tube synths

[Eric Barbour]

> 1. Why 8bit 22khz? If he wants to show off the sound of his synth,
>    this is pretty low resolution.

It is the fastest sample rate this old Mac does.
Besides, I wanted to keep their size down to
reason. People complain about ANY sound you put
on a web page--it doesn't sound good, it's too
long, it's too short......you name it, I've gotten it.

GET THE CD before you start opinionizing, please.

>    For one thing, there is a pronounced
>    hiss to the samples, and I can't tell if they're an artifact of
>    the sampling rate or part of the actual synth sound.

"Hiss"? What do you expect from 8 bits? There is a little
noise in the prototype, that will be reduced in the final version.
The thyratron oscillator has some inherent noise, but it is different
in quality from sampling artifacts. It's all part of the beast.

A tube synthesizer is an eccentric beast, and is intended to be
eccentric. Tubes, warts and all. If I were trying to build a
perfect synth, I'd be Juergen Haible......

And just what IS a perfect synth, anyway??

 
> 2. All of the waveforms have a severe negative bias -- they range
>    almost entirely from zero down to a negative sample value.  If this
>    isn't an inadvertent side effect of the way the samples were recorded,
>    I have to wonder why Mr. Barbour didn't AC couple the output to
>    eliminate this voltage bias.

I DID, friend. THAT IS WHAT COMES OUT OF THE
INSTRUMENT. There is NO DC bias on the output.

 
> 3. The examples are too short to give you any notion of the character
>    of the machine.  

And if I make them long, people complain how long
and slow to download they are. I'm not going to
use a lossy-compression scheme, because then people
complain about the sound quality. An 8-bit .wav seems
like a decent compromise.

Get the demo CD. I'm fighting with the contributors
right now--but we should be sending it to the mastering
plant May 31.

 
> 4. That being said, the samples don't sound that different from my
>    juno60 when I run it through an ancient Fisher tube phono pre-amp.
>    I paid $5 for the Fisher at a garage sale.  This leads me to believe
>    that the Phattytron is a phenomenally expensive box with very little
>    practical application.

You are entitled to your opinion. Bear in mind that I feel you
are being UNFAIR by broadcasting it to this list before you
have heard more of the instrument. I expect you to be reasonable
and say ON THE LIST that you are reserving further judgement for
the CD, or a chance to try the thing with your own hands.

>  There are a number of tube preamp and distortion
>    devices on the market.

Most of which are not even good tube distortion
devices.

>    Now if you read Mr. Barbour's jeremiad against
>    John Simonton (http://www.metasonix.com/paiadumb.htm) he may claim that
>    all of these devices are crap because they starve the tubes for voltage.
>    But what I've heard sounds pretty decent.

Not to me, or to anyone who's heard really good tube
studio equipment. Your idea of good tube sound is a
piece of yard-sale junk......is that the definition of
good sound---cheap price?
 
> It is a shame in my opinion that Mr. Barbour has chosen to be rude and
> confrontational in his posts to AH.  When I read through the literature
> on his web page, it seems to me that he may have valid points to make,
> which are obscured by the condescending and combative tone he chooses
> to write with.
> kent williams -- kent at avalon.net ICQ:33001909

My combative tone is entirely stirred by Paul Perry's snide
attack back in February...and the subsequent dismissal by
some members of this list. I would not be so combative
if so damn many of the AH and Synth-DIY list members weren't
so willing to denigrate me, and my product, BEFORE
it is even ready to sell.

I would appreciate it if you posted this message to Synth-DIY--I've
got many things to do, and listening to members of those
lists whining about my attitude is non-productive. So I got off
both it and AH.