I think “simulate” would’ve been a more accurate word than “build”.
They miss out how not-square the "square wave" is for a start. Its pulsewidth varies wildly across the compass.
Building a TB-303 from Scratch
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Re: Building a TB-303 from Scratch
#42Re: Building a TB-303 from Scratch
#43Once you hear analog perfect imperfection, it is hard to go back to emulators. No words can describe the feeling of original Yamaha cs-80. It is very unfortunate as there is no true alternative to a 80kg, age issues ridden, ultra expensive antique device.
Well, Deckards Dream comes pretty close to attaining a modern analog manifestation of the CS80 ideal: https://black-corporation.com/shop/ And, well, its a lot more feasible to gig with, by comparison.
It sounds different but it is great in its own right and priced adequately to how amazing it sounds. Maybe 'alternative' is a wrong word. I think I meant 1:1 replica.
Also it doesn't come with ring modulator nor ribbon. I think black corp synthesizers are inspired by the original vintage devices and are great on their own but there are justified reasons to also avoid them mostly because of common issues that arise when you buy a niche product from a tiny company thousands of kilometers away.
Re: Building a TB-303 from Scratch
#44I think “simulate” would’ve been a more accurate word than “build”.
They miss out how not-square the "square wave" is for a start. Its pulsewidth varies wildly across the compass.
I think you're right. We have a `pwm(hz,width)`[0] but I didn't try it. Was more focused on the ramp/sawtooth. Can't decide which one sounds better.
Re: Building a TB-303 from Scratch
#45I built one for 303 Day! https://tnn1t1s.github.io/day-303/303.html ... comparing notes.
this is awesome, thank you for sharing!
Re: Building a TB-303 from Scratch
#46It warms my heart to see the 303 getting a renaissance
I love seeing so many brilliant creatives throwing their talents at the 303 - hardware hackers, software writers, etc.
Re: Building a TB-303 from Scratch
#47The UI for loopmaster looks really good. The color scheme is really pleasing to look at and it is easy to jump right in and start editing stuff.
I've owned a bunch of different synthesizers and used a bunch of DAWs over the years and it was clear to me where I needed to make my edits to affect the signal chain.
We do real-time client-side audio processing in Emurse, and there were definitely a bunch of challenges to overcome there, so it would be interesting to hear more about what went into building the tool.
Re: Building a TB-303 from Scratch
#48I built one for 303 Day! https://tnn1t1s.github.io/day-303/303.html ... comparing notes.
this is awesome, thank you for sharing!
thanks - it was really fun to build. I (well claude and I) focused on being very accurate. https://tnn1t1s.github.io/day-303/about.html
Re: Building a TB-303 from Scratch
#49The UI for loopmaster looks really good. The color scheme is really pleasing to look at and it is easy to jump right in and start editing stuff. I've owned a bunch of different synthesizers and used a bunch of DAWs over the years and it was clear to me where I needed to make my edits to affect the signal chain. We do real-time client-side audio processing in Emurse, and there were definitely a bunch of challenges to…
Thank you!
Challenging would be an understatement. Had to create an editor from scratch in canvas to support the inline visuals, then a DSL that generates the code for each permutation of audio and scalar parameters, then the language itself which is Turing complete and controls the whole thing in a VM, choosing the optimal permutation for each case, and all the edits/recompilation be done in few ms to not distrupt the experience, all across a thread (the WebAudio AudioWorklet). The audio engine is in WebAssembly as it was the only way to get the performance needed. You can check out the code[0], the project is open-source!
Re: Building a TB-303 from Scratch
#50The fun thing was the Roland Sync. You could sync up all the TB-303, TB-909 and all the others with a 5-pole DIN cable. The sync was badly implemented. It lagged, it had latency. However! As soon as you cabled all together their imperfections added up and they started to groove like nothing that has been heard before.
Owner of all (ALL!!) the classic Roland x0x boxes here, which are connected together using DIN Sync - the sync was not badly implemented at all - they sync together perfectly.
The sequencers in each of the machines have a bit of nuance, which is where that famous groove comes from!
You might be confusing this with the sometimes hilarious midi timing of the 909 and 707.