Sfizz~ Variations
We invited 3 prominent artists in the online Max community to dive into the new and versatile sfizz~ object and share what they came up with. Below you'll find three unique takes on patching with a sampler engine, two of them complete with their own sound libraries. User Friendly gives us a glitchy sequencer, John Matter provides a patch that will automatically slice up a sample and map each transiet to a MIDI note, and dnksaus offers a MPE-enabled vocal sampler with textural elements. Try them out by downloading the patches below and opening them in Max 8.6 or later.
User Friendly
@user.friendly.sounds
User Friendly: The function (envelope) is both the clock and modulation for this patch. The output of the envelope modulates both the phasor~ (triggering the sfizz~ object) as well as the pitch of the sample being played. When the envelope reaches it's destination (EOC) a bang is sent to progress the sequencer (preset) which then triggers the next envelope.
John Matter
@jojjjajjr
John: This patch chops up an input audio file by transient and maps it across the MIDI keyboard, generating a JSON dictionary that sfizz~ can read. Transient detection is done with slice~, an external developed by Nao Tokui and subsequently included in a set of externals collected by Volker Böhm. The intended use of this patch is quickly generating new ideas from other source material. The MIDI processing encapsulation contains a few easter eggs for this purpose. The patch plays well with audio containing fairly isolated sounds with obvious transients (e.g. patches hosted on https://op1.fun). I've been using it primarily as a drum machine. You may also find interesting results by slicing audio that isn't intended to be parsed as a set of well-isolated samples.
Note: In case of quarantine issues with the included slice~ on Mac OS, try downloading the external directly from Volker's page.
Follow @jojjjajjr on Instagram.
dnksaus
@dnksaus
dnksaus: This patch is taking an MPE approach to sfizz. I have recorded multiple voice samples in different formants, the user can use the slide parameter on an MPE controller to choose a specific formant on each note press. The pressure parameter can be used to give a vibrato/tremolo effect. The modwheel controls the release of all voices. The vocals are split with an 808 sub bass at the bass note region inside a single sfz file. This instrument plays simultaneously with water and ice texture sfz patches, which are set to round robin mode.
by Andrew Benson on May 22, 2024
