Modalics - Beat Scholar/New drum sequencer

[Dostoyevsky]

Neat app. Before I commit I'd like to know
a) What's your update/upgrade policy and
b) Do you allow license transfers?
I couldn't find anything on your site and the latter has been asked here before. Could you kindly clarify?

[innervisions]

Neat app. Before I commit I'd like to know
a) What's your update/upgrade policy and
b) Do you allow license transfers?
I couldn't find anything on your site and the latter has been asked here before. Could you kindly clarify?

A) All updates are free, if that's what you mean.
B) We don't support license transfers in an official way ATM.
You can obviously take the key file and sell it to someone else, but that 2nd buyer will only be able to contact our support through your account/email.

ATM we won't be able to accept any support contacts unless we see the details of the exact purchaser, how they paid, etc.

[innervisions]

Got this a couple of days ago for the $49 price which is fantastic. Just an awesome value and have been having lots of fun with it. A few observations using V1.2 standalone in Windows 10:

The standard sample/kit library has two samples for the kick and snare with a slider to move between the balance of the two. Great idea but when I build a kit using my own samples, when I drag the sample on the kick, I only get that one sample and no option to add another one. Same for the snare.

I created a sequence and also used a sample of my own for the kick and saved the the resulting kit and sequence. If I run the sequence I created then, while the sequencer is running, swap between my created kit and a standard kit, I get a crash. I tried to reproduce it by saving a factory kit unchanged as a user kit and then performing the same experiment and it would not crash when I did that. The samples I use are on a separate drive from where the application is being run if that helps at all.

I think midi maps should not be specifically associated with kits. They should be separate, swappable, and lockable with a selectable default so that I can use different midi maps for different external hardware or VSTs.

When switching between kits for a running sequence, there is a big volume spike that I get. It seems like the volume settings are associated with the kits and/or sequences. This is not good for me. I want to be able to set an output volume and lock it if possible. Right now that is not available as far as I can tell. This should ideally be possible for each individual drum.

On the standalone application, it doesn't remember my audio and midi input and output preferences. This drives me a bit nuts since every time I restart the application, I have to set up my output as ASIO and select my appropriate midi ins and outs. Especially annoying when I was testing the crashing bug as you can imagine.

It would be nice to be able to lock effects settings when switching kits. I like to get rid of most of the ones that are included in the app and when switching kits to have to go back and retweak everything is inconvenient.

It would be nice to be able to audition drum samples for kit pads without having to import them to the pad first. Just a browser window that has the ability to audition the sounds quickly and easily.

I wasn't sure if it was possible to set randomization parameters on a per slice basis. The manual was not clear on that to me.

Plugin Boutique where I got the software doesn't have the latest manual as part of the downloads available as of a couple of days ago at least. Hopefully, that has changed.

This is incredible feedback, thank you so much for that!

Having multi layers for custom samples is something we might add in the future.
For now, just know that if you Map the MIDI of two (or more) drums to the same note, you can get much more detailed layering than just volume, as then you can have separate envelope, pitch, filter, etc for each layer.

Separating MIDI maps from kits is on our roadmap, including other requested features for MIDI mapping like MIDI learn.
Locking effects also sounds useful. For now you can turn off the entire AUX and master FX if you'ld like, under preset settings.

Randomization is either per "Pizza" or per lane. You can see a video I posted here a couple of pages ago about that.

The manual is opened from anywhere within the app by clicking "F1", or by clicking the "Beat Scholar" icon and then "View Manual".

Re: standalone not 'remembering' audio settings - is it happening if you close the app regularly, or just when the crash happens? IIRC we store the settings on regular app close which probably doesn't happen if it crashes...

We will look at this crash when switching kits to custom samples soon, definitely not what we hoped would happen!

Thanks again, this is really useful stuff for us.

[Tj Shredder]

Re: standalone not 'remembering' audio settings - is it happening if you close the app regularly, or just when the crash happens? IIRC we store the settings on regular app close which probably doesn't happen if it crashes...

Years ago I had a discussion in the Max/MSP world about audio settings, as Max also wrote settings only on closing the app. The reason why they did not write it when it is changed was, that while developing it was not what they wanted. As user, its clear and obvious what you need and want. Write it when its changed. You could have a development mode where its only written when the app is closed…

[DCrown]

Bad news: plugin prices generally speaking drop over time. Also, many plugins become abandoned after some period time. Some don't. It's wise to adjust your expectations to avoid future disappointment.

Over time? It was released in September 2022 afair, just some weeks ago.

[inaheartbeat]

Got this a couple of days ago for the $49 price which is fantastic. Just an awesome value and have been having lots of fun with it. A few observations using V1.2 standalone in Windows 10:

The standard sample/kit library has two samples for the kick and snare with a slider to move between the balance of the two. Great idea but when I build a kit using my own samples, when I drag the sample on the kick, I only get that one sample and no option to add another one. Same for the snare.

I created a sequence and also used a sample of my own for the kick and saved the the resulting kit and sequence. If I run the sequence I created then, while the sequencer is running, swap between my created kit and a standard kit, I get a crash. I tried to reproduce it by saving a factory kit unchanged as a user kit and then performing the same experiment and it would not crash when I did that. The samples I use are on a separate drive from where the application is being run if that helps at all.

I think midi maps should not be specifically associated with kits. They should be separate, swappable, and lockable with a selectable default so that I can use different midi maps for different external hardware or VSTs.

