RapidComposer v4 beta feedback and discussion (locked)

[musicdevelopments]

RapidComposer v4.6b5 is available!

Improvements:

• Fixed crashes and all stability issues with VST3 plug-ins
• Fixed real-time playback for VST3 tracks
• Fixed window sizing for some VST3 plugins, like Kontakt 7
• Added a button for timeline selection in the structure inspector

[lovemusic15]

I am excited about using machine learning, this is an area that I have zero knowledge about, but

My personal opinion for next development is definitely along the AI-learn functionality on a polyphonic basis.
I know that isn't one of the 2-4 hour developments. (Followed by the "Create me a hit" button )
Cheers. Mike.

I second that Mike anything to do with midi learn is 100% the next step for RC.
I put a video together to demonstrate some of the features that could be beneficial from anyone wanting to work with their own midi phrases.



Attila I have a friend who is very much involved when it comes to AI technology.
He recommended a website to check out it's all to do with AI learning etc. Feel free to check it out

https://openai.com/api/

[sammlin1122]

Hello everyone, I am new here and got a few motifs or themes for my violin concerto, and wonder if this RapidComposer would help develop the motifs and themes to a longer section with logical melody development or at least help create more options for music/melody development. Thank you.

[sammlin1122]

Also does this software help writing a fugo section?

[sj1]

Great that you found the issue with the VST3 plugins!

re: "Loading .dll's into the application and executing them can easily crash the application."

Is this not the same thing as actually using any VST(2) plugin? Are VST(2) plugins all considered to be assassins out for the blood of RC?

[AxBC]

I just installed the latest beta 4.6.0b5 and on the first time start up, a dialog asks to scan for VST3 so I clicked Yes. It seemed to hang on some VST3's but continued and then RC just disappeared. I recall seeing posts about the previous beta crashing and I thought it was fixed in the latest. I'm on windows 10 latest patches.
I restarted RC and ran the scan a second time and it hung on a few VST3's, I assume some of the larger or more complex ones.
Then I look in the Instruments panel to the right and they all end in .dll, is that expected?
When I look under the Support tab I see the History says v4.6 (February, 2023) - is that correct? The build above is 4.6b5.
Under Settings - Plug-ins, should I disable all the VST2 and use only VST3 in the new versions of RC?


Would it be possible to add a sorting and a search and an export option to the Plug-ins tab in a future release?

[musicdevelopments]

Hello AxBC,

I just installed the latest beta 4.6.0b5 and on the first time start up, a dialog asks to scan for VST3 so I clicked Yes. It seemed to hang on some VST3's but continued and then RC just disappeared.

yes, I expected all VST3 plug-ins should work reliably now, even big ones like Kontakt 7. There is a log file in Documents/RapidComposerV4 (VST3ScanLog.txt) which is created when scanning or adding a plug-in. Will you check the last entry, or send the file to me, and I'll test that particular plug-in.

Under Settings - Plug-ins, should I disable all the VST2 and use only VST3 in the new versions of RC?

You can use either VST2 or VST3. But using VST3 has advantages, like better dynamic resizing of the plug-in window. RC supports multiple event buses, so if the plug-in exposes multiple buses, RC can send more than 16 channels to the instrument plug-in.

Would it be possible to add a sorting and a search and an export option to the Plug-ins tab in a future release?

Yes, this is badly needed. This is in the works.

Thanks,
Attila

[musicdevelopments]

Well, I did lots of testing and all plug-ins work perfectly on my PC, but it seems there are still some which crash according to user feedback. I'd like to fix everything so if anyone finds a plug-in that crashes please report it in this topic (or in e-mail).

The problem with VST2 is that not all .dll files are VST2 plug-ins. There is a special entry function for VST2, but if that is not found, the "main" function is executed, which may crash. I think I should disable looking for "main". But I hope we can soon forget about VST2.

Thanks,
Attila

Great that you found the issue with the VST3 plugins!

re: "Loading .dll's into the application and executing them can easily crash the application."

Is this not the same thing as actually using any VST(2) plugin? Are VST(2) plugins all considered to be assassins out for the blood of RC?

[musicdevelopments]

As requested, the 'lightning' button is added to the top toolbar, when the Idea Tool was already used:

[AxBC]

VST3ScanLog.txt sent to support

[sj1]

As requested, the 'lightning' button is added to the top toolbar, when the Idea Tool was already used

Great! This is in the upcoming b6?

[sj1]

The problem with VST2 is that not all .dll files are VST2 plug-ins.

Good point. However, I make a pretty good effort to see to it that only VST2 plugins are present in the directories where I keep them. I would not normally expect non-VST2 dlls to be mixed in there.

But I hope we can soon forget about VST2.

Well, not all plugins written as VST2 are going to be rewritten for VST3, and some of those not-evolving-further VST2s still work fine and are quite useful.

I wouldn't want to see support for loading them go away.

[sj1]

re: "then RC just disappeared"

Yeah, unf. this still happens here also with 4.6b5. My list of plugins is pretty long, so I'm a bit of a torture test.

Perhaps more to the point when dealing with large numbers of plugins is that RC is currently neither cataloging successes nor blacklisting failures during the scan run (as DAWs typically will do).

IOW, I see -many- plugins successfully scan, but after the " RC just disappeared" none of those have been added to RCs list as seen when the program is next opened.

It would be great if successes were permanently remembered and failures (e.g. the last plug tried before RC quits) added to a blacklist so that the next scan can continue from after where the previous one left off, and the "bad ones" will be enumerated and can be investigated and/or re-tried separately.

This is more work, I know, but I think pretty much all the DAWs have arrived at this approach for a reason.

[sj1]

Here's another log of VST3 scans. This one got further.

Offhand, the problem does not seem to be that a specific plugin(s) is causing RC to quit.

[musicdevelopments]

Thanks for the video! Please keep it available as I will need to watch it again and make notes.

I know OpenAI somewhat (I am a ChatGPT user, thanks to BluGenes) but they have models pre-trained on a vast amount of text from the internet, so that is not usable for music.

Thanks,
Attila

I second that Mike anything to do with midi learn is 100% the next step for RC.
I put a video together to demonstrate some of the features that could be beneficial from anyone wanting to work with their own midi phrases.