CAKEWALK RAPTURE (software instrument)

[Anderton]

I love Vintage Warmer! It hadn't occurred to me to try that with Rapture, but I'll check it out. What do you think of the distortion options included with Rapture?

[default_damage]

Originally posted by Anderton I love Vintage Warmer! It hadn't occurred to me to try that with Rapture, but I'll check it out. What do you think of the distortion options included with Rapture?

 

 

the distortion is good sounding .

Vintage Warmer probably is not necessary

with this instrument.

I just wanted to do an A/B comparision

 

I am excited about learning to program this instrument! I have not checked the distortion out with the exception of applying Distortion 2 to some basses

the effect had a nice smooth quality to it.

the patch seems to have a nice added texture to the sound rather than having the effect annihilate the original sound of the patch.

 

kjaerhaus makes a modulation effect that can add to a sound rather than take it over . I find it hard to discribe , the integrety of the original instruments sound is not compromised while at the same time adding something to it. in the case of the distortion 2 and the bass patches that was my experience.

 

yes I am happy.

[lawapa]

I spent this week end making new sounds for my Rapture. I had already made up a bunch of wavefiles/tables to use. So off I went. I was surprised at how well it went. The sound engine in Rap does help a lot.

You can do some major damage to a sound or leave it clean with all it has by way of lfo's, eq's, filters, effects, step sequencers. I was impressed before I started making. Just with the stock sounds. But after diggin deeper. I'm even more impressed. This synth is lookin like a must have for anyone lookig for some sweet sounds. Now mind you it does take some time but the end result is great. Your sound just like you want it. It is do-able thing if you just take the time.

[Paolo~Legnetti]

Yeah yeah whatever...

[Anderton]

Well, I do think he makes some valid points...it DOES take some work to get where you want to go (Group Edit, please!). Also there are often several ways to do the same thing (e.g, Step Sequencer vs. LFO) so you have to know enough about the program to choose the right options.

I would also encourage people to come up with their own LFO waveforms. In fact, you can start with this one Click on the attachment to see a graphic of the waveform. This is what I send to filter cutoff or amp to get a fast, percussive decay. It's basically a modified sawtooth wave, but I also slowed down the attack a bit to make sure there wouldn't be any clicks.

[Anderton]

...and here's the file itself. Unzip it, then remember to put it within the "Lfo Waveforms" folder in the Rapture folder.

[danatkorg]

Originally posted by Anderton Regarding Rapture, I'd say just leave Sinc enabled. There are lots of other ways to get nasty sounds, far nastier than just disabling sinc.

 

 

My guess is that enabling Sinc interpolation will increase the CPU load by some amount, although this might or might not be significant in context.

 

- Dan

[default_damage]

a quick note ,

now that I have started delving, I am hooked! stop
looking for the Allen Ravenstine EML patch inspirations. stop

things are going well stop

[Anderton]

I got a private email from DanAtKorg -- he didn't want to hijack the thread -- but I thought his comments were well worth posting, so I got his permission to do so.

"Rapture's oscillator puts in an admirable performance here.

"Although it's unlikely to occur, I'd love for the MI community to
agree on a standard about how to describe aliasing characteristics. With the products that I work on, I'm always careful to say "low aliasing" or, in some cases, "no audible aliasing," instead of "alias free" -- since with all current realtime technologies there is still some amount of aliasing, even if it's inaudible.

"Of course, it's the audibility that's the important part for musical
purposes - I just haven't wanted to make claims that could be
disproved by someone running our products through test equipment!

"But then, I've occasionally been challenged about the meaning or value of "low aliasing" -- especially when other products may
advertise having none at all, even though this is technically
incorrect.

"Additionally, even if an oscillator itself has very low aliasing,
other elements in the signal path may add their own aliasing;
distortion, for instance, will do so, along with other processes that modify amplitude at audio or near-audio rates (wave shaping, ring modulation, limiting, etc.). These effects can be limited by oversampling or other means, but present a separate challenge from the oscillators themselves. So, a no-audible-aliasing oscillator may be different from a no-audible-aliasing product.

Regardless of how it's described, aliasing is an important aspect of audio quality in synthesizers, and I'm glad to see it being both a topic of discussion, and an area of focus for talented synth
designers such as René."

[Anderton]

This is pretty sophisticated - so much so that you really need a "cheat sheet" of the keyboard shortcuts, such as ways to zoom in and out, fit the envelope to the window size, enable velocity or keyboard control over segment time, etc. I reached for the manual constantly in the process of exploring the envelopes, and still need to refer to it from time to time.

