Orb Composer S 1.5.1

[msorrels]

I upgraded my 1.4 Pro version today, but to be honest I wish I hadn't. The new version really doesn't improve things all that much. Very underwhelmed. That and the new version can't read old project files and your old version won't open any more (they share licensing details or something I guess, starting the old 1.4 asks for a serial number, which isn't in my account anymore. I'm afraid if I were to enter it, it would disable the 1.5 version (I still have the old 1.4 number).
I'm half tempted to just uninstall it and get rid of the zillion MIDI devices they insist on adding.

[tonedef71]

I upgraded my 1.4 Pro version today, but to be honest I wish I hadn't. The new version really doesn't improve things all that much. Very underwhelmed. That and the new version can't read old project files

Thank you for sharing your impressions and experience with the upgrade. Which version do you own: PC or Mac?

and your old version won't open any more (they share licensing details or something I guess, starting the old 1.4 asks for a serial number, which isn't in my account anymore. I'm afraid if I were to enter it, it would disable the 1.5 version (I still have the old 1.4 number).

I think you may still be able to run both Orb Composer versions simultaneously; it is certainly worth reaching out to Hexachords support to find out if it is possible.

I'm half tempted to just uninstall it and get rid of the zillion MIDI devices they insist on adding.

I believe you can separately uninstall the Bome Virtual Midi drivers (at least you can do it on Windows).

[tonedef71]

I downloaded the demo for Windows. Here are the official release notes that describe the demo's limitations:

Releases notes v1.5.0 Demo:

DEMO Limitations:
- Maximum 2 Blocks
- Shuts down after 60 minutes
- Export Disabled

New Features (1.5.0):
- New General AI Engine
- New Melody Engine
- New Bass Engine
- New Arpeggio Engine
- New Chord Progression Engine
- Midi Editor
- New Orchestration Engine
- Smart Melody Import (harmonizes now)
- New clip parameters
- Drum Sequencer
- Added a deformation curve
- Changed the instruments roles wording
- New Role Melody Motif
- Added all chords to Orb Artist
- Faster Graphical User Interface
- Changed the fonts for clarity
- Changed some icons
- Many other small features

[Ou_Tis]

Is there a significant improvement in matching chords / accompaniment to user-inputted melody?...

I don't want a zillion midi devices that I already have in multiple DAWs....

Can we use the demo without uninstalling 1.4?

[msorrels]

I'm half tempted to just uninstall it and get rid of the zillion MIDI devices they insist on adding.

I believe you can separately uninstall the Bome Virtual Midi drivers (at least you can do it on Windows).

Yes you can uninstall it, but then Orb Composer doesn't work correctly (at least 1.4 was like this, haven't tried on 1.5 yet). It insists on having the 22 orb MIDI devices. Given it now can make sounds itself, I kind of would like to do away with the too many MIDI ports to share it with my DAW. And yes I'm running Windows.

[msorrels]

My old 1.4 serial number has reappeared in my account so I decided to try entering it when running 1.4.5, but it claims it can't activate it. So it looks like that's a dead end. You can't open your old projects and you can't authorize the old software that could.

[tonedef71]

Is there a significant improvement in matching chords / accompaniment to user-inputted melody?...

I am not sure how much improved it is now. With the demo installed, I imported my own MIDI theme into a block and let Orb Composer generate the other parts. The parts it generated did work with the custom melody. Please bear in mind, I was just a running a quick test, though.

I don't want a zillion midi devices that I already have in multiple DAWs....

I concur.

Can we use the demo without uninstalling 1.4?

Yes.

[tonedef71]

Yes you can uninstall it, but then Orb Composer doesn't work correctly (at least 1.4 was like this, haven't tried on 1.5 yet). It insists on having the 22 orb MIDI devices.

Ugh. That is troubling.

[tonedef71]

My old 1.4 serial number has reappeared in my account so I decided to try entering it when running 1.4.5, but it claims it can't activate it. So it looks like that's a dead end. You can't open your old projects and you can't authorize the old software that could.

Look in the following folder:

Code: Select all

C:\Users\...\AppData\Roaming\com.hexachords.OrbComposer

Try moving the file "licence-Pro" out of that folder and on to your Windows desktop; then attempt to re-activate OC 1.4.5 once again.

