Right now off the top of my head…if I had the know how…
A waveshaper distortion plugin that allows automation of the waveform of the distortion signal…
I guess parameters for phase shifting, phase morphing, phase multiplier, damping and adsr might make this feasible…I mentioned this before…a while back.
And a hybrid granular…fft spectral morphing sampler…with some simple FM modulation abilities(sine, square, saw, triangle, and custom)…and with time stretch automation available as parameter on the granular side.
^2 probably exists via serum and alchemy…
An upgraded version of the scansynth gl plugin.
Idk why just thought it might be helpful…
I would do it myself but I dont have such know how.
If you watched my mastering vid recently, I jokingly said mutliband clipping was the future of loudness maximization. But actually, I think it is, so I’d want to give that a shot. Like, a 20-30 band clipper.
The other thing I’ve wanted for years is to have a filter mask synthesizer. The idea is you have noise, or crazy granular/fm/am/rm synthesis going on that basically produces noise when it’s all said and done. And then you pass that through a filter that filters it down like something out of izotope RX or the additive “filters” in Harmor so that only harmonics pass through, and you key track that. So you can get as crazy as you want, but it will always be definitively tonal. At that point you’re basically just playing with the phase relationships of the harmonics. I’ve tried to do this myself with both Harmor and Iris, and I can’t quite get either to fall in perfect tune and track that across the keyboard/polyphonically. But, just imagine being able to get as crazy as you want in Harmor and still having that patch work for chords and stuff.
For this I would give Tone2 Icarus a try, it’s also a wavetabler but can do stuff close to this with its granulator resynthesis mode and various FM options (although limited to one slot for every osc). Has waveshapers/distortions/morphing for all oscs and filters.
What I would really like is a mixture between something like Gimp/Krita/Painter and Photosounder/RX - a real in-between program for sound and image editing in which you can paint with tools like in good painting programs, can edit image layers with filters and so on… maybe even with color-coded spectral panning or something similar… Photosounder comes close and is great but limited and mono, RX is really crazy good but more designed for technical work like restauration.
Also, better spectral mangling/morphing VST tools with flexible interfaces and lots of options.
And an AI-based synthesizer that I can just feed with reference sounds and specific controls for each patch I want to make…
I’ve been thinking about this a lot recently as I was planning to get into M4L or some other language.
I’m truly enjoying learning C# and making games so I thought I could mix my hobbies into a giant sinkhole of programming.
Then I realised the size of that sinkhole and gave up, also due to the fact that I could not come up with any idea.
By the way, did you that the Digitakt was developed as a concept in M4L? Then off course redone in different way, but still interesting to know.
Also, if your were to develop a vst or soft synth, what would you use?
This partly exists in one form or another. But let’s just keep these dreams going and forget the realism. I want this ultimate hybrid plugin wrapper/builder. Like in Reaktor you have an ensemble and you can pick things apart, grab processors from one, put them into another ensemble or build something with bunch of blocks from all over the place. Also, think of patcher from FL Studio where you also can design your own UI for a front panel view (or presentation view in Max). But instead, you could go with anything: DAW native plugins and third-party VSTs. You can get away with this on VCV Rack if you have VST-host modules but I want something that helps bit more visually and isn’t based on virtual cables, something you could redesign to your own taste but keep the functionality and do different ways of routing.
Now, the prototype idea. I decide to use oscillators from one VSTi, let’s say Serum because there are some great WT warp modes in it. I could highlight the entire OSC tab in it, like if you’re taking a screenshot of this one area on your screen and add it to my hybrid VST front panel window. You know, a cropped version of original plugin. Then I decide I want some dynamic EQ, I choose FabFilter’s Pro-Q3, again, screengrab things I want to see and modulate, add it to my hybrid where I can resize it and dock it anywhere in that view.
The reason why I would love that is that I hate floating windows. Having everything docked on a single board just makes sense to me. Like you have with Live and its native effect chains on the bottom panel but more verticality. Extra points if you could re-design this hybrid synth/multi-effect visually. Overhaul entire UI, change all dials into same color and to make it look like a completely new self-made VST that is a mix of bunch of other VSTs. Everything is followed by your taste and match your workflow. This means great convenience, you have stuff you really like from one, then some parts from another.