RapidComposer v4 beta feedback and discussion (locked)

[lulukom]

It would be very interesting! )

[BluGenes]

Really appreciate your support on this idea Mike,

I'm going to make a demonstration video showing all the parts that I think needs to be tweet in RC to work the way it needs to just so everyone will get a better idea.

I'd like to to see it as well..

One big reason, not including pandemics, natural disasters, and hardware failures I have encountered in the past 18 months, for the video manual, is working on a section on the software only find out it is broken. Get's frustrating.

[lovemusic15]

Hi guys

I'm hoping to work on the video this weekend demonstrating what RC needs but just noticed this video come out today it's already got nearly 600 views so this will give you an idea of how many people are crying out for the this type of A. I software that builds full ideas for you. it seems pretty good but the suggestions that I've got will give better results and more genre driven.

[musicdevelopments]

Right, it extends until the last note. If you use 'up-down-up-down' or 'down-up-down-up' it will resize as you expect. When using 'upwards', 'downwards', 'up-down' or 'down-up' the length of the phrase depends on the up and down motion range setting. You cannot resize the phrase beyond the last note.

Thanks,
Attila

Hi. Thanks for v4.3.0b8, nice work!

One issue I observe:

The 'Piano Run Generator' hits a hard stop at the right side when i try to extend it past 3 measures.

[musicdevelopments]

Also, the 'Piano Chord Pattern Generator' does not seem to be observing the 'Regenerate All Selected Phrases At The End Of The Loop' setting. (User error?)

Yes, it is a kind user error. The Piano Chord Pattern Generator and the Strum Pattern Generator have no randomness. You can randomize their parameters only, but these parameters specify a non-random phrase.

However what you expect is logical, so I made the necessary changes so that both of these phrases participate in regeneration (at the end of the loop and for 'Regenerate all selected phrases').

Thanks!
Attila

[sj1]

Hi. Consider finger-drumming on 16 pads (a 4x4 matrix) ala Mad Zack.

Which RC generator(s) would function most appropriately as a stand-in for the human doing the finger-drumming?

[musicdevelopments]

Hi Steve,
The Percussion Generator was created for this purpose, I think.

[musicdevelopments]

Very good idea! I was certain that this can be achieved with the Remove Note variation, but it was able to remove just a single random note. But not anymore! In the next beta version you can set the number of notes to be removed:



It gives very interesting results. Not just "Random notes" but also "Random times" was improved, so you can remove a group of notes beginning at the same position, resulting nice rhythmic variations.
Clicking on the 'dice' will remove another set of notes.

Thanks!
Attila

It occurs to me that generators in general might benefit from a "Sparseness" knob.

Set to 0, all would be as now. As the Sparseness was dialed up to higher percentages then more and more notes that would otherwise be generated would be omitted instead.

[musicdevelopments]

Playing around with the Bass Generator Presets while looping and regenerating caused a crash.

I found a silly bug when all allowed notes were deleted, maybe that is what you found too?
Thanks,
Attila

[musicdevelopments]

Blues M3 is the same as the Blues scale with the major 3rd added, so it consists of 7 notes with both m3 and M3.
I found a guitar tab (there are not many resources about this scale on the net):
https://www.guitarscientist.com/generat ... kJdQAs969B

I don't remember what reference I used for the scales, it was more than 12 years ago...
Thanks,
Attila

hey Atilla.. just curious, what reference did you use to create the scales in RC?

As an example, the blues scale, you have several flavors I am not familiar with. What is a Blues M3, etc.?

[musicdevelopments]

In order to have a phrase that works with any chords and scale, you don't want to set up 'allowed notes' as absolute notes C, D, E, etc.
In RapidComposer phrases contain chord-relative and/or scale-relative notes, so the final notes depend on which chord/scale is applied to the phrase.

E.g. chord notes are labelled as #1 (this is always the root), #2 (typically 3rd), #3 (typically 5th), etc.
So if you use notes #1, #2, #3 in your phrase, you'll be able to use that phrase with any chords (major, minor, sus2, sus4, etc).
Scale notes are labelled as I (this is the root), II, III, IV, etc.

Is there a reason why the allow notes is set up in this way. Is it not possible to simplify it and just have it show simple icons, A, B, C sus4 etc.
It's great having new features it just would be nice if you didn't have to look to the manual Or have a steep learning curve.

I understand Rc is very complex but the name surely should be what it represents.

For instance if I want the allowed notes to be sus4 and A D E , shouldn't I just be able to press on that.

Please correct me if I'm missing a vital point of why it has to be set up like that.

[sj1]

In the next beta version you can set the number of notes to be removed:



It gives very interesting results. Not just "Random notes" but also "Random times" was improved, so you can remove a group of notes beginning at the same position, resulting nice rhythmic variations.
Clicking on the 'dice' will remove another set of notes.

Wow, should be a great addition!

How will this interact with regenerating the phrase at the end of every loop?

I can imagine wanting to do new regenerations with the same sparseness (but different actual output), or alternatively wanting the sparseness itself (as well as the actual output) to change with each regeneration.

[sj1]

I am observing in the Rhythm Generator that regenerating the rhythm with any of the 3 lightning buttons along the bottom undoes whatever locks I have set for the individual notes above. I can't imagine why that should happen. Is it a bug?

[sj1]

The Percussion Generator was created for this purpose, I think.

I realize my prior question was terse. I'll say a bit more.

Trying to play 16 (or more) available pads (samples) via the Percussion Generator is problematic because a) it appears only 6 lines (notes) are allowed, b) the real-estate does not exist to create more lines even if it were allowable to do so.

Also, the technique required, which involves both percussive touches and long holds does not seem to have been anticipated by the PG.

There are a zillion Mad Zack vids on YouTube wherein the technique is demonstrated. Here is one, which can be dipped into at almost any point, and which will make clear I hope what I'm saying.



I may be mistaken, but I don't think RC has anticipated the elements needed for a Generator to drive this sort of "instrument" (an Ableton LIve drum rack, which includes samples in "gated" mode as well as trigger mode).

[InLight-Tone]

Maybe some kind of a step sequencer interface where you can tie notes into longer lengths?