Black Magic Drum Machine Beta testing finished

[Astralp]

Actually, I tried the 002 version first, so there was nothing to delete yet. I had just figured it was the newest version (and I guess it is?).

I was loading the 002 version into a brand new project, but once the GUI popped up, it simultaneously popped another message that a serious error had occurred and Live needed to shut down. I'm on 7.0.12. When I get home from visiting with family, I'll download the latest Live release and give 002 version another try.

For now I'll continue the first version until another release... don't worry, I understand that each release will bring a whole new set of possibilities, but I've also got plenty of patience, so no worries.

Thanks you Astralp!

Oh I just thought, if you hadn't installed the samples first it may cause a crash, I haven't actually tested that scenario, did you have the samples installed before running?

[elxsound]

Actually, I tried the 002 version first, so there was nothing to delete yet. I had just figured it was the newest version (and I guess it is?).

I was loading the 002 version into a brand new project, but once the GUI popped up, it simultaneously popped another message that a serious error had occurred and Live needed to shut down. I'm on 7.0.12. When I get home from visiting with family, I'll download the latest Live release and give 002 version another try.

For now I'll continue the first version until another release... don't worry, I understand that each release will bring a whole new set of possibilities, but I've also got plenty of patience, so no worries.

Thanks you Astralp!

Oh I just thought, if you hadn't installed the samples first it may cause a crash, I haven't actually tested that scenario, did you have the samples installed before running?

No worries... Sorry for not mentioning it earlier. I did install the samples before opening my host or even before adding the dll.

I'm actually now getting the same crash, with the first version, after rebooting my computer. Strange that it worked fine before and not anymore... I'll keep trying for now, because it should work.

[Astralp]

I think Live creates a log in its directory, if you can email it to me that may shed some light on it.

[Cordelia]

in the section knobs area:
Sometimes it takes two clicks to engage/disengage reverb, delay, flange, or drive.
Sometimes the effect is active, but the red light is not lit.

Just to make sure you understand, these are sends per channel, not the actual effects, the effects stuff is at the bottom right below the panel. So these knobs display the amount of signal sent to the effects of the currently edited section, which is selected by the bottom row of 1-10 buttons at the top right. Does that explain the problem?

Are the small red lights by the "send" knobs on/off switches? When (for instance) the delay is turned on in the FX area (red button), and the send knob is raised in the "per channel" area, clicking the red light (by the send knob) sometimes turns the delay on or off, sometimes it takes two clicks to change state.
Sometimes after leaving one "channel" (called "section", right?) to edit another, and then returning to the first channel, the red "send" lights will turn off although the effects can still be heard.

hmmm shouldn't be any crackling, was it at all settings or particular ones? If you can email me a recorded version so I can hear it that would be good, you can just reply to the mail I sent out the other day.

The crackling was present on all the lo-fi settings. I'm glad to hear it's not part of the lo-fi sound. I will record the noise and send a file tonight.

when using Black Magic with host sequencer:
Sometimes all drums trigger on first note.

The B4 key is supposed to do that, can you confirm that no other keys do it? thanks!

The B4 key triggers all sequences. What I've experienced is, when the individual drum samples are being triggered by notes in my host sequencer, all Black Magic loaded samples play at once on the first beat. I can send a file of this as well.

rendering (offline):
When triggering samples, latency is 517 samples (11ms) at 512 or at 256 samples sound card buffer.
When triggering sequences, latency is 13,744 samples (311ms).

What ASIO driver are you using or is it MME? It could possibly be an issue with the SSE optimization code. I'll have a look. Can you try using asio4all to see if the problems go away?

I'm using the ASIO drivers that came with my WaveCenter sound card. I don't have asio4all installed, sorry.

Thanks for considering a record meter!

[Astralp]

Hi Cordelia

Yes the small knobs are on/off for the sends for that section, they shouldn't take 2 clicks, I'd like to hear if anyone else has this behavior?

Could you try the ones on the mixer page to see if they do the same?

All notes triggering definitely shouldn't be happening, we may have to do a version to analyze the midi input, to get to the bottom of what is going on.

