News for all you synth explorers , always after something else different.....

http://www.stillwellaudio.com/?page_id=37

Olga

a communiqué from one of the developer guys reveals....

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Olga is a virtual analogue that combines very clever maths (unstable waveform generation, multi-point signal path saturation) with a dirty 'character' sound and some wilful quirks (Russian labelling, silly marketing acronyms, rubber duck).

Like all our plugins, Olga comes as a 100% fully functional and un-expiring trial.

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I'll be running some trials tomorrow.

I'll let you all know what I think afterwards...

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if you don't know who i am, i aint gonna tell you.

Very nice synth. After only a few minutes of playing I created some fantastic, unique sounds I couldn't have created with my current synths.

Unfortunately there doesn't seem to be a Mac VST version.

Also, as I haven't yet read the manual and I don't understand Russian it's a bit tricky to quickly see what everything does.

Now the big question, ash tray or lollypops?

Hi! We're elated to see Olga and SOS in the same browser window, it's like taking a legitimacy shower. Er...

We could do OSX VST builds -- we're mostly set up for it -- but I was under the impression that Mac hosts that support VST but not AU were thin on the ground, whereas plenty of hosts support AU but not VST. Is that a wrong assessment?

We're coming from the PC world so please forgive our Maccy contextual innocence.

Thanks!

I don't even take notice of Mac VST format - it's often because they are old plugins that never made an official OSX transition.

Some devs keep the Mac VST format alive, but I think it's largely only Cubase that doesn't support Audio Units on the Mac - is that still true?

Audio Units are the de facto standard Mac audio plugin format - Cubase refuse to support it out of stubborness to what emagic did to them over plugin formats, but I can't say Steinberg have really showed that much commitment to the Mac platform anyway - time and again I hear comments that Cubase does not perform well on the Mac. I don't have personal experience though, so how accurate that it is I'm not totally sure.

So if Cubase on the Mac is important, then make a Mac VST. Otherwise, it's about the only decent modern audio software on the Mac that doesn't support AU...

TBH I'd hardly use the Mac VST version anyway. There's just sometimes (very occasionally) when it's useful to have that option.

Quote desmond:

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I hear comments that Cubase does not perform well on the Mac. I don't have personal experience though

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And neither I fear do many of the people making such comments.

It works great here.

Good point re the plugin formats. I used to think VST was the defacto standard, across platforms. But that seems to be kinda changing.

Quote schwa:

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plenty of hosts support AU but not VST.

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That's correct. AU is now the de facto standard.

Hey, this is a cool synth. I like it - A LOT! I think I'll have to use it on my next project, just put some presets through an Eventide pitch shifter. Bloody hell! This sounds lovely.

Max! That company look awesome, I want every single one of there plugins! My word... do you use any of them regularly? Any recommendations?

Lau

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P.I.G.L.E.T - where is polly?

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I don't understand Russian it's a bit tricky to quickly see what everything does

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ahh, this makes it more fun...

I like this synth.. sounds really nice

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www.Lozjackson.com

if you read the manual there's a way of getting english labels.

I won't say how, as the developers actually WANT you to read the manual

both in terms of learning the package, and to give any feedback on the manual itself.....

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if you don't know who i am, i aint gonna tell you.

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Very nice synth. After only a few minutes of playing I created some fantastic, unique sounds I couldn't have created with my current synths.

Unfortunately there doesn't seem to be a Mac VST version.

Also, as I haven't yet read the manual and I don't understand Russian it's a bit tricky to quickly see what everything does.

Now the big question, ash tray or lollypops?

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This reminds me, must install my VST - AU wrapper plug-in...

Now to download the synth!

Hold on... is there no RTAS versions? How can i use it with PT?

FXpansion are your friends I guess.

AU is the majority choice now for plug in development on a Mac....

Digidesign should pull their fingers out and incorporate the standard , but they probably won't.

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if you don't know who i am, i aint gonna tell you.

Quote Max!:

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Digidesign should pull their fingers out and incorporate the standard , but they probably won't.

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Ditto Steinberg.

So, after all the good comments I grabbed this synth for a play. While I'm restarting Logic, I have a nose through the manual - *excellent* job on the manual chaps, beautifully presented with a touch of humour - I really appreciate it when devs pour some care and love into the manuals - makes me feel really good about the product.

