v3 Beta Feedback And Discussion (Bugs, Features, Suggestions)

[musicdevelopments]

Hello Richard,
I know you are patiently waiting for the idea tool, which I am very grateful for.
I don't like setting deadlines because I always miss them . And working under pressure to meet a deadline - I am very bad at it. I do not expect the new idea tool before 20th February. At the end of January everything else should be finished and working without issues. It is left as the last task so that I can concentrate on it without distraction.
Even today I wanted to upload a new update (with an unplanned but useful feature requested by a jazz musician), but I am still chasing a bug about UI layout.

Best,
Attila

[Musical Gym]

It's been said before, but I really admire your dedication to RC; thanks

[nexussynth]

same here

[Roc77]

using the beta and i am wondering if it is possible that the divisions between tracks could be made more distinct or is there a skin available with that? as it is i find it hard to drag a phrase to a track and be sure it got the right track.

Good idea, I will add a color setting for the divisions between track.
Thanks,
Attila

Can we also have thicker boarders between each track along with the color. The gui has lines that are all the same.

[tonedef71]

I would like RC to have a phrase generator that creates classic synth-style monophonic arpeggio Shapes:

Upwards: lowest chord note to highest chord note and then repeat
Downwards: highest chord note to lowest chord note and then repeat
Up-Down: lowest chord note to highest chord note and back to lowest chord note and then repeat
Down-Up: highest chord note to lowest chord note and back to highest chord note and then repeat
Random: any order of chord notes and then repeat
As Generated: maintains the same order of the chord notes as they appear in the composition window
Outside-In: highest chord note, lowest chord note, second highest chord note, second lowest chord note and so on, until arriving at the middle-most chord note and then repeat
Inside-Out: the middle-most chord note, the highest note over the middle-most chord note, the lowest note under the middle-most chord note, the next highest chord note over the middle-most chord note, the next lowest chord note under the middle-most chord note, and so on, until arriving at the highest chord note followed by the lowest chord note and then repeat

(Other exotic arpeggio patterns such as Inward Circle, Outward Circle, Upward Circle, Downward Circle, etc. could be included as Shapes as well).

Octave Range (1-5?): Sets the number of octaves through which to create the arpeggiated pattern. A value of 1 means to only arpeggiate the chord notes that are within the octave from of the chord notes as they appear in the composition window; a value of 2 means to arpeggiate over two octaves; a value of 3 means ... etc.
The original chord as it appears in the composition window always represents the lowest octave, meaning that the other octaves sound in a higher register; if a range is specified that is higher than what is possible in MIDI, the arpeggiation will repeat the pattern in the highest available octave as necessary.
Note Selection Hints: The usual selections for customizing the chord notes to select: (Include Bass Note; Include Chord Highest Note; Include Note Below Chord Lowest; Include Note Above Chord Highest)

The UI might look something along the lines of the following (demonstrating an arpeggiated C-Major triad):


I did try to use the existing phrase generators in RC but could not really get the effect that I was looking for from any of them. I know I could import canned MIDI arpeggio patterns and convert the notes to relative ones, but I would rather have the full arsenal of RC phrase generator features to create interesting monophonic, cyclical phrases.

[magicmusic]

I suggest some post before simular, but not as a generator. I think it is more powerful when arp feature can use as a phrase modifycation. I think that is more powerful, and maybe more easy to program and it is possible to combine more arps as variation and can do more

[musicdevelopments]

Can we also have thicker boarders between each track along with the color. The gui has lines that are all the same.

Yes, this will be added, too!

[musicdevelopments]

I would like RC to have a phrase generator that creates classic synth-style monophonic arpeggio Shapes:

This is a great idea, it is indeed missing from RC (and very easy to implement, I think I'll do it during the weekend). Thanks for the detailed specification!
One thing that I would change is that it would be better to specify number of notes instead of octaves. E.g. when the chord is C4 Major, and the number of notes is 3: C4 E4 G4 are used, when it is 4: C4 E4 G4 C5 are used, when it is 5: C4 E4 G4 C5 E5 are used, etc.

Thanks!
Attila

[musicdevelopments]

I suggest some post before simular, but not as a generator. I think it is more powerful when arp feature can use as a phrase modifycation. I think that is more powerful, and maybe more easy to program and it is possible to combine more arps as variation and can do more

Hello Bernd,

I was thinking on this, and yes, this is also a very good idea. Did you mean that for a held note in a monophonic phrase, the note could be replaced with any sequence until the note lasts? And any note in the sequence could be replaced with another sequence when you add another variation on top of this. Interesting...

Thanks,
Attila

[tonedef71]

One thing that I would change is that it would be better to specify number of notes instead of octaves. E.g. when the chord is C4 Major, and the number of notes is 3: C4 E4 G4 are used, when it is 4: C4 E4 G4 C5 are used, when it is 5: C4 E4 G4 C5 E5 are used, etc.

