Cthulhu looks interesting.

[braj]

in terms of it coming up with a chord based upon a single note - what is the rationale / algo that comes up with the chord?...

I don't think it is quite that 'smart; regarding the chords, it just plays back what you put in, the sorting is just how it handles what key trigger comes first in your keyboard mapping. I have midiChords from piz and I think this operates in the same general way, except the nice sorting mechanism. Having a powerful arp built-in means a much simpler configuration for me, I love arps and would likely be putting one behind the chorder anyway.

I wasn't taking this as an EDM product myself, I don't see why it would be exclusive to that genre. The preset chords are a big selling point for me as well, and I'd love to see more (including just general presets) made available over time.

I'm having a hard time not pulling the trigger on this today

[Spitfire31]

Perhaps I haven't looked thoroughly enough (Cthulhu is a deep machine), but I haven't found any Latch function, usually found on most arps.

@Steve: any particular reason for excluding a latch from the design?

/Joachim

[SWAN808]

Im trying to understand the chord section better as thats the bit Im interested in...in terms of it coming up with a chord based upon a single note - what is the rationale / algo that comes up with the chord?

There's no algorithm involved at all. You program the chords, using your keyboard or a MIDI sequence, then store the chord to a key of your choice. The key is a trigger - when you press it, the programmed chord plays.

/Joachim

so the bach chorales are a collection of pre programmed chords?

so you play a key - it picks a chord based on the low note or any note from the chord?

[woodsdenis]

Im trying to understand the chord section better as thats the bit Im interested in...in terms of it coming up with a chord based upon a single note - what is the rationale / algo that comes up with the chord?

There's no algorithm involved at all. You program the chords, using your keyboard or a MIDI sequence, then store the chord to a key of your choice. The key is a trigger - when you press it, the programmed chord plays.

/Joachim

so the bach chorales are a collection of pre programmed chords?

so you play a key - it picks a chord based on the low note or any note from the chord?

The Bach Chorales are used for a very good reason.

They are self contained pieces of music that consists of melody/harmony/ bass. They are church music originally, and use block chords predominantly. All they did was map the chorale from start to finish from the lowest key upwards chromatically.

So if you start playing up the keyboard you get the chorale. Now bearing that in mind by altering the progression of chords you get some amazing results, they are after all in the same relative key. Don't too hung up about this, you can map any chord to any key if you so desire. You can also sort chords in many different ways. If you really want to map all the major/minor chords to their respective keys then that is easy to do. The beauty about this feature is being able to think outside the box and also your limitations.

I came up with a stunning progression by just skipping every second chord. I know that I wouldn't have come to it naturally. I use it to start a creative idea, it's a happy accident sort of plug in many ways. I certainly fall back on learned behaviour when composing, as does everyone I think to some degree.

[bobbybland]

Really close to buying this, got all the way to paypal, but backed out.Before I buy I'm very interested in how the Learn function works.
For example, say I want to add chords myself.One by one, working them out which may take some time.

So I press learn play some chords via controller then assign it to any key I want,but What if I want to use a secondary midi controller,like a korg nano pad, instead of the 88 keyboard I'm playing on, will this overlap on the 88key Gui somehow and make it difficult to assign notes when I go to learn the second or third chords being learned?

What if I mess up on a chord during the learn process, is it easy to just erase that key learned and start again? How easy is it to move around the learned chords once you get them right?

And finally, does this take the chords I create,and offer other possibilities out of my chords, like say Cubase 7's new chord function?

thanks if you can answer these questions.

[h2ogun99]

I'm having issues with PayPal - anyone else confirm this? Tried two browsers, making sure that was not an issue.

"We are sorry, we are experiencing temporary difficulties. Please try again later."

I'll obviously try again later, but want to make sure it's not me.

Lux

[bitcrusher]

Can you run multiple instances of Cthulhu, for instance throw 4 in a Live rack, have them all set up to use the same chords but maybe with some different inversions and definitely arp patterns, then use this to drive other tracks? I know in theory it should work but want to know if there are any timing issues when using multiple instances.

there will be no timing issues doing this, it should be sample-accurate and seems perfect here in Live (well, Live 7.0.14 or later). Just to be clear on your scenario, you can indeed have 4 Cthulhu's in an instrument rack, but your destination instruments will need to be on 4 separate tracks (as we need the MIDI I/O access, since there is no ability to 'chain' VST's on the same track which send out MIDI, like you can with Live's built-in MIDI Devices).

I'm very interested in how the Learn function works.
For example, say I want to add chords myself.One by one, working them out which may take some time. So I press learn play some chords via controller then assign it to any key I want,but What if I want to use a secondary midi controller,like a korg nano pad, instead of the 88 keyboard I'm playing on, will this overlap on the 88key Gui somehow and make it difficult to assign notes when I go to learn the second or third chords being learned?

I'm not following you 100% here (with regards to learning chords and then jumping to a pad controller) but in any case - two MIDI controllers, and where they route to, would depend on your host and its configuration. For instance in Ableton Live, you can select a specific MIDI Controller for any track input. So, you could have Cthulhu's track with MIDI From: 88KeyController and some other synth with MIDI From: NanoPad, and they won't interfere.

What if I mess up on a chord during the learn process, is it easy to just erase that key learned and start again? How easy is it to move around the learned chords once you get them right?

