Anything and everything about MIDI - arp, mapper, mangler, generator, chorder, controller, utility, fx etc.

[tatanka]

Works perfectly inside/with Unify

Insta_Unify.jpg

And as you can see in the patch I have just chosen by accident there are some other midi effects already......let the madness begin

[Smapti]

No, it can also be used as a plugin itself
nest.png
https://sugar-bytes.de/nest
But, I really don't understand the market for it. People scared of modular won't touch it and people who like modular already have modular so can build something like that themselves and have full control over how it works and what it does. Pretty much all it's made me do is think how I can knock up the same thing for free in VCV Rack which is a nice little challenge in itself, so thanks Sugar Bytes, I guess.

I don't agree with this. Nest was an insta-buy for me and I do have a modular system as well as VCV Rack. Nest has VST hosting, which is a big deal. VCV also has VST hosting, but unfortunately VCV brutalizes my CPU & is pretty buggy when hosting VSTs, so it's not an option for the complex sequencing that I can do in Nest. (VCV also isn't a VST but that'll change with Rack 2.) Also, Nest does not pass audio through its cables, just quantized numeric MIDI info, so it's way easier on the CPU.

As for comparison to a physical modular system -- yes, I have excellent sequencing modules in my system but I use them to sequence the modular, not VSTs. It's best to sequence VSTs in the computer and modular with the modular. You'll run into MIDI & audio latency issues if you try to mix them (not to mention that Nest can directly automate parameters in the VSTs it hosts, which an external modular can't do).

Oh, and good luck building a modular system with this functionality that doesn't cost as much as a car.

[Alchemedia]

No, it can also be used as a plugin itself
nest.png
https://sugar-bytes.de/nest

Yes, you're right. I was thinking of MIDINOUS, not Nest. Yet another MIDI rabbit hole.

[WatchTheGuitar]

VCV also has VST hosting, but unfortunately VCV brutalizes my CPU & is pretty buggy when hosting VSTs, so it's not an option for the complex sequencing that I can do in Nest. (VCV also isn't a VST but that'll change with Rack 2.) Also, Nest does not pass audio through its cables, just quantized numeric MIDI info, so it's way easier on the CPU.

You don't need to pass audio from VCV to a DAW, you can send MIDI from a CV-MIDI module via a driver like loopMIDI in Windows or Virtual MIDI on a Mac, then pick up the MIDI in the DAW and use it to power whatever soft synths or external synths you like.

[Smapti]

You don't need to pass audio from VCV to a DAW, you can send MIDI from a CV-MIDI module via a driver like loopMIDI in Windows or Virtual MIDI on a Mac, then pick up the MIDI in the DAW and use it to power whatever soft synths or external synths you like.

Sure, this is a good idea in the abstract. In practice, I've found that connecting Ableton and VCV via LoopMIDI is miserable. VCV has a well-known timing jitter problem with MIDI. In addition, the latency & CPU hit is quite bad, even if you're only using VCV for sequencing purposes. LoopMIDI with VCV is only an option if (a) you have a blazing fast computer that can handle it and (b) you're willing to adjust everything by hand in Ableton after the fact to correct for unavoidable timing issues.

Perhaps things will get better in Rack 2 but for now VCV is unusable for this purpose and is certainly much worse than Nest, which runs inside Ableton as a VST and thus doesn't require LoopMIDI or by-hand timing adjustments.

[ThomasHelzle]

Looks interesting -anybody tried it?
https://www.midinous.com
https://store.steampowered.com/app/1727420/Midinous/
A bit similar to nodal but with interesting tricks...

Cheers,

Tom

[fairlyclose]

No, it can also be used as a plugin itself
nest.png
https://sugar-bytes.de/nest

Yes, you're right. I was thinking of MIDINOUS, not Nest. Yet another MIDI rabbit hole.

midinous looks good - is it reliable / buggy / problematic in any way ?

[ThomasHelzle]

Hm, installed the demo of Midinous.
It's a standalone, so needs loop midi, but the demo doesn't have that part, only an internal beeper. and creates it's own midiport.
Quite CPU heavy for a midi tool - maxes out one core on my (older) machine.
The usage feels pretty cumbersome. I guess it's okay if you learn all the shortcuts, but with the mouse it's a clickfest.
Feels rather 1.0, but the concept is nice overall. Hm, will have to test some more.
The demo can save but not load and only supports 16 points.

Cheers,

Tom

[dopet]

Greetings from Longview! Thank you all for the heads up on the working midi drag and drop. I’ll restart the computer after I get the kids to school and see what’s what this AM.

Interesting... even after a reboot/restart/re-install of InstaTrack, I get the same error upon loading or dragging/dropping midi from the software. Interestingly, the midi files exported out of InstaTrack (to the desktop, for example) don't open anywhere. If I try to open the midi files with say something else like Windows media player nothing plays at all.

Midi from Scaler, Sun Dog, etc work just fine. Odd.

[fairlyclose]

this vid gives a great overview of the midinous capabilities - which seem highly targeted, musical and vast in implication - and by limiting to just a few nodes quite learnable as well

[ThomasHelzle]

Ok, just found out that it comes with it's own midi port when running, even in the demo...
Sorry for the misinformation above, will correct that

Cheers,

Tom

[BluesMuse]

Greetings from Longview! Thank you all for the heads up on the working midi drag and drop. I’ll restart the computer after I get the kids to school and see what’s what this AM.

Interesting... even after a reboot/restart/re-install of InstaTrack, I get the same error upon loading or dragging/dropping midi from the software.
...

Bummer! So you are on Windows as well. I started testing the VST 2 and then switched to VST 3 and played for another hour or so. I am still liking InstaComposer. It is much more usable to me than Instachords, even though it has some quirks.

[Alchemedia]

Looks interesting -anybody tried it?
https://www.midinous.com
https://store.steampowered.com/app/1727420/Midinous/
A bit similar to nodal but with interesting tricks...

Cheers,

Tom

I was about to ask you the same question Tom! I demoed MIDINOUS and drew the same conclusions.

[Alchemedia]

The usage feels pretty cumbersome. I guess it's okay if you learn all the shortcuts, but with the mouse it's a clickfest.

You can say that again! Instant buzzkill for me. Dev said it will never be released as a VST and I despise Steam. Many more intuitive and musical options available. However, if you're after random carpal tunnel inducing generative MIDI data this does that.

[ThomasHelzle]

Yeah, as a VST and with a more streamlined usage concept, I would be all over this - the principle is great.
And if it wouldn't use one core even when idle - that is silly for a Midi generator.
But why does he need three different, separate mouse modes for selection, placing new points and connecting them?
And setting values like note values is really badly done.
Is that based on a game engine?
And yeah, I don't want steam running on my production system.

Will have to see if something clicks for me with more demo time, so far it didn't.

But I think I'll rather get the original, Nodal 2: https://nodalmusic.com
Looks much deeper with the node/note scripting and while it's external too, probably lighter on the CPU - will test tomorrow.

Cheers,

Tom