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

[phreaque]

Sorry for long silence, I had a tight scedule on my dayjob.

Good to see You mate

- add something like 'min\maj scale' order algo.

Do You mean this will make Bluearp detects the notes triggered but only choose the notes from specific scale?

Increase mas number of keys from 5 to 7. Keys 1-7 will represent scale steps.

Can You please give more details about these points? Are we going to have custome scale switches?

phreaque I know korg pa series quite well (had pa80 and pa500). NTT is another deep area, and the musical idea of it is quite different. My current opinion is - maybe later in a separate plugin, but not in bluearp.
CV is a good idea, but I think maybe it's better to tie variations to keys, not to chord types. It may be a good addition to pattern chaining.

Thanks for Your answer, yes it is different thing, and it is good idea to implement this in another plugin!
And please if You can, let us know more about Your idea of pattern chaining and choosing variations
Thanks a lot good luck & have great day

[ZXOxo67]

ZXOxo67 Currently I tested only one musical use-case:
- you have 2 instances of bluearp, bass and chords
- bass has order algorithm 'root note 1st'
So, when you play inverted chords, bass is still the root key of a chord
Another raw ideas I have in mind
- add 'chord, normalized' order algo.
- add something like 'min\maj scale' order algo. Increase mas number of keys from 5 to 7. Keys 1-7 will represent scale steps.

i will play with it. at the moment my job gives me no much time.
i think i control two instances of bluearp wwith one midiout channel. so i can play the bass and arp chords with one key

[Ojd]

Hello. I've tried your plugin v.1.12 on a Vmachine (its compatible!) . I really liked soviet synth Maestro, which has built in arp, so i trying to emulate its behaviour using midi controller. It has simple 4 step memory, latch key, arp/tremolo (chord) switch, one way/alternating (4/6), double time (gate), and arp speed knob. I really loved the way you play that knob to "catch" the beat (and i play with jazz drummer). What was missing is 8/8T/16/16T or 8/16/32 and norm/triplet buttons. Most of the features i can emulate using program change commands and patterns (1,2,3,4, 1,2,3,4,3,2,1 chord), but it would be good to have option save pattern with time division or not, and free arp mode (there was Leslie Sanford Arpeggiator, where you can use tempo knob AND time-divide at the same time, this is key performance feature for me), also selectable range for tempo knob is really good thing.
So there must be option for latch, time division and free/sync tempo knob to be program-dependent or program-independent.

Привет. Я попробовал твой плугин на Vmachine (и он работает!). Я имел опыт работы, и мне очень понравился арпеджиатор в синте Маэстро, поэтому я пытаюсь добиться такого функционала от миди контроллера. В нем простейший арпеджиатор, но очень пригодный для исполнения в лайве, особенно хорошо работает ручка темпа арпеджио, на очень быстрых скоростях выдает очень интересные вещи, но в нем не хватает диапазона темпа (хочеться дойти до 64 нот) и возможности на ходу модулировать длительности. В идеале хотелось бы увидеть ручку темпа с кнопочкой free/sync, и выбор длительности НЕ заменяющих друг друга. Посмотри плугин Leslie Sanford, в нем как раз реализовано это, но работает он очень плохо (нестабильно).
Нужно отвязать от программы кнопку latch, выбор длительности, добавить ручку темпа с возможностью free, длительности не заменяют ручку. Также длительности нужно подразделить на нормальные (4/8/16) и сделать кнопку для триольных (4=6/8=12/16=24).
У меня очень большой опыт игры на самых разнообразных клавишных, по большей части старых аналоговых, поэтому чтобы улучшить плейабилити в реальном времени обращайся, помогу советом и опытом. Есть также идеи по поводу VST, а также отсемплированный ЭМ 04, орган Эстрадин 09, Vermona, нет никого кто превратит это в нормальный сэмплерный патч.

[graywolf2004]

Hi all.
No updates this weekend, but some notes on my progress. I added interface elements for pattern chaining. Also reworked patch structure and implemented old-to-new conversion routine to ensure backward compatibility (It took the majority of time). 1-2 weekends more - and it will be ready.

[AusDisciple]

This is actually my first post on KVR (been meaning to register for ages and this topic gave me the final push to do so).
In my recent search for midi arpeggiators, I discovered this topic and have just downloaded and installed BlueArp on my laptop and given it a quick run using REAPER and so far, all is good and I am very impressed. Great work.

In my studio, I have a collection of vintage synths and analog sequencers and am looking to expand the possibilities for real time music creation by utilizing midi arpeggiators into my setup. Over the years, I've been significantly influenced by Jean Michel Jarre (I still remember hearing Oxygene II for the first time on CD in the early 80's on a pair of Martin Logan electrostatics and it blew me away), Tangerine Dream, Vangelis, Kraftwerk and numerous others.

