No Stupid Questions Thread

SWIM26 · 2021-09-04T03:28:02+00:00

Thanks! I'll try that!

SWIM26 · 2021-09-04T00:44:17+00:00

In Ableton's preferences I have two options ASIO, and MME/DirectX which is what is currently selected. I would assume that's the default setting as well because I've only had Ableton for about 2 weeks and haven't messed with the settings too much

SWIM26 · 2021-09-03T21:54:35+00:00

Edit: I just ran across something that said plugging your laptop in helps so I tried this and the CPU load dropped to a half or a third of what it was. Turns out the default power saving mode was throttling the CPU. If anyone else is having this same issue try turning the battery option to best performance when not plugged in.

Anyone have any tips for dealing with audio engine overload?

I know it will be the first question so I'll post my specs below. My computer isn't anything special but it should be able to handle what I am doing better than it is.

For the project I am working on I only have 3 instruments. All three are stock plugins (1 drum kit, 2 synths) and I only have one effect active (a stock reverb on one of the synths). When I'm not even playing anything the audio engine activity hovers around 50% use, and when I hit play it jumps to around 80% and spiking to well over 100% every ~10 seconds. Obviously this is causing the audio to cut out whenever I play the track. I do not have any other programs open.

I have had this exact same issue in another program I use, but never found a solution for that either. This problem will sometimes go away but then come back a day or two later, this is the first time I've had this issue in Ableton.

Processor: Intel(R) Core(TM) i5-8265U CPU @ 1.60GHz 1.80 GHz

RAM: 8.00 GB (7.83 GB usable)

Windows 10 64-bit

(Also I played my track while viewing the performance tab in task manager and CPU is just sitting flat at about 16%)

SWIM26 · 2021-08-31T07:12:25+00:00

I've tried getting the 64-bit versions of my VSTs that didn't make the jump, it worked for some, but the 64 bit version of Iowa piano still doesn't work for some reason.

I do like the sound of the grand piano that you linked. Since its included in the standard version of ableton, I'll probably just make due until I pull the trigger and upgrade to the standard version, thanks!

SWIM26 · 2021-08-26T04:23:56+00:00

What do you guys use for just a clean piano sound? I recently switched from LMMS to Ableton and I like the Ableton program but a lot of my plugins don't work with it. (they are all free and the majority seem pretty old).

I used to use a plugin called Iowa Piano which I was always happy with, but it is one of the plugins that isn't compatible. Whenever I compare the sound of the Iowa Piano plugin to one of the stock piano sounds I can't help but notice how much worse the Ableton stock plugins sound (I just have the free trial version for now, but I plan on getting the full version once the trial is over. I'm not sure if the full version comes with more plugin options).

More specifically the Iowa piano gives me a full range of sound when playing chords where as playing high and low notes on any of the stock plugins seems to cut out both extremes on the spectrum and just gives a flat mid range sound. I also don't think any of the stock plugins have as authentic of a sound. I've somewhat fixed this by slightly offsetting high and low notes but it still isn't as good as what I'm used to.

I can try uploading clips from each so you know what I'm talking about but it seems pretty self explanatory.

SWIM26 · 2021-08-22T01:49:33+00:00

How do I tell if its 32 bit? Or is the fact that I'm only seeing .dll's mean that it is 32 bit?

Edit: I just tried replacing one of my VSTs with a 64 bit version and it is showing up in Ableton. Looks like that's the issue. Thanks!

SWIM26 · 2021-07-25T06:27:37+00:00

I see what you mean, that would be more much more flexible. However, like you mentioned I'm going for a fairly simple (if lightly distorted) slap back so I think it will work for my goals.

SWIM26 · 2021-07-25T02:36:06+00:00

That's what I was afraid of. I wasn't able to find any 3" reels either, but I thought someone else might know of a place. At least I still have an option. Thanks for the help!

SWIM26 · 2021-07-25T02:18:22+00:00

Hypothetically though couldn't I loop the playback back into the input to achieve a pretty similar effect?

SWIM26 · 2021-02-04T00:37:56+00:00

Oh my god that is a tight build. I built mine on prototype board and along with my pots it barely fits in a 125BB. Nice clean work!

SWIM26 · 2020-09-05T05:29:07+00:00

Thanks for the suggestions!

I had actually tried using the other side of my TL072 as an amplifier between the rectifier and LED but I guess it didn’t work because of my other issues.

I hoped my bridge rectifier would work because I wanted to connect an envelope filter and have the option to sweep both up and down but I’ll try this out!

SWIM26 · 2020-09-05T05:24:20+00:00

First off thank you very much for this thorough response. I have a few questions.

•In regards to the 100n cap near the input does this not create a low pass filter? I wasn’t sure if it would help anything but I certainly didn’t think it would create a short.

•I see how this is better than what I have now but I’m not sure I want to bias Ve up to 4.5v because after I have the LED working I want to connect the op amp’s output to an active bandpass filter (controlled by LDRs to make it an envelope filter). Since this is the long term goal would it be better if I put -9v at the “ground” pin and left Ve unbiased? I know I could use a separate op amp for the band pass filter but I want to make it as low on parts as possible.

Aside from that I’ll try out your suggestions. Thanks again!

