturally expected Mal to be in house, since nobody would know better than the originators.

whether a person is an employee or a contract worker is a matter of legal and accounting semantics only.

i'm a software developer, and it is quite common for companies to contract work in on a project basis.

this is especially true if/when the skills are specialized - the company doesn't need the specific skill long term, and the specifically skilled person doesn't always want to be a 'permanent' employee.

[plaamook]

This has been a common request (and one I made too). However if you find the articles on how the wavetables are built then you will quickly lose interest as there is a huge amount of work that would make DIY super unattractive.

The thing is that the NNXT has a sample start/end knob that, while it goes effortlessly through a sample, cannot be automated. Something I've been batch about for ages because you can automate the NN19 sample start knob but it doesn't go through the whole sample. Does some other dumb useless thing where it only goes through the first few seconds. But I digress.

Point is that its all possible. All the elements are already there they just haven't been put together in one place. At this point you can't even input into the Malstrøm and access its full functionality. Which is again bloody stupid. But hey, that's Reason sometimes.

[Benedict]

Again, you need to understand how the initial decisions were made or your opinions will be at odds with reality and a continuing frustration for you.

A Mal wavetable (just one "sample") is made from a scary number of slices all annotated in a big look-up file. This is not something even a reasonably advanced user like myself would want to do. An average user would simply not want (or be able) to do it at all. Offering what is effectively impossible as a "feature" would be unwise design.

NN-19 and NN-XT while having similar purpose are in fact very different beasts with different limits on practicality. NN-19 has one layer so that is easy to Automate. NN-XT can have close to an infinite number of samples and layers which if attempting to manage accurate Automation of an unknown number of parameters would lead to disaster. Far better to let the few users who need this function to use a Combinator with NN-19s. This allows more control and ability to create interesting and unique "Glitch" machines than a pre-made would.

[Kazz]

I don't think they completely outsourced the synths. They probably had ideas, talked to great devs like Magnus about them, and maybe handed off the heavy lifting to them so PH could focus more on the rest of Reason.

[GeiddE]

It dont matter to me really
I'm still catching up on things Ed and Bene showed me it could do, so , there's that

[Viscor]

There is no doubt that Malström is an amazing synth and I would appreciate an update, but in my opinion Thor is way more versatile.
PH should definitely give it an update too.
They should update things like:

• more oscillators
• a non-free moving oscillators option (super annoying for FM/AM and filter-FM stuff),
• more (maybe Massive-esk) wavetables
• more waveshaper shapes(?)
• and most importantly a higher overall resolution, so you can route oscillators to any parameter without getting aliasing

[Exowildebeest]

I would say no to updating the old synths at this point.

Technology is way more advanced now than when Malstrom was made - importing your own wave files and granulating/wavetabling/whateverizing them in real-time automatically is not at all impossible these days. A whole new sampler-synth hybrid would be a much better idea imo.

[Benedict]

I'm with Mr Viscor on hoping for more and varied modules for Thor. Can't say I feel any concerns with sound quality.

I'm also with Mr Beest in hoping for a a new sample synth hybrid, I have usually suggested something like Knave. After Parsec, I know Props could make a beautiful sample warping synth.

[eXode]

(as was I believe Subtractor).

Never heard about that before. Subtractor, afaik, was developed by Pelle Jubel, propellerhead in-house DSP guru.

Pellle previously worked for Clavia and he worked on the software for the Clavia Nord Lead 1 and 2.

[hydlide]

[*]a non-free moving oscillators option (super annoying for FM/AM and filter-FM stuff),

if you set the motion to the most negative value (was it -63? or -64.. I can't tell atm since I lack having the rack opened at this point), it means that the oscillator isn't moving at all.

Also malstrom uses "wavetables", the sine for instance is a non-free moving osc. Same goes with Sawtooth, Square and Triangle inside the Malstrom.

Unless you mean something else with "non free moving options". I would clarify it if so

[pjeudy]

Pelle Jubel, propellerhead in-house DSP guru.

Pellle previously worked for Clavia and he worked on the software for the Clavia Nord Lead 1 and 2.

And PARSEC.

[Viscor]

I'm with Mr Viscor on hoping for more and varied modules for Thor. Can't say I feel any concerns with sound quality.

Ok, I have just checked it again and have realized the aliasing isn't necessarily Thor's fault. It was the sample rate I was using inside Reason (44.1 KHz).
When I set the sample rate to 192 KHz it works perfectly fine.

Maybe an oversampling button would be nice for Reason's native stuff.

if you set the motion to the most negative value (was it -63? or -64.. I can't tell atm since I lack having the rack opened at this point), it means that the oscillator isn't moving at all.

Also malstrom uses "wavetables", the sine for instance is a non-free moving osc. Same goes with Sawtooth, Square and Triangle inside the Malstrom.

Unless you mean something else with "non free moving options". I would clarify it if so

You may have accidentally skipped that part because I was a bit off-topic, but actually I was talking about Thor.

Anyway! Basically with "non-free moving" (actually it's are called "non-free-running" ) I mean oscillators that always start with the same phase position when triggered,
while on the other side "free-running oscillators" are moving continuously, so every time you open the snyth's gate you get a different starting phase.

Malström has non-free-running oscillators, but this hasn't to do with its motion knob. The motion knob determines how fast Malström cycles through the wavetables while being triggered, as you probably already know.

[softska]

Don't need or want custom graintable in Malestrom, but some new ones would be nice.

Also
- forward/backward option, one shot or loop
- better organized list, make a subfolder or something
- More polyphony, comeon guys it's already 2015 we can handle more than 16
- canihaverealstereocanihaverealstereocanihaverealstereo

[Marco Raaphorst]

Marcus was a Propellerhead employee when he designed Malström. He then founded https://soniccharge.com

The design of Malström was by Fredrik Hägglund who used to be a Propellerhead employee too but a freelancer at the time.

[Emerton]

Marcus was a Propellerhead employee when he designed Malström. He then founded https://soniccharge.com

The design of Malström was by Fredrik Hägglund who used to be a Propellerhead employee too but a freelancer at the time.

Thanks for that info!

[LudvigC]

Marcus was a Propellerhead employee when he designed Malström. He then founded https://soniccharge.com

Magnus, not Marcus. And Magnus was never a PH employee. Was and is a friend though!

The design of Malström was by Fredrik Hägglund who used to be a Propellerhead employee too but a freelancer at the time.

Naaah, I am pretty certain that Fredrik didn't do the graphical design for Malström. He was web master or similar at that time. (He did some devices at a later stage though, mainly The Echo and Neptune).
It was either Andreas Karperyd (who has done the vast majority of graphics) or the Merkle brothers (consultants who did some device graphics at the very beginning).

/ LudvigC