Strymon Volante Synth Demo

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dawman
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Strymon Volante Synth Demo

Post by dawman »

Love my Strymon Pedals but think I’m selling my Timeline to get a Volante.

The Looping features plus the SHARC ADSP-21379 Chip allows for 300 presets that can already be Loops that you can play in reverse over the top of.
Usually the demos are Guitar players but this cat always has lots of different synths and does pretty good demos because I don’t have to listen to some dude talking so much I fast forward.

Yaya John did you get one yet?

https://youtu.be/D26gOe5j6PE
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t_tangent
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Re: Strymon Volante Synth Demo

Post by t_tangent »

Sounds cool, jimmy. just watched that demo vid. Impressive.
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yayajohn
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Re: Strymon Volante Synth Demo

Post by yayajohn »

No I have the Timeline and Big Sky. Volante looks cool. It's got some features the Timeline doesn't and is def geared towards looping.
Not sure I would give up the Timeline for this though. Keep both maybe?
I have the multiswitch hooked up to my Timeline for looping. Still trying to get on with the timing of it. It's harder than it looks.
The preset looping in Volante is a neat feature but for me I think I would just prefer an onboard sequencer in a synth.
dawman
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Re: Strymon Volante Synth Demo

Post by dawman »

I hate swapping but I can only use so many zones on my Physis K4.

I need to check out the Looper and MSwitch.
I assigned buttons on my K4 but was having difficulty too trying to get the same groove as guys in the video we’re getting.

Yeah Tangent, the guy has other vids that he does where he just jams and doesn’t talk yu to sleep.
Great synths too.
dawman
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Re: Strymon Volante Synth Demo

Post by dawman »

I guess I can always create another zone, and power the extra controller from one of the many Physis K4 USB Ports.
Then MIDI to the Strymon using one of these customized controllers designed for certain tasks.
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https://youtu.be/S6O0Io2BVRo

https://www.indiegogo.com/projects/mine-s

May as well get the 32 Module version.
The Double Button Module is great for holding down 2 footswitches on say Tap, and then Reverse.
Reading the manuals now.
Strymon MIDI Control is pretty extensive,

Guess we’ll see wassup.
borg
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Re: Strymon Volante Synth Demo

Post by borg »

Where timing is critical (like when looping with sequenced material), I trigger the actions on both my loopers (TimeLine and Ocean Machine) with midi notes from Ableton Live, and in the near future maybe from an OctaTrack. Both are insanely complex loopers as well (I mean Live and OT).


Works really well! Look up the note numbers or CCs in the respective manuals. I see the Volante has Midi sockets, so that should work.
When just doing the guitar ambient noodling, I do it by foot. My timing has always been smelly, but a bit of practice goes a long way. The extra switches for the TimeLine are fun, yeah! Layer upon layer upon layer... with a few reversed passes in between, and then bam, you put it in half speed... It always sounds good on the TimeLine.

The TimeLine does look much more versatile to me, although the demo reveals Volante has some neat tricks you probably can't do on a TL.
andy
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yayajohn
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Re: Strymon Volante Synth Demo

Post by yayajohn »

Some great looping tips there Borg! esp for people like me who are foot spastic.

JV, that Mine-S looks really cool. Def signals a new wave of next gen controllers.
Pricey though and the first thing that came to my mind is whether customizing a layout is worth the extra $$
as opposed to just buying something like this: https://reverb.com/p/novation-zero-sl-mkii
I'm most likely missing some very important new feature and with your line of work, customization is probably a pretty important aspect.
dawman
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Re: Strymon Volante Synth Demo

Post by dawman »

Yeah they’re way too pricey and thanks for the Reverb hook up.
Never knew they made a keyless Controller.
For a buck thirty four I think I’ll get one of those.

Borg can you get your TL to loop in Time without missing a beat?
I’m using mine as you described but it seems awkward, but it’s possibly because Ive got it coming off of a MIDI Solutions Router.
I’ll hook up to it directly and try again.
I use the Reverse Delay Preset and it sounds great but reversing audio in with the looper sounded great in some demos.

Cheerz
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Peter Drake
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Re: Strymon Volante Synth Demo

Post by Peter Drake »

I'm more of a recording guy, but I thought I'd step in here on controllers. I've been very happy with the DJ Tech Tools MIDI Fighter Twister. Built very sturdy, super flexible programming, and I can really set up the colors and knobs to instantly know what to reach for and what's doing what.
https://store.djtechtools.com/products/ ... er-twister
dawman
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Re: Strymon Volante Synth Demo

Post by dawman »

Wow, what a cool compact controller.
Can’t believe I’ve never seen that, and I use all of their Knob and Fader Cabs on my Physis K4.
Nice sticky rubber knobs and faders come in handy on sweaty stages where they still use those ancient 1000 watt PAR Lamps that make my scalp smoke.

