Severák studio - my VST plugins

There is a cool thing called virtual studio technology which actually delivers what it promises to you - a virtual recording studio equiped with virtual synths and effects. This is actually very cool, because synths and audio gear are actually very expensive and with VSTs you can save you a lot of money and space.

I actually started to create my own VST plugins. On this page I would like to introduce them.

It’s inspired by Roland Junos, Korg MS-20, Lokomotiv (VST by Archetype instruments) and my own Traveller. It’s designed to be both simple to understand and flexible to use.

Controls are:

• offset (that +0 combobox) to transpose your input
• attack and decay to control envelope
• hold to switch on/off sustain
• mono to switch info fake monophony mode (same as my Traveller uses)
• pulse, saw, sub and noise to mix sound in Juno-escque way
• width to set pulse width of pulse and sub waves
• angle to set saw shape (from saw at strart through triangle at 50% to reverse saw at end)
• det is detune control - when set to anything other than 0 it makes two saw out of one and the second one is detuned by specified amount of cents (actually made this to be able to have that Blade Runner sound)
• quack which enables filter following the envelope
• filter resonance control (next to quack)
• filter cutoff - that large slider on the bottom
• and finally volume knob which can cause clipping when it’s set to max

Traveller is a monophonic synth inspired by Korg Synthe-Bass and its overall simplicity.

It features:

• one oscillator with six different waveforms (two of these are actually PWM-modulated square and one is noise).
• twisted monophony
• traveller slider (filter cutoff).
• slow/instant slider (attack time).
• bump/singing slider (release time).
• hold switch (sustain on/off).
• bite switch (resonance on/off).
• quack switch (filter follows envelope on/off).
• and most importantly - volume knob.

The twist (in monophony) is that while you cannot hold two or more notes, you can hear previous note release while next one kicks in. This is actually implementation defect, but I left it as is because it adds character to the synth.

There are no presets as I believe limitations stimulates creativity but there is demo video to inspire you.

Good to know:

• Don't forget to unpack csound64.dll to plugin folder.
• It's open source - just open traveller.csd and examine or change code (refer to the Cabbage docs).
• It has no velocity sensitivity, but tone depends on how long you hold the key (for tones with long attack).
• You can use pitch bend wheel.

multitrack recorder inspired by TASCAM Portastudio. Analog workflow, not sound.

an guitar-pedal-like looper

(before major rewrite)

drum sequencer

(before major rewrite)

drum sampler

(before major rewrite)

(some of these are actually made with my plugins)

synths

• Lokomotiv by Archetype instruments - my favorite synth. Very simple UI with few controls to use yet very diverse sounds.
• June-21 - open source clone of Roland alpha-Juno with very diverse sounds. Instant 80s.
• Dexed - another istant 80s - Yamaha DX-7 clone, also veryhard to program as original.
• Synister - the one with really beautiful UI
• Sitala - simple yet powerful drum sampler, especially for your own samples
• Marazmator - you need a special sound? Marazmator has it! It's synth for creating and modifying strange sounds for all your B-movie needs.
• anything from Full Bucket Music - everything they do is amazing.

effects

• VeloScaler - got keyboard with unreliable velocity? Fix it with this - set velocity to certain fixed value.
• Guitar gadgets - nice simulation of various guitar pedals. You can chain them within the plugin.
• xhip reverb - reverb as big as 80s music itself.

other

• Element by Kushview - my favorite VST host. Fast and intuitive environment for live playing and improvisations.
• Sunvox very nice portable app - an old school music tracker with modular synthetiser. Easy to understand yet very powerful. Please also check PixiTracker by same author.
• Cabbage - framework which I use to create all my VST plugins. It's based on somewhat language called CSound, but once you understand it it's very powerfull and fast tool. Also it's creator is really helpful.
• you like this page style? You will like 98.css, which is reimplementation of Windows 98 UI, but for web browsers.