Turning everything OFF?

[Michael Strickland]

In reading John Dalton's great Tip on Movie Processing Strategies
http://www.synthetik.com/tips/wordpress/2010/01/movie-processing-st...
I realize I need to first better understand how to intelligently alter various Paint Synthesizer controls, what they do, how they all work together.

So I'm diving into Chapter 3 of the SA 4 User Guide pdf, to attempt to learn more about the Paint Synthesizer. Having used keyboard synthesizers, I have an affinity with this concept.

I've played with all the SA Factory Presets, and even changed a few and saved my own (especially using multiple presets in PASeq's.) But now I want to better understand how each Preset is constructed, if this is possible. At the moment, I'm attempting to use an analytical approach to better understand all 470+ individual controls. (My creative side is screaming, "Wow!!! What an amazing playground!!!")  :-)  So my word for the day is "discipline."  We'll see how far I get.  haha

I find I am basically "lost in a universe of interactive possibilities." They say the longest journey begins with one small step. One way to begin to understand something this complex is to "take it apart" if possible, and to start looking at each piece. So my first desired step is to find a way for each module within the Paint Synthesizer to basically be "turned off," so I can begin to read about, test, and evaluate each part on its own. This method of learning works well for me: I find I can develop real intelligence about things if I can first build a framework into which I place information. In this way, the information I gain is "smart" - and useful to me.

I realize that SA's magic comes from the manner in which one module affects other modules. But I suspect I won't understand more intimately how these work until I can stop them from doing what they all are doing together in factory presets, and thereby learn the power within each one, and successive combinations of them, a little at a time.

I allow for the possibility that this approach may not yield the results I want, but I am willing to try.

It seems in each module, many of the settings do have "off" selections. But many do not. For example, beginning at the beginning, "Pen Mode," one of 26 choices, has 13 editable controls. But in selecting each of them one at a time, I suspect that many, many other settings and modules elsewhere in the editable set of 470+ controls within a preset are affecting each Pen Mode I select. So I don't feel I am really seeing what each Pen Mode is and/or does. I hope that makes some sense.

So, what is the easiest way to do this? Is there a REALLY basic, non-modulating preset I can go to? Or is this just a non-workable idea for learning?

Thanks for any insight …
Michael

 

[Mark B]

Hi Michael , Studio Artist 4 , Go to help menu  >paint synth macro edits > Reinitialize

 

Not sure if there's a way to reset per paint synth module rather than this global method.

[Michael Strickland]

Thanks, Mark B!  --  Wow, I never even looked there before -- lol

[John Dalton Synthetik Software]

You will also probably want to use the 'Turn off all Randomization' command after Reinitialize, since the default parameter settings brought up by Reinitialize do have a small amount of color modulation going on in them.