Modalics - Beat Scholar/New drum sequencer

[innervisions]

Cons
- standalone on macOS Sonoma running on an M1 Max isn't optimized. Regular spikes of 30-40% CPU usage
- No drag & drop features (i.e., drag MIDI or .wav) out
- overall, it just sounds really weak. I crank the dB on an 808-style kick and it just doesn't hit right

Thank you for these comments!
1. You can Drag MIDI out. Hold shift + drag from any of the patterns names and drag into the DAW. You can also use "Live" MIDI to send MIDI out in the DAW to another plugin.

2. 30-40% CPU is just out of one core, not the entire system, so that isn't a lot. The app is Apple Silicon Native.
I'm guessing if you open it in a DAW you can see the real CPU use. Even in those cases, you can always turn off the Aux section (preset menu->enable->Aux) to reduce the CPU to almost nothing as the Reverb is the main thing taking a lot of CPU in Beat Scholar.

3. Hopefully an update we're about to release will improve the sound quality issues you're experiencing with the built in sounds.

[innervisions]

- Better Midi output routing AKA you can't send the kit pieces to different midi channels. I wanted to send the kick to kick2 and the rest to battery for this test... Turns out, this isn't possible.

It is possible actually! Click the preset menu->MIDI Channel->Any.
That would send every lane into its own channel.

Other than that, I loved your comments, and you bring up a lot of important issues, some of those will likely be added soon.

[Dr.Gunjah]

It is possible actually! Click the preset menu->MIDI Channel->Any.
That would send every lane into its own channel.

Other than that, I loved your comments, and you bring up a lot of important issues, some of those will likely be added soon.

I'm looking forward to it

About the midi channel stuff - you're correct, the lanes seem to be hard wired to the midi channels. That being said, that's not what I want. I want to map the kit pieces to different midi outs which imo makes much more sense. It would be like multi output routing for a sampler where you send every instrument to its own audio channel, just with midi.
I'm not even sure what kind of use case needs to route lanes to different midi channels, especially since they are not linked to instruments and you can even mix and match instruments on the same lane.
I think you should be able to set the midi channel in the kit piece area just like you set the midi note right now.

edit: wording... "map" makes more sense than "sent"

[cptgone]

We also really want to implement step probability & variable lane lengths

[cptgone]

I really dig the video demo of this product. This would likely be my go to if it didn't suffer from the trend that's going on with so many software drum machines. Nobody offers real-time recording anymore like hardware drum machines offer! Everything is click, copy, paste programming. Not everyone is inept at recording drum beats in real time. I wish someone would offer in one product features for both finger drummers and click klack programmers!

Cubase's Drum Editor (and most DAW's piano roll / drum editors) does that just fine.
Of course, it doesn't have any of the features we have come to know and love from drum machines (variable lane length, variable playback direction, pattern chaining...) let alone any probabilistic features. But if all you want to do is to record a beat in real time, it does that job perfectly.

[cptgone]

- Better Midi output routing AKA you can't send the kit pieces to different midi channels. I wanted to send the kick to kick2 and the rest to battery for this test... Turns out, this isn't possible.

It is possible actually! Click the preset menu->MIDI Channel->Any.
That would send every lane into its own channel.

As Beat Scholar's pads aren't linked to lanes, it's the pads that should have their own channels:
- to trigger the appropriate sound
- to enable adding effects per sound

(Here's an example:
When using Beat Scholar to sequence Kick2 and Drumazon, kicks should be on a separate channel or Kick2 will be triggered by each and every drum strike (Kick2 is triggered by any note))

[Dr.Gunjah]

As Beat Scholar's pads aren't linked to lanes, it's the pads that should have their own channels:
- to trigger the appropriate sound
- to enable adding effects per sound

(Here's an example:
When using Beat Scholar to sequence Kick2 and Drumazon, kicks should be on a separate channel or Kick2 will be triggered by each and every drum strike (Kick2 is triggered by any note))

yep, that's exactly what happened to me

[cptgone]

Another feature request:
allow selected segments to be subdivided.
(e.g. so you can have a beat divided in 4 segments, one of which is divided in 3)

That would make Beat Scholar the first drum sequencer to allow full control over subdivided steps - something hitherto limited to DAW [PR] editors like Cubase's Drum Editor.

[neverbefore]

Another feature request:
allow selected segments to be subdivided.
(e.g. so you can have a beat divided in 4 segments, one of which is divided in 3)

That would make Beat Scholar the first drum sequencer to allow full control over subdivided steps - something hitherto limited to DAW [PR] editors like Cubase's Drum Editor.

deleted

[cptgone]

Perhaps of interest to Modalics:

I have 484 vst3 plugins installed.
Beat Scholar and BitFuzzer are 2 of the very few that "failed to load correctly" in Effect Grid.