When switching between kits for a running sequence, there is a big volume spike that I get. It seems like the volume settings are associated with the kits and/or sequences. This is not good for me. I want to be able to set an output volume and lock it if possible. Right now that is not available as far as I can tell. This should ideally be possible for each individual drum.

On the standalone application, it doesn't remember my audio and midi input and output preferences. This drives me a bit nuts since every time I restart the application, I have to set up my output as ASIO and select my appropriate midi ins and outs. Especially annoying when I was testing the crashing bug as you can imagine.

It would be nice to be able to lock effects settings when switching kits. I like to get rid of most of the ones that are included in the app and when switching kits to have to go back and retweak everything is inconvenient.

It would be nice to be able to audition drum samples for kit pads without having to import them to the pad first. Just a browser window that has the ability to audition the sounds quickly and easily.

I wasn't sure if it was possible to set randomization parameters on a per slice basis. The manual was not clear on that to me.

Plugin Boutique where I got the software doesn't have the latest manual as part of the downloads available as of a couple of days ago at least. Hopefully, that has changed.

This is incredible feedback, thank you so much for that!

Having multi layers for custom samples is something we might add in the future.
For now, just know that if you Map the MIDI of two (or more) drums to the same note, you can get much more detailed layering than just volume, as then you can have separate envelope, pitch, filter, etc for each layer.

Separating MIDI maps from kits is on our roadmap, including other requested features for MIDI mapping like MIDI learn.
Locking effects also sounds useful. For now you can turn off the entire AUX and master FX if you'ld like, under preset settings.

Randomization is either per "Pizza" or per lane. You can see a video I posted here a couple of pages ago about that.

The manual is opened from anywhere within the app by clicking "F1", or by clicking the "Beat Scholar" icon and then "View Manual".

Re: standalone not 'remembering' audio settings - is it happening if you close the app regularly, or just when the crash happens? IIRC we store the settings on regular app close which probably doesn't happen if it crashes...

We will look at this crash when switching kits to custom samples soon, definitely not what we hoped would happen!

Thanks again, this is really useful stuff for us.

The settings stick when closing normally but you should not save when closing the app. They absolutely should be saved when closing the settings window. That is the expected behavior, at least for me, for every app I have used.

Separately, when the audio/midi config screen comes up, if you have a large number of devices available as midi inputs the screen will not show them all. There is no scroll bar on the screen to indicate that there are more choices. You can only see them if you expand the size of the selection dialogue window by pulling down on the bottom of it. This really threw me till I accidentally figured this out.

[pekbro]

I don't care or even recall how much I paid for it, but yeah probably too soon for a 50% discount. Typically, you would want to avoid devaluing for as long as possible. Now there will likely be some folks who will never pay more than that, as well as existing customers that will not go for any intro pricing on future products.

[innervisions]

I don't care or even recall how much I paid for it, but yeah probably too soon for a 50% discount. Typically, you would want to avoid devaluing for as long as possible. Now there will likely be some folks who will never pay more than that, as well as existing customers that will not go for any intro pricing on future products.

Right, that makes sense, and is understandable.
While Or and I have been in the "plugin making business" for quite a long time (working for companies like Xfer, Waves, deadmau5 and others), I suspect we're much better at "plugin making" than "business", so it's expected we'll make some mistakes along the way.

Having that said we do promise that people who have been early adopters will keep getting value for their purchase, whether its free updates, discounts on future products, etc. People who have contacted our support email about these issues were usually not disappointed.

Also, I think you'll find good value in the intro sale of a fun new plugin we're about to drop around next week, as that one will be free.

Eyal

[innervisions]

The settings stick when closing normally but you should not save when closing the app. They absolutely should be saved when closing the settings window. That is the expected behavior, at least for me, for every app I have used.

Separately, when the audio/midi config screen comes up, if you have a large number of devices available as midi inputs the screen will not show them all. There is no scroll bar on the screen to indicate that there are more choices. You can only see them if you expand the size of the selection dialogue window by pulling down on the bottom of it. This really threw me till I accidentally figured this out.

These are very important requests for the standalone use. We will fix them in an update very soon. One of the things we added in Beat Scholar 1.2 is a little window that will instantly tell you when updates are available.

Thank you!

[DCrown]

You have made a fair offer to early buyers now and I would like to add that your video tutorials are awesome, they are easy to understand, lots of other devs or youtubers could learn from you!

[masterhiggins]

Neat app. Before I commit I'd like to know
a) What's your update/upgrade policy and
b) Do you allow license transfers?
I couldn't find anything on your site and the latter has been asked here before. Could you kindly clarify?

A) All updates are free, if that's what you mean.
B) We don't support license transfers in an official way ATM.
You can obviously take the key file and sell it to someone else, but that 2nd buyer will only be able to contact our support through your account/email.

ATM we won't be able to accept any support contacts unless we see the details of the exact purchaser, how they paid, etc.

Does that mean you have to provide proof of purchase every time you contact support? Or you'll just use the email address/account used and then that'll suffice?

[innervisions]

Does that mean you have to provide proof of purchase every time you contact support? Or you'll just use the email address/account used and then that'll suffice?

Email is totally fine. That will also work if you bought from a store like Plugin Boutique.

[tq]

Strangely silent here. Any news on the update mentioned a month ago?

[innervisions]

Strangely silent here. Any news on the update mentioned a month ago?

I think we already released it?
https://www.modalics.com/post/beat-scho ... he-big-one

We haven't posted in a few weeks, because we got a new (free!) plugin about to be released very soon, as well as another more minor Beat Scholar update that are about to be rolled out.

[tq]

Excellent, will give it a spin!