!Epoch, for the next 4 years
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- KVRAF
- 2682 posts since 25 Aug, 2003 from Bournemouth, UK
Thanks bungle; I hope so to.
Architect, the modular MIDI toolkit, beta now available for macOS, Windows, and Linux.
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- KVRAF
- 2682 posts since 25 Aug, 2003 from Bournemouth, UK
Whilst I'm loath to show work in progress shots, I will, because I'm currently working on refining some UI elements and could use the feedback.
This is the mixer view, which is in need of some UI attention, particularly in regardless to the styling of the send components, something hopefully I'll have sorted within the next few days.
The mixer view is where you create tracks, host plug-ins, and set their routings and relative levels. It's optional - plenty of times, I'll just use Epoch as a MIDI source and route its MIDI output to the host DAW - but if you'd prefer to do everything in one place, it's a feature-rich mixer.
It's a customisable view: the sends, track routings, channel strips, and master strip can be hidden away.
As well as the standard send and receives, you can pump both the MIDI and audio from any track or plug-in to any other track, which makes for a very flexible routing system.
As with everything else in Epoch, you can map the controls to devices such as hardware controllers or the computer keyboard, but you can also creates nodes for them on the graph view and then manipulate them with mathematical logic instead: I had a nice aleatoric preset which creates random mutations of the mixer settings, from which you can choose the best, and breed them to create the ultimate mix. (It didn't create the ultimate mix, but was a nice excursion besides.)
It also does the perhaps less obvious things: plug-in delay compensation to ensure that your plug-ins remain in sync if one or more of them require a delay, and a clever system that re-uses plug-ins when you load new presets to ensure that loading times are as short as possible.
This is the mixer view, which is in need of some UI attention, particularly in regardless to the styling of the send components, something hopefully I'll have sorted within the next few days.
The mixer view is where you create tracks, host plug-ins, and set their routings and relative levels. It's optional - plenty of times, I'll just use Epoch as a MIDI source and route its MIDI output to the host DAW - but if you'd prefer to do everything in one place, it's a feature-rich mixer.
It's a customisable view: the sends, track routings, channel strips, and master strip can be hidden away.
As well as the standard send and receives, you can pump both the MIDI and audio from any track or plug-in to any other track, which makes for a very flexible routing system.
As with everything else in Epoch, you can map the controls to devices such as hardware controllers or the computer keyboard, but you can also creates nodes for them on the graph view and then manipulate them with mathematical logic instead: I had a nice aleatoric preset which creates random mutations of the mixer settings, from which you can choose the best, and breed them to create the ultimate mix. (It didn't create the ultimate mix, but was a nice excursion besides.)
It also does the perhaps less obvious things: plug-in delay compensation to ensure that your plug-ins remain in sync if one or more of them require a delay, and a clever system that re-uses plug-ins when you load new presets to ensure that loading times are as short as possible.
Architect, the modular MIDI toolkit, beta now available for macOS, Windows, and Linux.
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- KVRAF
- 2682 posts since 25 Aug, 2003 from Bournemouth, UK
And here is an example of the now slightly clearer graph view.
The patch shown here is part of the factory library; it's a 'min' function, which selects the minimum value from an array. It's a low-level function so don't panic if the logic behind it seems inscrutable: if you just want to wire monolithic MIDI generators together, you need never dive this deep. But for those who need this power and flexibility, you're in the right place.
To reiterate, green connections are active, in that they cause receiving modules to generate further events. The light grey connections are passive: the values will be stored but won't be processed upon until an event is received in an active inlet. The pinky/orange dotted connection denotes a shared reference: these modules all read and write to the same value.
The patch shown here is part of the factory library; it's a 'min' function, which selects the minimum value from an array. It's a low-level function so don't panic if the logic behind it seems inscrutable: if you just want to wire monolithic MIDI generators together, you need never dive this deep. But for those who need this power and flexibility, you're in the right place.
To reiterate, green connections are active, in that they cause receiving modules to generate further events. The light grey connections are passive: the values will be stored but won't be processed upon until an event is received in an active inlet. The pinky/orange dotted connection denotes a shared reference: these modules all read and write to the same value.
Architect, the modular MIDI toolkit, beta now available for macOS, Windows, and Linux.
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- KVRAF
- 6305 posts since 9 Dec, 2008 from Berlin
The Mixer looks awesome. 
The actual mixer volume handle looks a bit small though - depends on how it feels in reality, but grabbing that triangle could be a bit fiddly and it's rather low-key on the visual side if you want to see at a glance where the levels are at.
Could be worth a try to shade the area below the current level and maybe have a line showing the value?
Basically I like the minimal approach, but since the values are on the opposite side, it's harder to really see what value the slider is at.
I have a similar feel towards the pan slider. Showing the actual value as a coloured background would help there too for discerning it with a quick glance IMO.
Would it make sense to have the sends use the colour of the respective send track for faster visual reference?
Could be helpful to have different colours for VST Instruments and Effects - the current Blue is rather massive.
The nodes look good visually, but I would have to work with the system a while to comment on logic and usability - what you say about the thinking behind it sounds good though, even if rather on the heady side (not a problem for me personally).
Cheers and thanks for the images!
Tom
The actual mixer volume handle looks a bit small though - depends on how it feels in reality, but grabbing that triangle could be a bit fiddly and it's rather low-key on the visual side if you want to see at a glance where the levels are at.
Could be worth a try to shade the area below the current level and maybe have a line showing the value?