Thanks Peter
borg
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Re: Strymon Volante Synth Demo

Post by borg »

dawman wrote: Thu Aug 22, 2019 4:27 pm Borg can you get your TL to loop in Time without missing a beat?
I’m using mine as you described but it seems awkward, but it’s possibly because Ive got it coming off of a MIDI Solutions Router.
I’ll hook up to it directly and try again.
As mentioned before, when doing solo guitar ambient, I just use the switches on the TL and rely on my own crooked timing, but when playing along sequenced material, I use the next setup:

This is all done from the midi controller for clarity, you can still use the switches on the TL together with the midi signals.

I set up several clips on a midi track in Ableton Live, one for each looper function of the TimeLine (rec/dub, play, stop, rev, oct, undo, redo) and draw in one note per clip (look up which note does what in the manual, you can use CCs too). So when clip 1 is fired, the TL will start recording, when clip 2 is fired, well, the TL goes from rec to play, ...
I assign these clips to my midi foot controller.
If you know Ableton, you'll understand that when firing a clip, it will start playing according to your quantization settings. I usually set this to 1bar (or 1/4th). So, when I press the button assigned to my 'rec clip' on the foot controller, the 'rec clip' starts playing in time with the sequence, and that should trigger the TL to record. When you're phrase ends, you press the rec or play button to close the loop. This will of course follow the synchronization you set up (normally clips will follow the global Q, but you can give each clip its own launch Q).

Important!!!:
In the above 'normal situation' example, all clips are short, non looping clips (with just one function per clip/button), for obvious reasons (in normal situations you want the command to be sent just once). You can set up your clips in various ways, of course. Some examples:

A non looping four bar clip with note 0 on the first beat of bar 1, and note 2 and 14 on the first beat of bar 3, will start recording when the clip fires, and in time with your sequence, will end the recording after two bars, put the looper in play mode and immediately reverses the loop.

A looping eight bar clip, note 0 on 1.1.1, note 2 on 5.1.1 will start recording when fired, goes into play mode after four bars, and goes into overdub mode when it gets back at 1.1.1, goes out of overdub at 5.1.1 and so on until the clip is stopped.
Set up another, lets say, one bar clip, with note 2 put on every beat. If you fire this clip, the TL will restart the loop on every quarter note.
Duplicate this clip, and double its length. So you have a 2bar clip with 8 quarter notes. Now set this up that it starts on 1.1.1 but only loops the second bar. Put one note 16 at the begin of the clip (so it won't be triggered again when the clip loops the second bar) and you'll get the quarter notes, but with the half speed sound.

Or something easy: Do your recording the usual way with the TL switches, send note 2 from whatever source to the TL and it will play the loop from the beginning.

Lots of possibilities to set up your clips... If your playing along a finished song, you can even map out the entire track with lots of trickery (not that I have tried, but possible for sure. It will become tricky when reversing and going in and out of half/full speed).
You need some kind of sequencer of course for this workflow.

What's awkward Jimmy? I guess every midi stream has a bit of latency, but I haven't noticed anything odd. Whatever latency is being introduced when starting a recording, will be practically the same when going into the loop, so that evens out. And if there is a tiny discrepancy (maybe 1 or 2 ms) it will be far better than my lousy timing. Such an issue can be tackled by placing the 'play note' on every spot you want the loop to restart.

For convenience, I'll put the notes here (like I said, you can also use CCs, look 'm up)

Record note 0, velocity > 0
Play note 2, velocity > 0
Stop note 4, velocity > 0
Reverse (toggle) note 14, velocity > 0
Full/Half Speed (toggle) note 16, velocity > 0
Pre/Post (toggle) note 17, velocity > 0
Undo (to initial loop) note 7, velocity > 0
Redo note 9, velocity > 0
Reverse (absolute) note 103, velocity = 127
Forward (absolute) note 103, velocity = 0
Half Speed (absolute) note 104, velocity = 127
Full Speed (absolute) note 104, velocity = 0


If you're into Bob Ross... A guy that could have been Bob's brother has this youtube channel Chords of Orion. Guitar oriented, but all about looping. Covers lots of devices, like Volante and TL. Funny as hell when stoned...
andy
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borg
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Re: Strymon Volante Synth Demo

Post by borg »