But alas, it won't load for me:- "Failed to load Audio Unit. Error -10110)"

PPC G4 1.25 AIBook, Logic 8.0.1, OSX 10.4.10

I'll try some other hosts and see if I get any joy...

Edit: Ok, it works under Live 6. Impressive synth, and interesting. Capable of very aggressive sounding patches - it's another punk analog, methinks!
Filter is very nice, filter resonance gets really nasty, especially in conjunction with the saturation. It's definitely one of the synths where it feels mor alive, like it's got electricity coursing through it's modules - I like impOSCar for this reason. CPU usage is surprisingly light.

The graphics and design are awesome, lots of attention to detail but not getting in the way of usability. I like the different stuff you can stick on the panel, and the labelling is a nice touch. The GUI layout options are cool, although I did miss some kind of graphic readout or parameters while adjusting the knobs - I found it difficult to get knobs to specific values, like the oscillator pitch sliders, the pitch bend range knobs and so on.

I've noticed some minor issues (pitch wheel is non-interpolated when using the gui, very steppy, some clicks when changing the delay parameters, some other minor stuff that I'm sure loads of other people have already noticed - but then, I'm not beta testing this synth, so I won't go into that too deeply!

So all in all, a very positive first impression (apart from the Logic8 thing). I'll spend a little more time with it, to see how it responds and sinks in...

Thumbs up!

Quote desmond:

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it's another punk analog, methinks!

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Actually, that's only one way of looking at it. There is a lot more to this little beauty.

My initial thoughts were also "Yeah, right, yet another grungy pseudo-analogue techno noise toy". But when you dig deeper, Olga is also capable of generating complex pads, which have a liveliness that reminds me of my old Xpander. This thing really breathes and pumps and gurgles - I love it. I mentioned putting it through a pitch shifter. This showed that Olga produces some very nicely modulated overtones, which I haven't heard quite like that from any other virtual analogue. It's the first synth that makes me want to buy a hardware controller, and go wild with it.

Thanks for the kind words from those we've got up and running so far, making some good progress here and Schwa's finding it extremely useful. Cheers!

Especially pleased folk are reading the manual; we do put a lot of work in there and while obviously its preferable to make every function self-explanatory on the interface itself, some things are best explained in the manual. If searching for the English labels is what nudges people to read it, then that seems a good thing provided its not actively annoying. Tricky balancing act, feedback very welcome.

By way of contrast, we've got this plug called Dyno on the PC that really benefits from having 2 pages of its manual read, just so people can get their heads around the concept, they'd only need to read it once... but many, it seems, don't. Mnngghhggghh. Short of going round their studios and begging them to read it with tears streaming down my face, I'm not sure what more can be done. Trying to make manuals a fun and leisurely read seems only fair, perhaps people have got into the habit of not even looking at them because so many in the past been dry / poorly translated / uninformative / overly technical. ANY ideas on this little conundrum?

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The House of White Tie

I've got to be honest I'm guilty of not reading manuals. I have to be pretty desperate if I am going to...

I'm not saying I agree with this, but I do think it is worth considering... and that is producing a series of 'youtube' videos. Each one showing a set of features, and teaching people something new...

The trick is getting the pace right, quickly gloss the easy bits, but give enough time to the tricky bits. Get the combo wrong and people either stop watching on account of it being to simple, or they can't understand the video because its to complex....

Just a thought....

Lau

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P.I.G.L.E.T - where is polly?

Quote White Tie:

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Short of going round their studios and begging them to read it with tears streaming down my face, I'm not sure what more can be done. Trying to make manuals a fun and leisurely read seems only fair, perhaps people have got into the habit of not even looking at them because so many in the past been dry / poorly translated / uninformative / overly technical. ANY ideas on this little conundrum?

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It's a bugbear of mine (but I really like manuals, even to the extent of reading manuals for gear I don't even have). I push the RTFM mantra as much as I can, short of being annoying about it - internet help forums are for help, after all.

But there's a curious phenomenon with manuals, and it's not laziness, poor awareness of the manual, not knowing wher to find it etc etc (though those things are in the mix somewhere). I find there's an absolute, active resistence for people looking in the manuals, even when they know the answer is in there.

To the point where people will, rather than load up the PDF of the manual and look in the contents or enter a search term and take five minutes to scan through the results, they will go to their internet computer, find a forum, register that forum, wait for the registration confirmation, confirm registration, compose a new post with a help request, post it, then wait for half an hour to the rest of the evening for a response, in the hope it will tell them the answer to their issue.

