RapidComposer v5 beta feedback and discussion

[Brian Collins]

Following on from my mis-aligned auto-harmonised chords, I attempted to select the entire progression and drag it one beat to the right, so that the chord changes happened on the bar. And it seemed to work. This is not an ideal solution for the lack of alignment, as I would want to try out a number of harmonisations.

However the display of the chord names then went a bit weird. The Gm has become "G3m". What's the "3"???

[lulukom]

I don't know if I understood correctly, but for me the concept of "trying several harmonizations" is very important. Without destroying the previous harmonizations.

[Brian Collins]

I don't know if I understood correctly, but for me the concept of "trying several harmonizations" is very important. Without destroying the previous harmonizations.

My issue isn't destroying previous iterations. I can always save copies of versions that I like, to come back to later. It's more about repeatedly and quickly rolling the dice to try out different ideas, most of which will be rejects. But if I have to manually drag the chords each time in order to hear the music aligned correctly, I would lose the "flow". Basically I would feel I had lost the "Rapid" aspect of RC.

[lulukom]

I meant the same thing, I completely agree,

[lulukom]

Deleted

[lulukom]

If in Midi Mutator, at the bottom of the window the Scale Relative point is selected, then after pressing the Apply changes button in the Composition window, the changes should, in theory, occur in relative form, in particular in Scale. But this does not happen and I have to convert the result obtained in Composition again into relative form. What am I doing wrong?

[lulukom]

Crash

[Brian Collins]

Deleted - not an RC issue. See below if you a really curious.

[Brian Collins]

Question - what does the "all notes off" capability of pressing Esc actually do?

I was playing with a 16-bar loop to experiment with some variations (particularly Simplify and Add connecting notes) as the loop was playing. This was to find a suitable level of complexity in the arrangement to be used for different iterations of the loop. The output of each track was to a RC Midi channel in the DAW, and these RC channels were then used as inputs to a selection of synth tracks in the DAW.

But when I stopped the loop, there was one note still playing. This is not really surprising as the post-variation notes in the phrases would be changing all the time as I experimented, and Note Off events would easily be lost.

However, nothing I tried in RC, in the DAW or in the synth could stop the note from playing. I thought that pressing Esc in RC would send Note Offs on all outputs, but apparently not. In the end I got the synth to shut up by temporarily changing its input to my keyboard where pressed a few keys around the sounding pitch.

So ... is there actually any way to get RC to send Note Off commands on its Midi outputs?

I'm now fairly sure this is an Arturia synth bug - I have managed to reproduce it without RC.

[BluGenes]

Usually, what you describe is a bad midi note, specifically CC 60..

[klovn]

After working with RapidComposer for a good bit, I’ve noticed recurring issues with harmonic context handling, chord/scale detection, and the reliability of suggestions which are a big turn off, honestly. At least some of these issues have been brought up by other users already.

• Inconsistent enharmonic spelling — Sharps and flats mixed in the same key, ignoring context.
• Unreliable scale/chord detection — As a result of RC's weak understanding of harmony, imported chords from outside the program (e.g., from a DAW) are frequently misinterpreted, which leads to poor recommendations. Developing harmonies within RC can easily get frustrating because of this!
• External chords feel off — Kinda similar to the point above: when brought into RC, they’re not placed in the correct harmonic context, so playback and suggestions suffer.

For a mature, niche tool like RC, I’d expect it to at least match or surpass something like Scaler in harmonic awareness/intelligence, approaching the analytical depth of Melodyne. Specially given the kind of tool it aims to be. Right now, it feels too hit-or-miss. Imo, it’s time for a deep, serious revamp of RC's brain before anything else, since it's such an elemental feature.

Thanks for considering this, Attila. I know how devoted you are to improving RC!

[thebutler]

After working with RapidComposer for a good bit, I’ve noticed recurring issues with harmonic context handling, chord/scale detection, and the reliability of suggestions which are a big turn off, honestly. At least some of these issues have been brought up by other users already.

• Inconsistent enharmonic spelling — Sharps and flats mixed in the same key, ignoring context.
• Unreliable scale/chord detection — As a result of RC's weak understanding of harmony, imported chords from outside the program (e.g., from a DAW) are frequently misinterpreted, which leads to poor recommendations. Developing harmonies within RC can easily get frustrating because of this!
• External chords feel off — Kinda similar to the point above: when brought into RC, they’re not placed in the correct harmonic context, so playback and suggestions suffer.

For a mature, niche tool like RC, I’d expect it to at least match or surpass something like Scaler in harmonic awareness/intelligence, approaching the analytical depth of Melodyne. Specially given the kind of tool it aims to be. Right now, it feels too hit-or-miss. Imo, it’s time for a deep, serious revamp of RC's brain before anything else, since it's such an elemental feature.

Thanks for considering this, Attila. I know how devoted you are to improving RC!

Well, you know what's going to help Attila (and the rest of us ultimately.!) even more.? Is by providing specific, practical examples of what you report - along with the methods you are using to produce them or how you've come to these conclusions.

Attach the MIDI file(s) in question; say how you imported - was it into a clean, brand new project or otherwise.? How was that project set up.? Post some screen shots; show what you expect to see (from the other DAW) and (incorrect) results reflected in RC... Etc, etc...

Maybe you can (also) post links to other topics you've read from folk who've seen similar/same 'concerns'.

But right now, here in this post, it's all about what you're doing, on your machine.

Good luck.!
Bob

[musicdevelopments]

Hi klovn,

thank you for your post, and suggestions.

• Inconsistent enharmonic spelling — Sharps and flats mixed in the same key, ignoring context.

Yes, this area needs some attention and fixes, other users also reported this.
I'll fix this issue in a next beta version. If you have any screenshots that shows mixed sharps and flats, will you send it to me in e-mail?

• Unreliable scale/chord detection — As a result of RC's weak understanding of harmony, imported chords from outside the program (e.g., from a DAW) are frequently misinterpreted, which leads to poor recommendations. Developing harmonies within RC can easily get frustrating because of this!

I could fix this fast, if I had MIDI files with content that are detected wrongly.
From time to time I improve chord detection, but it is still not perfect. It is not obvious which notes do not contribute to the harmony (temporary or passing notes).

Thanks!
Attila

[musicdevelopments]

Crash

Thanks, lulukom!

[musicdevelopments]

RapidComposer v5.9b7 is available!

This update features the new "LIVE" mode.

Improvements:

• 'LIVE' mode: trigger and perform sections of your composition from a MIDI keyboard in real time, with per-track speed, transpose, and timing controls
• The base URL is automatically set when selecting AI service providers
• Fixed MIDI CC editing in long compositions
• Fixed: duplicating a line/part did not properly duplicate the MIDI CC curves
• Fixed: info about loading plug-ins remained on the screen (when using the track inspector)

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EDIT: some hints for the LIVE mode:

To use this feature, first select "LIVE mode" from the mode menu. Once enabled, right-click on the LIVE button to open its settings. Most options (e.g. Trigger mode, Quantized trigger, Quantized release, Repeat while held) are self-explanatory, but Key Assignment requires some clarification:

• Bars – each bar is mapped to a key on your MIDI keyboard.
• Chords – each chord is assigned its own key.
• Lines – the most flexible option. A "line" can be any length and may include multiple chords with phrases.

For long compositions, you can restructure them into shorter lines using "Set up structure" in the master track inspector. This does not change your existing phrases or chords, only how the structure is organized.

All LIVE mode settings are saved with the composition.