BlueARP VST Arpeggiator development - let's discuss! (Apple M1 ready, 4K)

[zzz00m]

Thanks, I'll try that - I definitely noticed after I posted that the MIDI echo was getting turned off. I've been using Cakewalk and its predecessors for 20 years plus or minus and never realized that.

Same here, and Cakewalk does have a few quirks here and there with routing, but they are normally not "random".

I have found that when working with BlueARP, or other MIDI generating plugins, that there are a couple of DAWs that allow you to place MIDI generators on the same track with your synth. That can make things a bit simpler in this regard.

They are Reaper and Waveform. Just insert the MIDI generator first on a track, followed by the synth. No routing between tracks is required. There may be other DAWs that can do this that I'm not aware of.

[Marty1012]

I'm pretty new to this and can't seem to get Bluearp VST into my DAW. I am using Cakewalk Sonar 7 producer and have tried dropping the downloaded and uncompressed Bluearp VST into the vST folder in Cakewalk but it jus does not show up when I try to add as MIDI effect in my track. Any help would be welcome.
Thankyou

[Saffran]

I'm pretty new to this and can't seem to get Bluearp VST into my DAW. I am using Cakewalk Sonar 7 producer and have tried dropping the downloaded and uncompressed Bluearp VST into the vST folder in Cakewalk but it jus does not show up when I try to add as MIDI effect in my track. Any help would be welcome. Thankyou

That old Cakewalk version would indicate that you've been using it for a while.
Under all that time, have you never heard of midigenerators identifying themself as instruments?

[zengel]

Hello !
A little "bug" report .
Using Ableton on Windows last versions.
When the transport is not playing
While passing across "on/off/thru" and having notes chord held on the keyboard :

-Passing from "Thru to Off" stop the chord and "off to Thru" retrigger the notes from the chord . and that is awesome ! Thanks !
-Passing from "Thru to On" transform the chord to an arp and "On to Thru" transform the arp to the retriggered chord !
-Passing from "On to Off" stop the arp But "Off to On" does not retrigger the arp from held note.
It stills works when the transport is playing but not anymore when the transport is on "stop" .
Thanks ! Have a good day !

[BertTRP]

Hi Oleg, BlueARP is awesome!

Any chance you can expose the Program Selection menu or Program Select buttons to Ableton, such that MIDI control is possible, without having to program chains?

Hi, a program selection parameter is exposed to the host as "CurProgram" (parameter No. 9)
Program.jpg

In ableton it doesn't work like this. You need to first "expose" the parameter by clicking within the VST the control that is associated with the parameter. Unfortunately, the drop-down-multilevel-list used to select the CurProgram in BlueArp does not associate with the exposed CurProgram parameter is Ableton. And neither the Previous Program nor the Next Program buttons are associated to it. This means that there seem to be no way in Ableton to actually expose the CurProgram parameter for automation. Maybe the video below can help to clarify how Ableton automation access parameters.

[robert_p]

Hi Oleg, BlueARP is awesome!

Any chance you can expose the Program Selection menu or Program Select buttons to Ableton, such that MIDI control is possible, without having to program chains?

Hi, a program selection parameter is exposed to the host as "CurProgram" (parameter No. 9)
Program.jpg

In ableton it doesn't work like this. You need to first "expose" the parameter by clicking within the VST the control that is associated with the parameter. Unfortunately, the drop-down-multilevel-list used to select the CurProgram in BlueArp does not associate with the exposed CurProgram parameter is Ableton. And neither the Previous Program nor the Next Program buttons are associated to it. This means that there seem to be no way in Ableton to actually expose the CurProgram parameter for automation. Maybe the video below can help to clarify how Ableton automation access parameters.

You're right, it's not that easy with Ableton. There are two options to make it work:

1.Use free PizMIDI Converter 3 VST to convert MIDI CC to Prog.Change message and go to BlueArp settings to make sure that "set own program" is selected (Additional MIDI track would be required and the routing would be more complex).
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BlueArp_Program.jpg

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2. Use the hosting plugin to "encapsulate" BlueArp (MuLab is one of my favourites):
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MuLab.jpg

[BertTRP]

Thank you, robert_p!