As we're talking loopers and pedals... I recently got this little box: the Zoia
Fun and very smart device, and exactly what many scope users have asked for years: a small scale standalone Xite.
It has the AD Blackfin processor and you can make it do anything you want within its limits. It basically is a hardware version of our Modular.
There are 80+ modules, and the list is continuously growing, ranging from simple VCAs and gates, osc, lfo's and envelopes, looper buffers,... up to pro grade reverbs.
So you can build anything you want (and download lots of (user) patches from their site)! It can be just one guitar effect, to a highly customized multi fx pedal board, or a midi sequencer, or a CV sequencer (yes, it has CV/gate out/in as well as MIDI i/o), or a synth/drum machine,...
Even combinations, if you watch your cycles.
The rubber pads are basically your modular shell, and you throw modules in and patch 'm up anyway you want. It is pretty straightforward if you watch a tutorial with the thing before you. In fact, seasoned Modular patchers would be up and running in no time. I shouldn't show this to atOm, he'd go nuts and I wouldn't see it again. I need to catch up on the true modular power: logic gates and triggers, comparators and stuff. That's where the true power of this device shines. I've come up with some nice fx chains, made a few basic synths, adapted factory/user patches to my personal needs, but the sequencing stuff and smart switching mechanisms are a bit over my head atm.

Not perfect, but is a very smart design. And hopefully they will come up with an editor of some sorts in the future. They send out small updates with a new module, bug fix and/or additional functionality very regularly. Apples and oranges (although not entirely), but something scope users can only dream of. I wonder what happens at SC HQ from time to time... It must be something very big and all fresh. Otherwise, I see no reason to not give the restless masses a bug fix now and then. Even for the one man show SC is. Like a 'hey, here is the Minimax without the CC preset bug'. There's always a reason, lost SDK files, no time, no knowhow... But wait, sun is shining outside... laterz!
andy
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dawman
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Re: Strymon Volante Synth Demo

Post by dawman »

God News.
Seeing your success caused me to investigate my rig and once I set the Routers outputs to default (software programming tool) everything worked great.

One of the MIDI Solutions Router outputs had triggered SysEx strings for my old SE-1Xs that added delay to all data sent.
I just gave up another Zone on my Physis K4 and it’s own MIDI Output.
My controller is actually vastly superior to hands on operation as I can tap a single button and send out 8 commands.

My reverse synth stuff sounds like Hendrix on Are You Experienced.

Sure glad I come here and embarrass myself.
I can be myself, which is just a cat who knows Scope and has some chops.
On other forums I got these chumps fooled into thinking Im really smart, plus I enjoy the praise.
I even tell them please....stay seated when they cheer me on..
dawman
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Re: Strymon Volante Synth Demo

Post by dawman »

Seems I was misled about the Volante storage and recall resources.

My main necessity is to call up loops in real time via PrgmChng messages.
Strymons don’t have that capability.

So after careful research I found the ultimate Looper with memory for 100 loops pre recorded.
You can reverse loops and store that so it’s recalled.
That really helps when you know there’s a song where you want bars 7 and 8 to have a reversed 2 bar phrase.
You think in your head reverse so you record the first two bars leaving 3-8 blank.
Then you reverse it so now you reversed lick is on the 7th and 8th bar.

Basically how Hendrix pulled off such cool solos on the LPs.
Yu must think in reverse.

But the EHX 95000 is a one stop shop.
Used on eBay for 365 shipped, not too expensive.
I’ll automate it with MIDI since it’s spec’d out really well.
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yayajohn
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Re: Strymon Volante Synth Demo

Post by yayajohn »

That one looks like a keeper. EHX make really solid gear. Nice features, I esp dig the micro SD slot
dawman
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Re: Strymon Volante Synth Demo

Post by dawman »

Each loop recallable via MIDI PrgmChng messages, and if your drummer is a little too excited prior to the loop launch, just tap in the tempo.
If he has just decent timing your fine.
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Re: Strymon Volante Synth Demo

Post by dawman »

I’m really liking this little gem.
Brand new, just released first 100.

https://youtu.be/aoCqB-5Viyc
borg
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Re: Strymon Volante Synth Demo

Post by borg »

Had my eye on the EHX looper as well for a while. Have you seen this: https://www.headrushfx.com/products/looperboard ? Looks mighty!
andy
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dawman
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Re: Strymon Volante Synth Demo

Post by dawman »

Yeah the prices on those just dropped drastically too.

I’ll be grabbing one of these sometime but used off of eBay or Reverb.
Reverb is a lame site though.
You need to really dig through the items because people dealers pay extra for searches to show their products.
Like everything else in the virtual world, starts off great, then gets hijacked by profiteers.

Cheerz
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yayajohn
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Re: Strymon Volante Synth Demo

Post by yayajohn »

:wink: thanks for the info guys. I had no idea any of these products existed. I guess the Boss 505 is not the king anymore
It's kind of insane how elaborate some of these pedals have become these days.
Careful or you'll turn you into this
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Personally, I like Strymon's approach with the multiswitch separate. Foot switches on the floor - knobs within arms reach.
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