Partita: November 2009

You probably came to this blog after having seen the announce I post in the KVR Forum dedicated to ZynAddSubFX, therefore no need to tell what is the purpose of these pages. Otherwise, please read the previous article in this blog...

Today I'd like to know whether you are ready to try this modified version of Paul Nasca software. To help me take my decision(publish or not publish... my customized version), please post here a reply: if there are many requests, I'll put a link to a downloading page.

But before, you should be aware of some limitations of that customization: read on...

What you will not find in Partita

Because it is a version aiming to fill my personal needs, Partita has no GUI for the ADDSynth and SUBSynth front-end that are part of ZynAddSubFX official release. Why? Because, I think that the PADSynth algorithm is so powerful that they are not really useful. With PADSynth, it's much more easy to create beautiful sounds than with ADD and SUBsynth algorithms.
As it should be evident, it's a version where the Beginner interface have been discarded: only the Advance user interface has been revamped.
I'm not aware of the incidence of my modifications on the VST plugin version: I'm not using it!

What you will find in Partita and not in ZynAddSubFX

You will find more than a revamped interface with a clear design which helps to understand and control at a glance the parameters of your sounds. I have added some functionalities that you could find helpful:

All numeric parameters display their value, hence you have a much more fine grain control other them than in the original GUI designed by Paul. I extensively use sliders to modify them and most parameters can be reset by right-clicking in this slider.
Drop-down selected parameters have their name written in full length: no cryptic abbreviation!
Parameters have been clearly grouped to understand and visualize how they work together.
The interface has been designed for a much more wider workspace (a 1280x1024 resolution is enough) and all graphs have a wide control area.
Tabs have been used by groups to avoid cluttering of the screen.
Some nice functionalities have been added: you can load a configuration (.cfg) file when you launch the program; a "pedal" mode have been added to virtual keyboard (when the Cpaslock key is on, a slight drag of the mouse keep the note on);and it's a full range virtual keyboard (128 keys).

Otherwise, this Partita version of ZynAddSubFX is based on the git-master release.

And now, please let me know what is opinion (don't forget to have a look at the snapshots posted in the previous article).

If you're interested in musical creation with computer and are found of Linux operating system you probably have sometimes heard about ZynAddSubFX, a software created seven years ago by Paul Nasca. I do like this soft, even if I hadn't, till recently, a lot of time to use it extensively. It has an amazing power to create complex and lively sounds. However, its interface is somewhat clumsy, even if Paul has made many efforts to give its user the maximum of possibilities. As now I've plenty of time to practice musical composition (having stopped my professional activities this year !) I decided to create the GUI for ZynAddSubFX I had in mind, to use Paul's software easier and with more pleasure.

As I think other musicians could be interested by this new GUI, I'll be proud to give back to the community the result of my work, as I did with previous open source software I developed. Not to introduce some confusion about the original soft, I named my modified version of ZynAddSubFX Partita (well... you probably guess who is one of my favorite composers now).

So, it will soon be downloadable and all you will have to do to use it is to compile it on your computer. But in the mean time, I post some snapshots to give you an idea of its look.

And remember, it's only the front-end, the engine inside is entirely the great work of Paul Nasca and the developers that, now, help him to continue this wonderful project.

MASTER WINDOW