Dillon Bastan Natural Selection S v1.0.1 M4L AMXD

August 10, 2024 0

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Natural Selection explores an evolutionary process with sound design! It treats the parameter values of presets as DNA values which are mixed together and mutated over generations to create new sounds. You play the role of the environment, selecting preferable sounds to continue to pass their DNA to the next generations. And over the generations the sound will evolve closer to your preferences. Sound design with your sonic intuition, without even touching the synth parameters (unless you want to;))!

The other version, Natural Selection P, applies this process to any external audio device or rack of devices.

The design of these devices is by River Marchand

Comes with:
The device, user manual, 117 presets (some presets have many presets within them too!)

Version Info:
Works with Live 10 and up! Except for a few Bass presets which are Live 11+

Features:
Genetic algorithm that treats parameter value presets as a genotypes or ‘DNA’. New ‘child’ presets are created by mixing 2 parents’ parameter values to create new generations of presets (all generations forming a ‘Family Tree’ of presets). Some of the functions included in this system:
Mutation amount and two mutation modes
Ability to limit the number of generations copulating for a new generation
Ability to start a new tree of presets from those of a previoius tree
Two modes for adding ‘seed’ presets: (1) current values of the device with optional random spreading (this way you can also load in adv presets and add them as seeds to the tree). (2) Randomized seeds
Functions for remixing parent presets DNA to create a new child and for saving the current parameter values into any child’s DNA
Rating system to add bias to certain genetics when creating a new generation
Two page UI for navigating the various generations and children of presets
A section where you can morph up to 8 presets with two XY quadrants and a blend slider between them
For this device, the genetic preset system applies to presets of an internal poly synth + note generator + effects system
Versatile internal poly synth:
2 Sources available. The voice types for each source are: (1) Basic morphable oscillator with FM options, (2) Resonator with mallet exciter, (3) Karplus Strong String with mallet exciter, (4) Wavetable oscillator with various wavetable options (and ability for User wavetable file drops) and FM options, (5) white noise oscillator
Unique ‘partials’ system. Each partial is a source voice. Set the number of partials and the spread between each partial (100% spread is normal harmonic distribution) as well as exponential scaling option (Bias) in order to create a variety of effects. NOTE: increasing partials increases CPU
Two filters with basic filter shapes, ladder filter, and a vowel/formant filter
Modulation system each source with two destinations and bipolar attenuation. Sources: 2 LFOs, 2 Envelopes, 2 spray values, MIDI sources (pitch, velocity, PB, adftertouch, modwheel)
Portamento, internal limiter, up to 16 voices
Rhythmic Note Generator system:
A trigger with sync and free ms rate options and a swing amount
Two gating modes: (Euclid) a euclidean sequencer with a unique ‘Slope’ parameter that clusters pules at either the beginning or end of the sequence. (Rand) random note gating
Two pitch modes: (Seq) a linear step sequencer, (Rand) random pitches. Both have scale and tonic options
Random ranged velocity and duration generation
The inclusion of this system allows you to morph and evolve rhythms and even treat each child as an organism with its own ‘voice’ and ‘song’
Effects System that includes distortion, chorus, phaser, delay, and reverb

To Install And Use Presets:
Drop the entire folder called ‘Natural Selection S’ (NOT the folder called ‘Natural Selection S v.x.x.x’) into the folder ‘ableton/user library/presets/instruments/max instrument’. This is found in the ‘Places’ section in Live’s browser or in your finder/file browser. If you are going through finder (mac) the Ableton folder is typically in your ‘Music’ folder. If you are going through your file browser (windows) it is typically in the ‘My Music’ folder. The path to the .amxd file should be: ‘ableton/user library/presets/instruments/max instrument/Natural Selection S/Natural Selection S.amxd’