Version 2.15 of the SignalFunctionSet plugin is out. There are two new modules and a round of gate fixes that touch most of the sequencers. Here is what changed.
Two new DX7 modules
Operator is a six-operator FM voice in the Yamaha DX7 lineage. It loads DX7 .syx cartridges, plays them polyphonically, and ships with four Brian Eno patches so it makes sound the moment you patch a gate in. The sound engine is Google’s msfa DX7 core, so patches sound the way they did on the hardware: every algorithm, feedback, key scaling, and the DX7 envelopes. There is a raw VCO output next to the enveloped audio, so you can shape the tone with your own VCA when you want to. Full writeup on the Operator page.
OP ENV takes the DX7 envelope and frees it from the oscillator. It loads a voice the same way Operator does, reads that voice’s carrier envelope, and turns it into a gate-driven CV you can send anywhere. You can offset all eight envelope stages by trimpot or CV, key-track the rates, and add the DX7’s LFO tremolo. It gives you the character of an FM envelope on any VCO, filter, or modulation target. More on the OP ENV page.
Both load standard DX7 banks. The factory cartridges are archived at Yamaha Black Boxes if you want the classics.
Better gates across the sequencers
The bigger change in 2.15 is gate length. Until now, several modules put out short triggers, or gates that just copied the incoming clock’s pulse width. That is fine for drums, but it means a trigger clock produced trigger-width “gates” that could not sustain a synth voice. 2.15 fixes that.
- Note now has a gate length control (a fraction of the step interval, measured from the tempo so it tracks automatically) and per-step ties. Hold a note across steps for legato lines, or dial in a duty cycle so the gates actually sustain.
- Fugue and MetaFugue get a Gate length menu with three modes: a 1ms trigger, clock passthrough (the old behavior), or a duty-cycle fraction of the step period that gives a real gate even from a trigger clock.
- Muse now outputs a gate that holds for half the clock interval instead of a 1ms trigger, so it sustains a voice on its own.
- Shift’s per-channel gates pass the input clock’s pulse shape through, so the gate width matches your clock, and they keep firing even with the CV input disconnected.
If you drive a synth voice from any of these, notes hold the way you would expect now.
Also
The GitHub repo moved, so the plugin’s source link points at the new location. The Operator and OP ENV panels lost their decorative screws. And there is a native Windows build in the works.
Grab 2.15 from the VCV Rack Library, or browse the full module set at VCV Rack Modules.