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CAKEWALK RAPTURE (software instrument)


Anderton

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Cakewalk Rapture: Prologue

 

I’m dealing with a reviewer’s Perfect Storm. Cakewalk wants a Pro Review of Rapture, their new software synthesizer. Keyboard magazine wants me to review Cakewalk’s Dimension Pro, the Cakewalk soft synth released just before Rapture. Meanwhile, I’m reviewing M-Audio’s Oxygen8 v2 for the upcoming issue of the Harmony Central Confidential newsletter (if you’re not already receiving it, sign up on the home page). So not only will you get a Pro Review of Rapture, I’ll be throwing in some comparisons to Dimension Pro (I’m not alone in wondering what differentiates them). And if I have any pithy comments about how the Oxygen 8 V2 works with the programs, hey, I’ll toss those in as well.

 

And to top it all off, the PreSonus ADL 600 Pro Review is still happening. A lot of you wanted to know what it sounds like with synths, and this seems like a good way to find out!

 

Like most Pro Reviews, this one starts when I open the box. Well, I opened it, and the days of associating Cakewalk with butt-ugly graphics are over. It’s a nice package, with a classy-looking printed manual. Click on the attachment to see a scan of the manual’s front page – it's definitely not your father's Cakewalk manual. I guess winning the Music Press International Award last year at Frankfurt made a profound impression, because like Sonar and Dimension Pro, Rapture comes localized for English, German, Spanish, and French.

 

Installation involved inserting a CD-ROM – not DVD-ROM – which was my first clue: This is not an instrument with a huge sample library; it’s wavetable based, with the main effort thrown into the processing and step sequencing aspects.

 

So why am I reviewing this? Two main reasons. One, Cakewalk was willing to take the gamble to sponsor a Pro Review. Two, I’m personally very, very interested in it. I saw earlier versions at AES and at NAMM, and it seems very much up my alley: Highly dance-oriented, lots of things that sync to host tempo, and a ton of processors. For Cakewalk, though, this is a two-edged sword: If it’s really cool, I’m going to get really excited because it’s the kind of instrument that turns me on. But if it’s a disappointment, I’m going to be really disappointed because I’m expecting a lot.

 

Also, the timing is exquisite: Rapture is just getting into the stores. I’m hoping that this will encourage others to chime in with their comments as they explore the package. This also means that I’m going to try to make this about techniques and tips as well as being a proper “review.” That’s one of the advantages of the Pro Review concept: It will go in whatever direction you, and/or I, want. I think some cool tricks will be of interest to others learning about Rapture.

 

Ready? Let’s start.

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I’m reviewing Rapture on the Windows XP platform, although it is also Mac-compatible with OS X 10.3.9 and up. Supported formats are VSTi and RTAS on both platforms, AU on Mac, and DXi on Windows.

 

The Read Me documents a number of quirks, mostly related to how hosts deal with keystrokes intended for Rapture. Most are not deal-breakers, and have fairly simple workarounds. There are some exceptions: MIDI files from Rapture dragged into Cubase SX may appear to have empty measures, and the VSTi GUI doesn’t appear in Cubase LE. The Read Me suggests checking support sites on the web for updates to fix these issues. There are also a couple minor glitches specific only to OS 10.3.9; and, Mac users are advised not to trash the Rapture preferences file. Other than these known issues, Rapture 1.0 seems pretty ready for prime time. Not surprisingly, it’s very well-behaved in Sonar 5 :)

 

You have 30 days to register Rapture. This involves going to the web and giving the serial number, which is checked against a database for validity. If it matches, you’re sent an unlock code via e-mail. If you don’t have web access, which I suppose is a moot point if you’re reading this, then you can get a registration code over the phone.

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I’ve already gotten a few questions about this, so let’s deal with the issue now.

 

Both are soft synths, both are from Cakewalk, both are cross-platform, both are designed by the same guy (Rene Ceballos). Dimension Pro is $359 list, and Rapture, $289.

 

It’s an oversimplification, but I’ll invoke the sampler/synthesizer dichotomy. Dimension Pro ships with two DVDs of content, which includes a whole lotta samples of a whole lotta instruments. However, it’s not really a ROMpler, like IK Multimedia’s SampleTank or East-West’s Colossus. Yes, it can do straight instrument sounds (there are indeed pianos!), but Dimension Pro’s real strength is the many layers of synthesis-type processing it can apply to those sounds. What I like best about it is that you can take something like an acoustic guitar sample and warp it into something that sounds acoustic guitar-like, but has its own unique personality that may or may not make people think of an acoustic guitar.

