Loomer Architect: A modular MIDI toolkit

[colin@loomer]

I know, and I'm working as hard as I can to get these updates out. Being a one-man-show, and having to split my time between Architect, Aspect, and Sequent updates, (and support on top of that), does mean that progress is much slower than I'd like. All these projects are getting closer each day: progress may be slow, but it is steady.

[Modular Manfred]

Been demoing this and I'm impressed. I hope it will be supported in the future - M1, VST3 etc as it has really started to grow on me.

I've seen people multiple times complimenting the accuracy of the midi timing of this piece of software. Could I just confirm does this mean that just by sequencing my hardware synths with this software opposed to sending midi out from DAW (Pro Tools, Cubase etc) midi will be tighter? Sorry I have yet to measure this myself.

[colin@loomer]

I develop mainly on an M1, so yes, native ARM support is 100% done and will be in the next release. If you're impatient to get your hands on the M1 build, feel free to drop me an email or PM and I can send you a link.

All events, MIDI and otherwise, happen on the audio thread, and are sample accurate, albeit quantized to 960PPQN. Internally, MIDI tends to be pretty accurate in most hosts, to be honest; it is when MIDI data gets sent out through hardware (or "loopback" software drivers) that drift and jitter is more likely to occur. As this is entirely hardware dependent I can't really comment on your specific setup, but I would hope that it would be least as good with Architect as it would be with the afformentioned hosts. (And if not, please let me know, and I'll see what I can do to tighten things up.)

[gentleclockdivider]

Been demoing this and I'm impressed. I hope it will be supported in the future - M1, VST3 etc as it has really started to grow on me.

I've seen people multiple times complimenting the accuracy of the midi timing of this piece of software. Could I just confirm does this mean that just by sequencing my hardware synths with this software opposed to sending midi out from DAW (Pro Tools, Cubase etc) midi will be tighter? Sorry I have yet to measure this myself.

It's one of the tighest pieces of software , and I sequence both vst and hardware ( nord modular , Roland integra , Roland R8m , Yama TG77 ).
Colin , is delay offset per step (both negative, postive )still coming , that's the only thing I am missing for making custom swings .

[colin@loomer]

Colin , is delay offset per step (both negative, postive )still coming , that's the only thing I am missing for making custom swings .

Yes, the built-in seqs will have that.

[fwsuperhero]

Hi guys, a came back to Architect after some time and I love it.
Has been text mode (tracker) finished? I cant find it.

[simmo75]

Are there presets now,
When will it be out of beta?

[colin@loomer]

Not yet, I'm afraid. I'm currently back-porting some fixes that I did for the next major release into the previous 0.10 release, as there are some pressing issues that really needed addressing. Whilst 0.11 is getting closer, there are so many now fixed things that people are desperate for, I couldn't really hold out any longer on. So once that's out, it's full steam ahead on getting 0.11 out, presets, docs, and all. 0.11 should hopefully have a short lifetime, and the non-beta, 1.0, will come afterwards: I'm hoping it'll basically be bug fixes for 0.11.

[VirtualVirgin]

Is there a way to load VST plugins into a Graph for patching with the modules?
I would like to use VST midi plugins in a modular fashion and route CCs to them etc.

[colin@loomer]

Not directly. In the current release, not indirectly either (without resorting to Architect hosting Architect, or using a loopback MIDI driver). But version 0.11 allows you to have multiple graphs, and host them in the mixer. You can then route graph > plugin > graph, which will do exactly what you want.

[thelizard]

Not directly. In the current release, not indirectly either (without resorting to Architect hosting Architect, or using a loopback MIDI driver). But version 0.11 allows you to have multiple graphs, and host them in the mixer. You can then route graph > plugin > graph, which will do exactly what you want.

0.11 is sounding like a 2.0!

[Lectropunk aka influx808]

Hi colin, I hate midi in bitwig , would architect have the same workflow of a traditional piano roll editor? I'm going to demo architect

[Kalamata Kid]

Not directly. In the current release, not indirectly either (without resorting to Architect hosting Architect, or using a loopback MIDI driver). But version 0.11 allows you to have multiple graphs, and host them in the mixer. You can then route graph > plugin > graph, which will do exactly what you want.

My feeling is that for workflow and to visually see that is going on in a graph that VST and modules be allowed to freely intermingle like in Bidule. One then can group whatever they want.

[colin@loomer]

@Lectropunk - The current version has step sequencers, but they aren't traditional piano rolls as such. There is a prototype piano roll module coming in the future, but as it is it may not entirely replace a traditional roll.

@Kalamata Kid - I hear you. I tried everything I could to get plug-ins between modules, but doing so caused so many design issues Essentially, Architect is based on events, and any number of events can happen at any time. Plug-ins are based on blocks of samples. Getting these two to fit together happily is no easy task. ... but, that isn't quite the end of the story, as I have prototyped something for Architect that essentially does what you're asking for, I think, but I'll keep quite on that for now and then when that feature is released you can tell me whether it does the job or not!

[VirtualVirgin]

Not directly. In the current release, not indirectly either (without resorting to Architect hosting Architect, or using a loopback MIDI driver). But version 0.11 allows you to have multiple graphs, and host them in the mixer. You can then route graph > plugin > graph, which will do exactly what you want.

Hmm... that is a curious way to go about it.
I would much prefer that the plugins would instantiate directly in the graph as modules in the manner of Element or Bidule.

So, after testing (in standalone mode on Windows pro 10) I have a few notes/questions:

* Sending MIDI to a track seems to have an issue: it sends a thru message through the entire signal path. When I instantiate MIDI plugins, placing a MIDI monitor afterwords in the chain will show my original note, as well as the transformed note (for example if I play C3 with a transpose plugin on set to +12 it will output *both* a C3 and a C4 note message. If I have multiple MIDI plugins on the track in serial, anyplace I put the MIDI monitor it will still show the original note input in addition to any transformations. Hopefully you will be able to fix this.

* MIDI learn seems to get stuck if I try it. It highlights everything in purple, then won't let me edit/use anything in the program after that.

* How do I edit note lengths in the sequencer? I tried clicking everywhere on the note, then every combination of control-click, alt-click, shift-click etc.