The highlight of Camelaudio’s update to their Alchemy synth is the new preset browser. Camelaudio did a fantastic job at categorizing all their presets libraries, making it a breeze to navigate your patches collection. This browser is slick, fast, and tremendously improves workflow.

Now, you may be wondering why I am posting about a competitor’s product… Well, to start with, I have been friend with the Camels since their creation in 2000. We go back a long way, and I really admire their products.

But there is more to that. Ben got in touch with me almost 12 months ago, to discuss their plans for their browser after seeing the Zen engine in action. It quickly became clear that Zen already included a lot of the functionality they wanted, and was extendable enough to add the other features they needed… which is is how, under the hood, Alchemy’s browser is now powered by Zen, customized by the Camels to handle articulation and genre, among other things. They also wrote their own integrated UI for it. It is a thing of beauty, and certainly sets the standard for integrated presets browsers.

Zen 1.6.5 has just been released, and is now available for x64.

Other changes below:
* Store results of previous plugins scans
* Offer to blacklist any plugins that crashed the previous scan
* Fixed random crashes when deleting a user-defined synth
* Crashes when attempting to load ReaPlugs, or Polyvalens VL1.
* Now uses SQLite 3.7.7.1 and FTS4

As always, Zen can be downloaded here.

With the latest version of Zen using fxp for presets storage, it is now possible (and very easy) for plugin developers to directly query the Zen database to find and load presets for their synth.

Here is some basic information to get you started:

1. The Zen data folder.
This is where the database and presets are stored. In order to find it, look up the zen.homePath entry in /Documents and Settings//Application Data/Big Tick/zen/zen.properties. If this entry is not present, the default folder is /Documents and Settings//Application Data/Big Tick/zen

2. Presets
Presets are referenced by a numeric number: the preset ID. You can find the data for preset ID x in the presets subfolder of the Zen data folder, under the name .fxp.

3. The Zen database
It is a sqlite database located in the Zen folder, and named zendb.s3db
Inside the database you will find all the metadata for the presets. The most useful tables are:

ITEMS: the list of presets.
ATTRIBUTES: the list of tags.
ATTRIBUTES_MAP: the mapping of tags to presets.
SYNTHS: the list of synths.

I suggest you load the database in an SQLITE tool and explore around, or ask me if you want more information. As an example, here is a simple query that returns the first 10 presets for ACE:

select I.ITEM_ID, I.ITEM_NAME from ITEMS I, SYNTHS S
where S.FXID='acEU'
and I.SYNTH_ID = S.ATTRIBUTE_ID
order by ITEM_NAME limit 10
ITEM_ID ITEM_NAME
136 Aenima
144 BT 7th scraper (mw+pb+v
145 BT analog pad
4 BT beloved, too (vel)
146 BT broad’n smooth (mw)
147 BT broken shimmer (mw+p”
148 BT butter
149 BT butterfly (mw+vel)
150 BT calm agressor (mw)
151 BT cankered (mw+vel)

another one, to list the tags associated with preset 148 “BT butter”:
select AM.ATTRIBUTE_ID, A.ATTRIBUTE_NAME from ATTRIBUTES_MAP AM, ATTRIBUTES A
where AM.ITEM_ID=148
and AM.ATTRIBUTE_ID=A.ATTRIBUTE_ID
ATTRIBUTE_ID ATTRIBUTE_NAME
8 Pad
23 ACE
35 BigTone
20001 New
20003 Mine (public)

As you can see, this is a Pad by BigTone, for plugin ACE.

Here’s a new Zen update, with a new feature – automatic scan of available VST plugins. Zen is now able to find your supported plugins in your VST folder.

In addition, this release fixes crashes when entering text data in Reaper, so make sure you install the update !

You can download it here.

Baby Rhino is 1 year old ! To celebrate the first anniversary of Rhino|CM, here is a free add-on for Computer Music readers: 130 Mb of new waveforms, taken from the best Rhino commercial libraries. Samples from Moog and Oberheim analog synths, acoustic instruments and synthesized tones bring new sonic flavors to the Rhino|CM engine.

The waveforms can be downloaded here.

