Alchemy - CAMEL AUDIO

[corbo-billy]

Alchemy from Camel Audio has just arrived; someone he tried with DP ?

[nk_e]

So far...works a charm.

Based on the very cursory glance I've given this so far...I like it alot.

Natural question is to compare it to Omnisphere...

Different beasts with some degree of overlap methinks.

Omni - Fantastic instrument with amazing presets, extremely powerful, very "produced" sound, deep, closed sound sources

Alchemy - Fantastic instrument that is not really done justice by many presets (IMHO), extremely powerful, less produced more "raw" vibe, deep, you can import your own sources and resynthesize them

I wouldn't think of it as "one or the other"; if you can afford to, get both. If you own Cameleon5000 run, don't walk, and upgrade for $125... the bang/buck factor is extremely high....

[jroadrage]

Another discussion over here:

http://www.vi-control.net/forum/viewtopic.php?t=11109

John Rodriguez

[mhschmieder]

Very timely -- I was just about to use the forum search feature to dig up the older post about this product.

I revisited their page last night, and still DESPISE the official demos. Just like before.

The difference this time, is that they have two add-on sound banks that have incredible audio demos. Either the patches are better (or more to my personal liking), or they put more effort into the audio demos, or both.

But I remain nervous about this crossgrade, as Cameleon 5000 is one of my favourite soft synths, and it allowed me to sell my Kawai K5000r hardware and get a better interface in the bargain.

So my real question about Alchemy, is whether it has a mode whereby you can essentially do the sort of detailed editing you can do in Cameleon 5000 and/or essentially enter Cameleon 5000 Mode so to speak.

If not, I'll probably pass. The new features are interesting but not critical for me. I HATED all of the vocal demos, which reminded me of Native Instruments' spectral plug-ins that got discontinued. The granular stuff would fill a gap though.

I'm hoping they'll have the demo version prepared very soon, so I can try before I by. I want to make sure it can actually import Cameleon 5000 sounds, and that I can come close to that interface while working on purely additive sounds.

As it is, they'll probably extend the $125 promotional past 1 January 2009 anyway, the way the economy is going.

[digididi]

I bought it yesterday and can't get away from it since then. It was love at first sight!!!
Infinite possibilities with VA, additive synthesis like in cameleon, resynthesis, granular synthesis paired with endless modulation matrices. Fascinating!!!
Runs fine on my MacPro in DP6.01 and Logic 8.02.
Haven't found out as yet if it's a bug or my setup: After the sustainpedal is released alchemy stops all sound and the depth of AHDSR-1 in the matrix sticks to the very left then.
Anybody else experiencing this?

[mhschmieder]

I look at vi-control pretty regularly, as a read-only non-participant, but hadn't checked recently so was glad to see that thread on Alchemy. Jake Johnson in particular is a knowledgeable person who really did a good job both of explaining this synth and its relationship to Cameleon 5000.

As it turns out, Cameleon 5000 can do most of the same stuff, but its interface ironically hides much of it. And here I was praising the GUI! At any rate, the main difference is that Cameleon 5000 gives you control over 64 partials, whereas Alchemy gives you control over 600. Most participants agree with me that the presets and audio demos are just plain awful.

This is really hard to do on my 14-15" screen, but I have attempted to compare the Advanced Editing page of Alchemy (as posted on their website) with a standalone instance of Cameleon 5000, to see if there is direct parameter-mapping.

The first thing to take note of, is that they both share four sources (A-D). But Cameleon 5000 also has a Morph page, which is the default page when the app comes up. I find it pretty, and personally DO like to start out with the morphing, but others may be more adventurous in immediately delving into playing with the partials.

Unfortunately, as the screen shot only shows one tab in the main portion of the editing window, it is really hard to verify that Alchemy completely subsumes Cameleon 5000's controls, but surely this must be the case, due to Camel Audio's statements as well as because Alchemy has way more sonic shaping possibilities and over 4x as many parameters.

