9.5: Automating the Filter Freq on all devices - broken

[siliconarc]

my Operator is broken! drawing in any semi-fast attack automation for Operator's filter in 9.5 (Operator instance is in pre-'upgrade' state) sounds wildly different to 9.2.3. and not in a good way.

can anyone with both 9.2.3 and 9.5 check this? track one is the automated filter instance. the other 2 tracks were me testing if the sloppiness was present on other automated params but it looks like it's just Operator's filter. again, this is pre-upgrade mode so should sound exactly the same. i've already sent to support last week but no response as yet.

here's a test project: download

cheers
osx 10.9.5

[siliconarc]

ok, it's not just Operator – it's a problem with Freq when automated on all devices that have the new Cytomic filters – Simpler, Sampler, Operator, Auto Filter – BUT the filters are not 'upgraded' to the Cytomic ones on any of the devices here so they should behave exactly as pre-9.5 ...?

Same in 9.5.1b1

9.2.3 can be downloaded with these links:
mac – http://cdn2-downloads.ableton.com/chann ... 2.3_64.dmg
pc – http://cdn2-downloads.ableton.com/chann ... 2.3_64.zip

[siliconarc]

here's an audio comparison.
exact same project file, opened in 9.2.3 first, then in 9.5:

https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/782 ... erprob.wav

[andy_cytomic]

here's an audio comparison.
exact same project file, opened in 9.2.3 first, then in 9.5:

https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/782 ... erprob.wav

I did point this out to the guys at Ableton that they needed to "pad" the input signal levels to the new filters more (i.e. lower the input volume and increase the output volume). Please try this manually and you'll get what you want. Right now the resonance is getting drowned out from excessive input signal volume.

[siliconarc]

Hi Andy, thanks for the reply!

The problem i was posting about here is not specific to your filters though (i'll change this thread's misleading subject title shortly). The issue here is that Ableton added a smoothing behaviour to the filter when automated, no matter which filters are being used - the old ones or your new ones. When the filter is mapped using MfL modulators there's no problem. Ableton acknowlegded the issue on the beta forums but no news since (9.6.1b1 still broken).

Did you hear back from Ableton about a fix for Operator to work correctly with your new filters? Where the resonance rings out unaffected by the filter or vol envs. Or is that what you mean by padding the input?
Cheers

[andy_cytomic]

Hi Andy, thanks for the reply!

The problem i was posting about here is not specific to your filters though (i'll change this thread's misleading subject title shortly). The issue here is that Ableton added a smoothing behaviour to the filter when automated, no matter which filters are being used - the old ones or your new ones. When the filter is mapped using MfL modulators there's no problem. Ableton acknowlegded the issue on the beta forums but no news since (9.6.1b1 still broken).

Did you hear back from Ableton about a fix for Operator to work correctly with your new filters? Where the resonance rings out unaffected by the filter or vol envs. Or is that what you mean by padding the input?
Cheers

Operator has no post filter amp or envelopes, but that is another issue entirely. If you have self oscillation then it will be suddenly cut when the longest oscillator pre filter envelope finishes. Padding the input just means that resonance will be stronger in the filters as they aren't being drowned out by the input signal. This is standard usage of analog filters.

I'm not really full bottle on how smoothing is done in Live and what changes have been made. Are you still having issues with smoothing of automation with the filter cutoffs on different devices? This smoothing is applied outside of the filter itself by Live, the filters themselves are capable of audio rate modulation and can step to a new cutoff and resonance on a per sample basis, so there is no limitation there at all, it will be how they are used in Live that may need fine tuning.

[siliconarc]

Operator has no post filter amp or envelopes, but that is another issue entirely.

Yep, was just asking if you'd heard anything about a fix while you were here! anyway...

Are you still having issues with smoothing of automation with the filter cutoffs on different devices?

Yep! It's still screwed, although i'm surprised i've not seen anyone else mention it.
It's entirely down to Ableton's decision to add automation and realtime tweak smoothing to the filters in 9.5, not to do with your filters at all.

You can see this in action yourself by looking at the demo set attached here:
dowload project

Clip 1: a held Operator note has its filter automated at 1/16th pulses
Sounds like crap - the automation is smoothed to death, barely moving the filter cutoff.

Clip 2: the same held Operator note has its filter modulated by Operator's filter env (in 1/16th loop mode)
Sounds fine, as expected.

Cheers

[Stromkraft]

Gary, did you try just lowering the Oscillator levels and if so did that improve this somewhat?