eaReckon BloXpander 1.5.0 (Windows only - 32/64 bit)

[PFozz]

BloXpander 1.5.0 has been released today.
Registered users can get this massive update from their user account... for free!




Here is the changes list:

• New "Live View"
You can now switch from the classic console View to a "Live View" providing essential controls to be used once your scenes prepared. Controls in the Live View are highly contrasted and quite large (touchscreen friendly).
The "Live View" can also be used to manage your scenes and sets the easy way. For example, it is possible to move or copy a scene from a set to another (drag n drop), rename it or change its index in the set from an easy dialog.

• Improved user interface
If we look beyond the updated graphics that improve the overall look of the console and the redesigned plug-ins case, some controls have also been added or relocated in order to provide a better workflow. The following details represent a non-exhaustive list of changes.
The automatic layout adaption should work better with small screens (especially when the resolution height is 768).
Should the screen or window width be too small to display the Console View (between 600 and 960 pixels), the Live View will automatically be activated. If you are using a Tablet PC with a screen resolution of 1280x800 (800x1280 in "portrait" mode), it should then be possible to switch from the Console View to the Live View by tilting your device.
Transport controls are now accessible from a "Big Display" panel which includes the LCD emulation. This panel can be hidden and can have a semi-transparent aspect. For your convenience, an extra Play button and a Tempo control have been added to the "Touch Zone".
Side panels can be hidden in order to enlarge the console.
Finally, the background of the console view can be customized and you still have the option to choose between the new console layout and the previous one.

• The interface is now available in three languages : English, French and German.

• Master Record
It is now possible to record the master bus to a WAV file.

• Improved MIDI engine

• "Insert Subscene Lock" option
Inserts can now be selectively locked so their state does not change when a subscene is called. For example, this feature can be used to avoid a sampler to reload its content when switching to another scene while allowing effects to be updated.
The "lock" state of each insert is saved with scenes.

• Various improvements…
- Channel names can be edited (and saved with scenes).
- Improved "MIDI Sync In" option (featuring an offset option).
- New per-plug-in "Hot Update" option: will speed up the scene loading process when some specific plug-ins (samplers/romplers mostly) are involved.
- New per-plug-in "Force MIDI process" option which should help plug-ins that do not explicitly report their MIDI capabilities to work as expected.
- New global "Master Mode" option: can be used to specify whether or not the Master level should be recalled from scenes.
- New global transpose option in the MIDI filter: can be used to quickly set a global transpose value that will be applied to all channels.
- The previous "subscene store" process has been replaced by a more direct and less confusing "Store/Call" mode switch.
- Improved minimizing process and new tray icon.
- Hot Keys can be selectively enabled/disabled and are automatically disabled when BloXpander is minimized.
- New "Expert" options.
- The tempo value is now stored with subscenes.
- New "default" scene option (to be loaded on launch).

• Updated manuals

• Fixed bugs
- Improved "MIDI Plug-ins Recall" feature (avoids a potential crash).
- Improved handling of some specific resizable plug-ins (these plug-ins were not resized correctly).
- Improved inserts drag n drop (copy/move) feature (avoids a potential crash).
- Various minor bug fixes.

... still reading this post? Thank you very much
That said, it will probably take you less time to install the update or the demo version

All the best,
Philippe

[abovethoughts]

Heavy Cantabile user / Really enjoyed demo of BloXpander and almost bought last during last demo try / any promo or sale such as coupon for Cantabile owners / Great to see the product being updated / installing demo now ...

[PFozz]

Thanks for your message!

Unfortunately, there is currently no plan for a BloXpander special sale.
Actually, BloXpander has never been "on sale" but there is only one evolving version of the software and updates are free (to registered users) since v1.0.0.
To be honest, I feel like regular "special sales" can be confusing and/or disappointing sometimes (compared to a fair initial price) and this is why these are quite rare at eaReckon. Even if I'd better never say never, BloXpander and the ANALOG87 series may not be on sale for some time yet.

Looking forward to getting your feedback about the demo!
Thanks again,
P.

[AlStrickland]

This is one piece of amazing software!!! After the fortunate death of my plagued Muse, my dedicated laptop (Asus S200E) and BloXpander 1.5.0 is now my synth rack. I load and intensively program several instances of synths and samples for songs and recall each scene from my keyboard controller without a glitch. I have never had much luck playing VSTIs live until now!!

See this software in action covering The Who, Eminence Front, as I progress
through Drumsource with five 808 samples clocked by BloXpander for the intro,
two instances of Z3TA+2 each running a midi pattern, also clocked by BloX, nine
instances of Sample Trigger and, a Korg M1 Legacy for piano and, a wave file player for live.