WILDLIFE is a new Rhino soundbank by Sound Designer extraordinaire Daniel Stawczyk (aka STATUS).
It features 128 presets, mostly industrial, gritty leads, and ambient textures – complete with user control assignments for expressive playing.

The presets can be previewed and purchased individually through Zen. Alternatively, you can listen to an audio demo here.

I’ve just released Zen 1.6 public beta 3. Here is the mandatory changelog. The first point marks a turning point in the history of releases, lifting up one of the most complained-about limitations of Zen.

Enjoy !

Version 1.6 beta 3
——————
* All users can now activate any plugin locally. For designers, the first preset uploaded for a local plugin makes this plugin public
* Replaced “hidden” and “favorites” tags by icons
* Add presets comments to the ZenCore engine
* Better design for the presets sort option
* Add shopping cart icon
* Zen will now silently ignore duplicate warnings happening within a few ms
* Add mousewheel on preset name to scroll through presets
* Fixed crash when trying to apply a tag without first selecting a preset
* Fixed bug when using full-text with ‘ character
* Fixed (for the last time:)) the problem with Zen not exiting properly

Version 1.6 beta 2
——————
* User ratings are not lost when uploading a preset.
* Added option to clear the stored path for a plugin
* ‘untagged’ attribute was sometimes displayed incorrectly
* Fixed a rogue entry in the synths list
* Fixed a rare bug where uploads would be stuck in a loop
* Fixed another bug where Zen would stay running indefinitely in the background
* Changed installer system on windows – it will prompt for update, or fresh installation

Version 1.6 beta 1
——————
* Drastic (x10) performance improvements in the search queries.
* Added button to clear the current search criteria
* Add presets rating
* Add search results sort options: by ratings + name, by ratings + date, by name, by date
* Add Volume control
* Replaced some tags with icons
* Fixed a rare bug where downloads would be stuck in a loop
* Fixed rogue tag “JamesXIIIC” appearing in the synths list

Here is a new version for the universal presets manager. Don’t forget to check the roadmap to see what’s coming next…

Zen 1.5.3 New features

• Added an option to extract/expand tags list with no matches in the current list
• Extended virtual banks slots to 127
• Added a dot indicator to identify untagged presets
• Added support for Audjoo Helix
• Added infobox messages and credits in the config page

Zen 1.5.3 Bug fixes

• Fixed tooltip message for the previous preset button
• Fixed – sometimes tagging a preset would not be uploaded properly
• reduced CPU usage with UI refreshes
• fixed bug with uploading icon (would keep flashing after uploads were finished)

The tags list expand/contract feature is accessed through the down/up pointing arrows at the left of the list titles. Clicking the down arrow expands the list, so that all tags (including the one with no matching presets) are displayed. Clicking the up arrow contracts the list, showing only the relevant tags.

The dot next to some presets indicates that the preset hasn’t been tagged yet. A preset is considered untagged until at least one tag from the instruments category is assigned to it.

Zen 1.5 is finally out ! Download it here….

Here is the changelog:

• Major code rewrite, separating Zen into a core library (ZenCore) and the Zen Browser itself
• Added midi-controlled “virtual bank” slots, where presets from different vstis can be stored
• Replaced tooltips with a contextual help box
• Added support for Zen-aware plugins, including assets management
• Added ‘hidden’ flag to permanently hide presets from search results
• Fixed various UI refresh issues
• Fixed crashes when duplicating instances in Ableton Live
• Fixed button for creating own tags on OSX
• Invalid designer keys are now rejected immediately
• Optimized dynamic memory allocations
• Changes for 64bits compatibility

The biggest change was the creation of a core library, mostly because I am starting to have requests from companies who want to license the Zen engine (database searches + online synchronization) to build their own preset browser.

The virtual banks feature is a nice new addition, very useful for live use, where loading a new vsti, with a given preset, can now be fully automated with a single program change. Zen has 32 slots, corresponding to Midi programs 01..32. To assign a preset to a slot, just drag it from the results list. The video below shows the basic usage.

Tooltips have gone, and are replaced by a context box which is much more user-friendly, and can also be used to display information messages.

The designers keys system has changed, so please contact me if you need a new key – the older ones won’t work any more.