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Phase Distortion Synth screenshot

Phase Distortion Synth

by pechmann

Currently this synth doesn't seem to be working with Live 1...

View on maxforlive.com

Type
Instrument
Author
pechmann
Version
1.1
License
AttributionNonCommercialShareAlike
Live version
9.0.6
Max version
6.1.6
Downloads
18,561
Updated
2019-06-06

Description

Currently this synth doesn't seem to be working with Live 10. Please back up your project if you decide to try it out in that version. Using the synth in Live 9 shouldn't be a problem.

This is my (first, finished) synthesizer. It is a polyphonic wavetable synthesizer using various techniques of phase distortion in a feedback loop. It's got some virtual analog filters and a 5x8 modulation matrix, as well.

To see what each control element does, refer to Live's info view; the device is fully annotated. I've also included a diagram to explain the signal flow. (The sections in the "Oscillator" and "Filter/Pitch" tabs are more or less signal-path-explicit.)

As a starting point, I would suggest turning up the "Post-Filter" knob in the "Phase Feedback" section, then maybe play with the filter settings.

I used various bits and pieces from the gen~ examples included with Max and from the forums. In particular, the filters are not my work but were created by Andrew Simper, the ICST and Dominique Wurtz, and ported to Gen by stkr, Peter McCulloch and Oli Larkin.

The device takes a while to load, especially with greater polyphony. There is, I guess, hope this will change with a future Max update.

The device is free. If you'd like to reward me financially, that would of course be greatly appreciated; you can do so here: https://www.paypal.com/cgi-bin/webscr?cmd=_s-xclick&hosted_button_id=XNDYJ5LA2PAHY

Version 1.1 contains fixes for dropping audio files to the Phase Transfer and Waveform buffers.

Comments (44)