Some of the morphing features are there at the bottom of the interface, but the Morph Timeline that maps the four sources, must be in one of the hidden tabs under new terminology (in fact, much of Alchemy appears to have modified the terminology as used in Cameleon 5000 -- usually because there was no other choice, to accomodate a fuller voice engine and additional features).

Even so, without full patch compatibility or a stated Import Cameleon 5000 feature, I'm nervous about making the cross-grade. I can only justify the $125 if it fully replaces Cameleon 5000 in my workflow; otherwise it will appear to be a luxury with features I would not immediately make use of.

They have stated they will do no further development of Cameleon 5000, but I think they did say they would support it with compatibility updates... at least for more recent computer systems.

[mhschmieder]

I did get a kick out of the criticism that Cameleon 500 is thin, as that is precisely why I like it so much, when it comes to atmospherics, sound effects, and certain categories of pads. Cameleon 5000 is thus much easier to slot into a mix, as it cuts through without overpowering... or fills out the background without calling too much attention to itself.

Similarly, I use FM8 for this sort of task more often than its "traditional" role of e-pianos and chromatic percussion. It's just that Cameleon 5000 is more powerful than FM8 when it comes to the longer time-evolving types of sounds.

[nk_e]

Very timely -- I was just about to use the forum search feature to dig up the older post about this product.

I revisited their page last night, and still DESPISE the official demos. Just like before.

>SNIP<

The demo mp3s really blow IMHO. I can't get through them. I hope they post user examples soon.

They DO NOT do the instrument justice. Wait for the Alchemy demo so you can decide for yourself....

[digididi]

Some of the morphing features are there at the bottom of the interface, but the Morph Timeline that maps the four sources, must be in one of the hidden tabs under new terminology (in fact, much of Alchemy appears to have modified the terminology as used in Cameleon 5000 -- usually because there was no other choice, to accomodate a fuller voice engine and additional features).

Is that what you mean?


I'm not so familiar with Cameleon but I guess that routing "morph xy" to the xy-mseg will give you the same result as the morph function in Cameleon.

Unfortunately, as the screen shot only shows one tab in the main portion of the editing window, it is really hard to verify that Alchemy completely subsumes Cameleon 5000's controls, but surely this must be the case, due to Camel Audio's statements as well as because Alchemy has way more sonic shaping possibilities and over 4x as many parameters.

The parameters are spread onto several pages in alchemy, but it seems to me that most of the things that Cameleon can do can be done in alchemy too, but even better.
I hope they'll add an import-function for CA5000 patches into Alchemy.

[mhschmieder]

Thanks so much for posting those; clearly there is just as much control, if not more, in Alchemy, for the stock parameters that are part of the Cameleon "core".

I suppose the parameterisation of Cameleon 5000 is minimalist enough that manually recreating patches in Alchemy (at least to close approximation) wouldn't be a huge deal, but I'd rather avoid that if possible.

You'd think if it was easy, they would provide a Cameleon 5000 bank with the synth; just as NI did for FM8 as FM7 had different parameterisation. So maybe it isn't easy... or maybe they're just too busy getting the synth itself ready.

[mhschmieder]

I went ahead and bought this last night, along with the two extra voice banks (you only get the discount if you buy them at the same time). No regrets -- this is a magnificent synth, and the add-on voice banks are much better starting points than the presets.

Just for kicks, I downloaded a demo for "the world's greatest synth" first, and thought it one of the worst I've ever worked with. u-he Zebra has no personality or character, in my view. It's very clinical, and there's a same-same to the timbre. Whatever. People have different needs, and there has to be a reason this synth consistently gets rated the best ever.

Alchemy, on the other hand, is capable of both warmth and chilling cold. It is so easy to slot into a mix, and it has so much character and personality. I loved Cameleon 5000, but can already tell that this synth is going to prove to be as versatile as FM8 and Massive (both of which I have difficulty using very often, due to their CPU requirements -- and this is also clearly the case with Alchemy as well).