The piano keyboard has a red "blip" which shows the active chord slot. When you play a chord in "learn" this red-blip will advance up a key on the keyboard once you have released all notes. Learn mode is still enabled in case you want to play more chords. However if you already know you dislike the chord you just played, you can alt-click on the piano keys on the previous note, and Learn is still active, so playing a new chord will now overwrite the previous chord that you didn't want.

And finally, does this take the chords I create,and offer other possibilities out of my chords, like say Cubase 7's new chord function?

Not currently, well, beyond the sorting functions, make all minor chords major, etc.. those functions are detailed in the manual, which is linked in this thread.

-Steve

[bitcrusher]

@Steve: any particular reason for excluding a latch from the design?

I guess since I'm a programmer more than a player it wasn't something that I at all desired. I've had some requests for latching and similar things so you can expect that in the future!

"We are sorry, we are experiencing temporary difficulties. Please try again later."

Sounds like a paypal temporary outage..I'll be trying to add additional payment services in the future, although in general paypal has worked a lot more reliably than our website! We just switched to a new server and everything has been smooth sailing today, well, other than your experience... :/

-Steve

[xx JPRacer xx]

Hi Steve!

Ok, I'm sure this would require too much effort to be integrated in the current version but I'll ask anyway.

Do you think it would be possible to select more than one notes on the note select page? Like playing notes 1-3 at the same time?

[ravasb]

I bought this and do not quite have my head around it. Nonetheless, I have already used this on three tracks. I can't wait to actually understand it.

Steve Duda is an absolulte genius and a very supportive dev. I have Nerve and LFO tool. All incredibly creative and inspiring.

[h2ogun99]

"We are sorry, we are experiencing temporary difficulties. Please try again later."

Sounds like a paypal temporary outage..I'll be trying to add additional payment services in the future, although in general paypal has worked a lot more reliably than our website! We just switched to a new server and everything has been smooth sailing today, well, other than your experience... :/

-Steve[/quote]

Not a problem at all. I'll keep on trying, and if for some reason later this eve things are not still not working I'll update. Otherwise, I can't wait to work with your creation!

[braj]

Can you run multiple instances of Cthulhu, for instance throw 4 in a Live rack, have them all set up to use the same chords but maybe with some different inversions and definitely arp patterns, then use this to drive other tracks? I know in theory it should work but want to know if there are any timing issues when using multiple instances.

there will be no timing issues doing this, it should be sample-accurate and seems perfect here in Live (well, Live 7.0.14 or later). Just to be clear on your scenario, you can indeed have 4 Cthulhu's in an instrument rack, but your destination instruments will need to be on 4 separate tracks (as we need the MIDI I/O access, since there is no ability to 'chain' VST's on the same track which send out MIDI, like you can with Live's built-in MIDI Devices).

Perfect, that's what I needed to know. I currently do the scenario with other arps and some work better or worse, especially together, mostly issues with timing starts etc. Your arp seems to take most of what I like about other arps and included it in the package with the chorder, its all very tempting to me but I need to make sure it all works right for me. Is there a demo available yet? I am trying NOT to spend any money right now but a good demo might just push me over the edge I am fighting pushing the buy button as well, it has been in the cart twice so far. If it were a little cheaper it would have been bought already.

[himalaya]

I was in the process of filling in the order page and the server went down.

"Xfer is down for maintenence. We'll be back soon, hopefully with better stuffs, and um.. stuff."


It's been like that a few hours.

[xx JPRacer xx]

It does look interesting to me too. I hope they release a trial version, if only to test the functionality in my host. Most (all so far) of these arp style plugins don't function in Orion, and there doesnt' seem to be any effort to change that on the developer's part.

I remember having no problem with Orion and Kirnu and another arp I don't remember. I don't remember exactly how to set it up since I don't use Orion anymore but you insert the arp like an instrument, then you insert your synth and there's an option to "receive midi from" that you must choose. Try to experiment and ask in the official forum. If you really can't find anything I'll download the demo and tell you exactly, but try yourself 1st.

Are you sure it didn't also play the notes in the synth being arpeggiated? That is the main issue I have had.. I can get Kirnu and other arp plugins to function in Orion, however the notes generated by the arp AND the initial notes in the synth controlled BOTH get played back.

I wish Richard @ synapse would make MIDI plugins function a bit more smoothly..

Ok, I've just download the demo of Orion. Don't know why I sold it, I played 5 minutes with it and already had the basics for a solid track....

Anyway, there's two things you must be sure to set correctly for this to work:

1) On the option for the SYNTH you must choose: "Receive MIDI From Generator>" and select your arp.

2) On the option for the ARP you must choose: "Generator Settings..." and for the Automation Type select "MIDI CC" instead of "VST Parameters". (don't ask me why)

That's it! Just input your notes into the piano roll of the arp! If you still need more help I'll do a quick video, let me know.

[bitcrusher]

I was in the process of filling in the order page and the server went down."Xfer is down for maintenence. We'll be back soon, hopefully with better stuffs, and um.. stuff."
It's been like that a few hours.

Sorry to hear that - it sounds like your DNS must have the old server IP address still, as people have bought in the last couple hours (we changed servers about 12 hours ago, it takes 12-24 hours to propogate the new server address sometimes).

If you're itching to get it, email me steve -at- xferrecords.com I will be happy to register you out manually with a direct paypal payment and email - or perhaps try another web browser and/or flush your cache.

-Steve