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

[graywolf2004]

Gave the white skin a little more contrast and added a gray skin:
...
New link: studio.zip

Thank you for your effort. I can include them into download package if you want.

[graywolf2004]

Bathler I think I stumbled upon the same issue you reported a while ago. I have quite a sophisticated project with 5 instances of BlueARP, all chains are automated. And sometimes on chain switch it crashes. Im afraid it will be hard to fix, but I'll focus my efforts on this now, cause stability is the main priority )

all I fell a little sorry for not answering each message, just not enough time. But I read them all carefully.

[studio4]

Gave the white skin a little more contrast and added a gray skin:
...
New link: studio.zip

Thank you for your effort. I can include them into download package if you want.

Sure, feel free to include or modify them. Thanks for the great plugin.

[graywolf2004]

Bathler I think I stumbled upon the same issue you reported a while ago. I have quite a sophisticated project with 5 instances of BlueARP, all chains are automated. And sometimes on chain switch it crashes. Im afraid it will be hard to fix, but I'll focus my efforts on this now, cause stability is the main priority )

Well, after some testing Im not sure it's the issue with BlueARP, but maybe with PG-8X. I wrote to developer's forum, cause sound-wise it's really a great plugin. In other scenarios BlueARP is pretty stable (I changed all the synths in myu performance to Synth1 -> no crashes)

[graywolf2004]

Privet Oleg! So glad to see that video, great performance and of course thanks to the glorious BlueArp. The guy did a decent presentation to You as well. I'm into doing a gig as well based on BlueArp performing

Would like to see you performing, hope you film it )

[.jon]

I seem to have some issue on my system concerning bluearp.ini (Error: Updating BlueARP.ini failed, rc=3), it doesn't save my skin setting for example. Maybe something related to file permissions? I'm on Windows 10.

[KK959]

Hi Graywolf,

The BlueAPR is really excellent and suit to the needs of computer musicians.
I used it for several days and found a bug (as shown in the attached screen capture).

When I press a chord to play a pattern (e.g. Bass 1k Simple 01), usually the pattern plays normally. But in some occasions when I release the chord near the end of the patterns, BlueAPR will send out extra note-on/note-off.

i.e. when I press a chord on channel 1:
90 3B 31 Ch.1 Note On: B2 (59), Velocity: 49
90 3E 34 Ch.1 Note On: D3 (62), Velocity: 52
90 37 30 Ch.1 Note On: G2 (55), Velocity: 48
and set BlueAPR to plays at channel 4 :
93 2F 60 Ch.4 Note On: B1 (47), Velocity: 96
93 2B 60 Ch.4 Note On: G1 (43), Velocity: 96
83 2B 60 Ch.4 Note Off: G1 (43), Velocity: 96
83 2F 60 Ch.4 Note Off: B1 (47), Velocity: 96
93 37 60 Ch.4 Note On: G2 (55), Velocity: 96
83 37 60 Ch.4 Note Off: G2 (55), Velocity: 96
93 37 60 Ch.4 Note On: G2 (55), Velocity: 96
83 37 60 Ch.4 Note Off: G2 (55), Velocity: 96
93 2B 60 Ch.4 Note On: G1 (43), Velocity: 96
83 2B 60 Ch.4 Note Off: G1 (43), Velocity: 96

when I release the chord :
80 37 40 Ch.1 Note Off: G2 (55), Velocity: 64
80 3E 40 Ch.1 Note Off: D3 (62), Velocity: 64
80 3B 40 Ch.1 Note Off: B2 (59), Velocity: 64
Normally BlueAPR will stop output any sequenced notes.

But sometimes BlueAPR will send out these extra notes on/off when I release the chord:
93 37 60 Ch.4 Note On: G2 (55), Velocity: 96
83 37 60 Ch.4 Note Off: G2 (55), Velocity: 96
93 3B 60 Ch.4 Note On: B2 (59), Velocity: 96
83 3B 60 Ch.4 Note Off: B2 (59), Velocity: 96

I tested it on my Windows 7 desktop PC and with a Windows 10 tablet. I found that the problems are more serious in the tablet, which I think maybe due to the much lower CPU power of the tablet.

[graywolf2004]

I seem to have some issue on my system concerning bluearp.ini (Error: Updating BlueARP.ini failed, rc=3), it doesn't save my skin setting for example. Maybe something related to file permissions? I'm on Windows 10.

Hi. There are two possible reasons:
1. BlueARP tries to open ini at the wrong path, or maybe path contains national characters and it doesnt work
2. File is read-only, which is unlikely

Please do the following. Open BlueARP, go to MENU >> Debug info >> pGraphics->PluginPath().
It should show you path where BlueARP.dll is located. Printscreen it and post here, maybe it will give me some clues.
The only ideas I have now - maybe national characters in the path cause the problem, or maybe it's too long (>265 chars).

Second thing - check file properties, maybe it's read only (it's unlikely, but worth checking anyway)

[.jon]

Thanks for helping

Path is
C:\Program Files\vst64\blueARP
BlueARP.ini is not read-only.