Thank You EaReckon

[PFozz]

Many thanks for sharing this video, Al!
This is a very good work you did there.
It's great to see BloXpander used in such a way.

All the best,
Philippe

[godly]

This is one piece of amazing software!!! After the fortunate death of my plagued Muse, my dedicated laptop (Asus S200E) and BloXpander 1.5.0 is now my synth rack. I load and intensively program several instances of synths and samples for songs and recall each scene from my keyboard controller without a glitch. I have never had much luck playing VSTIs live until now!!

See this software in action covering The Who, Eminence Front, as I progress
through Drumsource with five 808 samples clocked by BloXpander for the intro,
two instances of Z3TA+2 each running a midi pattern, also clocked by BloX, nine
instances of Sample Trigger and, a Korg M1 Legacy for piano and, a wave file player for live.

Thank You EaReckon

That's a promissing review.
Maybe I should give it a new try.
I used Intone for over a year, which covers my needs perfectly (except for the missing playlist ability on PC), but got to many bugs, crashes in live use ... and actually no support (although I had regular email contact with them) Very frustrating when you work that hard to get all your presets working, months of work lost...

I now switched to Cantabille, but found out in the end that it's got other bugs (sudden LFO change of presets, vst windows swapping from place),... A week of hard programming work was lost and I don't have the energy to send Brad all the info and wait some day over and over to get it fixed I already overwhelmed him with my info and questions I do appreciate his help dough...

I also appreciate that Pfozz is available for questions and remarks !

What I'm looking for and don't see in BloX at first is:
- a top screen with the preset number (or song number), as in Forte or Intone
- The GUI looks confusing to me. I'd rather see all floating panels next to my vst's so I can set it up the way I like it. (dragable)
- I need to have a live and direct view at my selected vst's in one glance, so I can see the parameter settings from behind my keyboard, I need to be able arrange them on screen where I want.

But most important:
- (Very) Low CPU and latency demand
- Stability, stability !
- Bugless (or at least working hard on the bugs to get it fixed)
- Easy accessible live (change the song or preset from my midi keyboard by program change or PC keyboard pad) and overview of the programs
- Easy setlist setup and change

Maybe a demo for 30 days would make me switch, because a demo that can't save is a waste of time and you cannot try it out in live use.
The price is ok for me, reasonable and fair !

So maybe I'm considering BloX and Reason as a new Live host.
Hope I finally find something stable, handy and reliable.

I was even considering creating my own live host in SynthEdit (but the learning curve is to high ), just to say how desprate I got with the other software

[PFozz]

Hi Godly,

Thanks for your message.

a top screen with the preset number (or song number)

A live view has been implemented in BloXpander 1.5.0.
I'm not sure this is what you would like to get but here is a screenshot:
http://www.eareckon.com/pictures/suppor ... veView.jpg

I'd rather see all floating panels next to my vst's so I can set it up the way I like it.

Could you please tell me more about it?
Do you want to quickly access the interface of your plug-ins or is it something else?

I need to have a live and direct view at my choosen vst's in one glance, so I can see the parameter settings from behind my keyboard

You can use the "Visual Group" feature.
It is possible to show/hide the plugins by using the top number keys of your keyboard.
If you already played Warcraft III, you should quickly get it
Here is how it works:
Once you are happy with how the plug-ins of your choice look on screen, you can press CTRL+SHIFT+1..9 to assign a key to a visual group.
Once your 'visual group' stored, you can call it by pressing CTRL+1..9.
This a nice way to quickly access a group of plug-ins.
It is also possible to assign up to eight plugins to the "Plugins Control" feature. Then you can show/hide their interfaces from MIDI.

(Very) Low CPU and latency demand

This will mostly depends on plug-ins and drivers/audio interface.
BloXpander on its own does not need a lot of CPU power.

Stability, stability !

This also depends on the involved plug-ins and drivers.
Workarounds are regularly implemented to improve compatibility with specific plug-ins/drivers but it is still possible to make any host/DAW crash by loading a buggy plug-in
That said, if a plug-in is problematic in the context of BloXpander, you will not get a "the plug-in is responsible for the crash" answer before many tests are performed. I will always consider BloXpander as a potential cause for any reported crash.
If I cannot find a solution, I usually inform the third-party company about whatever I may find during the tests.

Easy accessible live (change the song or preset from my midi keyboard by program change or PC keyboard pad) and overview of the programs

There is different ways to call a scene or a subscene (program change, two MIDI keys assigned to a temporised next/previous song thingy, numpad or MIDI notes to call subscenes, MIDI tap tempo, ...).
It is not possible to preview the content of a scene, though (you can just name it).

