BlueARP VST Arpeggiator development - let's discuss! (Apple M1 ready, 4K)

[AusDisciple]

I think I reproduced it. Just to be sure it's the same thing - can you check info panel below - what "Beat" value shows while bluearp freezes at the start of the bar? Mine goes negative (-0.95, etc.) - I think this is the reason, I didn't expect any host to report negative PPQ value.
Update: I found it - it was my bug, REAPER reports PPQ correctly, starting from 0. Fixed in v2.09.

I was just looking into this and about to post a reply and when I clicked preview, I saw your update. I'll eagerly await 2.09. Good stuff.

[graywolf2004]

Hi Oleg,

Loving Blue Arp! Coming to grips with it all, and am using it in FL much as you do in your videos, except I'm not doing it all live. A few questions strike me though, if you dont mind

a) I've setup a 'Chain' of different patterns, all good. I'd like the chain to begin at the bar where its input notes in the piano roll begin, however it starts at 'program 1' in the program sequence as soon as the song starts playing. Therefore it's halfway through the chain when the midi notes start for it. I tried the 'Restart On - Key' option but this seems only to restart the current program, not the whole chain. How might I get it to start on its midi input?

b) The 'Order algorithm => as played' option is very cool for rearranging arps. When setting it up in the piano roll though, this is of course a bit hard. What's the recommended way to use an arbitrary order of notes? I was thinking I could edit the velocity just slightly for each then use the 'velocity' order, but thought there may be another way.

c) I think this may just be a reality of VST's in general, but I have a song I did with an older version of BlueArp. I've since updated it to the latest, and now when I try to load that song FL crashes. In some cases it says there's a problem reading parameters - so I assume as more params got added in later versions, it becomes incompatible. Renaming the .dll of the new one to 'new' didn't change the name in the host, so having both at once doesn't seem possible. Is there any way to fix it by specifying versions for example?

Many thanks!

Mark

Hi, these are good questions!
a) I knew it might be something like this, but didn't do much testing with chains and restart on key. Will look at it next weekend (hopefully).
b) I use 'as played' and move notes slightly back and forth. If you also have inp.quantize <> none, bluearp will capture input keys at the beginning of the step, so it's not a problem if you move them all slightly left.
Velocity order will also work. I don't know any easier way )
c) In FL Studio renaming DLL does change name in the host, maybe you forgot to re-scan plugins folder? It's the way I keep both 1.15b3 and the latest version. Just tried it in FL10 and FL11 - it works. To have several versions, better keep them in separate folders (with ini, skins and all the stuff), cause ini file format may change also.
I spend quite a lot of time to make patches forward-compatible (writing conversion routines), but looks like it works only for me Anyway, the safest way is to keep newer version separate.

All This weekend I took more time to test gate per step function. I connected BlueARP to my Motif XS Rack and tried to make strumming arpeggios, and it worked better than I expected, a whole new area of sonic possibilities! Now I'm fine-tuning MIDI core to deal with long notes correctly (to avoid stuck notes, to handle double-triggering the same note, etc). Later I'll likely make a youtube demo or tutorial on this.

[llze]

In the latest OS X Beta, the GUI is frequently disappearing. Is there a list with known issues somewhere? So i won`t report stuff twice?

OS X 10.9.5
Bitwig 1.1.1 RC1

It's a known issue, but I think I fixed it
Did you notice any pattern to it?

no, just happens with initial settings.

[graywolf2004]

Update: BlueARP v2.09 (this time - windows only, OSX update - next weekend)
http://www.graywolf2004.net/files/2/Blu ... _v2.09.zip

Changes:
1. Bugfix: timing issue with REAPER (bluearp starts from 2ns beat)
2. Bugfix: velocity goes to wrong low value after switching 'fine velocity' on
3. Bugfix: when clicking any dragbox menu and then clicking somewhere else (to cancel), value reverts to 1st one in the list
4. Arp engine improvements for gate per step (didn't finish all the testing yet, but should be better anyway)

[glinkot]

Thanks Oleg, really appreciate it! Will look forward to how you go with the 'chain starts when notes start' thing.

Having whole separate folders for each version is a good idea, I think I probably just moved the .dll so I'll give that a go.