Basically I like the minimal approach, but since the values are on the opposite side, it's harder to really see what value the slider is at.
I have a similar feel towards the pan slider. Showing the actual value as a coloured background would help there too for discerning it with a quick glance IMO.
Would it make sense to have the sends use the colour of the respective send track for faster visual reference?
Could be helpful to have different colours for VST Instruments and Effects - the current Blue is rather massive.
The nodes look good visually, but I would have to work with the system a while to comment on logic and usability - what you say about the thinking behind it sounds good though, even if rather on the heady side (not a problem for me personally).
Cheers and thanks for the images!
Tom
"Out beyond the ideas of wrongdoing and rightdoing, there is a field. I’ll meet you there." - Rumi
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- KVRist
- 39 posts since 19 Feb, 2016
Looks nice but I agree about the triangle feeling to small I would try a slider in this style http://www.streamingmedia.com/Images/Ar ... .14901.jpg
The white and blue is little off would try something more discrete to fit in with the rest and smaller. For the sends I would try regular uncolored knobs. Maybe little bigger mute and solo buttons so you can use with touch screen, I would look at Bitwig for inspiration.
The white and blue is little off would try something more discrete to fit in with the rest and smaller. For the sends I would try regular uncolored knobs. Maybe little bigger mute and solo buttons so you can use with touch screen, I would look at Bitwig for inspiration.
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- KVRAF
- 1894 posts since 12 Mar, 2004
1 You do realise that your mixer is a near 1:1 replica (Visually) of Maschines mixer right ? While i personally love that look, Native instruments may get a bit pissy.
2 The send has a bunch of wasted space because it is circular rather than linear, it could be half the height if the level control was horizontal rather than a circle, personally would keep the same size, however make the level horizontal and add in preset for the plugin.
3 The graph view is absolutely clean, very clean in fact.
This is all starting to look great.
2 The send has a bunch of wasted space because it is circular rather than linear, it could be half the height if the level control was horizontal rather than a circle, personally would keep the same size, however make the level horizontal and add in preset for the plugin.
3 The graph view is absolutely clean, very clean in fact.
This is all starting to look great.
Duh
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- KVRian
- 1193 posts since 6 Jul, 2005
Hey Colin,
Looking good Sir!
A couple of questions:
1) I'm assuming the VST will allow multiple outputs to the DAW (so it could be setup with External Instruments in Live on both the Midi & Audio side)
2) Will it be possible to set-up parameter mappings for individual VSTs hosted within the plugin and save recall presets etc? (Kind of like Kore if that helps as a reference point)
Looking good Sir!
A couple of questions:
1) I'm assuming the VST will allow multiple outputs to the DAW (so it could be setup with External Instruments in Live on both the Midi & Audio side)
2) Will it be possible to set-up parameter mappings for individual VSTs hosted within the plugin and save recall presets etc? (Kind of like Kore if that helps as a reference point)
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- KVRAF
- 2682 posts since 25 Aug, 2003 from Bournemouth, UK
All feedback noted and greatly appreciated; thanks guys! I'll give the mixer another pass this week and see if I can rectify the points raised. There have been things mentioned that I too was unsure about, and your collective opinion has convinced me that there are issues here.
(And yikes, I did totally ape Maschine for the mixer. I've not even used Maschine, so I reckon I must have seen a screenshot somewhere and it buried itself deep into my designer subconscious. That'll definitely be fixed this week.)
Yes; when running as a plug-in you can have multiple outputs and route hosted plug-ins to discrete output channels for further mixing in the host.I'm assuming the VST will allow multiple outputs to the DAW (so it could be setup with External Instruments in Live on both the Midi & Audio side)
It would be possible, but it's not something I've looked at yet. Could you remind me again during beta and I'll take a look at what is involved.Will it be possible to set-up parameter mappings for individual VSTs hosted within the plugin and save recall presets etc? (Kind of like Kore if that helps as a reference point)
(And yikes, I did totally ape Maschine for the mixer. I've not even used Maschine, so I reckon I must have seen a screenshot somewhere and it buried itself deep into my designer subconscious. That'll definitely be fixed this week.)
Architect, the modular MIDI toolkit, beta now available for macOS, Windows, and Linux.
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- KVRAF
- 2357 posts since 24 Nov, 2012
blue on white section does not work for me at all - too big a jump in contrast, particularly where the rest is not such a high contrast.
the rest I pretty much agree with the others -
and ..
thrilled to see that beta distribution
the rest I pretty much agree with the others -
and ..
thrilled to see that beta distribution
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- KVRAF
- 35295 posts since 14 Sep, 2002 from In teh net
Mixer looks a lot like the Reaktor Blocks one (which is good)
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- KVRian
- 1193 posts since 6 Jul, 2005
I'm assuming the VST will allow multiple outputs to the DAW (so it could be setup with External Instruments in Live on both the Midi & Audio side)
Excellent, I thought it was likely but thanks for the confirmation.colin@loomer wrote:Yes; when running as a plug-in you can have multiple outputs and route hosted plug-ins to discrete output channels for further mixing in the host.
Will it be possible to set-up parameter mappings for individual VSTs hosted within the plugin and save recall presets etc? (Kind of like Kore if that helps as a reference point)
Sure. Maybe something for a point release (I know everyone is keen to see this released and I although it would be cool for me I'm not sure it's a core feature?colin@loomer wrote:It would be possible, but it's not something I've looked at yet. Could you remind me again during beta and I'll take a look at what is involved.
)
