Hive preview (April 1 update)

[hollo]

Thank you pdxindy! I guess i was expecting a little more opportunity about this.
Will check it again.

[spirit]

Incredibly sharp and brittle sound from this. If it was furniture it would have already scratched up my floor.This is like an Ikea synth, but I was looking for something with lasting charm, maybe Victorian or Regency era. Might have a look at Bazille instead.

[EvilDragon]

Somebody didn't find the filter cutoff knob...

Hive CAN do sharp sounds, but brittle it is not.

[hakey]

It isn't more useful, it is less... having a bipolar control is independent of the ability to choose the modulator for the CC lane.

Eh? The sequencer doesn't do bipolar modulation. It is less useful than it could be.

and OMG, one little obvious step... the horror!! (and that is what you are calling byzantine and overly-complicated

That step requires 1. that the user understands the esoteric and unintuitive system in the first place ; and 2. the same selection is made from a drop down menu in two places - double the mouse clicks. (and f**k off with the sarcasm)

Hive is supposedly about simplicity and being both easy to use *and* understand - this CC channel doesn't fulfil this brief. A no frills bipolar modulation channel would.

[EvilDragon]

I wouldn't call it esoteric nor unintuitive, really.

[hakey]

It's less intuitive and more esoteric than a simple bipolar modulation channel.

[hakey]

If you have modwheel selected for the CC lane and are using the Modulate or Play mode, then each step will adjust the modwheel to that value as set by the step. Your physical modwheel will change the step value only during a single step and that will be 'reset' by the following step.

Dependant upon the step attack and decay values, the sequencer will produce a near continuous modulation signal. Using the modwheel whilst a sequence is playing will cause the value to jump between live modwheel and the sequencer as the two inputs fight one another.

This isn't a feature; it's an unintended consequence of an excessively complicated (that is the dictionary def. of Byzantine) system.

[EvilDragon]

Simple solution to that would be ignoring live input of the selected controller and leaving sequencer to it.

[hakey]

A compromise -

1: in default mode the CC/Mod channel produces a bipolar modulation signal assignable via the modmatrix (Seq:Mod).

2: if a mod source is selected it becomes unipolar and requires the same mod source be assigned in the modmatrix (for pitchwheel the signal can remain bipolar).

(I don't think 2. adds anything useful, but...)

[Urs]

I don't get the problem. Mostly, because I see it as a solution.

The main reason to do this is

- 16 step sequences are limited (hardly usable in a song, due to lack of variation)
- but they nicely demonstrate how a patch sounds when sequenced
- people might want to redo the sequence in their host
- but oh, how to "convert" the arp/seq modulator?
- ah, great, in Hive it's just a standard MIDI controller

This is the reasonaning behind it, and it will not change. A sequence in Hive can be redone in a host application. With a dedicated Arp/Seq Modulator… not so much!

We can add some more modulators to the drop down, including the ones of the Makro idea. Whatver we do, it needs to be accessible from outside of Hive, either via CC messages or via automation.

- Urs

[EvilDragon]

Would be awesome if Hive could output MIDI data, so that note/CC sequence could drive other plugins, too.

[Urs]

Would be awesome if Hive could output MIDI data, so that note/CC sequence could drive other plugins, too.

We have a drag'n'drop control for .mid data lined up. Needs some work to implement, but it's a possibility at some point. You can either drag into your file system, or directly drag into your DAW's timeline, if your DAW supports dragging MIDI files into its timeline.

Might do that some time later next year.

[EvilDragon]

That's a bit different, though. I'm talking about layering synths on a same instrument track within the DAW... So basically Hive would spit out the sequenced/arpeggiated notes and CCs to its MIDI output, and from there, host takes control. I know you mentioned that AU has issues with MIDI output. But it could be a VST-only feature.

[Urs]

Nevertheless, no guarantee given that whatever is to come will come before release of V1.0 and thus during the period of intro offer.

But then at least tell us before the beta ends which things will be added, so I can decide whether I buy it or not!

I can completely understand your concerns, but I'm not a psychic. I can't fully estimate how our ideas pan out and how well they work (or not). I once thought that it would be easy to throw all Uhbiks into a single, rack-style plug-in. "Piece of cake!" I thought. But then it wasn't, and I had to let down a lot of people who were hoping for this. And Uhbik never went up to its announced full price, because of it.

Hence, no promises that I might not be able to keep.

- Urs

[Urs]

That's a bit different, though. I'm talking about layering synths on a same instrument track within the DAW... So basically Hive would spit out the sequenced/arpeggiated notes and CCs to its MIDI output, and from there, host takes control.

One day I'll try to figure out how to do MIDI out in AU, AAX and VST3. Seems like the main advantage of VST2.