I find this *bizarre* in the extreme!!

The psychology of this syndrome is fascinating. There seems to be a general reluctance to look in the manual, even when the manual is small, helpfully written, or even when the person knows the answers will be in there. It's like there is an expectation that all manuals are unhelpful, filled with technobabble, intended for alien-uber-geeks and not mere normal people.

Even more than that, it's almost like resorting to going to the manual is an admission of failure - "I'm so stupid I can't figure it out, so I'm going to have to go to the manual". Like the manual is only there for *really* stupid people. So I'll avoid admitting I'm stupid, and go and ask on the internet instead (where you are now admitting in public you *are* stupid, rather than in the privacy of your own company).

Now, I can understand that for a new user, sitting with a paper manual of 1200 pages for a new complex application, that finding an answer to a specific issue is difficult - even searching is tricky because without knowing some terminology, finding what you want is tricky.

And very few people work through the getting started tutorials on complex applications, even though they are *designed* to get you acquainted with the concepts and workflows you'll *need* to understand to get up and running effectively - it takes too long, people want to load up the application and go, and then they get frsutrated when they miss some fundamental concept and have to go internet-hunting and problem solve the issue. Hence you get a million newbie posts on forums like "I just got Logic and I've got no sound" - really fundamental things.

So what can be done about this?

It's a real uphill struggle. Manufacturers know that people don't read manuals, so they often can't be bothered putting decent resources into them, so they turn out crap. People see that manuals are crap, and so don't bother reading them. It's a self-perpetuating cycle.

I think if I was doing a manual for a new product, I'd actually make the main "manual" something really light, sexy and glossy, like a magazine brochure - a couple of pages long, attractive to look at, bullet points of key things.

I would have a separate reference manual if one is needed, but probably a searchable PDF only. This is the one most people are going to avoid digging into. Reference manuals are organised kinda backwards to how most people work - they reference the functions, and how to use them. Most people are goal orientated - "I want to do this, tell me how/what functions I need to do it".

So, I'd try to take this approach in the rest of my documentation, and make it as easy to see and navigate as possible.

Lastly, video tutorials are great for the people that just can't be bothered, or find it difficult to mentally relate abstract concepts in print into the real world - this seems to be an increasing phenomenon too. Many people don't *want* to understand what it is they are doing, they just want to be able to do it.

Man, I could go on for years about this subject, but I'll save the typing.

Rest assured that there *are* some people out there that read, and really appreciate a good manual. But I suspect I'm in the minority... and that's certainly evidenced by the queries I see on message boards.

So wherever possible, if the question relates to a function description and the poster is really expecting someone to find and retype the relevant section of the manual for them, I will usually give a one sentence summary of the solution, and refer them to the specific chapter and page numbers of the section in the manual that explains it.

I can only hope that the more people develop their own ability to find solutions for themselves, the world will be a (slightly) better place...

Save the world. Read a manual.

Out.

White Tie, I have one request/suggestion. In Logic 8, Olga looks like this:




How about completing the "wooden" end cheeks? Right now, Olga looks as if her sides were shaved off. The GUI appears somewhat incomplete that way.

I love the gritty look, though!

I have the same problem, under Logic 8, on a G4 running 10.4.10 it does not work and get the same error message as mentioned earlier. Don't have any other hosts though so I can't try it out :-(

Hi folks, I'm very new here and haven't posted much but I just wanted to say I downloaded Olga today and have been having a real blast with her I'm a bass player not a synth/keyboard player but there's some fantastic sounds in here, even just in the presets, I love it.

I have an iMac running Leopard (10.5.2) and I'm currently messing about with Garageband (one day when I grow even older I want Logic). I had no trouble installing and running Olga, took about 10 seconds. Brilliant fun even with a cheap USB keyboard. Had a scan though the manual which is very well put together and easy to read - I look forward to spending more time on that later.

I echo Tui's comment, though, widen the interface graphic a bit to get all the wood in, it'll look even cooler.

Well done to the Schwa and White Tie - I'm so impressed I'm off to register!

Cheers

Neil

Quote K2K Koos:

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Don't have any other hosts though so I can't try it out :-(

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Apple's AULab? Garageband? The Ableton Live demo? Lots of hosts out there...

