Would like confirmation on Zynthian

Using Zynthian
1

I’m interested in building it and using as a sound module rather than being the central device in my little setup.

Can it act as a multitimbral sample player while simultaneously processing live mono synths on the input?

I want to plug in on one of my Octatracks stereo inputs and sequence samples on the Zynthian via Octatrack midi with a RE303 and Cyclone on the inputs of the Zynthian using live effects on them (reverb delay etc).

Cheers
J

2

Pretty much how it started life…

The Zynsampler should do this, whilst audio in can be processed. Each instance would be it’s own individual chain in the mixer.

3

Thanks for the quick. When you say Zynthsampler ‘should’ do this sort of implies that maybe it can?

I just want to be sure, Zynthian is looking like an ideal project for me.

Cheers
J

4

Welcome to the community @Jacid1968.

It depends on your meaning. It can play sampled instruments using any of its three rompler type engines. Zynsampler is more of a traditional sample, splice, play, loop, etc.

You can play one or more synth engines (including sample players) multitimbrally.

If you want a specific scenario confirmed then please provide more specific details.

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5

For example having 2 or more samples each being sequenced/played on their own midi channel. Sound A midi chnl1 Sound B midi chnl2 etc

At the same time processing my 2 mono synths live on the inputs.

It does sound like it will do what i want from what you say.

All sewuenceing will be done via Octatrack or Digitakt.

Cheers
J

6

Do you mean audio samples (recordings) that you have made yourself or presampled instruments like piano, harp, etc.?

7

I tend to talk in the passive. I believe it will do what you want, but I might have misunderstood your intension.

8

Yes exactly that but only lobg atmospheric type sounds similar to GR1 granular synth, Atmosphere Vst etc.

Cheers
J

9

Hey no problem. I just want to be sure.

Cheers
J

10

Look, you can grab a Raspberry Pi and test it. You only need a soundcard (USB audio is fine) and a screen (HDMI) and some cables and it can be tested. In fact you could do it without the HDMI using VNC. Lots of options to test before investing in the whole kit.

11

That path doesn’t align with my goals as its a ‘maybe it can or cannot’ road.

I was hoping it would be a simple case of can Zynthian do A or B etc and getting a clear answer.

I’ll give it a miss for now but will keep in mind as a possible future project.

Thanks either way.

Cheers
J

12

Hi @Jacid1968 !

Please, explain what do you want to get with some detail. The word “sampler” or “sample” has different meanings regarding the context or the musician you talk with.

processing live mono synths on the input

Also, please, what do you mean with this? What kind of “processing”? Compressing, EQ, reverb, chorus, etc? Do you mean “processing a chain of audio FXs”?

Perhaps a schematic with your setup would help to understand what you want to achieve with zynthian.

Thanks!

13

I understand.

Setup1
Setup11333×563 95.1 KB

Sorry for the crude image but that’s how i would have it setup.

So, loading WAVS (or whatever compatible format) into the Zynthian, these would be long atmospheric evolving samples/recordings/sounds etc. This may also include using one of the instrument plugins too.

I want to be able to play them using the sequencer from the Octatrack while simultaneously having effects like delay/reverb applied to the RE-303.

Thanks for the help.

Cheers
J

14

Zynthian is not a good sampler (yet). Although it has some sampler capabilities, it’s not his strongest point, unless you want to work with “soundfonts”. As a rompler, zynthian is quite good and it supports several formats: SF2, SF3, SFZ and GIG. Creating a SF2 with all your samples could be a good idea. Polyphone is not difficult to use.

If you prefer to use raw wavs, mp3s or something like this, how many different samples and of what size would you like to trigger from the octatrack? You would like to trigger each sample with a different MIDI note in the same MIDI channel, right?

Processing the audio is not a problem. We have a nice collection of audio processors :wink:

Regards,

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15

Ah, this is good news. I wouldn’t have a problem converting the WAVS to soundfonts to use if it makes things easier, thanks for the link. Some of the samples are anything from 3 seconds to 15+ seconds long where I’d have some parts looped if this is possible?

Yes, to be able to play the ‘samples’ across the keyboard so say for example a wind sample on Midi channel 1, a granular synth sample on Midi channel 2 etc

After watching this video Zynthian has 2 synths on its input which is exactly my use case.
https://youtu.be/nbIVM8K3wDo?si=NjlpDgyzSyIk_0s-

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16

That’s more detail, thanks. Zynsampler is a fairly feature rich sampler but only handles one audio file at a time so, to spread different samples across the keyboard would require using a soundfont which is fun (if a little time consuming) to create and a great solution for this. Fluidsynth engine in zynthian will be your choice.

To play single, long format audio (like a minute or more) then zynsampler works best.

To perform simple manipulation of single samples (top, tail, envelope, level, splice) zynsampler works. It can do sample splices per MIDI note, varispeed, pitch shift, time/frequency shifting, looping, etc. As @jofemodo says, there are improvements we want to make and it doesn’t scale well, i.e. you can’t run a lot of instances of zynsampler. Fluidsynth does scale very well. It is fine to run 16 instances without bothering a zynthian V5.

We are improving the docs but you can read about the engines here.

1 Like
17

Everything I’ve read and now seen has put me at ease.

Zynthian seems like a dream bit of gear and just wanted to make sure.

Looking forward to building this at some point before December.

Just ordered an 8gb Pi5, and so it begins.

Thanks for all of the help.

Cheers
J

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