One thing I would really love to see added to this arpeggiator is a randomize function (to generate random key order rather than randomizing the programming). Perhaps a random option in the key selection page could work i.e., fixed, random (selected from the pressed keys), k1-5, chord. Regardless, I can see this being a very much incorporated part of my studio rig and am looking forward to testing future releases and posting my findings here.

My current keyboard rig consists of the following:
Roland System 700 analog sequencer
Roland System 100 analog synth and sequencer
Roland SH-09 analog synth with custom expansion box (adds more i/o)
Roland Juno 106 synth
Roland Juno 6 synth with external CV inputs
Roland JX-3P synth and PG200
Yamaha DX7 synth
Yamaha SY77 synth with analog clock pulse out (to drive analog sequencers from midi clock)
Yamaha TX802 rack synth
Hammond organ and Leslie speaker
Yamaha KX8 88 note controller
Native Instruments Komplete 8
Various other software VSTi's (some I found on KVR such as the awesome Night Flight synth and SuperWave Tiny Pops Korg drum emulator)
Frostwave Quad midi-CV converter
Motu Midi Timepiece with ROM upgrade for Win 7 and 8 compatibility
Lexicon PCM41 delay
TC Electronic D-Two delay

Well, that is a tad more than I planned to post but being my first post here, I figured it was worth elaborating a bit.

[graywolf2004]

Hello. I've tried your plugin v.1.12 on a Vmachine (its compatible!)...

This is great news for me. I was thinking about Vmachine and was wondering if it's possible to use bluearp with it. Didn't quite get it about free\sync tempo. But I was thinking that it may be better to make this parameters program-independent - restart on key\beat, latch and in quantize.

[graywolf2004]

AusDisciple
Personally I don't like the idea of randomizing, and this is one of the reasons I designed bluearp as a pattern arp. But I'm sure you can find this function in other arps, even basic ones (I beleive many hardware arps have random mode). As a workaround for bluearp, I can suggest you to create long pattern (64 steps) with near-random key order, the difference should be hardly noticeable.

[AusDisciple]

Thanks for the reply Graywolf and for your ideas RE long patterns.
The random thing isn't something that will be the core of my work. Rather, it is an additional flavour I'll be adding on top of the foundation (I typically layer arpeggiated bass lines with other arpeggios in higher octaves using numerous synths running together in real time).
It is actually surprisingly difficult finding a freeware arp with a random function and it would be great if it could be integrated into BlueARP but certainly not a major issue for me. BlueARP will still no doubt be a core part of the enhancements I'm currently adding to my keyboard rig.

Keep up the great work! It is much appreciated.

[Ojd]

In v-machine, to control arp speed in realtime, you can map internal tempo to midi knob (values in BPM), bluearp syncs with v-machine. To choose time division there is you can use buttons with fixed CC values (say 8, 16, 32), or slider. You can also use program change and use same pattern but different time division. But i find it more practical (in my case anyway) to use program change to choose steps (3/4/5), and have "triplet" and 8/16 button. But i still trying out different layouts with my axiom 49.

[graywolf2004]

Hi all. Some notes on my progress:
1. First working prototype for pattern chains
2. 'Force to scale' option
3. Improved chord recognition

Force to scale gives some interesting sonic possibilities when semitone transposition is used. Yet I have only minor \ major scales. Root key \ scale may be either fixed or 'auto' (= detected chord). It makes possible to create arranger-style performances.
For pattern chains, I added a possibility to send bank\program change messages to the synth, so it's possible to have different sound for different patterns.
I think I need 2 more weekends to make it ready for upload, it goes not as fast as I expected.

[phreaque]

Hi all. Some notes on my progress:
1. First working prototype for pattern chains
2. 'Force to scale' option
3. Improved chord recognition

Privet!
I believe it is time to release the official version of this powerful plugin now! A dream comes true!

[SaschArt]

Your arpeggiator don't receive midi notes when play on reaper keyboard, only from piano roll work right.

[nexussynth]

loving BlueArp. Thank you.

i will also say that (at least on my PCs) it is the most stable and bug free arp i've used yet.

i also greatly appreciate it's ability to work with multiple instances with no glitching or loss of sync.

what might be great would be the ability to capture the output of one or more instances (sync'd of course) to a midifile to import into DAWs that don't work well with midi vst (like Sonar)(works great in my old energyXT 1.41).

[DuX]

+100 for the MIDI export function.

I'm glad that someone is still using EnergyXT 1.41 like me. I love it for "jotting down" quick ideas and more. I also use it within Reaper as a chainer and sequencer within sequencer. It works great and with Reaper you also kinda get EnergyXT with multicore support. Kinda. [you have to run more of them]

Oh yeah, this is the best arpeggiator ever. I also like the one in EnergyXT, too.

[AusDisciple]

The more I use this arp, the more I love it. Seriously. This ROCKS!

I especially love the GUI. I'm using it with a touch screen (my Sony Vaio Duo 11) and it is great for live improvised recordings with my analog rig which is exactly what I was looking for. So many other arps are totally impractical on touch screens but not this one.