 

Rapture, on the other hand, is a wavetable-based synthesizer – no French horns, no violins. In fact I’m pretty sure the wavetables are single cycle. (Okay Ensoniq ESQ-1 owners, you can stop being depressed that yours quit working several years ago!) The Big Deal here is the variety of step sequencing and tempo-related options that can add incredible motion to the patch…which we’ll explore during the course of the review.

 

Meanwhile, Cakewalk has a nifty little flash applet you can check out if you want to audition some Rapture sounds - just click here.

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Click on the attachment to see Rapture's main screen. There's a program browser window (outlined in yellow) that accesses the programs inside a folder in Rapture's directory - just click on the program window (outlined in green), and the browser window appears. Or, you can load a program from elsewhere by clicking on the load program button (outlined in orange).

 

But perhaps the key, uh, "element" to the user interface is the element selector buttons (outlined in red). Rapture's architecture is based around six "elements," which you can consider as functionally equivalent to layers in a multi-timbral synth. Each is identical, and endowed with a batch of synth-type functions. We'll cover each function in depth, but for the moment, here's the overview of what's available for each element:

 

* Basic Stuff - Tune, transposition, velocity and keyranges, polyphony, bend range, etc.

* A chain with two multi-mode filters, Decimator/Bit Reduction processor, and drive control; the order can be changed

* Modulators (envelope, LFO and step sequencer) for each of six destinations per element (pitch, filter 1 cutoff, filter 1 resonance, filter 2 cutoff, filter 2 resonance, pan, and amplitude)

* Three stages of variable response EQ (remember, that's for each element!)

* Element insert effect

 

Toward the bottom is a mixer for the six elements, with pan and volume for each one. The other window is a Global window, but I haven't gotten there yet. I'm not going to do the math, but I suspect this means the number of possibilities is at least in the millions. When you consider the number of possibilities per element, and you multiply that by six elements...well, this is a tweaker's dream.

 

Of course, how much of a dream depends on the effectiveness of each section, and that's what will form the core of the review. But I must say, so far this seems to have a lot of potential.

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As usual, I like to check out the included presets before getting into trouble by myself :). I figured I'd start with the Sequences.

 

What I heard was fine, but didn’t knock me out – until I hit the Basic Trans Seq, about 13 patches into the list. Wow!! After “rapturing” myself for a few minutes – yes, it’s that much fun – I thought I’d reverse-engineer the patch.

 

I was surprised to see this seemingly complex patch used only two elements. This is either a testimony to Rapture or the programmer (or more likely, both) that it’s possible to get that kind of mileage out of such a simple patch.

 

What makes the patch so cool is that moving the pitch bend wheel and mod wheel creates some pretty terrific filter effects. I stumbled on the Modulation Matrix (more on this later), and saw that the mod wheel affects Filter Cutoff 2, while pitch bend affects Filter Cutoff 1. This particular modulation routing affects the filter cutoff in all six elements.

 

This is also when I noticed the first two items for my wish list: First, the knobs being controlled by the mod and pitch bend wheels didn't track their movement. I don’t just want this for the eye candy, although that’s always nice, but so I can see at a glance what parameter is changing when I diddle a hardware control. However, when I checked out the MIDI Learn function (more later) and used a knob on the Oxygen8 V2 to control a Rapture parameter, it tracked the knob. Maybe it's just a mod wheel/pitch bend thing. Second, the window is modal, and always stays on top of the host program. I ended up doing a lot of minimizing when it was time to actually record with Rapture.

 

So you want to hear what the patch sounds like? Sure, no problem. Click on the attachment to download a short sound example of Basic Trans Seq sequence. Due to the file size limitations of this BBS software, be forewarned that the fidelity is not even close to Rapture’s sound quality; it's a short 96kbps MP3 file. But what I want to convey here is the motion in the patch, and I think this example gets it across.

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Hi Craig nice write up...some questions for you...

 

1. What is the CPU usage like with Cakewalks Rapture synth compared to DP or other synths you use?

 

2. It has elements like DP, so I assume it too can load samples?

 

3. On the Cakewalk site it says"...plus you can multiply each oscillator up to 9 times across the stereo field, creating some of the fattest sounds ever heard."Have you tried this yet? Turn your speakers down first of course :D I would like to hear your views on just how fat this synth can sound.

