Ableton Forum

Howdy!

I think Operator is great. So lightweight and powerful. A big part of that is its usability. I'd rather use it over other synths outside of Live, but little feature gaps keep turning me away.

Things that would kick ass (some of which could be hidden away from the novice on an 'Expert' screen ala FM8):

* a fully-featured, unified mod matrix. There's currently bits of this on the LFO panel, the Filter panel, and the Pitch panel, but they're not as flexible as many would like (you can't route them to any part of the synth, only a few), and they're on seperate 'screens'. This would give Operator the power of a more fully modular synth, without losing its simplicity. Eg: route LFO to osc AMP, not just pitch. You currently have to go to fiddly lengths to get this effect happening. A _full_ mod matrix, involving all the powerful features of Operator, would really open this synth up for creativity.

* pulse width modulation wave type - this seems strange to be missing in the first place

* waveform symmetry ala Reaktor's Soundschool analogue subtractive synth. This is so simple but gives you huge power over saw up, down, triangle etc

* four oscs, why not four LFOs? Dave Smith's Evolver is fantastic because of this. Operator could do it so easily!

* osc syncing for various parameters

* expand the chap so it can do wavetable! Multi-point envelopes! Step sequenced goodness. There's no reason why Operator can't chew on 'massive' synths that hog enormous CPU resources, and still keep it's tiny, simple, usable interface.

* Edit: input. Lots of modern synths can take it. Why not Operator

* built in hidden micro-game of tetris, seeing as the algorithms suggest this already. As in uTorrent. Minimal file-size increase...

I'm writing all this because using Operator is so much fun, and I think it could be even more fun! I've got tons of friends interested in it, from DJs to engineers. Creating the most lightweight able-bodied synth ever is a great goal.

And add points to the envelope, please!!!!

Points! YES!

cantide wrote:* expand the chap so it can do wavetable!

+1

+1 for the Tetris option

I was going to wishlist a scaled down version as well - like a "lite" version to maybe be free to use as drum hits - like simpler is to sampler SO live generates sound out of the box without samples

A user modulation preset/area where we choose how the oscillators are routed , a 4 x 4 grid to place the oscillators on.

Morphing waveforms for the oscillators.

Any improvements to this beaufitull instrument would be greatfully recieved.

+1

I was thinking about what if Operator was modular the other day, and theres already a topic started for it here

+1 especially for the tetris

I hope the ableton team will upgrade and push operator (and the existing instruments) to it's limits instead of making new synths. It seems they've been creating more and more instruments (which is good, I was awaiting that) but they should also upgrade the other ones too and Operator is getting a bit old I think.

edit: And one thing, more, more, MORE presets. I think the whole thing in Live is lacking presets. I understand that lots of people have a pride issue with using pre-made patches, but for me it's a starting point. Most of us aren't Sound designers, and I love to start of with a sound I like, and then derive it to create mine. Also, the sound designers creating those presets are pros in their domain, and it's the best thing to learn hands-on and see how they acheived those sounds.

at least 100 presets would be a good minimum. Though it won't compete something like surge... 900 presets!!! woohoo

Main thing: LFO->Amplitude. It seems like they forgot that the main param. to modulate on an FM synth (well, apart from the FM, naturally) is the amplitude of the operators. This would also mean that it should have at the very least two LFOs

Also, Individual pitch envelopes. Come on.

+1 on all those things. Don´t forget Ring Mod!!!

These are all great ideas, guys. Especially a unified mod matrix and more LFOs.

And if we are really talking "Expert Mode," how about an internal tuning table like just about all full-featured 3rd party synths have. Allow us to load scales (tun or scala format would be fine) so we can also have more than (or different than) 12 equal-tempered notes to the octave. Operator is a great synth, but that would be fantastic . . .

while we are at it, why can you only apply feedback to one operator and not all four?

Also, similar to the way that the Spectrum tool can be expanded into a larger view, why not have the regular, basic view of operator and then an expanded view, where you can see the mod matrix on one giant easy to use interface.