 

Basically, we're dealing with a rate/level envelope with a sustain point. Like conventional envelopes, the envelope level or time can track velocity, and this affects all segments. However, there are some interesting additions not found in most envelopes. Click on the attachment to see an unusual envelope.

 

* Each segment can be tied to velocity. For example, hit a key harder, and the desired segments can get shorter or longer, depending how you programmed them. You can also mix and match, so that (for example) an attack time gets longer if you hit a key harder, but one of the decay slopes takes less time.

 

* Similarly, you can tie each segment's time to keyboard position. Note the blue stripes above and below the envelope centerline; this show the extent of the modulation. Orange stripes indicate the extent to which velocity influences the timing.

 

* Portions of the envelope can be looped. If a sustain point is set, it can also serve as a loop end point. The loop start can be any selected node prior to the sustain point. In the screen shot, the orange line toward the bottom shows the part of the envelope that's looping.

 

* Each segment's curve is adjustable from exponential, to linear, to reverse exponential.

 

This is all well and good, although I'm not sure there's not a huge amount of practical value of some of the more esoteric functions, and it takes a fair amount of tweaking to get what you want. Still, I like having more options than fewer options. You can always treat the envelope like a regular envelope if you want.

 

However, there are also some limitations that I would like to see addressed in future updates. Given the "let's be able to sync everything to tempo" attitude that pervades Rapture, I'm surprised that unlike the envelopes in some Native Instruments synths, you can't lock nodes to rhythmic values. This is valuable for two reasons: When programming envelopes, segments can fall in with the rhythm; also, with tempo changes, the envelope changes as well.

 

Lacking this, having a calibrated background to at least "eyeball" the node rhythms would be helpful, but that's not available either.

 

Another limitation is that there's no trigger mode for percussive sounds where you just tap a key, and the envelope immediately goes into the release phase. You can come close by programming a very short hold time before the sustain phase kicks in, but then if your fingers stay on the keys for any length of time, the sound will sustain.

 

Maybe I'm asking for too much to include these functions, but I think that at least the "rhythmic node" option should be in a future update.

[Anderton]

The effects aren’t going to put Waves out of business, but what makes them highly useful is that each Element can have its own insert effect, as well as three EQ stages (with Gain, Frequency, and Q controls) that can each have a low shelf, high shelf, or bandpass/bandreject response. Most of the effects are time-based (various delays and reverbs), but there are also two distortion settings, LFO controlled filter, and filter/phaser. Click on the attachment to see the list of available effects.

It’s quite something to have one type of delay on one Element, reverb on another, and a different reverb on yet a third. Because the delay effects are tempo-synched, you can have all kinds of animated stereo effects sweeping back and forth. Bottom line: The Insert effects are integrated well into Rapture, and serve as valuable sound design tools.

[Anderton]

The Global page has two Global effects that affect all Elements, with the same roster of effects as the Insert FX. There are also three master EQ sections, a Master FX section (again, using the same roster of effects) that affects the final sound, and a Global Step Generator with separate generators for the left and right channels. Click on the attachment to see the Global Page. Note that in this example, the Step Generator creates a panning effect by increasing amplitude in one channel while the other is decreasing.

[Anderton]

This was too much fun not to post. Click on the attachment to hear a tribal percussion sequence. It has three Elements; two are Minimoog triangle waves with step-sequenced pitch, while the third has step sequenced Minimoog white noise with swept resonance. But what makes this patch move are the effects: There are two global effects, mid-size room reverb and a filter/phaser. The Step Sequencer does right-left panning, but the Master FX, which adds tempo-synched delay, is after the Step Sequencer so it restores a fulle stereo image by bouncing echoes back and forth between the channels. Meanwhile, a bit of EQ perks up the upper midrange. Whee!

[lawapa]

My sample management app Awave has a little utility that renders any dx/tx/tg/ patch to a wavetable. In options you set length and number of regions. Then you chose SFZ as format and well you got a fm patch ready to pull up. It only does the whole bank so you do spend some time organizing the sizeable mess it outputs. 32 patches with the sfz file/ wavefiles for each one. But I bet you can imagine the possibilities The possible combinations? Along with everything else Rapture has included? Wowzers. The downside is it takes some tweaking to get the patch just right but Sheech thats just the way you do it right?