 

4. DP does ship with some sounds that are similar to Rapture (basses, leads, pads). As a Dimension Pro owner what would you say Cakewalks Rapture brings to the table that is different enough to make it a worthwhile purchase?

 

5.Similar to my 4th question in a way but how would you say Rapture differs from say z3ta or Pentagon?

 

6. Some of Rgc's synths have a ribbon at the bottom of the GUI that can be used to trigger sounds (Pentagon for instance has this) does Rapture have something similar?

 

Cheers

 

C.

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Thanks for the questions! I just wrapped up my review of Dimension Pro for Keyboard magazine today, so I'm really familiar with it. I'll be working with Rapture tonight and can address your questions then.

 

But I will say they have very different characters. DP is at heart sample-based, despite all the synth flexibility. Rapture is more wavetable/groove oriented. If I had to pick one of the two, given the style of music I do, the nod would go to Rapture.

 

More to come...thanks for throwing some questions into the mix.

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I just got Dimension Pro (well worth the long winded wait however) LOL.

So thanks for the interview Craig as Rapture has somewhat caught my attention.

From what I've read here and seen it looks rather tasty.

Here's where I am a bit put off.

I can put my own digicyclic waveforms into Dimension Pro as is.

The envelope and LFO sections looks quite similar (correct me if I'm wrong).

Surely alot of the gate effects and the like that Rapture can pull off could easily be automated in Dimension Pro via clip envelope automation on midi clips in Live for example?

Please feel free too correct me if I'm wrong.

Rapture does have wider oscillator detune doesn't it?

More potential oscillators per patch ?

And it has a ringmod feature per oscillator is that correct.

Are there major differences in the mixer / fx buss routing and is CPU consumption similar?

I find Dimension Pro exceptionally CPU efficient on the whole.

If it offers a whole lot more that Dimension I'm very interested as Rene' has told me it will load the sounds from the Dimension Pro sound library also (and vise versa).

So I'm sitting on the fence as to wether or not I really need both.

If it helps any the only instruments I use are TriangleII , Reaktor , Reason 3 , Kubik , Wusik and DimPro.

Would I find to much extra sonic overlap with that lot or do you feel it would be a well considered purchase?

Unfortunately there isn't an appraisal/demo version available so I want to atleast wait until a retailer here has floor stock I can demo extensively before I consder a purchase.

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Most of the sound demos I've heard show off Raptures strong point with trance/electronica like sounds. But I understand it can load SFZ format files from the Dimension Pro. How does it perform using Acoustic sets? Can it twist em up like say the standerd synth sounds? Can you add movement to a sample set? With so many options like LFO's and step gens going I was wondering how it did in this area with sample sets. Twisting these sounds all over the place ;)

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Originally posted by Anderton

Thanks for the questions! I just wrapped up my review of Dimension Pro for Keyboard magazine today, so I'm really familiar with it. I'll be working with Rapture tonight and can address your questions then.


But I will say they have very different characters. DP is at heart sample-based, despite all the synth flexibility. Rapture is more wavetable/groove oriented. If I had to pick one of the two, given the style of music I do, the nod would go to Rapture.


More to come...thanks for throwing some questions into the mix.

 

Thanks Craig. Looking forward to the additional information.:thu:

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Okay, let's field some questions.

 

What is the CPU usage like with Cakewalk’s Rapture synth compared to DP or other synths you use?

 

I don’t want this to sound like a cop-out, but “par for the course.” I upgraded my computer not too long ago, and everything takes less CPU power so my standard of comparison is shot. FWIW with all 6 elements loaded and lots of processing, it’s hitting about 10-13% on the CPU meter, about the same as a fully loaded Dimension Pro, or a reasonably loaded NI Kompakt sampler player. It’s definitely not a CPU hog.

 

It has elements like DP, so I assume it too can load samples?

 

It will load AIF and WAV files just fine; I also tried MP3 and WMA, but they wouldn’t load. Rapture will also load .SFZ multisample files, in fact I loaded some from Dimension Pro. But of course, because the architecture is different, it won’t load Dimension Pro .PROG (program) files.

 

I must admit it was fun to load a DPro guitar .SFZ file into Rapture, and drive a bunch of filters with highly resonant step sequencing :)

 

On the Cakewalk site it says"...plus you can multiply each oscillator up to 9 times across the stereo field, creating some of the fattest sounds ever heard." Have you tried this yet? Turn your speakers down first of course I would like to hear your views on just how fat this synth can sound.

