Thor 2 & Combinator 2

[Jmax]

My guess is most of there major work is going into the GUI hi-res update. That will happen at some point in the future. They know it must be done and I'm sure it's a massive under taking.

These cool new instruments and point updates with added instruments, FX are nice additions and are there to make us happy with new toys, as well as them some revenue. In the end that's what it's about.

I could see a new Combi coming at some point but, maybe that would be with the Hi-res update. When they could finally re-write/draw some of the old devices as well? Just guessing here.

[Loque]

I think, there will be some better solution than a Combinator 2...maybe some building block kit...

[chaosroyale]

Are you being serious? It's pretty famous for aliasing. Just in case you are, it's very obvious with FM sounds but maybe that's a "realistic" feature in 80's synths, so I can kind of understnad it. But there is also aliasing with -for example- high frequency sawtooths when a partial goes over nyquist. It's not a big problem with most sounds which is why I said "maybe it would be nice" to have oversampling on it. You can get some high amplitude aliasing right down to the bass range if you push it - and sometimes that can be a cool effect, but sometimes you want a clean sound.

(You can easily see this with a spectrum display if you wanna check.)

So where is the aliasing on Subtractor?

[chaosroyale]

I very much treat the NN-XT as a sampler, which is why it is so frustrating for me.

Good things about the NN-XT ;
1- nice intuitive handling of groups, velocity zones, and alternative hits, including individual envelopes and filters for each alternative hit
2- zero attack time
3- many separate output groups

-These 3 things make it a more powerful option than all the other Reason devices as a drum machine ...if not for the lack of proper pitch envelope modulation *see below. I wish Kong had better envelopes and more individual editing options for each layer because Kong has such a nice MPC-style layout.

Bad things about the NN-XT;

1- No automation for the most important parameters, even when in a combinator (sample start, loop start and end, crossfade length)
2- In fact no proper crossfade parameter at all, just the option of a (phasey and horrible sounding) destructive edit that has to be baked into a sample
3- Horrible sample editing screen
4- pitch envelopes can't be modulated properly - only decay time can be modulated, not pitch depth
5- Primitive envelopes with no curves
6- limited LFO options
7-limited filters
8- small fiddly UI with no text input to save time when making large multisampled sets that need precise values

NN-XT is still very useful and very much like a vintage sampler in it's function... sure having some options on the quality of it's playback would be a great addition though... wish it had a 12bit mode...

You need to treat NN-XT as a sampler and not a rompler...

[Creativemind]

Bad things about the NN-XT;

1- No automation for the most important parameters, even when in a combinator (sample start, loop start and end, crossfade length)

Yeah and not being able to automate the Pitch Bend Range. Somebody mentioned it to me on Facebook a few months ago. Essential to be able to automate the pitch bend range (in Drum & Bass) to achieve the sound but forget what it was now.

[chaosroyale]

Hey that's a weird coincidence! I used automation on the pitch bend range for a synth line just the other day, to switch between "lead" playing with a narrow, precise bend, and "effect" playing with a wide crazy bend.

I think when every parameter is available to the users to mess around with, they come up with all kinds of inventive ways to apply it to their music.

It's so satisfying to open up a combinator with Thor or Europa and see "Available Automation: Everything" - and another reason the Combinator needs to be updated to take full advantage of it!!

Bad things about the NN-XT;

1- No automation for the most important parameters, even when in a combinator (sample start, loop start and end, crossfade length)

Yeah and not being able to automate the Pitch Bend Range. Somebody mentioned it to me on Facebook a few months ago. Essential to be able to automate the pitch bend range (in Drum & Bass) to achieve the sound but forget what it was now.

[chaosroyale]

Before anyone says "how would you automate NN-XT, there are too many individual samples", it's actually easy. Add a mod matrix with the options of "target > sample # (sample parameter)", and "target > group # (group parameter)". Allow the combinator to automate the mod matrix, like Thor. For big multisample sets you could automate things like group filters and group LFO. For individual sound design you could dive into automating loop points, individual filters, and crossfades.