Really nice soft synth, I love the look of it. As yet I haven't made up my mind whether or not I like the sound as haven't tried putting it into a track yet and seeing how it sits in a mix.

Love the idea behind the manual and think the preset patches are pretty good.

I think I will play further to see if its worth me buying a copy.

Nice to see it here on SOS forum and thank you for the heads up.

This synth sounds amazing! I was looking for something with a different character and along comes OLGA! My only issue so far is that I get popping in the release section at times. It seems to be when one note is interrupted by another or when accidentally striking two adjacent notes. It happens on all patches for me. I'll troubleshoot and contact the developer later. All I can say is, WOW! I really like this synth. If I can work out my issues, I'm spending my discretionary income for the month.

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"It all seems so stupid, it makes me want to give up, but why should I give up when it all seems so stupid?"

I also found stepping on other controls, such as the filter cutoff, when tweaked with the mouse. I found the poly or unison modes unreliable for me, I'd get overloads and distortion even though the CPU meter was fine (but I was mostly using mono mode which was fine).

Is it just me, or are the envelopes fairly sluggish? I had difficulty getting a fast enough attack time, and wasn't particularly keen on the envelope scaling - as if all the envelopes were linear, or something. I like envelopes where you can change the scaling (for instance, Zebra2 can do this). The envelopes just felt, um, not right for me...

I'll definitely keeping an eye on this though...

Download: 2 mins
Installed: 30 secs
Up and running in Logic: 1 min

Sounds great...

What's not to like?

Oh, another issue. The manual makes specific mention to when you hold notes in mono modes, Olga remembers the pressed keys so you can release them and go back to the correct keys in order - *every* decent synth should do this in my book, and ones that don't have a flawed keyboard handling architecture... but this is broken, or there is a bug here.

In the patch, "By The Numbers", if I hold a note, then hold a second note, then release that second note, often Olga forgets the first note is still being held and the sound stops. Once this has been triggered, every first press is forgotten for a while, and then it goes back to working properly again for a while, before breaking again.

Oh - I didn't realise there were any presets at first - as I can't use it in Logic, I was using it in Live 6, and no presets show up in the preset menus.

If this sounds like I'm being critical of Olga I'm not - just reporting issues as I find them. I realise it's still in beta stage

Oh - independent pitch bend ranges on each oscillator is a nice feature, but most of the time for musical purposes you are going to want them both set to the same. It would therefore be nice to either have a modifier key (like shift) so that when you shift-drag the knobs, both move together, or have them linked by default, and only become unlinked and be able to be changed independently by holding a modifier key.

And the phaser is very

All of this feedback is hugely valuable to us, thank you all very much for your comments so far. We are actively addressing all of the bugs and other issues that have been identified here (starting with the biggest one, which is that the dang thing doesn't run in Logic on PPC machines).

Thanks again for helping!

It won't load in Digital Performer at all. Running 5.13 Mac Intel.

I do like this thing Nice one John.

Been a bit deeper into the manual, found the language help - very funny!

Almost more fun to leave it in Russian and stumble around blindly just tweaking things. A control surface would be great with this I think - goody, more toys I need to get.

I do get some fairly mighty pops when switching from one preset to another, although they do pop with a lot character and panache I must say.

And still no problems so far in Garageband on the iMac.

Hello fine SOS forum people,

We've made some compatibility progress, the latest Olga AU beta build at http://www.stillwellaudio.com/?page_id=37 ought to work on PPC machines, in Logic, Digital Performer, and everywhere else people have tested so far.

If you try it and see any problems at all, please let us know, that's what betas are for!

Thank you very much.

Working in Logic 8.0.1 PPC here now - good stuff!

same here, the newest version works on a G4, in Logic 8.01 on OSX10.4.11

It sounds great! :-)

Excellent synth! It has a lovely, gritty sound and has given me something new to play with (im usually an avid ES2 or sampling fan in Logic).

I agree about the AU thing, the majority of composing and recording musicians will be using OS X as standard where AU are the standard; i happily dual-boot my Macbook pro into XP Pro on occasion to use Nuendo for recordings as alot of people i work with use that if they're not rich enough for Pro Tools, but everything else is taken care of under OS X.

Basically, you would be limiting your potential user base quite substantially as a plug-in developer if you only produced VST plug-ins.