Both valid suggestions!

This said, i sincerely hope that Oleg will invet a tiny bit of time to associate the CurProgram parameter to something different from a multi-level menu to allow for easy ableton automation!

Thx,

[CoolColJ]

Might be a bug in v2.3.9

VST2 plays gated chords fine, VST3 version does not, only single notes with the same patch

[indigomirage]

Hi there -

I very much enjoy BlueArp. However, I've run into a few glitches that I want to confirm are not issues on my part.

-The pitch bend passthrough does not seem to function properly. I have it set to pass-thru, but it lags tremendously (and often doesn't catch). When I return it to center, the midi message doesn't seem to go through and it usually fails to return to pitch.
-The sustain msg doesn't appear to do anything. Ideally, I'd set it to arp latch to toggle (or at least trigger) the arp latch setting but it does not respond. I've tried this with both + and - polarity.

I'm not 100% confident on the other midi filters as I've not been able to trust it enough to thoroughly test.

I've had success with other arps (Cthulu, RandArp, and others). These seem to work well (at least for these functions), but BlueArp is really a lot more powerful - if I can get it to work!

I'm on Reaper v6.81, on Windows 11. (The midi out is set to 'replace', which is appropriate, as it'll let the arp handle the notes without doubling things up, and _should_ pass through the other messages in accordance with the settings...)

BlueArp is v2.3.9 (vst3)

Open to any suggestions!

Thanks!

[phreaque]

BlueArp is v2.3.9 (vst3)

Open to any suggestions!

Hi,

Please try the VST2 version instead.

[indigomirage]

Thank you for the quick reply!

VST2 works better.

I generally opt to install vst3 of things by default and this is, I guess, an edge case where that doesn't work!

[phreaque]

You're welcome. The thing is, VST3 SDK has a different approach to handle MIDI & CC events, which is different than how it used to be with VST.

[sdp6000]

Can confirm that VST2 fixed a similar problem for me as well (VST3 wasn't allowing any CC events thru in Reaper).

I know that BlueARP has a more 'sequencer' like approach (which I think is great for a load of uses) but are there any settings that can make it work like a traditional arpeggiator? E.g. if you hold 3 keys it cycles them 123,123... if you hold 4 it cycles 1234,1234... etc.

I was hoping that 'missing keys substitution' cyclic mode might do this but it doesn't cycle through notes as expected (e.g. if you play a four note chord with all steps set to K5 it'll just play the first key repeatedly).

[sdp6000]

I've been using BlueArp for a while now. Thanks, it has a lot of great features.

It seems really solid but one problem I've had with it is that it plays an unquantized note any time you change the sync speed.

For basic use of changing the sync with a mouse it's probably not that noticeable, but it means you can't really use changing speed via MIDI as a performance technique as it sounds out of time/glitchy every time you change. It's a shame as it's one of my favourite things to do with an arp and something BlueArp seems very suited to otherwise.

[chk071]

Can confirm that VST2 fixed a similar problem for me as well (VST3 wasn't allowing any CC events thru in Reaper).

I know that BlueARP has a more 'sequencer' like approach (which I think is great for a load of uses) but are there any settings that can make it work like a traditional arpeggiator? E.g. if you hold 3 keys it cycles them 123,123... if you hold 4 it cycles 1234,1234... etc.

I was hoping that 'missing keys substitution' cyclic mode might do this but it doesn't cycle through notes as expected (e.g. if you play a four note chord with all steps set to K5 it'll just play the first key repeatedly).

As you say, it has more of a step sequencer approach, and isn't a classic arpeggiator, so, you have to think a little different with it.

IMO, arpeggiators are way more limited, but, sometimes you simply want what an arpeggiator does. Both have their uses, I guess.