Syncing LFOs to tempo

Question

I have not been able to find a way to sync LFOs to tempo so it must not be possible in DS at the moment.

It would be a really cool feature to have!

Answer 1

I decided to try and use the "FX_DELAY_TIME_FORMAT" parameter and see if that might work. And it does!...kind of.

I can switch between "musical time" and "seconds" but all of the "musical time" settings are off. 1/64 is a quarter note, 1/32 is an eighth note, etc...

The fact that this works at all leads me to believe it might be possible. I have tried tweaking the code a few different ways but nothing seems to make it work right.

I'm just using one of the example files that Dave has put up to learn the different parameters (Example 6 - LFO controls group pan) to see if I can get the tremelo effect to sync to the DAW.

I'll paste the code I have at the moment and if anyone has had any luck making this happen I would greatly appreciate a nudge in the right direction. Thanks!

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?>
<DecentSampler minVersion="1.6.0">
  <ui width="812" height="375">
    <tab name="main">
      <labeled-knob x="585" y="75" width="90" textSize="16" textColor="AA000000"
                    trackForegroundColor="CC000000" trackBackgroundColor="66999999"
                    label="LFO Depth" type="float" minValue="0.0" maxValue="1" value="1" mouseDragSensitivity="100">
        <binding level="instrument" type="modulator" position="0" parameter="MOD_AMOUNT" />
      </labeled-knob>
      <labeled-knob x="655" y="75" width="90" textSize="16" textColor="AA000000"
                    trackForegroundColor="CC000000" trackBackgroundColor="66999999"
                    label="LFO Rate" type="float" minValue="0.0" maxValue="10" value="1" mouseDragSensitivity="100">
        <binding level="instrument" type="modulator" position="0" parameter="FREQUENCY" />
      </labeled-knob>

      <label x="500" y="50" width="80" height="30" text="Tempo Sync" textSize="15" />
      <button x="500" y="75" width="80" height="30" value="0" parameterName="DAW Sync">
        <state name="Beats" mainImage="Images/Checkbox On.png">
          <binding type="effect" level="instrument" position="0" parameter="FX_DELAY_TIME_FORMAT" translation="fixed_value" translationValue="musical_time"/>
          <binding type="control" level="ui" position="1" parameter="VALUE_TYPE" translation="fixed_value" translationValue="musical_time"/>
          <binding type="control" level="ui" position="1" parameter="VALUE" translation="fixed_value" translationValue="10"/>
        </state>
        <state name="Seconds" mainImage="Images/Checkbox Off Red.png">
          <binding type="effect" level="instrument" position="0" parameter="FX_DELAY_TIME_FORMAT" translation="fixed_value" translationValue="seconds"/>
          <binding type="control" level="ui" position="1" parameter="VALUE_TYPE" translation="fixed_value" translationValue="float" mouseDragSensitivity="100"/>
          <binding type="control" level="ui" position="1" parameter="VALUE" translation="fixed_value" translationValue="1"/>
          <binding type="control" level="ui" position="1" parameter="MIN_VALUE" translation="fixed_value" translationValue="0"/>
          <binding type="control" level="ui" position="1" parameter="MAX_VALUE" translation="fixed_value" translationValue="10"/>
        </state>
      </button>

    </tab>
  </ui>
  <groups attack="0.000" decay="25" sustain="1.0" release="0.430" volume="-3dB" >
    <group ampVelTrack="0.0">
      <sample path="Samples/Volca Keys Poly-V127-36-C1.wav"  loNote="24" hiNote="36"  rootNote="36" />
      <sample path="Samples/Volca Keys Poly-V127-48-C2.wav"  loNote="37" hiNote="48"  rootNote="48" />
      <sample path="Samples/Volca Keys Poly-V127-60-C3.wav"  loNote="49" hiNote="60"  rootNote="60" />
      <sample path="Samples/Volca Keys Poly-V127-72-C4.wav"  loNote="61" hiNote="72"  rootNote="72" />
      <sample path="Samples/Volca Keys Poly-V127-84-C5.wav"  loNote="73" hiNote="84"  rootNote="84" />
      <sample path="Samples/Volca Keys Poly-V127-96-C6.wav"  loNote="85" hiNote="96"  rootNote="96" />
      <sample path="Samples/Volca Keys Poly-V127-108-C7.wav" loNote="97" hiNote="108" rootNote="108" />
    </group>
  </groups>
  <effects>
    <effect type="control" delayTimeFormat="musical_time"/>

  </effects>
  <modulators>
    <lfo shape="sine" frequency="2" modAmount="1.0">
      <binding type="amp" level="group" position="0" parameter="PAN" modBehavior="set" translation="linear" translationOutputMin="-1" translationOutputMax="1"  />
    </lfo>
  </modulators>
</DecentSampler>

Answer 2

Hello Charlie,
I didn't try LFOs yet, so I am not sure about the tempo for LFOs.
What I did is this : I wanted to have a delay effect with a time/beats toggle just as you did and I can confirm I had the same behavior as you.
Basically, changing the effect delay time format with a binding does not work properly.
It might not be directly related to what you describe but I can see you have also this problem :
Tempo/BPM mode makes the knobs to move by coarse steps but Time (seconds) should not!
So personally I used a trick, I created two knobs in the same location, one for Time (seconds) format in float and another one for Tempo format which moves by steps, then I toggle the display of my knobs and the binding of the knobs to the effect with by button and this seemed to work.
Maybe you can try that and see if this fixes your problem.

However, as a first quick test, if you don't set the time format switch and just use the tempo/musical time, is it working as intended (correct tempo) because these could be 2 problems and not just one.

Answer 3

Hey Michel!

Thanks for the reply. I have this working with the delay perfectly. I was hoping to be able to tweak it to be able to work with LFOs. While it kind of works you noted one of the issues with the coarse steps for the Time knob and for the Tempos they are all backwards.

I will try created a separate knob for Time an Synced Tempo and see if that works. Not ideal but I guess a button to switch between the two separate knobs could work. Is that how you did it?

Being able to have synced LFOs would be a cool feature and I hope Dave implements it sometime soon.

Answer 4

Yes, this is how I did it.
Two different knobs in the same location toggled by a separate switch. Visually it looks exactly the same as what you did and makes no difference from a user perspective.

Answer 5

The problem is not musical time. The lfo has no knowledge of the bpm when using musical time option just stuck at default 120bpm I beleive.