KVR Audio

Chris Walton · Post by **Chris Walton** » Wed May 30, 2007 1:25 pm

its not hard to make a VST host that just interacts with the program stuff.

arakula · Post by **arakula** » Wed May 30, 2007 1:27 pm

molecule wrote:@arakula: for reading chunk data, i think a solution may be loading the VST and not only a preset (e.g. the tool become a VST host). Must try.

Yep. But even this will only allow randomization of parameters that can be automated.
BTW - you are aware of the fact that there are PlugIns with thousands of parameters, are you? I don't know how well your user interface handles that...

rockstar_not · Post by **rockstar_not** » Wed May 30, 2007 1:36 pm

Doesn't the excellent Oatmeal synth have it's own random patch generator? I seem to recall that it does since I've saved off many of the random patches into an fxb file for future use.

This would be interesting to try out if it works.

-Scott

tony tony chopper · Post by **tony tony chopper** » Wed May 30, 2007 3:39 pm

best way to do it for chunks is to load it, look at the number of parameters it exposes, call setParameter for each to set the random value, then getChunk

... i think at least

that may work for some simple plugins, but it probably won't with a lot of them.

Cygnus X-1 · Post by **Cygnus X-1** » Wed May 30, 2007 3:40 pm

molecule wrote:@Selfik: Random Patch Maker crashes on my computer too

@rsmus7: I knew that some VST instrument have their own random generator, but I've not look at one of them. My program just write randomized values in a file, not very complicated

EnergyXT is a VST host. The randomize feature works with any VST plugin that you use with it, and I have to say it's very nicely done. 8 out of 10 times it will give a meaningful patch, plus you have control over which parameters to randomize. You could also breed presets. Console (another VST host) has a similar feature.
I think what rsmus was trying to say is that you might be trying to reinvent the wheel here, given that energyXT has a VSTi version that you could use from within your prefered DAW/host application.
I'm not trying to be harsh or anything, just giving my 2 cents.
Thanks for sharing.

guitama · Post by **guitama** » Wed May 30, 2007 11:55 pm

If i load Oatmeal into EXT Vst in Buzz or even Orion (or Ext again) i have 3 options to randomise the parameters, plus two patch hybridisers (?) if i take the Buzz route that is.
Is this too much? :)

molecule · Post by **molecule** » Thu May 31, 2007 7:27 am

I think what rsmus was trying to say is that you might be trying to reinvent the wheel here

You may be right, but I have just develop this little tool for my own use, and I would like to improve it. Moreover I can not program such a complex program like EnergyXT...

Thanks all for remarks and tips, I will although continue to program

Bernard Quatermass · Post by **Bernard Quatermass** » Thu May 31, 2007 7:34 am

Selfik wrote:Random Patch Maker is not working here...just crashes at startup

You might need to have a MIDI loopback device installed for it to work properly.

Bernard Quatermass · Post by **Bernard Quatermass** » Thu May 31, 2007 7:35 am

Chainer also does patch randomizing.

Andywanders · Post by **Andywanders** » Thu May 31, 2007 8:03 am

Bernard Quatermass wrote:Chainer also does patch randomizing.

Beat me to it.

It's pretty good too.

guitama · Post by **guitama** » Thu May 31, 2007 5:20 pm

Oh yeah, i agree completely about Chainer. It depends how you like to work, guis and ways of linking plugs differ.
Further development of the random chnage in presets appeals, providing it really allows for individual parts to be addressed better.

beltrom · Post by **beltrom** » Fri Jun 01, 2007 5:06 am

Many years ago (late 80's or maybe early 90's) me and a friend made a patch editor for the MT32. It had several ways of randomizing patches and you could set it to auto. Put in auto it randomized, played a few tones, chords and a melody in different octaves. If noone hit the computer keyboard it randomized a new sound (in retrospect I should have stored all generated patches automatically - I lost a few sounds not being quick enough back to the keyboard). All the ways of randomizing could be filtered (an idea kind of stolen from Cakewalk) so you just randomized certain blocks/parts of the patch - some important parameters were also posssible to exclude by themselves. The different ways of randomizing were:
* Full - set parameters to any possible value
* Gentle - randomize parameters on a choosen basesound within a given percentage, next iteration used the previous randomized sound as basesound (this never was as useful as it might seem - but I think it might be given the right implementation)
* kleptomania - stole blocks from other patches
* Squared - A square appeared with a choosen "patch" in each corner and a symbol in the middle (yes it was a DOS app) and you could either let it drift around by itself in auto averaging between the patches or drag the symbol around and play by yourself.

I don't think any of the ideas for randomizing were very innovative, they're pretty obvious - but I did like to put it on auto and do other things while the editor created and played new patches for me...

Don't know if this is of any use to you - this thread just hit a nostalgic nerve...

BFunKu · Post by **BFunKu** » Sat Jun 02, 2007 3:45 am

Works Great with all the MDA VSTs!

Bernard Quatermass · Post by **Bernard Quatermass** » Sat Jun 02, 2007 3:50 am

Oh joy!

molecule · Post by **molecule** » Mon Jun 04, 2007 6:44 am

Hey Guys, new release ! (0.1.1)

- Can create a blank vst list
- Change graphic design, to improve space
- Real mainwindows (no quit with esc key)
- "About" menu with Copyright
- "Vst List" menu
- Some English mistakes corrected
- Extern library to generate random numbers
(Random Number Generator by Weili Chen and
Zixuan Ma, OpenSource project)
- Normal distribution option, in order to
oscillate parameters around a value

http://sourceforge.net/projects/vst-preset-gen

VST Preset Generator