(the product formerly known as) Epoch

[stanlea]

And don't forget the "random cookie recipe" button.

[jensa]

And don't forget the "random cookie recipe" button.

+1001

[colin@loomer]

Esp if you can imp/exp presets across the various products!

Super idea, thanks. If possible, and in all likelihood it will be, I'll ensure MSEG presets are cross-product compatible.

[sinkmusic]

Will your next plugin be able to be (easily) used as a polyrhytmic drum step seq ?
ANy idea of the price range and ETA ?

[colin@loomer]

Absolutely: all the sequencers have individual lengths and beat divisions, so polyrhythmic sequencing is a breeze.

No release date or price to announce at this point: we are (more or less) feature complete, so I'm just bug fixing whilst the UI gets finished. I'm also using this time to add the most often requested features to the plug-in framework for another round of updates: keyboard entry for entering knob values, Mac OS X Gatekeeper support, etc.

As for price, I've a few numbers in mind but haven't settled absolutely on one yet. Think price of Numerology rather than price of Reaktor (and then subtract a bit with the 'early-bird' launch discount) and you won't go far wrong.

[ChiTown24]

sorry if I missed it but will this app be able to connect directly with analog hardware (in & out) ? i.e simply connect a suitable soundcard with the right DC connections or what-not, choose the outputs in your app - and hey presto, analog sequencing.

?

[colin@loomer]

Yes! The way I'd suggest would be to de-multiplex the note output from one of Epoch's step sequencers using a Note To CV module. This module, as the name suggests, inputs a note stream and produces several discrete CV streams (trigger, gate, pitch, and velocity), which can be routed directly to the audio outputs.

To be honest, there is probably room for improvement in terms of CV integration with analogue hardware, particularly in terms of calibration. By all means, post-beta, let me know if you see any glaring omissions in Epoch's CV IO and I'll see what I can do about getting it overhauled in a future revision.

[ChiTown24]

GReat! will it be able to output smooth cv transitions/portamento ? note to cv sounds steppy..

and, in fact, I'm surprised it hasn't been mentioned yet, but Envelopes & LFOs ? I've got a sinking feeling they don't feature in Epoch :-/ ... please please PLEASE say it ain't so!

[colin@loomer]

It is stepped at Epoch's internal tick rate which runs at high enough a resolution - 768 ticks per quarter note - that these step transitions will not likely be audible. Point taken though: I'll add an (optional) low-pass filter to the CV outputs for smoothly eradicating said transitions.

Worry note, ChiTown24: I'm pleased to say that Epoch v1 does in fact have LFOs. MSEG envelopes, although unfinished, have been partially developed and will be included in a later revision. In the interim, I'll probably write an ADSR lua script to fill in the envelope-shaped gap for the initial release. It's quite easy to fill any gap in Epoch's generative functionality with a lua script module!

[jowen]

Is the lua script module based on this:
http://www.lua.org/about.html

If you give us a Lag Module to the sequencermodules who needs a LFO?
Just an idea.

--------> and more pictures please!!!!!

one early bird flys to our studios!!!!!

[colin@loomer]

Yes, that is the language used by Epoch scripting modules. It's an easy scripting language, even for non-coders, and the Lua parts are safely sand-boxed: you can't do anything nasty like crash Epoch with a misbehaving script (in fact, Epoch will jump in and safely terminate scripts that either take too long or consume too much memory: essential for real-time performance.)

I'm a step ahead of you on requesting a lag module: Epoch already has it. It has two inputs, value, and slew time, and a single value output. And, rather handily, if you leave the slew time input disconnected, it defaults to a sensible value such that changes to the input are gently smoothed.

[pinki]

Wow I hope there will be a manual because I ain't got a clue what you are talking about! The world of CV is a mystery to me as I've never had an analogue synth

[colin@loomer]

Manual will be ready for the 1.0 release, or perhaps earlier if the learning curve during the public beta proves too insurmountable. On saying that, aside from the object model for the lua stuff, I expect most people will, with a few pointers about the basics, be able to grasp Epoch sans manual.

It's all fairly straightfoward: there are, for example, only two types of cable connections: CV, and Note. Boolean Logic Level (essentially, an ON or OFF signal) is, for example, just a CV signal where a high gate is anything over 0.5, and a low gate is anything else. And tooltips explaining what signal ranges an input expects and an output produces are only a mouse-hover away.

The world of CV is a mystery to me

Just think of CV as a procession of numbers controlling the amount of modulation, and you won't go far wrong.

[pinki]

Thanks Colin.

Correct me if I'm wrong (and this is where I think my confusion comes from) ...CV on a computer isn't really CV right? I mean it's not a voltage. CV is a hardware analogue thing going down a physical wire...so when we refer to CV on a computer is it a virtual representation so to speak?

[colin@loomer]

Indeed: we have virtual CV, which is what Epoch uses internally for wiring modules together; and physical CV, which exist outside as a voltage control signal.

If you don't use modular hardware at all, then only the first description is of interest to you. But, for hardware modular users, you can expose virtual CVs as physical CVs using an appropriate DC-coupled soundcard. The (very highly regarded, and rightly so) Silent Way does the same thing.

Thanks for the notice though: the potential confusion between these didn't occur to me. Perhaps a term other than CV for the internal wirings would be better? I'll give it some thought!