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

[mabian]

My advice is to use vst2 if possible, it is more reliable and better tested.

How many other plugins does this rule apply to?

I was saying that about BlueARP, but I agree with phreaque - between vst2 and vst3 I'd better use vst2, unless I need some specific features of vst3 (which I can't even imagine at this point)
Number '3' in vst3 doesn't mean that it is better than vst2 in every aspect. In general it is over-complicated and over-engineered (I already commented on that here), especially for simple plugins. VST3 might be better for multi-timbral / multi-layer plugins with complex GUI and patch structure, only in this case the complexity of VST3 might give some benefits. Recently I checked CLAP documentation and examples and I like what I saw so far, so hopefully after a while I will be able to introduce BlueARP as a CLAP plugin and maybe even discontinue VST3 (which is always additional PITA to test)

Going CLAP would be awesome—it is superior to VST3 in any way I can think of; VST2 should not be used anymore (in theory, unless it can still be used on existing plugins; I didn't read the "fine print" on the VST2 deprecation story).
I would be the first to be happy if the VST3 format were dismissed (that would be a strong statement) but in this case, DAWs that don't support CLAP - cough Steiny cough - would be left without up-to-date BlueArp.

[e-musician]

I would be the first to be happy if the VST3 format were dismissed (that would be a strong statement) but in this case, DAWs that don't support CLAP - cough Steiny cough - would be left without up-to-date BlueArp.

Yep, for that very reason, please don't drop VST 3.
Cubase needs BlueARP.

[BassGuru@WDW]

Love the new skin options! Much cleaner look! Thanks for all the hard work!

[dejankuki]

I must say, you are genius... !!! thanks for this kind of generator. I have been lurking for plugin like this for years. I have bunch of chords.. piano, I need them in form of Guitar voicing... this plugin allow me that. PLUS generator...
Forgive my overhelming...

P.S. can I private message you?

[graywolf2004]

I must say, you are genius... !!! thanks for this kind of generator. I have been lurking for plugin like this for years. I have bunch of chords.. piano, I need them in form of Guitar voicing... this plugin allow me that. PLUS generator...
Forgive my overhelming...

P.S. can I private message you?

Thanks. Sure, if this is something you don't want to share here, you can email me directly: graywolf2004@gmail.com

[graywolf2004]

I would be the first to be happy if the VST3 format were dismissed (that would be a strong statement) but in this case, DAWs that don't support CLAP - cough Steiny cough - would be left without up-to-date BlueArp.

Yep, for that very reason, please don't drop VST 3.
Cubase needs BlueARP.

Don't worry, I won't drop it anytime soon. I don't test VST3 as much as VST2 though, 90% of my testing & development is VST2, FL Studio and Windows 10, but I always do basic tests with VST3. And if you post any bugs regrading VST3, I won't dismiss them.

[Darilla]

i can recommend this apr to anyone, ihold down notes and it can make many variations.

[RaykerD]

I can't express enough how amazing work this is! Thank you so much for such a master piece!
I was playing with this amazing toy and and I am wondering whether would be possible to add a retrig(repeat) lane for notes? 1/4 beat, 1/8 dotted, 1/4 triplet, 1/8, 1/16 dotted, 1/8 triplet, 1/16 step, 1/32 dotted, 1/16 triplet, 1/32 half step, 1/60 dotted, 1/32 tripled, 1/6 qstep, 1/60 triplet or is anyhow possible to achieve the similar?
CLAP format soon? I am thrilled!

[graywolf2004]

I can't express enough how amazing work this is! Thank you so much for such a master piece!
I was playing with this amazing toy and and I am wondering whether would be possible to add a retrig(repeat) lane for notes? 1/4 beat, 1/8 dotted, 1/4 triplet, 1/8, 1/16 dotted, 1/8 triplet, 1/16 step, 1/32 dotted, 1/16 triplet, 1/32 half step, 1/60 dotted, 1/32 tripled, 1/6 qstep, 1/60 triplet or is anyhow possible to achieve the similar?
CLAP format soon? I am thrilled!