English Win10 x64, but locale is Finnish (for input type, dates & clock display, decimals etc).

[graywolf2004]

Thanks for helping

Path is
C:\Program Files\vst64\blueARP
BlueARP.ini is not read-only.

English Win10 x64, but locale is Finnish (for input type, dates & clock display, decimals etc).

I have no idea... really. The only suspiction I had - was about space in a path, but I modeled it on my PC - no problems.
Let's check that it at least reads ini file in your case. Open bluearp.ini with notepad and change the line
P000=000
to
P000=001
The reload bluearp. This should change skin, cause selected skin is stored in INI in this parameter). Let me know if it works.

[graywolf2004]

Hi Graywolf,
The BlueAPR is really excellent and suit to the needs of computer musicians.
I used it for several days and found a bug (as shown in the attached screen capture).
When I press a chord to play a pattern (e.g. Bass 1k Simple 01), usually the pattern plays normally. But in some occasions when I release the chord near the end of the patterns, BlueAPR will send out extra note-on/note-off.
...
I tested it on my Windows 7 desktop PC and with a Windows 10 tablet. I found that the problems are more serious in the tablet, which I think maybe due to the much lower CPU power of the tablet.

Hi. Thanks for detailed report. This may be tricky, so I'd like to clarify some things:
1. Does it happen on live playing only?
2. What is the value of 'in quantize' parameter? (default 1/16 or you changed it)
3. Audio buffer size. Is it the same on tablet? Should be 256 or less, 128 is better.
4. What DAW do you use? If it's FL Studio or Ableton, can you send me a sample project?

PS. I dont see any screenshots attached, but from note message list I think I got the idea what happens.

[.jon]

Thanks for helping

Path is
C:\Program Files\vst64\blueARP
BlueARP.ini is not read-only.

English Win10 x64, but locale is Finnish (for input type, dates & clock display, decimals etc).

I have no idea... really. The only suspiction I had - was about space in a path, but I modeled it on my PC - no problems.
Let's check that it at least reads ini file in your case. Open bluearp.ini with notepad and change the line
P000=000
to
P000=001
The reload bluearp. This should change skin, cause selected skin is stored in INI in this parameter). Let me know if it works.

This did not work, but it revealed the issue, which was permissions- I had to give write permission on BlueARP.ini to "Users" from Properties > Security tab. I can't remember anymore how I installed/unpacked bluearp or if I have some Windows setting that defines this. Anyway, it's solved now, thanks!

[graywolf2004]

This did not work, but it revealed the issue, which was permissions- I had to give write permission on BlueARP.ini to "Users" from Properties > Security tab. I can't remember anymore how I installed/unpacked bluearp or if I have some Windows setting that defines this. Anyway, it's solved now, thanks!

Thanks for tip. I did the same on my PC, probably it will prevent this kind of problem for other people.

[KK959]

Hi Greywolf,

Thank you for your hints

I tested BlueAPR with the following settings :

1. I play BlueAPR live and use VSTHOST (http://www.hermannseib.com/english/vsthost.htm) to host it.
2. The 'in quantize' of BlueAPR is set to 'none' as I want to make BlueAPR as responsive as possible.

3. The 'Wave Device' buffer of VSTHOST is set to 160 samples, and the ASIO4ALL driver buffer is set to 96 samples.


Refering to your hints, I found that the bug occurs only when the 'in quantize' is set to 'none'.
When the 'in quantize' is NOT set to 'none', the bug disappeared.

Hi Graywolf,
The BlueAPR is really excellent and suit to the needs of computer musicians.
I used it for several days and found a bug (as shown in the attached screen capture).
When I press a chord to play a pattern (e.g. Bass 1k Simple 01), usually the pattern plays normally. But in some occasions when I release the chord near the end of the patterns, BlueAPR will send out extra note-on/note-off.
...
I tested it on my Windows 7 desktop PC and with a Windows 10 tablet. I found that the problems are more serious in the tablet, which I think maybe due to the much lower CPU power of the tablet.

Hi. Thanks for detailed report. This may be tricky, so I'd like to clarify some things:
1. Does it happen on live playing only?
2. What is the value of 'in quantize' parameter? (default 1/16 or you changed it)
3. Audio buffer size. Is it the same on tablet? Should be 256 or less, 128 is better.
4. What DAW do you use? If it's FL Studio or Ableton, can you send me a sample project?

PS. I dont see any screenshots attached, but from note message list I think I got the idea what happens.

[.jon]

Feature idea:

Push/pull sync slider or "tempo offset". Like Swing, but would move all notes equally against the tempo sync value. This would be useful for step sequencing.

Also a note about the manual entry for setting BlueARP up in REAPER- it's often better to put BlueARP in the normal FX chain, just have it above the synth(s). This allows full automation and parameter modulation, and also recording or mousing in the MIDI input going into it instead of the arp output. And you can still choose to record the output by changing the track record mode.