Motorola DSP563xx Emulator (BETA) (Access Virus, Nord Lead, Waldorf MW...)

[EvilDragon]

and hopefully multi-chip synths like the Nord Lead 3, WaldorfQ and Novation Supernova in the future

Those will need CPUs that don't yet exist... NL3 and Supernova both have 6 DSPs, and currently you need a lot of a single CPU core of a not-exactly-weak CPU to run Virus B or C. Lots of work to get there.

Does anyone know if all CPUs are used when just one part is active, do they have the equivalent of 'smart disable'? If so, one part/layer shouldn't be too intensive and might run fine.

People with fast PCs could then later instances to do the same, the rest of us could bounce layers down.

Virus uses dynamic voice allocation, up to 16 voices on Virus B and 32 voices on Virus C. All parts can use these voices, and depending on how many parts you have going, and patch complexity, they will use up more CPU. There's no smart disable, Virus runs a continuous loop at all times, some patches are more intensive than others, so they use up more or less of the DSP.

In short, don't expect 0% CPU load when nothing is playing.

[Shiek927]

If NL3 et al has 6 DSPs why can't an emulator be programmed to use at least 6 cores? Is it a limitation with how DAWs or plugin formats work?

Edit: Out of pure curiosity, how would multiple DSPs actually work? I'm *assuming* each DSP isn't working on the same sample at the same time unless it's split into a parallel audio stream (like an fx section with mix knob type thing)? Would any DSPs working on the same audio stream would be set up in series, like one dsp is an oscillator, that gets processed and sent to another DSP that acts as a filter, etc? Hopefully what I typed isn't complete nonsense, but I'm just curious how a multi-cpu setup would work for audio.

It's okay! basically the problem is, although we live in an era of multi-core processing, the chips in these synths are designed in such a way to use only a single core. It was likely unimaginable in their time that a single chip would/could have more than one core, nevermind it being commonplace. And since even the mightiest CPU's of today's era can only do so much with a single core (hence, why multi/quad-core is a thing), it's why the Emulator is struggling and why synths with multiple DSP's might not be possible after all.

It's okay because my venerable MicroQ that I had twice-over IRL is still feasible, not to mention a slew of Viruses, MicroKorg, Waldorf Microwave XT, and Clavia Micro Modular.

Even if an innovative solution doesn't come around to allow for the other synths to be made, anything is possible. Maybe similar projects for the synths not on this list, such as the Yamaha AN1x, start popping up whether from the open-source community or even from the companies themselves. One good turn invites another.

If nothing else, I'm grateful. Even if single-DSP synths are the only ones that come out, I'm immensely grateful because in the past almost 10 years of my music-making career, there has been barely any interest in re-creating 90's digital synths for the modern era. That's finally changed and the synths that are possible are certainly enough for the enthusiast to make some hits. Onward and upward

[briefcasemanx]

It's okay! basically the problem is, although we live in an era of multi-core processing, the chips in these synths are designed in such a way to use only a single core.

Why couldn't you use a different core for each DSP chip on the original synth?

[Shiek927]

It's okay! basically the problem is, although we live in an era of multi-core processing, the chips in these synths are designed in such a way to use only a single core.

Why couldn't you use a different core for each DSP chip on the original synth?

I honestly can't say definitively as I'm not a member of the team, but that's the information they've relayed a few times now. All we can do on our end is hope there's a solution at some point, whether it's a clever programming trick, more powerful CPU's released, or other emulator's outright made to handle more DSP chips.

[AnX]

bitcoin?

haha! you will have to excuse our choice of Donation method, using PayPal etc would have meant tying one of our personal names to the project, hope you understand

actually, i dont.... its all legal and legit isn't it?... so what's wrong with using a name?

Emulator itself is legit and legal, but it's up to the people writing it if they want to have their names attached to it or not.

Rather standard stuff in the realm of emulators, really.

yeah, doesnt answer the question tho

[recursive one]

its all legal and legit isn't it?...

Emulator itself is legit and legal

what's wrong with using a name?

it's up to the people writing it if they want to have their names attached to it or not.

doesnt answer the question tho

What was the question then?

IMO, if there's something that could potentially cause legal concerns it must be the ROM dumps as such and the sites hosting them, but not the emulator itself.

[recursive one]

Also I have a couple of questions.

The first step (running the test .bat program) - what's the purpose of that? To test whether my machine is capable of running the Virus B or C ROM? Why can't I just run the emulator as such, try both ROMs and see if they work?

It is possible to run multiple instances of the emulator?

It would be really cool if someone could make a video showing how to set the whole thing up, for those who never worked with LoopMIDI and CtrLr before)

[surreal]

DSP56K Emulator Public Beta NOW AVAILABLE!

The emulator can be downloaded for all platforms from our website here (Free & Open Source): https://dsp56300.wordpress.com/downloads/

For anybody already following our project you will know what this is about.
For any new people please see our thread here:

viewtopic.php?f=33&t=559359

Private BETA testing has been happening for the past week and we now feel its ready for the public.

Please note that the download includes only the DSP Emulator as we cannot and will not provide any ROMs due to copyright reasons.

The Emulator currently has no GUI. We have one designed however we need somebody skilled in JUCE to piece it all together. If you think you could help, get in touch!

Despite this, we wanted to get this Emulator out as fast as possible for you to try, so it's possible to use the Emulator via Mystery Islands VirusHC or Ctrlr for now.

The Virus B / C are just the beginning for this Emulator and more synths will be supported in the future!


If you are having problems setting things up or have any bugs to report you will get a much faster response via our Discord server which can be found here:

https://discord.gg/mveFUNbNCK

Donations
If you like what we are doing feel free to buy us a Coffee

Bitcoin: bc1qhfc7kuzznvc9nulcmuup5thvrcgzhypqquf9n9
Ethereum: 0xe0aE1CeC430bc0BAd1ABf86684EA38a7666A1125
Litecoin: LTiZbcJZfby2TxtXwmkf3RjA7C7qnijVzG

Thank you and Enjoy,

The Usual Suspects

I was so excited for this.. but there is no point as I dont have access to any virus b or c rom anyway.. what cpu and ram does this need?

[surreal]

And what windows 9s will it run on?

[recursive one]

I was so excited for this.. but there is no point as I dont have access to any virus b or c rom anyway.

Google "synthesizer rom archive", I think that's it (EDIT: should be understood that sharing and using synth ROMS appears to be not legal).

[EvilDragon]

And what windows 9s will it run on?

Should work on W7 onwards.

[rafa1981]

Why couldn't you use a different core for each DSP chip on the original synth?

Neither a member of the team nor I know the internal architecture, someone correct me if I'm wrong, but all DSPs might very possibly be connected to the same clock.

If there are many DSPs (voices) operating in parallel they might very well be synchronizing on very small blocks or sample-wise. Thread synchronization on an OS (even atomic) has a (latency) cost that might be prohibitive. This is ignoring that the program is running on a non-realtime OS where the task scheduler gives no guarantees, should the DSPs had to run in a given order.

The source code (firmware) is a black box so it's not possible (at least legally) to modify.

And this is ignoring that DSPs can be connected in series too (e.g. a FX unit), where basically there is no win in using multiple CPUs.

It is much more difficult.

[gentleclockdivider]

Also I have a couple of questions.

The first step (running the test .bat program) - what's the purpose of that? To test whether my machine is capable of running the Virus B or C ROM? Why can't I just run the emulator as such, try both ROMs and see if they work?

It is possible to run multiple instances of the emulator?

It would be really cool if someone could make a video showing how to set the whole thing up, for those who never worked with LoopMIDI and CtrLr before)

Just create a new folder in your plugin dir , drop both the emulator and the rom in that folder.
Download acces virus midi cc list and create a generic midi cc template to control the virus ( almost any host can do that ).
That's how I do it , no need for a midi loopback controller

[numerouno]

Why couldn't you use a different core for each DSP chip on the original synth?

I honestly can't say definitively as I'm not a member of the team, but that's the information they've relayed a few times now....

Some things need to be clarified here
(Discord "dsp56300" writing)

Not sure where that rumor comes from, but the DSP emulation is only limited to a single core as long as we emulate devices that have one DSP.

If we emulate a machine that has got multiple DSPs, we can use multiple host cores to do so. Synchronization is not an issue as they do not operate on the same clock source. Two DSPs are not synchronized, the manufacturers came up with something very clever instead, and this helps us: They just feed the audio out of one DSP into the audio in of the next.

This is where "sync" comes into place for us and that is perfectly doable by using lock-free ring buffers or any other tech that I still have to think about, but it is definitely doable.

Before you ask: That is not going to happen soon. We first need to get the Virus B & C running properly, meaning including state saving and including a UI so this hassle with VirusHC, Ctrlr and loopMIDI is coming to an end.

[gentleclockdivider]

Do you most of you have a powerhouse of pc to run the emulator ?
I have an 8 year old i5 , and just one voice =99cpu overhead