Endless Series Version 3 - Progress Report

Over the past 6 months I have been porting my plugins (which were previously developed using Synthedit and MaxMSP/Pluggo) to hard-coded AudioUnits/VSTs. This has been a substantial amount of work but I'm getting there now. The DSP for the plugins is mostly done and I am working on the UIs. The new versions are compatible with more hosts, load faster and support multiple processors.

Sonogram of a recent composition using Endless Series v3

For Endless Series version 3 I have added many cool new features. If you don't know about the original version of these plugins see here:

http://www.olilarkin.co.uk/index.php?p=eseries

Here is a sneak preview of the main changes from version 2.

• Endless Series is now one plugin (you can switch between tone generator, ring modulator, flanger, filter and phaser effect modes). This makes it much easier to experiment with the different timbres that each effect provides, whilst keeping settings such as the rate of the glissando/steps.
• The pitch shift mode is gone and a new bandpass filter mode is added
• True stereo operation: Endless Series v1 and v2 were "mono to stereo" plugins. Version 3 can work like this but can also be used in true stereo mode (for all the different effect modes), and the two channels can be offset for detuning effects
• MIDI triggering: In the stepped mode the steps can be triggered by sending MIDI notes to the plugin. This means you can sync the stepped tone up to your host, so it steps on each 1/4 note , or even program in a rhythm and play the shepard tone with that rhythm 
• The "phase" of the glissando/scale can be reset with a specific midi note, meaning that you can reproduce the same glissando/scale each time
• In the "Tone generator" mode, you can add harmonics for a richer sound
• When in stepped mode an amplitude envelope can be used to make "gaps" between the steps of the shepard scale
• The internal DSP features improved interpolation methods and other tweaks

There's still a way to go (the time it takes to make GUIs is not to be under-estimated). I will be offering a generous upgrade price for existing owners when the plugins are eventually released, which will hopefully be first quarter 2011. I'll post some audio examples here in the near future.