[msorrels]

Even moving the license file out I still get "Access Denied. Can't activate the given key" Like the server turned off my old version with the upgrade.

Uninstalling the Biome MIDI driver you get a dialog when you start 1.5. I seem to remember 1.4 being worse. With 1.5 you can just dismiss it and it seems to run. Not sure what the down side of it will be. But scrolling through 22 MIDI devices every time some app wants me to pick my keyboard was a lot of hassle.

[tonedef71]

Even moving the license file out I still get "Access Denied. Can't activate the given key" Like the server turned off my old version with the upgrade.

If you wish to experiment further, OC 1.4.5 uses this file for the Pro license:
C:\Users\...\AppData\Roaming\com.hexachords.OrbComposer\license-Pro

and OC 1.5.0 uses this file for the Pro license:
C:\Users\...\AppData\Roaming\com.hexachords.OrbComposer\license-Pro-15

Those two license files should probably be backed up for safe keeping. When you fail to activate with a valid key, OC deletes the license file.

You can examine the contents of C:\Users\...\AppData\Roaming\com.hexachords.OrbComposer\lcLog.txt to see what is happening with the license.

Theoretically, the two license files should be able to co-exist. My guess is that even with valid license files on your machine, OC still calls out to lamp.orb-composer.com to validate the key with the Hexachords license server. It could be that Hexachords will not allow both OC 1.4.5 and 1.5.0 to be active, but that would be a real shame, since OC 1.4 saved projects will not load in OC 1.5.

Uninstalling the Biome MIDI driver you get a dialog when you start 1.5. I seem to remember 1.4 being worse. With 1.5 you can just dismiss it and it seems to run. Not sure what the down side of it will be. But scrolling through 22 MIDI devices every time some app wants me to pick my keyboard was a lot of hassle.

Thank you for sharing the results of your experimentation.

[msorrels]

If you restore a copy of the license-Pro file from a backup you can start 1.4.5. The server won't generate a new license file for your old serial number (after an upgrade) but as long as your machine hasn't changed your old license file seems to work. So I think that means you should back-up your license file before you install 1.5, since it deletes it.

1.4.5 doesn't seem as bad with the orb MIDI devices missing as I remember. It still complains a bit but didn't seem completely broken. Wish they would re-think their MIDI input/output solution.

[Ou_Tis]

Major bug: Solo Violin and Solo Cello load as "percussion" and Orb crashes when you try to change it.

The bass guitar AI does seem improved.

[tonedef71]

In case you missed the initial introductory offer to upgrade from Orb Composer S Pro 1.4 to Orb Composer S Pro 1.5, Hexachords is repeating the same offer for Black Friday (other pricing options have been discounted by 50%):



You can get a coupon code to save an additional 5% by signing up for the newsletter (useful for offsetting the cost of the conversion to euros):

[tonedef71]

Major bug: Solo Violin and Solo Cello load as "percussion" and Orb crashes when you try to change it.

The bug you described is still currently a known issue (as of October 19th, 2019):

1.5 Known Issues
Updated: October 19th, 2019

Non-Specific OS:
► Swirl Icon used to select theme associations changes a block to a copy (cp) block, and erases things in the block.
► Crashes associated with changing articulation while using Solo Violin and Solo Cello. It seems when one drags in the two instruments and ask orb to create melodies with those it always appear as “perc” articulation by default. Changing these articulation parameters to legato,motif, arpeggios etc., and results in a crash.
► When changing the Density of a block after you’ve created everything, all of the instruments and notes change and the user is given no warning of this.
► When changing the chords or other block parameters, manually generated drums, even on locked clips, are changed by Orb Composer to something else.
► The intensity lines do not get applied to the instruments initially generated, resulting in a contradiction in what you see vs what you hear. The quick fix is to just touch and slightly move any dot on the intensity line and all instruments are updated
► Notes sometimes dropout or don’t play.
► Some plugins are blacklisted regardless of the rescan time.
► Adding 10-20 blocks results in slow responsiveness universally to all editing techniques.

MAC:
► When clicking on a green note in the Drum Sequencer, the notes do not disappear as they should.