Full Bucket Music MPS Manual v1.0

MPS

Musical Parameter Synthesizer

Version 1.0

© 2018 by Björn Arlt @ Full Bucket Music

http s ://www.fullbucket.de/music

and Wolfgang Kraus @ wkreativ.at

http://www. wkreativ.at /

VST is a trademark of Steinberg Media Technologies GmbH

Windows is a registered trademark of Microsoft Corporation

The Audio Units logo is a trademark of Apple Computer, Inc.

MPS Manual Page 2

Table of Contents

Introduction....................................................3

Background....................................................3

Sound Generation............................................4

Parameters.....................................................4

The Envelope Parameter...................................4

The Vivid Parameter.........................................4

The Air Parameter............................................4

The Release Parameter.....................................4

The Volume Parameter.....................................4

Performance Controls.......................................5

Program Menu.................................................5

Options Menu..................................................5

MIDI Learn.....................................................6

The mps.ini Configuration File............................6

MIDI Control Change Messages.........................6

Parameters.....................................................7

Global............................................................7

Frequently Asked Questions..............................8

MPS Manual Page 3

Introduction

MPS – short for “Musical Parameter Synthesizer” – is a software synthesizer plug-in
for Microsoft Windows (VST) and Apple macOS (VST/AU). It is written in native C++
code for high performance and low CPU consumption. The main features are:

● Unconventional sound creation approach

● Fast & easy editing using just a few “musical” parameters

● Straightforward user interface

● 64 voices polyphony

● MIDI Learn ‒ all parameters can be controlled by MIDI CC

● Double precision audio processing

● Plug-in supports Windows and macOS (32 bit and 64 bit)

The aim of MPS is to create sounds fast and easy using a small intuitive set of
parameters without bothering about the technical details.

Background

In October 2017, I (Björn) received a mail from Wolfgang (whom I never met before).
Therein Wolfgang described a novel approach for creating sounds by simple “musical”
parameters like Soft or Percussive, Wood or Metal, and so forth. A hardcore synthesist
knows how to translate these tags to the parameter settings of a “real” synthesizer,
but this often requires changing many parameters at the same time which can get
pretty tedious especially in real-time. Furthermore, the layman may not even
understand what is going on.

Take for example the amplitude envelope of a sound: When we say the sound is “soft”
we typically expect its envelope to start with a long attack time and to stop with a
potentially long release time. On the other hand, a “percussive” sound is expected to
start instantly and to decay pretty fast. With a standard ADSR generator one would
have to address four parameters (Attack, Decay, Sustain, Release) while MPS requires
just one parameter ranging from “soft” to “percussive” (OK, there is also an additional
Release parameter for your convenience…).

Of course, when you reduce the number of parameters you loose part of the overall
flexibility of the synthesizer. Thus, you cannot expect MPS to produce all the sounds
that a classical synthesizer can do. However, you can achieve an extremely fast and
intuitive sound creation workflow (assuming that the “parameter reduction” was done
in a smart way)!

So Wolfgang created the concept and the basic UI layout of MPS while I myself
contributed the necessary DSP/UI coding plus some experience in plug-in creation .
The resulting instrument is really fun to play with while not being just a cheap toy –
do not get fooled by its simplistic appearance!

MPS Manual Page 4

Sound Generation

MPS is a 64-voice polyphonic instrument that
consists of five individual sound generators
coming in the flavors Wood, Glass, Metal,
String, and Sine. Their output can be mixed
using the X-Y “Ball Pad” control (the Sine
generator sits right in the middle of the pad
and is not explicitly labeled).

Via dragging the ball with the mouse you can
continuously change the mix balance between
the five generators. The more you deviate from
the center, the more harmonics will be created
– which harmonics depends on the orientation
of the ball. Play with it!

Parameters

Besides the Ball Pad control, MPS features five more parameters – that’s it!

The Envelope Parameter

This parameters controls the contour of the
amplitude and brilliance of the sound. “Soft”
stands for smooth attack and decay while “Perc.”
leads to more percussive envelopes.

The Vivid Parameter

This parameter adds modulation (life!) to the
sound. Each generator has its own kind of
modulation: an Ensemble-like effect for String, Tremolo for Metal, a Phaser for Glass,
a combination of filtered Ring modulation plus complex Tremolo for Wood, and a
slightly detuned additional octave for Sine.

The Air Parameter

As the name says it, Air will bring some air to the sound. Technically it is realized by a
double stereo Chorus. But please do not think in technical terms – put on your
headphones and listen!

The Release Parameter

Release controls the length of the release time of the sound. Unlike the standard
release parameter known from ADSR generators, the release time here cannot be
longer than the decay time set via the Envelope parameter. This results in a more
natural way of playing percussive sounds with short decay.

The Volume Parameter

Does exactly what you expect.

MPS Manual Page 5

Performance Controls

Program Menu

If you know my other plug-ins then there will be no surprises: To select one of the 64
patches just click on the program number, and edit its name by clicking in the text
field.