I have this in the back of my mind for quite a while, just added it to my ToDo list so it won't be forgotten. If I got you right it is the same as 'ratcheting'? My idea is to add another mode to GATE lane, called 'DIVISION', which will be '2x', '3x' or '4x', which will divide a step into some smaller notes. CLAP - I don't know yet, either somewhere next year, or late 2025 at best. This year I will have quite a busy schedule on my dayjob and regarding BlueARP - I've done most of the heavy refactoring I planned, but still have a few minor updates, they will come first. Since IPlug2 now has CLAP support (I'm using older IPLug/WDL, with lots of my changes), I have to merge code from IPlug2, which doesn't seem too difficult, cause that code is well written and not too far from the older IPlug, so I'm pretty optimistic about CLAP.

[graywolf2004]

Some info on the next update.
I will have to increase the major version number cause next v2.8.0 will have a different bank format, I use lightweight compression, so saved banks will be 2-3x times smaller. This is mostly BlueARP DM that will benefit from it, but also now I have more straightforward bank structure allowing to add new params without need to increase the bank version number.
Mostly it is about Guitar mode fixes and small inprovements and one big thing is that I revised the code related to 'restart on' and 'input quantize' params. This became much more evident with guitar mode, but this improvements will work for the Arp mode just the same.
First thing - RestartOn = Key in v.2.7.0 works like this - when you press the 1st key after all the keys released, it restarts from step 0, but all other pressed keys won't cause restart unless you release all the keys and press some key again. It Guitar mode it causes a problem - 1 key is not enough to read a chord, at least 2 keys are needed. SO the 1st step goes mute, until the next quantization measure where it finally captures all the keys
I changed that logic so now with RestartOn = key it will restart the sequence on any key pressed (but not on released), so whichever chord you press - if you do that a little before the next beat (quantization measure), it will sound right.
The good example is Beatles 'Yesterday', if we play it transposed in CMaj, then just after the line 'all my troubles seemed too far away' we go down like 'Am - G - F', each beat, and here we want the guitar pattern to restart on each new chord, each beat in this case. With RestartOn = beat0 it doesn't work, with the old logic RestartOn = key it doesn't work either. But now with the updated logic (restart on any input NoteOn) it works just fine.
The next thing I was concerned about for quite a while - it that BlueARP's input quantize is quite unforgiving to small latencies in the input chord. Let's say you have input quantize = 1/4 (the whole beats). If you press your input keys just a little before the beat - it is fine. But if you are late just a little (like even 1/64 note) - this input keys will be captured only on the next beat, so you wait the whole beat. So I introduced a new setting called 'input quantize tolerance' which is 'none' by default, but can be '1/16' in this case. Then, if we have any 'late' input notes, right after the beat start, but not later than 1/16 interval, it will capture those late notes right at the beat + 1/16, which will still make it sound nice (within our step quantization grid), it even allows do to some nice tricks in guitar mode. In this cause our pattern will restart from step 1, not from step 0. It was tricky to implement and required to revise lots of code, but it is totally worth it, musically.
I want to make a video on this with the update release, but I didn't manage it last weekend.
Finally, it feels like BlueARP becomes as responsive to the input chord changes as a good arranger (when having a full arrangement like drums, bass and guitar and playing a keyboard split)
PS. Also working on 'factory' banks for drum and guitar modes, which will be later embedded into the plugin, but now only halfway done. And for the guitar mode - I already played around 10 various pop/rock songs with BlueARP trio - guitar, bass and drums. It works so well so it is hard to focus on the development rather than playing )

[RaykerD]

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I have this in the back of my mind for quite a while, just added it to my ToDo list so it won't be forgotten. If I got you right it is the same as 'ratcheting'? My idea is to add another mode to GATE lane, called 'DIVISION', which will be '2x', '3x' or '4x', which will divide a step into some smaller notes.
--snip--

I think that's it. As you wrote 2x 3x, I immediately recalled the MOD format on the Amiga back in the old but revolutionary days. It's the E9[x] effect code, see here:

