Autechre Symbolic Sound KYMA X Cabybara 320

Auction Link

Comes with a dell computer to run it also. It is quite the deal. Wanted to see if any of you jump on this before my next paycheck :) Whoever is selling it has already re-listed it once or twice. A great opportunity to own an uber powerful system!

Details:

Now for discussion. I've always wanted one of these, but been afraid that it would require too much time programming (ie: max/msp) and not enough time having fun and making music with it.

Anyone here used kyma first hand? I've taken a look at the OS over the years, and heard all the sound demos, and watched as it has grown into an even bigger monster. I'm quite aware of what it is capable of, but not many people own one, so knowing what it's like to program your own stuff and not just use pre-made stuff i'm in the dark about.

For those not familiar with KYMA:

http://www.symbolicsound.com/cgi-bin/bin/view/Company/WebHome

Autechre, and a few other of IDM superstars have used it. It's also used in films for sound fx, etc as it is a super duper processor.

Excuse me, I have a liquor store to rob.

You could get a lot out of it just using it as any modular synth like Reaktor or something. I think there's a private forum for owners. There's probably a wealth of instruments and information there... But, to be honest, I have no idea about the low level stuff.

http://electro-music.com/forum/forum-173.html

There are a few users there who might be able to answer your questions if you don't get them here.

yeah i'm aware of that forum, but the traffic is very low. The existing topics don't really say anything in depth about using it firsthand. Other than most owners seem to love it and prefer it over max/msp. But there is most certainly a learning curve.

I just looked at the tutorials and it seems to be a higher level version of MAX/MSP (i.e. the modules seem to be pre-made rather than you having to construct them yourself). It does seem quite nice but I reckon the best bet if you're into constructing tracks like that would be to get the much cheaper audiomulch ( http://www.audiomulch.com/ ) (or hell even Buzz you could probably get 90% of the routing opportunities and that's free !)

EDIT: Although I bet I've missed something, there must be some reason people choose that system instead of a cheaper option....

EDIT2: Yep, thought so...

I have audio mulch. After looking around today, I'd be silly to buy anything but a nord g2 for that much money. It's been on my want list since it came out. Kyma, not so much. Though it can go above and beyond the nord, I'm in more of a function over facilities mode atm. (if that makes sense)

  On 2/15/2010 at 9:12 PM, mcbpete said:

 

EDIT: Although I bet I've missed something, there must be some reason people choose that system instead of a cheaper option....

The morphing algorithms and such are one of the key features.

  Quote

In terms of that power, Kyma-X is way, way beyond anything else you can buy. Compared to, say, Reaktor, Kyma-X adds more options than you can wave a Visa card at, including resynthesis, morphing and scripting, and live MIDI processing and improvisation.

 

You don't just get total control over audio, you get a brain-expanding education in how to think about sound. The basic system is a patchable pseudo-modular, but there's also a timeline you can use to assemble a complete performance, with patch automation, or sync a mix to timecode.

 

Morphing

 

Kyma has the unique ability to morph sounds, melting them into each other like plastic. This is completely different to the usual crossfade effect, because pitch, timbre and rhythm all change simultaneously.

 

Kyma-X has been used in heaps of films to create the sound of an androgynous singing voice, half way between male and female pitch and timbre. But it's also been used in adverts, morphing the sound of typing into a Caribbean holiday jingle.

 

There's a lot happening behind the scenes to make morphing possible. To morph two sounds you run them through an analysis process which creates a special non-audio file that includes all of the ingredients needed to rebuild the sound, and then plug them into one of the morphing modules.

 

After analysis pitch, timbre and time stretching can all be controlled independently, and with only a little more effort you can morph manually with a slider, or under LFO or envelope control.

 

You can also control a morph by listening to incoming audio, and pick out whatever feature you want to use as a controller – from average loudness, to the volume of one very specific frequency band.

from music radar

some of the morphing clips i've hear are incredible

yeah i've actually got a thread going about the morphing stuff in the aphex section. i tried contacting them to see if they could yield any white papers on their algorithms/techniques but they ignored me and sent me a pamphlet instead. their systems are pretty incredible -- they offer reaktor / max/msp like workflow, but offer lots of higher level functions (as was mentioned earlier). this is not to say, however, that you can't do everything you could do in max (or that you could do everything in max that you could with kyma). what's most important to this package is that it comes with its own dedicated computer that it farms out all of its dsp work to. no matter what system you're based in, their dsp engine can handle the job. sad this auction just went, as the price was quite nice!