If you can install asio4all that would be seriously helpful, it is completely independent to your normal asio drivers, it just becomes another driver you can use from your hosts soundcard settings. The results of this could rule out whether it is asio related or not. You can get them from:

http://www.asio4all.com/

I've just added a switch so that the main meters can be switched to record monitor Incidentally, the output is soft limited as long as the Limiter is left switched on (master settings). This means that the audio can go slightly over 0db so the default Record Level is set to just low enough to prevent it and should therefore always be optimal. You can reset to default by double clicking the record level knob

Meters Will be in the next release!

[Astralp]

I've got to try and do less smilies.....

[Cordelia]

I've got two files to email you, but I can't find your address. Could you PM me an email address?
Thanks!

[jdt]

I'll grab the FL8 demo and see how it reacts for me. Sorry if you mentioned already but what asio driver are you using?

I'm using the update VISTA drivers for the EMU 0404. I'm gonna check and see how loop record acts in SONAR. Then next I think I'lll load it in a VST Slot in Deckadance. That should let us see if the MIDI mapping is stable in that instance. Fun, Fun!

[Astralp]

Right, I've just uploaded a new beta, changes:

- Added small button for switching Meters to monitor Record signal
- Added lights for the Sequence Step 1 which shows the first beat being played.
- Fixed a bug where on resume all notes could be triggered, pehaps fix the midi problem?
- Now the default button on the sequencer strip also blanks the sequence.
- A few other small things.

I also set the sequencer to play some odd numbered beats, just in case people haven't noticed you can do that, and also to show how confusing the lights can be If they were all the way along it would definitely be overkill imo?

I'm using the update VISTA drivers for the EMU 0404. I'm gonna check and see how loop record acts in SONAR. Then next I think I'lll load it in a VST Slot in Deckadance. That should let us see if the MIDI mapping is stable in that instance. Fun, Fun!

I use the EMU drivers for an 1820m which are probably the same as the 404, although I am on XP. I also always test with asio4all. I hope it works fine in Sonar! Deckadance I haven't come across, I'll check that out.

thanks again
Andy

[jdt]

Crazzy! Black Magic works like a dream as a percussion synth when loaded as a VST in Deckadance. It's just what I've been looking for since I bought Deckadance. MIDI Thru works fine. Black Magic syncs to the selected deck's tempo. In Sonar, I again had a hesitation after hitting Play or Record. No Audio Stuttering tho.

[alexfalcao]

I'm testing Black Magic with Live 7.0.14 and so far it's working just fine.

Sound Card - TC Electronics Konekt 24D, Sample Rate 48 KHz

Alex.

[Cordelia]

Thanks, Andy. This new beta (3) fixes he problem I had with the accidental triggering of drums on beat 1. It also fixes the lo-fi crackling problem.

I'm still getting erratic behavior with the little red lights. And also latency. When I trigger the sounds in Black Magic with the host piano roll, I have to manually delay the other tracks by 559 samples to get all tracks to sync up.

The Soundscaper gate is a cool feature, too bad about the squeaking.

[GermanFafian]

Hi.
I've been "using" it, but somehow I keep getting errors and drops in FL.
It might be related to my soundcard's ASIO drivers so I will update those and then report back.
So far I had 2 errors which closed FL completely and a bunch of laggy actions.
I push any buttons in FL and they take a while to do anything. Sort of a latency thing.
My set up is;
M-Audio 1010 soundcard.
AMD Athlon 64 @ 3200
Latency set at 1024 samples
2048G RAM
FLS 8.02
Beta 003
Like I said. I'll upgrade my drivers and then will try again. If I get the same problems will try in Reaper.

[Astralp]

I've tried in the FL8 demo but haven't seen any issues like the ones reported so far unfortunately.

GermanFafian - Can you try using asio4all to see if that solves the problem, it looks like they are installed with FL8 if you left the checkbox selected

[Astralp]

Thanks, Andy. This new beta (3) fixes he problem I had with the accidental triggering of drums on beat 1. It also fixes the lo-fi crackling problem.

I'm still getting erratic behavior with the little red lights. And also latency. When I trigger the sounds in Black Magic with the host piano roll, I have to manually delay the other tracks by 559 samples to get all tracks to sync up.

The Soundscaper gate is a cool feature, too bad about the squeaking.

That's great news on both counts

I've also now fixed the gate so it works properly, will be in the next version.

When you say erratic behaviour, they flash with every note played on that particular section, so they will look erratic when complex sequences are being played, or do you mean something else?

Not sure why you have latency yet, I'm still looking into that.

Note, the gate is only really useful when BM is used via the host sequencer as a standard drum module.