Code: Select all (#)

https://wiki.openmpt.org/Manual:_Effect_Reference#MOD_Effect_Commands

here in the action:

Code: Select all (#)

https://youtu.be/0_6eBiouooo?t=914

Actually there are more interesting effects via note commands that are very useful, such as the note slide, panning, portamento..., which might also be interesting to adopt somehow. I'm just kind of thinking out loud right now

[graywolf2004]

Unfortunately I caught some serious flu and will likely spend the whole weekend in bed, so I won't make it with the update this weekend. For now just a small teaser I prepared a bit earlier. I played around a dozen of pop songs with the guitar mode and I'm surprised of how versatile it is, and with these 'restart on' and timing logic improvements I hope BlueARP becomes as responsive to input chords as the best of arrangers. In this video I'm using both restart on = key and quantize tolerance I mentioned before.

[Spitfire31]

Take good care of yourself and don't stress anything. Quick recovery!
/JHS

[ollie.rollover]

Get well soon!!! I absolutely love this plugin, would be amazing if we could change the step note lengths much more finely? Big love and fingers crossed.

[graywolf2004]

BlueARP v2.8.0 update. Yet only the plugin, windows & mac, the BlueARP DM updaye will come shortly. Here's the explanation and the demo:


Change log:
1. BugFix: VST3, changing preset (program) from the host wasn't handled by the plugin
2. BugFix: VST3, plugin didn't inform host about the program change
3. BugFix: In guitar mode, some chords would sound wrong is 'capo' param is above 0
4. BugFix: In guitar mode, some inverted chords like m7 whould sound wrong, while non-inverted ones are fine (normally they should sound the same)
5. Reworked logic for 'restart on' = 'key', now it is more consistent, with respect to quantization. 'key' option will restart from step 0 when a key is pressed, but only on the next quantization measure. (before that, it would only restart after a gap in pressed keys). '1st key' works as before - steps will start running as you press the very first key and will keep running until you stop playback.
6. Operation mode list rearranged: arp, fixed arp, drum mode, guitar mode. It shouldn't affect your saved projects, cause internal conversion routine takes care of that. You might need to adjust your projects only if you automated the 'operation mode' param
7. Patch format level is incremented with this version, so be careful, please check your projects
before moving to 2.8.0. It should convert your previous projects, but in case something goes wrong there's no option to go back to 2.7.0 - it won't load projects saved with version 2.8.0.
8. In guitar mode, settings for chuck strumming have changes, instead of 'octave' and 'cannel' settings, there's now 'chuck mode' and 'chuck value', the latter's value list depends on the selected mode
9. Saved banks and programs now use lightweight compression, which reduces bank size about 3.5x times (22KBytes bank size instead 78KBytes)
10. New black color scheme: "Robert P.: Midnight"
11. BugFix: incorrect timing for '1/12' sync option (I wonder why it wasn't noticed for so long, probably in EDM it is rarely used, but with the guitar mode it is needed more often)
12. BugFix for step calculation in chains, when some program in chain has dotted time signature (like sync = 1/12, 3/16), it had some convoluted logic for start time alignment, I removed that and now all program lengths in chain will simply add up when calculating the step; this is more transparent and gives more control over the sequence
13. New option for 'arp. state' param - 'OFF / CC thru'. Works just like OFF, but all CC pass thru settings will work. Saved projects shouldn't be affected since conversion routine takes care of that, but you may need to update your projects if you automated 'arp. state' param
14. Added polyphonic mode switch for ONE STRING lane in Guitar mode. So you can program any combinations of strings to be strummed / plucked at once for some steps.
15. Some refinements for Guitar mode chord voicing (sus2, add2, m add2, 7, m7, Maj7 chords)
16. Factory banks for Drum and Guitar modes are now embedded into the plugin (they are halfway ready yet though). So when you switch the operation mode, instead of the initial bank you'll get the factory bank for that mode
17. Updated the manual - check the descriptions for the Guitar and Drum mode parameters.