Version 0.9 BETA released



Plugin Description:
Beat morpher is a sample playback drum machine with a difference. You specify start and end positions for each drum hit. Then you can morph between the two patterns using a slider or by just pressing the auto-morph button. The beat will gradually morph over a specified number of bars. This effect was inpsired by the music of Simon Posford aka Hallucinogen and Shpongle (with raja ram). Beat morpher also outputs midi notes so that you can control other drum machines/synths. You can even record the midi data back into your host and edit it into a proper melody.

Listen:
http://www.oli.adbe.org/sounds/beat%20morpher1.mp3
http://www.oli.adbe.org/sounds/beat%20morpher2.mp3

download at http://www.oli.adbe.org

as usual the skins and se1 files are available aswell.

there is quite a bad bug to do with the presets. Pattern 2 doesn't seem to get saved properly. I think this is a bug with synthedit and I will released Beat Morpher version 1 when it's fixed.

I hope you like the plugin and that it isn't too confusing. Please tell me how i can improve it.

I have also released Groove Modulator although i have abandoned the project. The version available is half finished and quite buggy.

All I ask is if you download my software or music is please tell me what you think. If you really like anything and use it alot please consider donating. I'd like to say thanks to the people who have allready donated and sent me nice emails. Also thankyou to jeff, chris, dave and mark.

oli

Man, this looks pretty serious indeed! Can't wait to try it out! Gone will be the days of 'cross fading' sample loops and beat boxes via mixer strips.

This could be quite the godsend. Thanks Hibrasil!

has anyone tried it?

Nice work!!
i'll gonna do some tests when i'll have some more time at end of May....
lalo

Looks interesting! Will DL after work

I dont know if I'm being incredibly thick but I cant seem to get it to work in Tracktion Win 98 SE.
Because the presets are'nt displaying properly I'm confused about how what I'm hearing relates to the display.
Any chance of really detailed instructions?

EJR

oli, you simply rock.

Looks cool - BTW, anyone know what kind of gear Shpongle uses?

Quote:

anyone know what kind of gear Shpongle uses

god, I wish I knew....I asked the man in person and he just laughed.

I can tell you that his (Simon's) collaborator Raja Ram plays a flute, but you probably knew that...

WhiteNoise wrote:

Looks cool - BTW, anyone know what kind of gear Shpongle uses?

mushrooms and a lot of skunk id say

I love the look of your plugins. Not only am I a preset whore but I'm attracted to GUI's. Seriously, your plugins are very interesting and I'm giving them a go.

WhiteNoise wrote:

Looks cool - BTW, anyone know what kind of gear Shpongle uses?

I have a feeling that this represents the lion's share of it:

http://www.shpongle.com/hallucinogen/sound-thelab.htm

http://www.shpongle.com/hallucinogen/sound-technical.htm

As you probably already know, the producing/technical brainchild behind Shpongle is Simon Posford and while he goes under many aliases, I don't think his equipment has changed that much. Like a lot of other Goa Trance artists, he has a lot of old analogs and a massive effects rack.

-Tronam

nice

thanks Tronam

This is really cool Hibrasil! It's going to take a while to get the full gist of it all, but I think I can handle it. And it's great that one can upload and organize their own fave samples as well. I think for now, 4 columns are sufficient, but maybe someday would like to see 6 for added percussion and/or toms etc. amongst the requisite kick, snare and hi-hats.

Well, back to work for me on this. But you keep up the great work too Hibrasil!

In true sheep style I tried beat morpher again when no one else complained and it works fine...and interseting it is to...
Many thanks

thanks for the comments everyone.

Quote:

Because the presets are'nt displaying properly I'm confused about how what I'm hearing relates to the display

i'll just explain the presets:

#1 - Pattern 1 = three semiquavers (16th notes),
Patter 2 = three triplets (12th notes)

these occur at the beginning of the bar and are routed to sample A (hihat).

#2 - the same as #1 but with 3 semiquavers on each beat of the bar.

