We develop our visual synthesizers using a graphical programming environment called the VMS Designer, which is integrated into the OVC-3D. Just as most audio musicians do not build their own synthesizers, many performers will prefer to play visual instruments created by other developers and will not need to use the programming tools. The VMS Designer has some similarities to audio synthesizer development tools like Pure Data in that the developer builds a synthesizer by using graphical tools to patch and configure modules selected from a library.
The developer selects modules from a library of effects generators and other complex processing elements and then patches them together. The operation of each element is controlled by parameters that can either be controlled dynamically when the musician plays the instrument or instead configured as preset values. Patches can involve hundreds of elements. Sections of a patch can be encapsulated and exported to allow reuse of the blocks in building other synthesizers or other effects in the same synthesizer.