  • kleine · January 14 2014
    Thanks for sharing!
  • animatek · January 17 2014
    wow!!!! thnxs!!
  • Strolf · January 19 2014
    wow, thanks!
  • Crampe · January 22 2014
    Hi Pechmann.
    I'm discovering your synth, and I'm quite excited, awesome work !
    I guess in a few hours I'll take some time to understand some of its concept but for the moment I'm just having great fun.
    Well done!
  • pechmann · January 22 2014
    Thanks Crampe,
    let me know if there is anything I can explain or clarify.
  • Crampe · January 22 2014
    Well, sure there are things to clarify, but with this kind of audio toys I like to scratch my head around what's not obvious.
    But, here's one question I didn't explored and like the answer without head scratching:
    I find that I can save my wavetables if I "draw" them with "instructions", great. But, is there a way to save a pencil-drawn wavetable ?
    Congratulation, those envelopes! the modulation tab! the layout, the feedback routines... huge !!!!
    Cheers
  • Crampe · January 22 2014
    And the sound of course. Unique synth.
  • pechmann · January 22 2014
    Hey Crampe,
    thanks! Exporting a pencil-drawn waveform works fine for me in that the audio file does contain the waveform. But there was a bug where dropped audio files would be applied incorrectly. Maybe that made it seem like it didn't export properly? Should be fixed now (version 1.1)
  • pechmann · January 22 2014
    Hey Crampe,
    thanks! Exporting a pencil-drawn waveform works fine for me in that the audio file does contain the waveform. But there was a bug where dropped audio files would be applied incorrectly. Maybe that made it seem like it didn't export properly? Should be fixed now (version 1.1)
  • Crampe · January 22 2014
    Pechmann,
    Exporting the wavetable did already work. But of course I didn't thought about just dropping the file to load it :-)
    BTW, so now I guess that it's the only way toward it. No way to save a (pencil-drawn) user wavetable in the device itself as part of a preset ? If you use a custom waveform, save a preset of the synth, you have to drag the saved (exported) waveform each time you load this preset (I mean ableton device preset here, inside the browser). That is not the most convenient thing, but...
    Don't know if I'll test the 1.1 version tonight, I might need to go to sleep at some point.
    I'm totally blown away by your synth ! Noise machine from hell !!!
  • rdomain · January 24 2014
    Awesome work. Sounds great and works a treat! Thank you.
  • clickglue · January 26 2014
    Beautiful synth, incredible sound. Thanks for sharing this spark of genius!
  • clickglue · January 27 2014
    I've been playing this synth now for two days and it really is incredibly versatile and keeps producing beautiful sounds. Thanks again!
  • ZlatkoBaracskai · February 24 2014
    amaaazing... :D
  • clickglue · February 27 2014
    It's one month later and I'm still impressed, tweaking, finding new sounds and possibilities. Really an amazing synth. I've compared it as a pure wavetable synth with other commercial products and it really sounds much better. Thank you again!
  • pechmann · February 28 2014
    Thanks!
  • EJWycoff · March 28 2014
    For some reason i can't get this to make a single sound! what am I doing wrong?
  • pechmann · March 29 2014
    Do you see any error messages in the Max window? (Right/Cmd-Click on the device title bar, "Open Max Window") On the device UI, do you get the phase ramp and sine waveform displayed as in the screenshot?
  • GaelC · April 03 2014
    this device is amazing.
    So much control, a love to work and play with.
    Major thank you for this unique synth.
    I LOVE it
  • synnack · July 06 2014
    Many of you are commenting how great this device is, yet it has no ratings. Why aren't you also rating this device highly if you think this device is good?
    Just trying to understand why no one seems to be using the ratings feature on this site but it's a popular feature of every other site.
  • atone · August 22 2014
    Precfect. I love it. Thanks. :)
  • Crampe · September 04 2014
    I'm still amazed by this wonderful synth.
  • pechmann · September 04 2014
    That's great to hear. By the way, I have to caution against updating Max to version 6.1.8, as this introduces a bug that can cause some problems especially related to the envelope times. On the other hand, loading time is greatly improved now, so everything should be working nicely when a Max 6.1.9 update comes.
  • kidko · February 06 2015
    Thanks for creating this awesome synth. I'm excited to dig in more. Already used it to create some SFX for a project
  • RGP · June 30 2016
    I'm late to the party, but I really enjoy this synth after only playing with it for a few minutes. Can make some crazy sounds with this one....
  • tonwelle · February 10 2018
    Synth is fantastic!
    Under Live 10 there is an issue: Live crashes immediately when removing an instance of the device from a midi track.
    Also when opening the device in the Max 8 Editor and unfreezing it, Max crashes.
  • pechmann · February 23 2018
    Hey tonwelle,
    unfortunately I can't reproduce the crash on my system. It sounds like a Live/Max problem with your configuration. It's probably best to contact Ableton support about it. (Maybe check out the Live beta 10.0.2b2, there seem to be some M4L-related fixes in the changelog.) Hope this helps.
  • jorgen96 · March 14 2018
    Hey tonwelle!
    The same with problem with me in Live 10.
    Please fix! This is such a fantastic synth.
  • Tusk · April 18 2018
    I can't wait to try this one!!
    thanks in advance!! will it work properly in Live 10?
    kind regards.
  • DraGonas · May 14 2018
    Awesome synth, and the note-specific tuning is a fantastic feature
  • tonwelle · May 15 2018
    Hi pechmann,
    the crash happens also with Live 10.0.2b8 (the latest beta). Is there a way to rebuild the synth using live 10 and max8? I have contacted Ableton support, but they asked to contact You. So: no solution.
  • pechmann · May 29 2018
    Hey guys,
    if you are experiencing crashes with the device in Live 10, please try with the repacked version at https://www.dropbox.com/s/6tzxtr2rdjay5xx/Phase%20Distortion%20Synth%201.1.1.amxd?dl=0
    Does this version still produce the crashes?
    Thanks for your help,
    Martin
  • jorgen96 · June 09 2018
    Hi Martin,
    I still experience the crash in Live 10.0.02 with the repacked version.
  • jorgen96 · August 09 2018
    Hi again Martin!
    Any updates regarding the crash in Live 10?
    I still experience the crash you see.
    Best regards
  • pechmann · August 21 2018
    Hey jorgen96,
    there's a new version of the synth that I'm slowly getting ready for posting on here. Hopefully that version doesn't produce the crashes -- I don't have any other idea what the cause of the crash might be. You could also try asking Ableton support about it, saying I can't the reproduce the crash in order to debug. (After all, using Max for Live for building synths shouldn't be something that crashes Live at all.) Sorry I can't help more at this point.
  • jorgen96 · September 18 2018
    That's super to hear Martin!
    Hopefully it will fix the bug :)
  • kekule · October 16 2018
    Hi,
    I sent a crash report to Ableton, with the 1.1.1 version and the way to reproduce the crash (simply load the Prepared Piani.adv for example).
    Hope it will help.
    I'm currently run the 10.0.4 version of Live.
  • jorgen96 · November 25 2018
    Hi Martin!
    How is the updated version of the synth coming along?
    I can't wait to be able to use it you see!
    Best regards
  • jorgen96 · January 05 2019
    I'm going to bump this! :)
  • mbreeson · April 27 2019
    I wanted to check this synth out. Loaded it into a project in Ableton 10.0.6
    I tried to load a preset and it crashed out the project. Problem is now I can't even delete the instrument off of the project without crashing. So the project is borked.
  • pechmann · June 06 2019
    Hey mbreeson, sorry to hear that. If it still helps, what you could do is take any .amxd instrument (say "DS Kick.amxd"), create a copy of that, rename it "Phase Distortion Synth.amxd", and replace my file with that one. When you load the project, Live will try to load the DS Kick in place of the Phase Distortion Synth. This will not really work, but it shouldn't crash Live.
  • ronnymonte · November 04 2022
    5 years of support. Great sense of responsibility pechmannj, I hope you are fine! Having read mbreeson's post I guess I should avoid this plugin, since it can mess up projects? That would be a real bummer.
    Best regards!
  • pechmann · December 08 2022
    Hey ronnymonte, unfortunately I can't really comment on issues with Live 10, as I'm still stuck with Live 9. I am fairly confident that the fix I suggested in the comment above works, i.e. Live sets can be recovered if the Phase Distortion Synth bugs out (by replacing the .amxd with a diffent one and naming it 'Phase Distortion Synth.amxd'). Though problably better to be safe than sorry! Still looking at updating the synth by the way, just can't find the time...
  • laserbov · February 23 2025
    Hi pechmann, just wanted to share appreciation! Started using the instrument again after some time, seems to work great in Live 12. Such a unique sound!

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