I do think that an arpeggiator generator in RC should take advantage of the strengths and features of typical RC generators to allow the user to create arpeggio patterns that are more flexible and sophisticated than those created with a typical arpeggiator; I can just imagine what kind of creative arpeggios that could be made using the rhythm, note length, and rest capabilities of RC. Of course, all of the standard arpeggios (up, down, random, etc.) should still be easily created (perhaps via sensible default values for preset shapes).

Would the "Extension" parameter of generators also help to specify the extended voicing of the chord (to fatten/lengthen the arpeggio)?

I noticed that some arpeggiators also permit a way to specify whether or not the chord notes at the cycle boundaries get repeated when the cycle repeats/changes direction.
e.g.
Up-Down (Exclusive): C4-E4-G4-C5-G4-E4-C4-E4-G4-C5 ...
Up-Down (Inclusive): C4-E4-G4-C5-C5-G4-E4-C4-C4-E4-G4-C5-C5 ...

Thank you, Attila, for tackling this feature; I look forward to seeing what you come up with. I think that the EDM and chiptune composers will appreciate this, too.

[tonedef71]

I have a couple of questions about labels on the Phrase Generator dialog box (see image below):

1) Should the endpoints for the Randomness slider be reversed? In other words, should RANDOM be on the right side, and EXPECTED on the left side? When I drag the slider to the right to increase the randomness percentage, I feel that the slider should be sliding toward RANDOM instead of EXPECTED; and vice-versa. Perhaps, it should be like the Density slider with the numbers 0 and 100 instead of RANDOM and EXPECTED. Or perhaps, it should be more similar to the Chord/Scale Notes slider with two separate percentages at each endpoint: Randomness: 100%, Expectedness: 0%

2) For the Note Selection Hints dropdown, should the option "Include Note Above Chord Highest" instead be "Include Note Above Bass Note"? It is possible I have misunderstood the intention of the "Include Note Above/Below Chord Highest" options.

[musicdevelopments]

1) Should the endpoints for the Randomness slider be reversed? In other words, should RANDOM be on the right side, and EXPECTED on the left side?

Right, this is already fixed.

2) For the Note Selection Hints dropdown, should the option "Include Note Above Chord Highest" instead be "Include Note Above Bass Note"? It is possible I have misunderstood the intention of the "Include Note Above/Below Chord Highest" options.

This menu must be rethought, it is very old. It needs to be redone with more options, maybe even a standard Note Selection menu used by multiple phrases.

Thanks,
Attila

[musicdevelopments]

New update is available (v3.0b11)

Improvements:

• It is possible to lock a phrase so that it won't be re-rendered on subsequent chord and scale changes, only the notes are adjusted. This way the figure stays the same, but its notes still obey the master track chords and scales. Please look for this in the phrase inspector.
• New settings: Default Instrument For New Tracks, Add MIDI Volume and Pan to new tracks with or without slider option, Display Slider For Expression Variation
• Specify a color and width for lines separating tracks
• Fixed saving phrases using shared rhythms
• Fixed a problem when setting ASIO devices: some ASIO drivers reported bad channel masks, as a result setting another ASIO device did not succeed
• ASIO driver cleanup issue fixed (driver was sometimes not removed)
• Fixed the logic of the 'Randomness' slider in the probabilistic rhythm generator
• Other small UI fixes and improvements

Thanks for all the e-mails and forum posts!
Attila

[lulukom]

Hello Attila!
All the new features in the new beta is very good and
work is also very good! Thank you !
Now waiting
"- rhythm browser, easily loading/saving a rhythm pattern
- new variation: "slice notes with rhythm"
- drag and drop rhythm from one phrase to the other (or from rhythm browser to phrases). Behaviour depends: for ordinary phrases "slice notes with rhythm" variation is added, for generators the rhythm is replaced. "
"Lock to scale " - That's what it is " unplanned but useful feature requested by a jazz musician" ?
Sincerely lulukom

[magicmusic]

I suggest some post before simular, but not as a generator. I think it is more powerful when arp feature can use as a phrase modifycation. I think that is more powerful, and maybe more easy to program and it is possible to combine more arps as variation and can do more

Hello Bernd,

I was thinking on this, and yes, this is also a very good idea. Did you mean that for a held note in a monophonic phrase, the note could be replaced with any sequence until the note lasts? And any note in the sequence could be replaced with another sequence when you add another variation on top of this. Interesting...

Thanks,
Attila

If there are 2 notes or more notes play together in phrase, it is split as arp and play monophonic. 1. step lowest note in phrase. 2. step higher note in phrase, note from lowest and more or play a sequence. But if it is more easy for you to create a arp generator is also great. and if in arp generator the rest feature other generators have can add too, this allow enough