Easy setlist setup and change

The live view can be used to copy or move a song from a set to another (CTRL+DragDrop to move / CTRL+ALT+DragDrop to copy).
You can reorder the scenes in a set from both the live view and the console view.

Should you have further questions, please feel free to ask

All the best,
Philippe

[wasi]

You have a great piece of software, something in the overall workflow is much improved since last tried it. I still find it a little confusing at first IMO because you have your own GUI and don't follow all conventions, but I can see what you're aiming for and it's mostly just a matter of getting used to it.

But is there a way to test the preset/scene switching in demo mode? It's kind of a crucial feature and it seems that because you can't save a main scene you can't use sub-scenes either so you can't test if there's an audio interrupt when switching scenes or things like that.

[PFozz]

Hi Wasi,

Thanks for your message.

You have your own GUI and don't follow all conventions.

I started to work on BloXpander in 2008 because I needed such a host for my own use and could not find one that would do the job. This may explain why it is different
The GUI (and workflow) is based on a "mixer view" and not on a "rack view".
I wanted the workflow to be similar to a hardware console but needed some specific routing capabilities and it was important to quickly get my things ready and controllable in no time.
I wanted it to be suitable for a musician but also for a FOH engineer.

It seems that because you can't save a main scene you can't use sub-scenes either so you can't test if there's an audio interrupt when switching scenes or things like that.

You are surely right about it.
To be honest, I had a very bad experience with a non-limited enough demo of one of my product in the past. I don't want to give too much details about it but I will not do the same mistake again.
However, there may be something to do regarding the demo limitations of BloXpander.
Meanwhile, it is possible to test the subscene feature. Scenes work differently, though and it would be good to let everyone test them.
I cannot promise anything but will think about it.

[wasi]

Meanwhile, it is possible to test the subscene feature. Scenes work differently, though and it would be good to let everyone test them.
I cannot promise anything but will think about it.

Hm, yeah I just saw subscenes seem to work on BloXpander settings, sorry, I missed that because I only tried VST parameter changes and that didn't work. Is that just not possible yet or am I doing something wrong?

And a recommendation: It's very easy right now to accidentally overwrite sub-scenes. I feel there should be a warning when you are about to save a sub-scene to a slot that already has a sub-scene saved.

Again, nice work though.

[PFozz]

I only tried VST parameter changes and that didn't work. Is that just not possible yet or am I doing something wrong?

By default, VST parameter changes are not saved with subscenes.
Here is how you can activate it:
- Open the 'System' panel (big ear shaped button on the left).
- Enable the "Save plug-ins state with subscenes" option.

Once this option enabled, you can lock the inserts of your choice if you don't want to get these updated when calling a subscene.
To "subscene lock" an insert, just right-click on it and enable the option.
This can be practical for samplers/romplers featuring a large set of samples (in order to speed up the subscene call process by only updating effects and synths, for example).

I feel there should be a warning when you are about to save a sub-scene to a slot that already has a sub-scene saved.

I can add it but will probably make it optional (the option will appear in the 'expert options').

Thanks again,
P.

[wasi]

Great, I thought I was doing something wrong. The whole thing seemed kind of pointless otherwise. Why is the default setting not to save states? That seems kind of the point of the software, no?

Options are always good.

[PFozz]

Why is the default setting not to save states?

The subscene feature has been formerly thought to instantly switch from a console state to another.
By activating this option, some plug-ins can seriously slow down the process which may be confusing when "instant" changes are expected. This is probably why the option is not enabled by default.
Also, some plug-ins do not like to receive a FXB/FXP after they have been instantiated.

Scenes work differently. Of course, everything is saved in scenes but it is not expected to get everything instantly ready. However, various things have been implemented to drastically speed up the scene call process in some situations (same plug-ins in the exact same inserts, etc...). Again, some plug-ins may not like it.

All of this can be tweaked by enabling/disabling 'expert options'. These must be manipulated with care, though. This is why they are hidden.
Should someone report a problem related to a specific third party software (plugin/driver), expert options and per-plugin options are a good way for me to quickly help users.
Well... more than four years have passed since v1.0.0 and the internal knowledge base is now full of interesting things
And developing a host + testing all kind of third party plug-ins is an excellent way to learn how to build ultra-stable plug-ins, actually

[Touch The Universe]

what is this?

[wasi]

what is this?

A performance oriented VST host. You can set up your plugins, presets and mixes and switch between different states via midi or buttons.

The screenshot is a bit confusing IMO because it seems to show a basic mixer application.