This is one fancy synth. I'm a believer. Oh the percussion mp3 with the tri hits and swept noise. I have got to try that.

[Anderton]

>

I should probably add I was not trying to get that sound. I was actually going for something else and got led down that path - Rapture does that a lot. Sometimes I feel like I'm forming a partnership rather than the programming; I say "how about this?" and Rapture tries to one-up me

[Anderton]

Even after all this, there are still some additional features of interest. Rapture is multitimbral in the sense that each element can be driven from its own MIDI channel. Click on the attachment to see the multitimbral dialog box - simple, eh?

I'll admit that when I first saw this, I wasn't exactly impressed - it's not like Rapture is a workstation. But as I worked more with Rapture, I realized that each Element is its own little synthesizer/step sequencer. As one example of how you'd use multitimbral operation, you could set up some very complex loops for each element, load Rapture into Ableton Live, and use a controller to bring these complex loops in and out of a larger composition. There are so many control options within Rapture there are some definite advantages to setting up a multitimbral hardware controller to exploit them.

[Anderton]

One aspect we didn't really cover was the Step Generator "extras." It's possible to randomize, reset, invert, mirror, and reverse steps. This provides a quick way to generate complementary sounds with a second (or third, or fourth, or...) Element. You can also copy and paste steps, as well as snap steps to 10, 12, and 24 levels. Why 12 and 24? For doing pitched sequences, of course. What's more, you can enter the steps with a MIDI keyboard starting at C4 (notes lower than C4 move to the previous step). But there's no way to generate a rest; you need to enter those manually by dragging the step to zero.

[Anderton]

I think Rapture is brilliant, but more on that under conclusions. Following is my wish list for version 2.0 (or 1.5 if Cakewalk sees fit!).

* Higher contrast. I bumped up contrast and brightness on some of the screen shots because the image was just too dark otherwise. From an art standpoint I like the current color scheme; from a programming standpoint, it would help to be more legible.

* The LFO doesn't seem to be able to sweep the full Amplitude range. If you use a waveform that goes from full on to full off, the Amplitude is not fully off when the waveform is at minimum. I've tried using the modulation option to scale it down, but then the peaks aren't as high, either. I suspect I might be missing something and Rene has the solution; but if not, this should be fixed.

* When using a MIDI keyboard to enter steps in the Step Generator, I'd like to see a way to enter rests. How about moving pitch bend up full then hitting a note to create a rest?

* Also with the Step Generator, I'd like to see grid lines every 4 or 8 lines (or both, with different colors). When you're using the Step Generator for complex rhythms, it would really help to see an overlay of that rhythm.

* The Global Page FX aren't part of the modulation matrix, although they will do MIDI Learn. This isn't even close to being a dealbreaker, but I did say this was a wish list.

* The X-Y pad is a cool controller, but it doesn't have a MIDI Learn mode, so you can't drive it from MIDI controllers. Logically this makes sense, as the X-Y pad is itself a controller; still, I'd like to see a way to control the X-Y pad without having to drag it with a mouse.

* I'd already mentioned that I'd like to see the Envelope Generator nodes snap to rhythmic values, and have an EG grid that displayed those values.

* Undo function.

That's pretty much it.

[Anderton]

I liked Rapture as soon as I started playing with it, but also found what I thought were limitations. It turned out there were provisions to deal with most of these, like where I started using LFO waveforms to “chop” sounds instead of the Step Generator. In many cases, the “limitations” were just a result of my not fully understanding the program.

This is a construction set for those who like synchro-sonic effects. If you just want to do instruments and standard sounds, Dimension Pro would probably be a better choice. Rapture is incredibly fertile for sound design, dance music, experimental electronic music, hip-hop, and more. Although I’ve emphasized the pattern and sequencer-based possibilities, with six elements and a batch of waveforms, Rapture is also an extremely capable synthesizer – especially because you’re not locked in to either the oscillator or LFO waveforms that come with the program. I came up with a lot of programs based around Minimoog waveforms and custom LFO shapes (thanks, Wavelab!).

This review has gone on for a long time, with a fair amount of time between some posts. There’s a reason for this other than leading a busy life . The more I played with Rapture, the more I developed a profound respect for just how much you can do with it. With most programs, you learn the big features – then as time goes on, you pick up on the details. Rapture keeps delivering big surprises. Just when I thought I’d figured everything out, Rapture would reveal another cool, major feature (like multitimbrality and pitch options for the Step Generator). Exploiting these features to the fullest extent took some serious exploration.

