deano deanolium@gmail.com [xpantastic] wrote:
>
>
> Hi Mondo,
>
> Whilst it doesn't check *everything* on the Xpander, the init patch
> basically has enough to ensure everything is working.
I was going to post to say just this, so thanks for verifying it.
> On a simple scale, the Xpander has only a couple of sound blocks in it
> -- a VCO to generate the sound waves (two per voice), a VCF which does
> the filtering (modes are selected by basically messing around with
> some inputs on this), a VCA to do the volume, and then the CPU does
> everything else (LFOs, Envelope Generation, Tracking, etc). The init
> patch on the Xpander is a sound which uses both oscillators, the
> filter set to low pass 2 pole mode which is put around halfway of its
> range, and then a basic envelope. It's not a particularly interesting
> sound, but it does use all the elements which the Xpander uses to make
> sound. So if there's any faults, you would hear it here by things like
> distortion in the sound; the filter being either too closed or too
> open; one of the waveforms being missing; etc.
The only thing I needed from the comparison was the VCO's and waveforms,
the thing I was most worried about. They compare well, so that confirms it.
And finally, every tune page is a 'PASS' so that confirms it. Nothing
wrong with my Xpander.
> To be honest, the Xpander's base sound of the oscillators and filter
> is ok, but nothing massively special. What adds the magic sauce is the
>; complexity you can make of the patches and how good the sounds are
> when played on multiple voices. That is what sounds different to other
> synths.
I've been listening to Sasha's Xpander, and it really is amazing how
good it can sound, when the basic patch is so mild. Not sure how many
effects he used.
>
> To test anything else on the Xpander would really just check the
> CPU/ROM isn't slightly dead in a way that makes everything work except
> one specific thing. This is incredibly unlikely (such faults would
> cause the CPU to quickly crash on startup).
>
Yup, all this works fine.
Thanks,
Jeremy.
Message
Re: [xpantastic] Re: Album done mainly on XPander
2017-08-01 by deano
> I've been listening to Sasha's Xpander, and it really is amazing how
> good it can sound, when the basic patch is so mild. Not sure how many
> effects he used.
Oh don't get me wrong, whilst he has obviously added effects and such to that track, a lot of the sounds can be gotten quite easily out of the Xpander. A big key for the 'electric' sounds is playing with the FM which always works differently to what I expect, but has great results. Mix in with various LFOs and then just apply reverb. Easily get into that territory.
Another fun thing I've been playing with is just grabbing noise, and then applying FM to the filter. At high resonances and FM, you can get some really fun sounds which could be easily shaped into something usable.
The other grace is that I'm finding the Xpander fits into mixes pretty easily. Ah, definitely one of my favourite synths.
//deano
On Tue, Aug 1, 2017 at 10:35 PM, Jeremy Smith jeremy@... [xpantastic] <xpantastic@yahoogroups.com> wrote: