We’ve been working away here on adding improvements so SubLab XL. Below is a list of things to check…if you find any bugs or issues please post below as a comment.
The links below are a beta version. Always backup your install folder somewhere safe prior to running the installers.
We’ve added a new Noise FX module. This will allow you to add noise in the fx chain. A nice sound design trick is to add the noise before a Distortion. Also you can pan the distortion to the left/right to create more space to your subs.
We’ve added an extra wave shaping type “Wavefolder”. It works the similar to the other shapers and is great for adding harmonics to your subs.
Another new feature is the option to “Optimise X-Sub Phase”. What happens here is that we phase shift X-Sub’s sub bass tones in relation to the Synth engine, to optimise perceived loudness and eliminate possible phase cancelation issues between the Synth and X-Sub engines. We’ve also increased the range of the volume of the X-Sub harmonics. What all this means is that you can really simply create sub-bass sounds like the type Mr Bill describes below👇 …we’ll be releasing a deep dive blog post on the topic soon. For now just check that everything is working ok.
We’ve added another extra option to align the start phase of each of engines. You can experiment with this setting if you are having phase alignment issues between imported samples and X-Sub.
We fixed a bug where X-Sub was running out of phase with the Synth engine. This happened when pitch modulation was applied to the Synth.
We’ve improved the hard-reset mode performance, where by it shouldn’t click as loudly when a new note resets the phase of each of the engines when you have enabled hard reset. We recommend however mostly using “First note restart” as the phase reset mode.
We’ve added the ability to import in folders of samples. Just drag in a folder and it will imported, with the folder name appearing a sub-menu in the available samples list.
We’ve added Windows 7 support, but you’ll need to do some extra steps in order to get it to run. We’ll be updating this thread with those steps early next week.
Ok, that’s it for the moment…enjoy testing out the new features and if you run into any issues please let us know in the comments below.
Awesome improvements! THANK YOU! Some early feedback:
Switching between Synth/Macro modes has a nice quick crossfade transition but scrolling from one preset pack to another is sudden on the Macro screen, which feels a touch abrupt. E.g., go from Analog Machines > Triangle Moog Sub to Crushed > Chest Exploder. How about easing that in too? A fraction of a second but making it feel like it’s “morphing”.
How do we make “Optimize X-Sub Phase” persist? It appears to always reset after switching presets, or upon adding a new instance of SubLab XL. It seems promising, but harder to test because it doesn’t “stick”."
The Noise is useful for adding texture. I’ve been using other noise plugins like SoundGhost’s Texturize, but cool to see this built-in. Suggestion: increase # of noise types (four are great starting points), or better yet, allow custom import of noise loops since you already allow custom sample import. Being able to change the PITCH of the noise would also make it more adaptable, so it can sound “crisper” or “deeper”.
It’s somewhat harder-to-see and confusing to put the “+” to add a new effect on an effect module itself. Can a “+” be added to the right of the actual effect UI, so it’s an easier target? Like so:
With the growing # of presets and packs, it becomes ever-more-relevant to add a “Select a random preset” button that picks one from the whole list. Can you please consider that for next to the < > ? Right now we’re always scrolling down in alphabetical order, which makes subs at the bottom of the list less discoverable.
so far so good (logic 10.7.7 on ventura 13.2). stable! there’s some noise (oh, wait… that’s the noise module); a little goes a long way, but like what it adds.
Thanks for the updates, heres my feedback on 1.0.4:
I dont know about the other users but for me the clicks on every keyboard hit where out of control at first… crazy loud and looked like i couldnt even make it go away with fade in or the adsr section. Then i reopened the vst and it was gone.
I liked the addition of Wavefolder and the noise FX YES!! Crazy good, i was blown away immediately! More wavetables and noises are always welcome.
About importing sample folders. I played with it a bit. Found few holes but now it doesnt confuses the samples as it did.
What i did was to import the same folder multiple times and i got in the sub menu multiple copies of it. Which one them is active with imported samples and others are dead. What happened also is that in “Kit 1” (Check pictures below) i’ve got the samples twice but in “Kit 2” and “Kit 3” i have them normally once per sample even if i imported the folders multiple times.
I went in the installation path in the “Imported” folder and i found only the “Kit 1” samples there. This is possible because samples of 3 Kits have the same name and windows would overwrite them. What i suggest here if its possible, to make it so it creates seperate folders so we can keep track as users too. For example if we import “Kit 1” will create a folder in the “Imported” folder under that name with its samples in it.
Since we can import whole sample folders now and it creates the sub menu there, it would be great if we can get the ability to ctrl+click and get an option to delete the folder or a sample in that case, same as it is in the preset section. An addition to this it would be really helpful to get an “🡹 🡻” option to scroll through samples we have in that sub menu.
Not good with editing but you get the idea
To make you see through my eyes, this sub menu storage now opens the oportunity for me to have my kicks there, fine tuning them and processing them while in a second SubLab XL i will use the preset section to have my 808’s. Great stuff!
That makes sense, when you import in a folder, it should create a corresponding folder in /Samples so you can keep everything organised. I’ll put a ticket in there for this and we can add it to the next beta if that works for you.
Just on the “+” button…I totally get it the only thing is what to do if you have two modules and you want to insert a new one in between. Maybe we need to make the function of the button clearer somehow.
Optimize X-Sub Phase is a per preset setting. You need to save the preset for it to persist. The thing is that if you make it a global setting, then potentially every preset that already uses X-Sub will sound different. Let me have a think about how to give the option between global and per preset.
On the noise, I think allowing user import might be beyond the scope of XL, but I like the idea! For other noise sources, what do you think would be good in the context of sub-basses?
One question @rrahim, does this happen everytime and with all samples, or it just happened once with 707 sample?
Quick update @rrahim, I’ve tried to reproduce the crash and haven’t managed to. Is there anything else that you think could be up that is specific to your system?
Yes Gavin, i did not check it again to be honest because i installed back the 1.0,3 version based on the fact this is beta. I didnt want to mess anything on my projects just in case. Definitely i can check again in the upcoming days and report.
I’ve tried it on my laptop as well. Though this time it didn’t crash on first loading the sample.
It crashed when I tried loading one of the other 707 samples, usually after using the preview button.
I also tried this with the “Use fixed size buffers” option on, which seems to resolve the issue.
Edit:
It happens most times. But it seems that sometimes it works perfectly fine. I’ve been able to trigger the crash mostly with the 707 samples. But it does sometimes occur with others.
Clicking on the bottom right corner of the plugin (around the fx scroll area) opens the juce web page in browser. Not sure if this is a regression as I’ve seen it reported before.
One suggestion for that, which could even be more “transparent”: if you hover your cursor BETWEEN or BEFORE/AFTER the first/last FX module, a subtle animation with a “+” could momentarily pulse to push the other modules aside to “make space”, inviting you to click it and add another module right there. A nice thing is it’d be consistent with how animated and kinetic SubBass XL is, while not taking space when not in use.
Is this a bug? Click and drag to reorder doesn’t work after Add New is opened, even after closing Add Effect it doesn’t respond. (If this animated GIF doesn’t loop automatically, refresh the page.)
AH! Thanks for clarifying that. Now I can see how that can make sense, I was confused because I associate the overall Settings with global settings, which most of them are. If it’s per-preset, I’d appear it to appear in the preset panel, although I know you’re running tight on well-arranged space.
That reminds me, there’s a typo here, it should be “perceived”.
BTW, is there a “Reset to Defaults” for the global settings? I accidentally changed some things in testing this.
For starters, other flavors of noise, like there’s vinyl with more/less crackle, VHS tape noise is a distinct variety from what’s here. The Encoder Audio libraries are a great example of “the noise spectrum”. Space makes me think how cool it’d be to have more “impulse”-style ones. I know we don’t wanna go overkill here, but even with sub-bass as a focus, I think of dark garage (like Burial of course) and how even a little grime (ha) can go a long way.
One other misc. thing for now, it appears that we can’t bold text on here for emphasis, the ** style doesn’t take visible effect.
I agree that the placement of per-preset settings placed in the settings panel is confusing, as I assumed them to be global settings.
Would it be possible to add them to the main interface, even if it is in a section of the macro menu (“Hamburger Menu”) to the right?
Hello Gavin. I had a strange bug today with this version: altrough I was playing just single notes in some of the presets sublab played something that sounded like an arpeggio or like double notes. I did also a video, hopping that it helps. I am on Mac mini M1, MacOS Ventura, Cubase Pro 12, latest version.
I would reproduce that in my note editing if i was you. In my ears sounds better with the double notes than flat ones. It adds some movement. This isnt a bug, this is SubLabs new co producing feature
button that picks one from the whole list. Can you please consider that for next to the < > ? Right now we’re always scrolling down in alphabetical order, which makes subs at the bottom of the list less discoverable.
