Reducing the size of patches

[Bertix]

I don´t know if this matter, but I noticed that the patches that come with Icarous rarelly are more than 100 kbits of size.
When I try to make some patch, very often I end up with a much biger one 300-500  or more.

The point is that when I play the ones I have made, my DAW often stops.
I did modified the size of the buffer, tried not to use many effects or long reverbs etc like I read but I don´t know what else I can do to solve that.

Am I missing something important??
One of the reasons I chose this software is exactly beause I was able to play the patches without having my not very powerfull computer Ram crashing.

[Markus Krause]

Hello Bertix,

Icarus comes with multicore CPU support. When you load a new patch the second CPU core precalulates data which is needed for the playback later. Depending on the number of waveforms used and your CPU speed this can take from 100ms up to 3 seconds.
The advantage of this method is, that the overall CPU load can be drastically reduced and crackes and CPU spikes are avoided.

To be abe to use multicore CPU support you must enable multithreading/multicore support in your host. Otherwise Icarus can only use one CPU core. You can find details about this in your host's help menu.

A trick to reduce the size of your own patches is to reduce the number of waveforms used: Open the wavetabe editor by clicking EDIT in the osc menu. Then select 'MIX'->'Half size skipped'.

[Bertix]

Thanks Markus!

I´ve checked the DAW and I think it is enabled the multithreading/multicore because in the performance or cpu window are 4 bars moving up and down. In the preferences menu I can not find any way to enable or disable multithreding...

A trick to reduce the size of your own patches is to reduce the number of waveforms used: Open the wavetabe editor by clicking
EDIT in the osc menu. Then select 'MIX'->'Half size skipped'.

That´s nice to know  I will do that Thank you.

I Kwow you must be very bussy and I dont want to bother you or anyone with hundred questions I have about ICARUS capabilities...

Is there another way to learn all those parameters  inside icarus that I don´t understand?
because in the manual I can not find how and what for to use them. There are some tips about some of them but I dont understand many of them.
 For example that one you just told me "half size skipped" in the manual stays only "Half size - Cuts the selection into half" The manual probably is from an older version but anyway I would never imagine that this action can be used to lower the CPU load.Or all those matrix options that I am trying to find out by myself but really don´t know if I am doing somethig wrong or not.
Another example How do I make a keyboard split that split the piano in the key I want. Is it possible? I guess it is. but I don´t know how to make it.

Thanks again Markus.

 

[Markus Krause]

Wavetable synthesis is very powerful. But it takes some time to get into it. A good way to start and understand it is by usining the 'osc synthesis/morph modes' in the oscillator section above the MOPRH knob. When you turn the MORPH knob you can see and hear in realtime what you are doing. Then you can render it to the wavetable by using TOOL->'apply morph'->'Apply morph to wavetable'.

There is also a 'templates' directory with many patches. They contain basic setups for various synthesis modes.

Key split is supported:
Load the patch 'key split' in the templates diretory.
There are two modulation sources 'key slit low' and 'key split high'. They return 0 or 1 depending on the key that you press. In this patch they are routed to osc1 and osc2 volume.

[Bertix]

Thank you again Markus!

I think know it´s getting better the CPU, and I´m able to make small patches. Thanks.
 
I didn´t even noticed there was a templates folder, and appart from the patches is a nice place to get some ideas  to know how to use all the posibilities of Icarus.

It was a little tricky to understand that modulation of "split keyboard" but like the other day, it gave me some more ideas to try other modulations.

I´ll keep in mind all your nice advices.


Keep your nice job!!!