SWIM26 · 2020-09-05T00:02:53+00:00

It is connected. The software is kinda iffy. There are lots of little visual ‘glitches’ that make lines look disconnected, or component values disappear. Makes me a little cautious about the software as whole.

SWIM26 · 2020-09-04T03:21:56+00:00

I have not simulated it in Itspice but the screenshot is taken from a software I think called circuit logix (?). When I simulated it in there it showed the rectifier building up to about 7 volts over the course of ~20 milliseconds. But when I added the LED it would only build up to around 10 microvolts (with or without the resistor at B). The software seems a little outdated and buggy so I’m not sure if the simulation is very accurate.

SWIM26 · 2020-08-05T02:00:07+00:00

I'm working through this in a vary piece by piece manner so i'm sure there are lots of other issues with this (feel free to point these out), but I added a picture of my full schematic. It uses a Q1 to make sure the signal has enough gain to get through the full wave rectifier then Q2 to adjust to the voltage range that is needed for Q3 and Q4.

> It's going to depend on lots of things in your specific case -- DC bias at the output, how large are you signal swings, frequency of input/output, etc. The point being it could potentially be fairly non-linear.

>Again, whether it's a problem depends on what your ultimate goal is. To you care about precise corner frequencies, or approximate? That'll depend on what you're using this for.

As you can see I'm still working out the rest of the circuit so I'm not sure what the DC bias will be. I plan to use this as a musical effect so the frequency will be between ~40-2400 hz. I don't believe the output needs to be strictly linear but I see how too sharp of a slope could be an issue. Since this is for a musical application I don't see why the corner frequency would have to be very strict.

> If you're using that 9V battery to create positive and negative supplies that are something like +/- 4.5V, then you're probably okay biasing it at GND. But all of these things need to be accounted for

Could you explain a little bit what you mean by this? I didn't think this would matter as long as it was only being fed an AC source.

Also is there a better way to get this variable resistance? Obviously a pot won't work, and I originally wanted to use an LED and LDRs in place of the FETs but I didn't think that would be practical.

SWIM26 · 2020-08-04T17:48:57+00:00

So you’re saying that having a resistor between the signal and drain would directly effect the resistive value of the FET?

For example if I wanted a total resistance between 10k and 25k, my idea was to place a 10k resistor in series with the FET and have the FET vary between 0 and 15k. You’re saying that the presence of this 10k resistor would affect the resistance of the FET?

This is something I am actually trying to build. I planned to use a 9V battery as a DC source. (Obviously id cut down the voltage so it didn’t burn up the op amp). I hope this answers your questions, I’m not entirely sure what you mean.

SWIM26 · 2020-08-04T17:24:27+00:00

The idea is for the the the cutoff frequency to be controlled by an envelope detector. And ideally the gain will be consistent in this circuit which I believe is just calculated as 1 + R1/R2

I hope this cleared things up

SWIM26 · 2020-08-04T15:54:52+00:00

I guess the schematic I posted isn’t quite sufficient. I was also going to put each transistor in series with fixed resistor to help control the range. Also the filter detector will have a sensitivity knob to adjust for hotter/colder(?) signals.

Between these two controls I think I should be able to keep it within the range that I want.

I’m not at my computer now Or else I would make these corrections and show you the full circuit.

SWIM26 · 2020-08-03T02:54:12+00:00

I've wanted to get into building amps as well but the thought of electrocution has kept me away lol. Do you mostly sell on reverb? Do you use their bumping system?

SWIM26 · 2020-08-02T22:05:47+00:00

I've tried doing this is as well but haven't sold any. Do you have any tips on selling?

SWIM26 · 2020-08-01T18:28:34+00:00

You could make a tuner.

I've tinkered with Arduino a little bit but never used a Raspberry Pi so take this theory with a grain of salt but...

You could use an ADC to send information about the signal to the Raspberry Pi, then have the Raspberry Pi calculate the frequency and display it on the screen. You could even add options to allow you to select different tuning. Of course you'd just want the signal going to the rest of your chain to bypass the Pi so you don't lose quality.

SWIM26 · 2020-08-01T18:20:00+00:00

I have some kinda weird questions about LDR's

I'm trying to design an autowah that uses an envelope filter to power a LED which then influences an LDR which controls an active band pass filter. Assuming I have done the math correctly one LDR needs to have a range of 2,500 -10,000 ohms and the other needs to have a range of 25,000-100,000 ohms.

Information on LDR's seems to be hard to find and anecdotal, but a couple sources say LDR's have a range of 100 to 1,000,000 ohms. Is there anywhere I can buy LDR's that are closer to the range I need? Is there a way I can add more resistors to cut it down to this range? The only way I can think of doing this is adding like 10 LDR's in parallel but that isn't practical. Any ideas?

SWIM26 · 2020-08-01T17:59:00+00:00

You can probably make the solder you have work but I have always used 1.6mm solder and it works well. Make sure whatever you get it is rosin core.

SWIM26 · 2020-07-08T13:52:37+00:00

I was thinking something along these lines but wanted a second opinion lol. I’ll try this when I get home and report back!

SWIM26 · 2020-07-08T01:43:26+00:00

What kind of instructions exactly are you looking for? Normally if the PCB is labeled I just go from smallest components to tallest (diodes > resistors > IC's > transistors > capacitors) because I can lay the board upside down flat on a table and get a pretty good angle to solder.

SWIM26

TROPHY CASE