Synth1 random preset generator, 23/03/2009

Introduction

Synth1 is my favorite free software synthesizer to this date. There are a lot of preset banks available on the web. I had a look at the preset format and thought it would be easy to generate random presets if I could figure out how the values are stored. I decided to write a small Java application that can generate random presets. You can also visit the blog: BLOG.

Download and install

  1. DOWNLOAD it here synth1_generator_beta_1.zip
  2. Unzip/Extract the downloaded zip file to a folder of your choice.
  3. Read the readme.txt file.

Remember it is my current test program not a final and fully working version, and BEWARE it overwrites existing files in the specified destination folder. So think about selecting a free bank folder, or make a BACKUP.

Screenshot

Synth1 and the generator

Present and future

At this time the program is very simple but is already quite modular due to the XML files you can modify. The next big step will be to clean the code and release it as open source, I think this small application has a lot of potential, it could generate random presets for many VSTs if the code source can be modified.

How can I obtain interesting results ?

Try to hybridize presets that are close to each other, like two similar pads. This may generate many variations of those presets. Avoid hybridizing two very distinct presets, the results will be too experimental. Don't forget that you can save the generated presets in another bank. Also think about hybridizing the random presets themselves with other sounds or among themselves...

Documentation

You can find some documentation inside the xml configuration files. I am not satisfied with the current modularity, but it is fairly easy to use right now. Also check the official documentation of Synth1.

Program steps

  1. The program starts.
  2. It reads config.txt (it's a .properties file) to get your general configuration
  3. It loads the default preset specified the config file
  4. It reads ranges.xml to get your ranges
  5. It reads controls.xml to link desired controls to ranges
  6. It is ready to generate presets in the directory specified in config.xml
  7. It waits for the user to click a button
  8. If the user clicks on Generate, it will generate many random presets by writing controls numbers and their associated values (that are generated randomly according to your ranges).
  9. If a control was not specified it just takes the value from the default preset, so you could use the default preset in interesting ways…

Synth1

Was made by Ichiro Toda and is a free VST Clavia Nordlead like synth: Offical site of Synth1 Offical manual of Synth1