Pretty sure it wouldn't show in Effect Grid anyway, as it's a vsti.

[Dr.Gunjah]

I use Sugarbytes Drumcomputer by itself, or to sequence Algonaut Atlas / D16 Drumazon (and many others, including the discontinued Tremor).

After watching a video of drumcomputer I can just say WOW... Definitely the most sophisticated drum plugin I've seen so far. The only thing that may come close seems to be HY-RPE2 but also looks much more complicated.
Combining beat scholars fun and creative core concept with drumcomputers well thought out featureset would probably end the discussion about drum sequencers

I think Modalics should really take a very close look at drumcomputer, this is the one to beat

[pc2000]

I really dig the video demo of this product. This would likely be my go to if it didn't suffer from the trend that's going on with so many software drum machines. Nobody offers real-time recording anymore like hardware drum machines offer! Everything is click, copy, paste programming. Not everyone is inept at recording drum beats in real time. I wish someone would offer in one product features for both finger drummers and click klack programmers!

Cubase's Drum Editor (and most DAW's piano roll / drum editors) does that just fine.
Of course, it doesn't have any of the features we have come to know and love from drum machines (variable lane length, variable playback direction, pattern chaining...) let alone any probabilistic features. But if all you want to do is to record a beat in real time, it does that job perfectly.

I have a multitude of Daw's, Soft drum machines and samplers, etc. I was highlighting the fact that a lot of software drum machine offerings in today's market don't feature a record button for real-time recording. These products are catered to people that step sequence exclusively. Seems this is the way the masses are wired to program drums and it's all I see in videos. I am a finger drummer and like to feel what I play with musicianship, not paint by numbers and add feel after the fact.

I record drums in real-time in my Daw's all the time. I do have some soft drum machines that record like old hardware drum machines did. I'm just weary of the trend of new products only having step entry. These products don't support organic musicianship. Before computer generated music, people had to actually play a instrument. Young folks will only learn to click in notes and never develop the ability to play with others live when this is all that's constantly offered. Before you know it... all they will be offering is A.I. generated drum machines if that catches on with the masses. No more need for human talent!

[OrLubianiker]

Perhaps of interest to Modalics:

I have 484 vst3 plugins installed.
Beat Scholar and BitFuzzer are 2 of the very few that "failed to load correctly" in Effect Grid.

Pretty sure it wouldn't show in Effect Grid anyway, as it's a vsti.

Noted. We'll take a look

[OrLubianiker]

I use Sugarbytes Drumcomputer by itself, or to sequence Algonaut Atlas / D16 Drumazon (and many others, including the discontinued Tremor).

After watching a video of drumcomputer I can just say WOW... Definitely the most sophisticated drum plugin I've seen so far. The only thing that may come close seems to be HY-RPE2 but also looks much more complicated.
Combining beat scholars fun and creative core concept with drumcomputers well thought out featureset would probably end the discussion about drum sequencers

I think Modalics should really take a very close look at drumcomputer, this is the one to beat

Thanks for this input, we're commited to improving Beat Scholar, we'll make sure it's still fun and creative while adding useful features for more interesting beat exploration

Just FYI - we just rolled out quite an important update for most of our plugins, Beat Scholar got a pretty big boost in the sampler section.
The highlights are:

• New Sampler Engine - Significantly better sound quality across the board for built-in & imported samples
  New Sample Formats Supported - Beat Scholar can now import samples in WAV, OGG, FLAC, AIFF & MP3 formats
  Added fine tuning mode for all params with holding shift+dragging knobs and sliders
  Added double click to edit for MIDI mapping mode (Just type in the notes instead of dragging up/down)
  Improved CPU performance for reverbs, even more so for Windows users.

[neverbefore]

I use Sugarbytes Drumcomputer by itself, or to sequence Algonaut Atlas / D16 Drumazon (and many others, including the discontinued Tremor).

After watching a video of drumcomputer I can just say WOW... Definitely the most sophisticated drum plugin I've seen so far. The only thing that may come close seems to be HY-RPE2 but also looks much more complicated.
Combining beat scholars fun and creative core concept with drumcomputers well thought out featureset would probably end the discussion about drum sequencers

I think Modalics should really take a very close look at drumcomputer, this is the one to beat

Sugar Bytes Drumcomputer $67 at loot audio - cheapest I have seen. But this is not an either / or, it is a both!!! Beat Scholar AND DrumComputer. Playing with the Drmcomputer demo just now and the two seem very different