I also reviewed Absynth for the umpteenth time, and absolutely detest it no matter what I do with it. I feel that Massive has 100% superseded it, and as Massive has good FM capabilities as well, it fits well with FM8 in a mix.

Funnily, I find myself rwaching for EITHER Cameleon 5000 or FM8 in cases where I need something ethereal or (opposite extreme) with good transient attack. I haven't found them to blend well at all, and if one doesn't work in a particular context, 99% of the time the other one does. So they're very complenetary of each other, and I expect this to continue to be the case with Alchemy.

Having said that, even in limited use so far, I can already tell that Alchemy has a much broader sound palette and a much wider tonal and timbral range than Cameleon. It really does built upon Cameleon and improve upon it. The sound engine is VERY good.

I just hope they do the job for us by providing a Cameleon 5000 ported preset library once they're less busy. Then, from that, I can use my notes to regenerate my custom patches, most of which were derived from presets as starting points.

FWIW, it doesn't look like the two Alchemy add-on sound banks add any sample content; they simply exhibit far better origramming given the basic sound blocks that are already in the core set. Those who are very patient towards generating a bunch of their own custom presets, may thus want to skip on buying the discounted add-on sets. I have immediate deliverables this holiday season, though, and already found three patches that will serve as excellent starting points.

[mhschmieder]

I just downloaded the latest update version 1.10 last night, along with lots of extra content for the main plug-in patch library along with additional free patches for those who bought the two main add-ons.

The biggest news, though, is that version 1.12 is being worked on and will include a patch import feature from Cameleon 5000!

Now I am glad I didn't waste time writing such a converter myself (I had considered it).

I would like to port all of my Cameleon 5000 patches to Alchemy for future-proofing, as there will come a time when Cameleon 5000 stops working.

I'm wondering if Waldorf will eventually support PPG Wave import into largo? Although in that case, I'm not yet sure there is full 100% cross-compatibility as there is going from Cameleon 5000 to Alchemy.

[mhschmieder]

Camel Audio has updated the sample manipulation synthesizer Alchemy to v1.11 and released a new soundbank created by sound designer BigTone. Camel Audio is also running a competition to create a tutorial video with the opportunity to win $500.

Alchemy v1.11
The Alchemy v1.11 update includes many new features and bug fixes, and is Windows 7 and Snow Leopard compatible. The new version offers Cameleon 5000 preset import, new formant filters for the additive and spectral sections, much enhanced spectral synthesis quality, new additive editor features, punchier unison VA attacks and numerous other improvements.

Alchemy is now able to import and export additive and spectral data to CSV files. These files can be read and written by spreadsheets or third party utilities. Aladdin by Paul Nauert is now available from the User Library and is the first such utility and offers the ability to generate anything from plucked sounds to wave sequences using techniques such as cellular automata, random walks and FM. Registered Alchemy users can download Alchemy v1.11 by logging into their account on the Camel Audio website.

BigTone Alchemy Expansion
The BigTone Alchemy expansion is a collection of 150 pads, playable arps and warm synth sounds, all of which are suitable for a wide range of genres including trance, ambient and electronica. The set was created by sound designer BigTone and comes with a library of over 100MB of his specially created samples. Each preset has fully programmed perform assignments which make them easy to tweak, and comes with 8 remix pad variations for a total of 1200 sounds.

The BigTone expansion can be purchased from the Camel Audio website and costs $59 / €49 / £39.

New features in Alchemy v1.11:

* Cameleon 5000 preset import.
* New formant filter for additive and spectral engines, accessed via Amp knobs.
* Much enhanced spectral synthesis quality when pitching sounds up and down.
* Improved additive editor modes including dark and bright partial editing.
* Can now edit multiple breakpoints at once in the additive editor.
* CSV file import and export for additive and spectral engines.
* AAZ file import and export for additive and spectral engines.
* In VA mode PVar values less than 100% now set all oscillators to given value.
* Much more responsive MSEG and additive editors on Windows.
* Zoom position of all editors now anchored to current scroll bar location.
* MIDI learn and automation read / write for individual source edit controls.
* SFZ files listed at the top of the import browser list for easier selection.
* Swap Snapshot command added to Perform section file menu.
* Spectral editor loop indicators are displayed using a different colour.
* New indicator to show that second level modulation depths are being edited.
* Additive oscillator count updates when higher partials are created in editor.
* Displays message when attempting to load presets created in more recent version.
* MIDI Unlearn All is now displayed on the main file menu.
* Easier to skin - skin folder tidied up.