  Quote

Kyma-X has been used in heaps of films to create the sound of an androgynous singing voice

ah yes, all those heaps of films with andogynous singers...

Kyma is nowhere near a replacement for Reaktor or Max/MSP, and vice versa. Reaktor is by far the most user-friendly, and the steep learning curve of Max/MSP is offset by the excellent documentation and vibrant user community. Kyma might still be the most sophisticated and flexible of the three, but the software is archaic and you are more or less on your own when it comes to figuring it out. Superficially it looks like Reaktor and Max in that you connect boxes with wires, but that's about where the similarities end.

There was a pretty good thread about this at gearslutz a while back... might be worth a look... http://www.gearslutz.com/board/electronic-music-instruments-electronic-music-production/343085-kyma-compared-max-msp-nord-modular.html

fun fact: There is a song on Richard Devine's Cautella, that is literally a key being held down on an unaltered preset on a kyma additive patch

fun fact: Practically the only reason to get a kyma is if you want to do real-time spectral morphing or cross synthesis. It does it pretty much better than anything else, but its not worth $2500+.

fun fact: i am selling mine in about 6 months with 4 expansion cards

  On 2/15/2010 at 10:04 PM, children r r future said:

Kyma is nowhere near a replacement for Reaktor or Max/MSP, and vice versa. Reaktor is by far the most user-friendly, and the steep learning curve of Max/MSP is offset by the excellent documentation and vibrant user community. Kyma might still be the most sophisticated and flexible of the three, but the software is archaic and you are more or less on your own when it comes to figuring it out. Superficially it looks like Reaktor and Max in that you connect boxes with wires, but that's about where the similarities end.

 

There was a pretty good thread about this at gearslutz a while back... might be worth a look... http://www.gearslutz.com/board/electronic-music-instruments-electronic-music-production/343085-kyma-compared-max-msp-nord-modular.html

didn't read that thread but what you said is pretty much true. The Kyma editing interface isn't even as open ended as like the Nord Modular software modular editing, i'd compare it to like this other program i've used called Musicology , but it is a little bit lower level than Audiomulch

I've been using plogue bidule a couple years and have been getting curious if I should try learning pd, or max, or a nord modular, but I'm kind of thinking there wouldn't be enough benefits compared to the amount of time to learn something else. it seems like getting to a point where you can make stuff fast with one of these environments is more of a benefit than the actual features. kyma doesn't seem like it would be worth the price to me, unless there's someone out there making totally genius music with it that I've never heard of...

kyma is more of a niche sound design tool, you can't recreate a lot of what it does in other programs so for that it would make your sound design work stand out probably from a lot of others in your field.

if your making music with it then id say bidule and reaktor are far better. what have you been making in plogue bidule Spraaa? id like to hear some. I made a bunch of generative stuff a few years ago that turned out ok , probaby nothing id release

Yeah, plogue bidule is interesting indeed.

Awepittance, what's your main reason for selling? Just the interface?

I just started messing with some kind of generative stuff, mostly sequencers where you can turn steps on and off to change the loop length, and retrigger smaller chunks of the sequence at different tempos. that stuff can get really processor intensive! the first, third, and fifth song on here are almost all bidule sounds but more straightforward sequencing than that.

  On 2/16/2010 at 9:09 PM, futureimage said:

And this is free...

As is this - http://www.blokmodular.com/ (well if you use Buzz anyway, €35 for the VSTi version if you don't):

  On 2/16/2010 at 2:47 AM, Brandi_B said:

Yeah, plogue bidule is interesting indeed.

 

Awepittance, what's your main reason for selling? Just the interface?

its going down in value, so i want to see it before it's basically worthless. kyma has a new thing out now that is cheaper than the caybara

i recall using one of these i think about 6, 7 years ago, at the time the school wanted to upgrade it but one teeny ram expsnsion card was 100's of clams.. fun piece of gear though

Yeah, I decided I'm stupid for letting gear lust *potentially* interrupt my nord modular g2 savings fund.