And even though this review is winding down, I wouldn’t be surprised if a couple months from now I bump it back with just one more cool feature…and then maybe another one…

Now let me make one thing totally clear: Rapture is my kinda synth. It’s deep, it’s novel, it’s clever, it’s perfect for electronic music genres. If this was Keyboard magazine, I’d give it a Key Buy without a second thought. There’s nothing quite like Rapture, and for those who like to tweak, you’ll be well rewarded for your efforts.

But I also recognize that’s not what everyone wants from a synth. If you want to load up a bunch of presets, fine…the presets are cool. There are even nifty drum kits, analog brass, you name it. But if that’s all you want, you can do better – starting with Dimension Pro. Where Rapture excels is in doing things other synthesizers can’t do. I have no idea how you’d market something like this, but hey, that’s not my problem.

I suspect that the same type of people who love Ableton Live will flock to Rapture like flies to honey, as Rapture is the first synthesizer I’ve met that excels at creating multiple, self-contained loops. Rapture would also be an exceptional addition to Acid (now that its MIDI instrument implementation is up to the task), as well as Cakewalk’s own Project5. On the other hand, for those who use more “straightforward” programs like Logic, Cubase, Digital Performer, Sonar, and the like, Rapture instantly converts those otherwise “neutral” programs into dance beat monsters, with a side of synths.

If all of this sounds good, you’ll definitely become a Rapture convert. No matter how much I’ve described here, it seems like there’s always more to discover. I think it's a superb musical instrument that is both brilliantly designed and executed.

As always with a Pro Review, just because I’ve posted my conclusions doesn’t mean the review is over. Got questions? Suggestions? Something cool you want to post? Want me to post more of my custom LFO waveforms? Feel free to speak up.

[lawapa]

How about loading up a whole tune in Rapture? Sound silly? If you did it you'd see what I mean. Apart from the obvious LFO madness you could inject into your master you can snag some killer phase effects that phase really deep. You could turn rapture into a DJ's dream machine. That is if you took the time to ferrit out all it can do.

If Cakewalk were to add standalone to this puppy and maybe tweak it a tad it could grab the DJ market strong. I think of it as the most innovative effects machine "maskerading as a synth" around +)

Don't get me wrong. I use Rapture AS A STRAIGHT UP SYNTH. And I agree wholeheartly with you synopsys that's it's a truly unique synth in and of itself.

[underbug]

Originally posted by Anderton I came up with a lot of programs based around Minimoog waveforms and custom LFO shapes (thanks, Wavelab!).

 

 

There's a freebie VSTi that's very handy for

generating waveforms to use in synths like Rapture.

 

Sonic Assault Rndwave! 1.1

16/24-bit Wave Shape Generator

 

Click here to check it out

[b rock original]

I'd like to see a way to control the X-Y pad without having to drag it with a mouse.

In the exposed VSTi or DXi parameters, there is both an X and a Y parameter available to external MIDI Remote Control. (Host-dependent, of course). I use these to bind MIDI messages from a physical X-Y pad (Novation) to that of the X-Y in Rapture. Works great: snap to center, return to 0,0, or no snap,. X-Y Acceleration (Desaccel) is also controllable.

 

I haven't had the same difficulties with the outer ranges of user-defined LFOs. My waveforms are created in Sound Forge, and using them in Pitch modulators appear to nail targeted 'notes' directly. I'll check this again..

the Amplitude is not fully off when the waveform is at minimum.

I wonder if the 'hidden Amp EG' is playing into this.

 

The UD-LFOs are a breeze to create, offer up bipolar control, and finer resolution than available to a Step Generator. So many unique approaches to choose from within Rapture. I haven't found a parameter yet that isn't externally controllable in some manner

[Anderton]

Well I guess that's it for this review. I must say I've been using Rapture a lot, it's particularly wonderful in multi-timbral mode with Live because of its "loop-oriented" mentality. Great stuff!! I wish Rene would have commented on my wish list, but I guess I'll just wait to see what version 1.5 or 2.0 brings....

[René [Cakewalk]]

Hey Craig,

I'm sorry. I didn't see the wish list till now, when I received the notification message. Gosh where have I been...

First of all, thanks for the super in-depth review. Everyone who knows my knows that I've been a long-term follower of your work, and it's a fundamental motivational impulse to get an overall positive evaluation from such a guru as you are.

But now, as they say in the old MKII "Round one... Fight!"