Fixes:

* Fixed Move Up / Move Down reordering of effects in FX section.
* Fixed double clicking of FX section and spectral editor scroll bars.
* Fixed closing and re-opening the GUI locating the wrong preset in the Alchemy folder structure when two presets have the same name.
* Fixed missing import path variable in config file causing file browser crash.
* Fixed Alchemy save dialog boxes to display in front of host.
* Fixed click when modulating additive mode symmetry across zero point.
* Fixed effects disappearing when clicking on scroll bar.
* Fixed saving of presets while a project is being loaded.
* Fixed bank and category to set the current folder on File -> Clear.
* Fixed Copy & Paste of modulation source to include modulation depth.
* Fixed additive editor to allow dragging of last breakpoint.
* Fixed blank references to missing sample files in a cleared patch.
* Fixed host reserved MIDI CC values in MIDI learn mode.
* Fixed termination of additive data when all breakpoints deleted.
* Fixed 'Auto-Assign Empty' to no longer create variations of remix pads.
* Fixed Invert Knob causing the sound to change under certain conditions.
* Fixed Perform Clear causing some presets to sound different.
* Fixed click in output when modulating the number of oscillators.
* Fixed update of source GUI controls when receiving automation values.
* Fixed foreign language characters causing crash or folder display to fail.
* Fixed menu display for snapshot volume and removed modulation.
* Fixed memory leaks in file sub-menu selector.
* Fixed current preset folder when re-opening the GUI after clearing a preset.
* Fixed PVar modulation in VA mode.
* Fixed display of modulation depth ring image after reset.
* Fixed loop syncing between sources when modulating position control.
* Fixed randomise menu commands crashing new instances of Alchemy.
* Fixed rare crash when importing a PNG file to the spectral editor.
* Fixed additive editor not displaying partials after importing a sound.
* Fixed Morph-XY mode when morphing between different synthesis types.
* Fixed spectral rendering after import from source menu.
* Fixed 96 KHz project sample rate when rendering spectral sources.
* Fixed handling of missing data files.
* Fixed automation data not sent to host for learned MIDI controls.
* Fixed looping not working correctly when morphing in some circumstances.
* Fixed incorrect message after canceling Save Consolidated.
* Fixed rare crash when re-opening GUI after loading a preset after Clear.
* Fixed source labeling after PNG file import.
* Fixed scaling of the spectral high-pass filter.
* Fixed save consolidated creating AAZ files for inactive sources.
* Fixed EQ effect buffer clear causing click at note on.
* Fixed rare crash importing SFZ that fails to specify 'keycenter' on Mac.
* Fixed Automap / Kore perform controls not updating in AU version.
* Fixed alt-click circular knob mode for GUI controls on Win.
* Default installation path on Windows Vista and Windows 7 is now "My Documents/Vstplugins" to avoid permissions problems.

[mhschmieder]

Note that importing Cameleon 5000 patches came earlier than expected.

I look forward to comparing results for any sonic differences, good or bad. I have about twenty or so Cameleon 5000 tracks in current projects.

I do not fear this update, even though I generally am avoiding updates these days. Camel Audio is very thorough.

I'm not sure if Cameleon 5000 will carry forward much longer (though it probably is OK on current Snow Leopard releases), so it might be good to future-proof dependent projects by converting those tracks to Alchemy now.

[KEVORKIAN]

Thanks for this post.... I love Alchemy, however I have been forgetting to update it!