 

Actually the “9 voice” thing is a little misleading, because that’s only for ONE element and there are six elements! So ultimately, you could spread 6 x 9 = 54 voices in what’s basically a unison mode. And each oscillator can run through a chorus, essentially doubling it, so that’s a lot of fatness. But hey, this is a Pro Review – I’ll do better than let you hear my views, I’ll let you hear a bass sound. Click on the attachment to download a fat bass file.

 

Regarding the file, I should emphasize I spent almost no effort on this and banged it out in a couple minutes (which tells you something about the ease of use regarding Rapture’s interface). I loaded the Digital Bass program and initialized all the elements except the first, went into Multi mode and set it to 9 voices (you can also choose 3, 5, or 7 voices), and set Detune (which detunes all the voices) to 19. I didn’t mess with the filters, effects, or anything else yet even so, you can hear it’s pretty fat. Imagine what would happen if I used more elements, or put more time into programming it.

 

DP does ship with some sounds that are similar to Rapture (basses, leads, pads). As a Dimension Pro owner what would you say Rapture brings to the table that is different enough to make it a worthwhile purchase?

 

If you don’t mind I’d like to postpone answering that question until I feel I know Rapture as well as DPro. I have definite ideas already, but I’d like to be more confident that I’m giving you a really well thought out reply given that it might influence a buying decision.

 

Similar to my last question in a way but how would you say Rapture differs from say z3ta or Pentagon?

 

I’d say the biggest difference is that there is the potential for a lot of motion in Rapture, what with being able to apply step sequencing and synced LFOs to six different layers. I also like that you can do ring modulation, and the filter structure is very cool…we’ll get into that later as well, it deserves more than just a couple sentences here.

 

Some of Rgc's synths have a ribbon at the bottom of the GUI that can be used to trigger sounds (Pentagon for instance has this) does Rapture have something similar?

 

I haven’t found anything like that, sorry. If there is, I’m sure someone from Cakewalk will let me know.

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Thanks for the answers Craig! Cakewalks Rapture is clearly a top draw synth and I can see where it *does* bring something different to the table.

 

Rene is clearly a very capable developer and Rapture certainly looks like another superb offering from him.:thu:

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One thing that concerned me about Rapture was the lowpass filter; after some preliminary patching efforts, it just didn’t seem to have that warm, fat sort of Mini sound. So, time for an experiment to see if the problem was with my programming or with Rapture.

 

I loaded an Arturia Minimoog V and Rapture into Sonar, both with two oscillators active. For the Rapture waveform, I used an actual sampled Minimoog sawtooth waveform. I adjusted the oscillator settings as closely as possible for the two synths; all I can say is, credit to both because setting the detune, oscillator, and filter cutoff to the same numeric value produced a seemingly identical sound.

 

I then tied filter cutoff to mod wheel for both synths, and created a mod wheel modulation track to open and close the filter. I copied this so that the identical track fed both Rapture and the Minimoog V.

 

Next, I rendered each to WAV files. Here I found something really interesting: Both synths appear to have truly free-running oscillators, because each time I rendered, the resulting waveforms were slightly different. I rendered multiple versions of each, and chose versions for each synth that looked as similar as possible, indicating that their oscillators had pretty much the same phase relationship during the course of the file.

 

Finally, I copied one after the other in Wavelab, and saved the series of two sounds as a single MP3 file (128kbps, stereo). Click on the attachment to download the Rapture vs. Minimoog V bass sound file. I’m not going to tell you which one is first and which is second just yet, but I’m curious: Do you prefer one over the other? Anyone care to guess which is which? Do you hear a difference or not? Comments, please.

 

In any event, I don’t think the sound is all that different. It became clear to me that the fabulous Mini bass sound, at least in “emulation land,” has as much do with filter and amplitude envelopes as it does with the oscillators and filters. With a little more careful programming, I felt I could definitely get something that, if not identical to the Mini sound, would come extremely close.

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Just to follow up on the last post, I worked a bit more and came up with what I think is a pretty good mini emulation. Click on the attachment to download an MP3 sound file (128kbps, stereo) of Rapture emulating a Minimoog-type bass.