#3 - the same as #2 but with different samples.

#4 - This preset is where the bug shows up because pattern 2 should be set to 16th notes not 12ths.
Pattern 1 =

_ _ x _ _ _ x _ _ _ x _ _ _ x _

Pattern 2 =

_ _ _ x _ _ _ x _ _ _ x _ _ _ x


hope this makes it clearer.

Quote:

but maybe someday would like to see 6 for added percussion and/or toms etc. amongst the requisite kick, snare and hi-hats

I may add extra sample players but the aim with beat morpher was not really to make a good drum machine. I will probably allways just record the midi output and then route it to a proper drum synth. I used to achieve the effect by precisely shifting midi notes (which i assume is how simon posford does it) so this plugin is just a quicker way to make the midi data.

i'm not sure i'd actually use this effect if i was a released artist since it's kind of Simon Posford's trademark. i heard one infected mushroom tune that does it too ("twisted"?) but that is the only other time i've heard it.

btw - if anyone makes any tunes using my plugins i'd really like to hear them.

oli

Hi Oli,

Can't get Beat Morpher to 100% work in Plogue Bidule.

No sound comes out of the audio outputs at all.

MIDI does come out of the MIDI output, though. That works like a charm!

The Auto button only works if I'm holding the button down with the mouse. As soon as I left the mouse finger up, the pattern fader snaps back to Pattern 1. Shouldn't this button work better as a toggle?

When Beat Morpher is synched to a master tempo, the metronome only plays on beats 1,2,3, and is silent for beat 4. Yet, if Beat Morpher is running as its own tempo master, the metronome plays 4 beats per bar.

I love how you can mix 12th and 16th notes for great rhythmic effect, even if you are limited to only 12 hits per bar in 16th mode.

Thanks for the interesting plugin!

-K

hi kerrydan,

that's strange. I tested the plugin in bidule and got both audio + midi output. Maybe check if there is a folder called beatmorpher within your vstplugins
folder.This is where the samples should be.

I didn't test the sync tho. Not sure how i'd go about fixing this since the plugin syncs to master ok in cubase.

oli

Hibrasil quoth All I ask is if you download my software or music is please tell me what you think.

Nothing to do with Beat Morpher, but Dronebox is a really nice plugin...

Hi Oli,

You're right about the audio and the location of the audio files. I had moved the plugin DLL into that folder (so that the WAVs were now in the same folder as the plugin). Once I moved the plugin DLL back up a folder, the audio worked perfectly.

About the timing stuff, Bidule is special because users can sync plugins to other plugins, so I can sync my effects to Beat Morpher, if I need to.

However, Beat Morpher, when operating unsynched (as its own master) seems to be hard-coded to 120 bpm. Any chance of adding a way to change that? That would nicely get around any sync issues.
Plus, my particular sync issue may be related to Bidule, I think. Don't worry too much about it right now, and I'll do some checking into it.

Thanks!
-K

Hi Oli,

just wanted to tell say, that I like your Plugins,
especially Dronebox and Formant Filter are really great!! (Have used the Formant Filter as a wahwah-replacement for my e-guitar recently - I could up the song if u like, but where?)

best,
jogga

Hi Oli,

I am playing with your plugins; they do wonderful things and sound really good.

I use them in Orion (platinum). They usually work fine but there are some instabilities. I can report more if you like.

In particular, one feature of dronebox doesn't seem to be working in Orion. I would like to be able to change the pitch of the comb filters. But when I follow the instructions to do this, Orion crashes.

Are there hosts where the pitch changing does work?

Thanks for all the hard work!

hi lee,

pitch changing works for me in SX, Audiomulch and Bidule. ORion seems to cause lots of problems with my plugins. I will try and download a demo and see if i can fix anything.

oli

Hi Oli,

I will try using dronebox in AudioMulch right away.

If you get things to work in Orion, I would be happy to know about it. I can also post anything you discover at the forum of Synapse Audio (makers of Orion).

Cheers,
Lee