/*
* Higher contrast. I bumped up contrast and brightness on some of the screen shots because the image was just too dark otherwise. From an art standpoint I like the current color scheme; from a programming standpoint, it would help to be more legible.
*/

I have heard this before, but it looks to me like it's a CRT thing only, it's really defined and with great contrast on every LCD I tried. In any case, I have relayed the comment to bitplant (the graphic artists behind Rapture, Dimension Pro, PSYN, z3ta+, Reason, Arturia, etc.) for more in-depth analysis.


/*
* The LFO doesn't seem to be able to sweep the full Amplitude range. If you use a waveform that goes from full on to full off, the Amplitude is not fully off when the waveform is at minimum. I've tried using the modulation option to scale it down, but then the peaks aren't as high, either. I suspect I might be missing something and Rene has the solution; but if not, this should be fixed.
*/

That is correct. The design concept was that the Volume LFO is centered, so when it moves you get a variation in dB which is symmetrical: if you set 6dB, you get 6dB of reinforcement, and 6 dB of attenuation.
The idea was to create a 'tremolo oriented' LFO instead of those sound-cutting devices like the one in z3ta+, provided that Rapture gives you the StepGens which do control amplitude, so you can cut the sound using those.

It would be still possible to have a full excursion LFO in dB if we'd add a "center" parameter for the LFO, so the sound designer could select if she wants the LFO centered or only in one direction, with all the middle stages. FR duly noted.

/*
* When using a MIDI keyboard to enter steps in the Step Generator, I'd like to see a way to enter rests. How about moving pitch bend up full then hitting a note to create a rest?
*/

Well, the Step Generator is controlling the pitch, so there's just no easy way to get a silence by just controlling pitch. It might be sync'ed with the Amplitude StepGen to enter a zero step there, but then it'd require the user to have it turned on and with the same number of steps and depth. I see this would be cool but I'm worried about how users would understand it.


/*
* Also with the Step Generator, I'd like to see grid lines every 4 or 8 lines (or both, with different colors). When you're using the Step Generator for complex rhythms, it would really help to see an overlay of that rhythm.
*/

I've heard this is already in for next version


/*
* The Global Page FX aren't part of the modulation matrix, although they will do MIDI Learn. This isn't even close to being a dealbreaker, but I did say this was a wish list.
*/

Si. The mod matrix expansion with several things is in my own personal wish list, so expect it to improve in future releases.


/*
* The X-Y pad is a cool controller, but it doesn't have a MIDI Learn mode, so you can't drive it from MIDI controllers. Logically this makes sense, as the X-Y pad is itself a controller; still, I'd like to see a way to control the X-Y pad without having to drag it with a mouse.
*/

Righto. z3ta+ introduced the X-Y pad MIDI Learn in a dot version, so it is very likely that Rapture will as well. BTW, you can use a PC joystick to control it


/*
* I'd already mentioned that I'd like to see the Envelope Generator nodes snap to rhythmic values, and have an EG grid that displayed those values.
*/

Yes, this has been the #1 FR for DP and RP envelopes. We'll see what we can do...


/*
* Undo function.
*/

This is by far the feature where all of us devs put less attention in plugins. The truth is, it's a mega work to implement this well, but sooner or later we'll do it. It's not top in the priority list, but it is in the list for sure.


Again, thanks a lot for the review, and thanks to everyone who participated.

Cheers,
-René

[Anderton]

>

Say hi to Mr. Merkle for me Actually I've tested Rapture ONLY on LCDs, three different ones actually.

The idea was to create a 'tremolo oriented' LFO instead of those sound-cutting devices like the one in z3ta+, provided that Rapture gives you the StepGens which do control amplitude, so you can cut the sound using those.

It would be still possible to have a full excursion LFO in dB if we'd add a "center" parameter for the LFO, so the sound designer could select if she wants the LFO centered or only in one direction, with all the middle stages. FR duly noted.>>

Okay, good, then I'm not going crazy and it IS the LFO! I know you can do the same sort of thing with the step generator, but I seem to get "cleaner" results with the LFO.

>

I didn't think about that. You can pull this one from the list!

>

That's great!! It will also allow using all those 128 steps more easily.

>

Well, that explains why I don't see Undo very much in virtual instruments! In some ways not having undo is good, because it forces me to "Save As" a lot...sometimes I end up saving something that I end up using after all.

>

It's a great synth, thanks for making these kinds of tools available to fanatics such as myself!!! You're very welcome in this forum any time.