 

The patch itself is very simple: Two elements with the sample of the Minimoog sawtooth wave mentioned in the previous post (one cycle, spread across the entire keyboard), low pass 4 pole filter, and common envelope for amplitude and filter cutoff (just like a real Minimoog).

 

In the process of creating this patch, I found my first big wish list item: The ability to do group edits across multiple elements. For example, suppose you get a great sound, but want to add a little overdrive to several elements. As things stand, you need to call up each element individually, and make the same tweak to each element. I’d be a lot happier if I could, for example, ctrl-click on several elements so that adjusting a control in one of them would make the same adjustment to that control in the other elements.

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Before I sign off for today, I have to add one more thing. Just for grins I wanted to see if I could come up with one of those huge, syrupy analog string-type patches. Again, I used the Minimoog sawtooth sample and two elements, but this time applied the 9-voice “unison” mode for each element, panned them somewhat oppositely, and added some detuning. I also applied some global reverb to the output, and tied the filter cutoff to mod wheel (not envelope) so I could add some real-time expressiveness. Click on the attachment to download an MP3 sound file (128kbps, stereo) of a big, Rapturized string synth sound.

 

I know we’re getting a bit far afield from the review itself, but this was a cool sound so I figured I might as well post it :). Tomorrow I’ll stop playing with Rapture long enough to review more aspects of it! Then again, I guess it says something that I can’t seem to stop wanting to make sounds with it…

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Are any of you actually authoring *.sfz files from scratch?

 

Correct me if I'm wrong here: at present there is no *.sfz editing interface-- all *.sfz's are coded simply in NOTEPAD?

 

Question 3: What fun could that possibly be?

 

 

(Note: please scratch that last question.)

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I would guess the second sweep was from the Minimoog V, at least I would hope that is the case. The first wave, although processed with a comparable filter, has a decidedly digital edge when the filter is wide open. The resonance of the second wave is slightly more prominant giving the filter a fuller yet darker sound. The differences are rather subtle.

How far off am I?

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I’m not going to tell you which one is first and which is second just yet, but I’m curious: Do you prefer one over the other? Anyone care to guess which is which? Do you hear a difference or not? Comments, please.

 

I think the first sound is a tiny bit thinner or edgier (very little difference though) compared to the second sound sample.

 

Very interested to see who gets it right!:cool:

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Well, guess what: The first one is the Arturia Minimoog, and the second is Rapture.

 

You're both right -- the difference is subtle. If I could have put a longer example with sweeps using different types of material, it may have been easier to spot a difference between the two. Overall, because I did get to try them both out under varying conditions, I'd say at the low end of the sweep, the Minimoog is a little bit fatter but at the high end, Rapture is a little sweeter.

 

But even more importantly, the difference between the two is not significant if you make an effort to set up the Rapture filter to be as close as possible to the Arturia Minimoog. In terms of musical impact, of course there are elements of both synths that make more of a difference one way or the other. But overall, if you want a Good Bass Sound to put on a track, either one will do the job. They'll just do a slightly different job.

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Correct me if I'm wrong here: at present there is no *.sfz editing interface-- all *.sfz's are coded simply in NOTEPAD?

 

Question 3: What fun could that possibly be?>>

 

It is indeed a text-oriented editing system. But it doesn't look too difficult, in fact I think I might make a .sfz file based around my Minimoog multisamples and see if I can make it happen.

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Well, I made it happen -- my first SFZ file! I used five sawtooth samples from a minimoog and set them up in SFZ so that the middle three samples each covered an octave, while the lowest one stretched down as far as possible and the highest stretched up as far as possible.

 

Then I just replaced the sawtooth file references with triangle wave references, and voila, I had a multisampled Minimoog triangle multisample. Next I tried it with pulse waves...all seemed pretty easy, although I didn't try to do velocity switching or anything, I just mapped samples across the keyboard.

 

It must not be hard if I figured it out simply by reverse-engineering some SFZ files from Dimension Pro! :)

 

Hey if someone from Cakewalk is listening -- is there something that documents the entire SFZ spec somewhere?

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I'm interested in creating sfz files too. I have not invested the time to get my head around the concepts yet. It is the sort of thing that a scripting language could handle readily. So you may see people using Perl or Python. I would attempt it with Rebol.

 

Here are links to a couple of projects and resources.

 

This is a link to a free editor in development:

http://audio.clockbeat.com/sfZed.html

 

This is a page of links and examples of sfz format mappings

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