Many thanks

Mark

[ZXOxo67]

Hi Oleg,
thanks for the update, but i found a little bug.

ba.jpg

See the green marker, if i klick there, the square disapears. the value ist corect. this happens only at 127, at 126 the square is displayed.
all in all, bluearp runs very stable. in flstudio 11.5 (12) too

[AusDisciple]

Update: BlueARP v2.09 (this time - windows only, OSX update - next weekend)
http://www.graywolf2004.net/files/2/Blu ... _v2.09.zip

Changes:
1. Bugfix: timing issue with REAPER (bluearp starts from 2ns beat)
2. Bugfix: velocity goes to wrong low value after switching 'fine velocity' on
3. Bugfix: when clicking any dragbox menu and then clicking somewhere else (to cancel), value reverts to 1st one in the list
4. Arp engine improvements for gate per step (didn't finish all the testing yet, but should be better anyway)

Wonderful stuff! This has fixed the bar start bug here too.
One small thing I forgot to mention is that the first step LED actually doesn't light up here (was like that on older versions too) but the step plays correctly now. That's a minor issue though.

[graywolf2004]

Hi all. I was extensively testing 'gate per step' feature, fixed some issues.
And finally I hooked up my Motif XS Rack to BlueARP and this came out:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hXbEhb52RO8

[gaf_thit]

Wow. That is a really nice video, Oleg.
Sounds amazing. I must update soon.

[graywolf2004]

Hi Oleg,
thanks for the update, but i found a little bug.
See the green marker, if i klick there, the square disapears. the value ist corect. this happens only at 127, at 126 the square is displayed.
all in all, bluearp runs very stable. in flstudio 11.5 (12) too

Thanks for report, fixed in v2.10. (it also disappeared at 0)

[dazarz]

I hooked up my Motif XS Rack to BlueARP8

It sounds really interesting... what about creating another parameter in 'arp engine' section named: 'strumming time' or 'strumming delay' or something like that... if the chord type is selected in KEY SELECT row this parameter is for make a delay between playing each of the notes in the chord... so it could make a real strumming effect when using guitar patches.

[graywolf2004]

I hooked up my Motif XS Rack to BlueARP8

It sounds really interesting... what about creating another parameter in 'arp engine' section named: 'strumming time' or 'strumming delay' or something like that... if the chord type is selected in KEY SELECT row this parameter is for make a delay between playing each of the notes in the chord... so it could make a real strumming effect when using guitar patches.

I thought of something like this too. After I fix all the issues in my todo list I'll return to it. Now gate per step seems solid (fixed some issues since 2.09). Working on restart on key & pattern chains issue. No update this weekend, hope to release v2.10 next weekend.

[glinkot]

Thanks so much for looking into that 'chains' issue! Right now I'm just making sure the pattern begins on a bar of the song that's an even multiple of the chain length - not easy to keep up!

I've watched a few of your demo youtube vids which are just amazing. you're automating between the chains much better than I'm managing to, so if you ever feel the desire to do more of a screencast showing how you set yourself up with multiple instances, I'd be very keen to watch. Right now I set up a new arp/synth pair for each 'pattern/arp' in most cases (one or more page chain). If appropriate and I have a few patterns, I'll setup several bluearps and point them all to the one synth. I'm sure I'd be able to switch patterns if I looked more into the automation envelopes and exactly what values there are. Someone mentioned that because there are 8 or something, it's 12.5, 25 etc. Perhaps we should put 64 or 128 chains so they can be automated more easily using even number values?

Two other things occurred to me which might be worth considering:
- I wonder whether at some point the 'sync' should be at step level rather than global, kind of like what you are doing for gate. Sometimes you want a little 'twiddle' in the pattern that is at 1/32 of the bar but 90% of it is at 1/16. In this case you must then make it all 1/32 and double the other notes.
- Most people have reasonable sized screens now, I wonder if we could fit 32 or so steps on the page?

Thanks for all your ingenious efforts Oleg!
-

[glinkot]

Please forget about my point above re putting a different number of chains to make automation easier. I've seen the selector that lets you change it to 10 or whatever, and seen how to automate it with a knob or automation. Brilliant!

On my point about having a 'double beat' here and there (ie a 1/32 note or two but the rest being 1/16). Consequence (Sugar Bytes) is far less useful than bluearp in my opinion but has one elegant way to address that. It has a row where you can click on it and it shows a little '2' or '3' (or 4) in there to indicate it'll be doing a few quick notes on that step instead of just one. You can see that in this video (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WSiOQVM3HQo). Might be a cool feature for a later version!

Chat soon.

[Spitfire31]

…Consequence (Sugar Bytes) is far less useful than bluearp in my opinion but has one elegant way to address that. It has a row where you can click on it and it shows a little '2' or '3' (or 4) in there to indicate it'll be doing a few quick notes on that step instead of just one. You can see that in this video (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WSiOQVM3HQo). Might be a cool feature for a later version!

+1! Cool and potentially quite useful trick!

/Joachim