Options Menu

When clicking on the Options button, a context menu opens with the following
options:

Copy Program Copy current program to internal clipboard

Paste Program Paste internal clipboard to current program

Load Program Load a program file containing a patch to the current

program

Save Program Save the current program to a program file

Load Bank Load a bank file containing 64 patches into MPS

Save Bank Save the 64 patches to a bank file

Init Program Initialize the current program

Reload Configuration Reload the configuration file (see section The mps.ini

Configuration File)

Save Configuration Saves the configuration file (see section The mps.ini

Configuration File)

Select Startup Bank Select the bank file that should always be loaded when

MPS is started

Load Startup Bank Load the Startup bank file; can also be used to check

what the current Startup bank is

Unselect Startup Bank Unselect the current Startup bank

Check Online for
Update

When connected to the Internet, this function will check
if a newer version of MPS is available at fullbucket.de

Visit fullbucket.de Open fullbucket.de in your standard browser

Note: If the MPS DLL and the mps.ini configuration file are located in a “protected”

Windows folder (for example somewhere under “C:\ProgramFiles\...”) then it may
not be possible to save the configuration. In this case it is strongly recommended to

use a VstPlugins directory that lies “outside” the protected folder.

MPS Manual Page 6

MIDI Learn

Every parameter of MPS can be controlled by one MIDI controller. If you want to
change the assignment of MIDI controller (CC; MIDI Control Change) to MPS
parameter the MIDI Learn function comes in quite handy: Just click the LEARN button
on the MPS's control panel (caption turns red) and wiggle both the MIDI controller and
the parameter you want to assign (you can abort LEARN by clicking the red button
again). To save the controller assignments use “Save Configuration” in the Options
menu (see previous section).

If you want to unlearn the assignment, right-click the LEARN button (the label now
reads “UNLEARN”) and activate it. Now wiggle the MIDI controller or the parameter
that you want to unlearn.

The mps.ini Configuration File

MPS is able to read some settings from a configuration file (mps.ini) located in the
same directory as the MPS VST DLL (mps.dll or mps64.dll) or Mac VST/AU
(MPS.component or MPS.vst) itself. After you have edited this INI file in a text editor,
you have to reload it using the Reload Configuration command from the Options menu
(see section Performance Controls).

MIDI Control Change Messages

All parameters of MPS can be controlled by MIDI controllers, or more precise: Each
MIDI controller (except Modulation Wheel and Sustain Pedal) can control one of the
MPS's parameters. The mapping is defined in the mps.ini for example like this:

[MIDI Control]
CC7 = 0 # Volume
CC16 = 1 # Variation X
CC17 = 2 # Variation Y
...

The syntax is straight forward:

CC<controllernumber> = <parameter ID>

Given the above example, controller 16 directly controls the Variation X parameter,
controller 17 the Variation Y etc. As you can see, comments are introduced by the
Pound sign (#); they are here just for description purposes and completely optional.

The parameter ID of one of the MPS's parameters is given in the section Parameters
below. Note that the controller number can run from 0 to 119, with the exception of 1
(Modulation Wheel) and 64 (Sustain Pedal); the latter two are simply ignored.

Of course, instead of editing the controller/parameter assignments in mps.ini with a
text editor it is much easier to use the MIDI Learn function and save the configuration

(see sections Options Menu and MIDI Learn above).

MPS Manual Page 7

Parameters

Global

parameter ID description

Volume 0 Master volume

Variation X 1 X-Y Ball Pad horizontal axis

Variation Y 2 X-Y Ball Pad vertical axis

Vivid 3 Vivid parameter value

Air 4 Air parameter value

Release 5 Release parameter value

Envelope 6 Envelope parameter value

MPS Manual Page 8

Frequently Asked Questions

How do I install MPS (Windows 32 bit version)?

Just copy the files mps.dll and mps.ini from the ZIP archive you have downloaded to
your system's or favorite DAW's VST plug-in folder. Your DAW should automatically

register the MPS VST plug-in the next time you start it.

How do I install MPS (Windows 64 bit version)?

Just copy the file mps64.dll and mps.inifrom the ZIP archive you have downloaded
to your system's or favorite DAW's VST plug-in folder. Your DAW should automatically

register the MPS VST plug-in the next time you start it.

Note: You may have to remove any existing (32 bit) mps.dll from your VST plug-in
folder or else your DAW may screw the versions up...

How do I install MPS (Mac VST/AU universal 32/64 bit)?

Locate the downloaded PKG package file mps_1_0_0_mac.pkg in Finder (!) and do a
right- or control-click on it. In the context menu, click on “Open”. You will be asked if

you really want to install the package because it comes from an “unidentified
developer” (me ). Click “OK” and follow the installation instructions.

What is the plug-in ID of MPS?

The ID is M P S 1 .

Can I save the MIDI controller/parameter assignments?

Yes, by using “Save Configuration” in the Options menu (see section Options Menu).

Why doesn't the configuration file (mps.ini) get saved?

Under Windows, you may have placed the MPS files mps.dll/mps64.dll and mps.ini
into a “protected” folder somewhere under ”C:\ProgramFiles\...”? In this case
you should use a VstPlugins directory that lies “outside” the protected folder (also
see section Options Menu).

How do I know if a new version of MPS is available?

When connected to the Internet, open the Options menu (see section Options Menu)
by clicking the disk icon and select the entry “Check Online for Updates”. If a new
version of MPS is available on fullbucket.de the respective information will be shown in
a message box.