Black Magic Drum Machine Beta testing finished

[Astralp]

Playback latency seems a lot better in the latest beta, its now somewhere between a 64th and 128th note. Not really that noticeable at higher bpms. Strangely it no longer plays at below 15bpm

I think I can live with that for now, not really sure why there should be any latency, and not sure if I can do anything about it. I've made a note to come back to it later on. Thanks Steve for re-testing

Do you need to go below 15bpm?

I know I'm going to regret asking this (because its probably my eyes) but does it really say advanced rythem machne under the Black Magic logo?

lol, yes it will be changed, it has been there since the initial design, and we've debated for a long time what to put there and last night finally decided on 'Loop Generator'

Andy

[Astralp]

Oh and thanks for the Presets, I'll add them in later on!

I'm hoping to have a few banks to distribute with it, I'm working on a second at the moment. Then when there is a lots to choose from, I'll make the inbuilt presets a compilation of the best/varied ones. So please submit as many presets as you come up with, more the better!

Andy

[Astralp]

Thanks Chester, glad you are liking it

I am having the same issue of knob "throw" as was mentioned earlier. I have to click and drag the mouse from the knob to the top of the screen 8-10 times to go from min to max on a knob. It's not always as bad, but it never moved even close to smoothly and using circular or straight style motions didn't change anything. Using hardware knobs to turn the virtual ones was jerky and laggy, jumped in 10% intervals rather than smoothly.

This problem is due to a couple of things which affects SE synths, firstly SE limits the amount of CPU cycles available to the GUI which is pretty annoying, Secondly Hosts can also limit the GUI cycles as far as I know.

What is happening is that the synth is being redrawn under the mouse cursor and thus tying up the GUI CPU cycles. I use GDI+ for the Knob markers to get the anti alias effect which uses more cpu than standard GDI drawing. I've recoded the Knobs last night and think I've found a way to minimize the slowdown which will be in the next beta, if you can see if that helps.

It doesn't affect all systems/Hosts too, which makes it harder to work with....

[GJK]

ok...i downloaded and tested the most recent beta... things are functioningwell, low cpu usage and i seem to be getting much more "usable" sequences and kitsnow with the randomizers... wow.. theres alot of power packed into that effects section.. of course in fl studio 8 if i press the daws stop button while black magic is running i get horrible stuttering and hanging for 20 seconds or so.. i think ill just not do that anymore

[Astralp]

My only other comments are gui related and are said with the knowledge that it isn't final yet. They are all preferences and are mentioned with ease of use and workflow in mind. It's not entirely clear by the layout that certain parts of the gui are global and certain ones per-section; although familiarity makes this a moot point fairly fast, I feel strongly that a lot of people (especially newbies) give up if things are too confusing right off the bat. Having said that:

I've suggested this to Andreas, who is in charge of the Main GUI

I think the gui could be a little more intuitive if the 4 buttons along the upper left (kit, main, sequencer, mixer) were connected to the main interface by tabs. ie when MAIN is pressed, the section controls are joined to the main button like the tab on a file folder, and so on for the other 3 sections and their individual windows. This would simply reinforce what each button does and that it is showing a different part of the same interface. The way it works now, the buttons seem "disconnected" and the displays they invoke seem more like pop-up windows which obscure the section controls rather than interface elements which are linked to the buttons.
Another thing that would be nice is if the upper right buttons were context sensitive. For example if you click the bottom button to select that section for editing, the left hand side would switch to the section control knobs. Right now those buttons appear to do nothing unless the section editing part is non-obscured ;the sequence toggle buttons would cause the sequencer window to open, the top button (play instrument\sample) would open the main window to the section screen maybe.
After reading the last part over and playing some more I can also see instances where you might not want this context behaviour, but I'll leave my comments anyway.

I don't really understand what you mean here. The idea in terms of attempting to stick to a Hardware Emulation is that the Panels are displayed on an External VGA Monitor. The Menu at the top switches between the various Screens, Main Basically switches the Monitor Off. Perhaps there could be a better Name than Main, any ideas?

Andy

[Astralp]

Just added 75 Kits, just replace the basic Kits folder

I don't know the difference between the basic Kits folder and the Black Magic Kits folder. Is there a difference? When BM couldn't find the kits in the original Kits folder, I put them in Black Magic Kits folder where they belonged and BM found them there.
Do I need to recreate the Kits folder I deleted?

The Black Magic Kits Folder is the only parent folder that you need, Folders inside this are Banks of Samples. The initial test kits had a basic Kits folder/bank, the new one just replaces that.

[Astralp]

Regarding mp3s:

How long do you want them to be?
Do you want other instruments included with BM?
Do you prefer we use HG demos if we don't own HG products?

When is cut-off date for mp3/kits/samples submissions?

Entirely up to you, as long as BM is well featured in the mp3, use what you like. Of course if you want to use any other HG products that will be a bonus for me You do know that there are 2 free synths on the site, Baby Bion and Orgone Lite?

No Deadline, but sooner the better as ever, I will always upload user submitted stuff for any of the products, I have an mp3 showcase page.

[Astralp]

if i press the daws stop button while black magic is running i get horrible stuttering and hanging for 20 seconds or so.. i think ill just not do that anymore

Not too familiar with FL, do you mean the Sequencer Stop button or a switch the program off type thing?

Also there was the issue with the reset plugin on play which needs disabling, otherwise it rebuilds the sample database with each play. I presume you've already got that switched off though. I might actually be able to stop the rescan after initial load though, I'll look into that now.

[Musical Gym]

The Black Magic Kits Folder is the only parent folder that you need, Folders inside this are Banks of Samples. The initial test kits had a basic Kits folder/bank, the new one just replaces that.

thanks

[Musical Gym]

Regarding mp3s:

How long do you want them to be?
Do you want other instruments included with BM?
Do you prefer we use HG demos if we don't own HG products?

When is cut-off date for mp3/kits/samples submissions?

Entirely up to you, as long as BM is well featured in the mp3, use what you like. Of course if you want to use any other HG products that will be a bonus for me You do know that there are 2 free synths on the site, Baby Bion and Orgone Lite?

No Deadline, but sooner the better as ever, I will always upload user submitted stuff for any of the products, I have an mp3 showcase page.

I think I sort of forgot about Baby Bion and Orgone Lite.
I really like the Home Grown Piano demo.
Maybe I can put something together with all three.
How many kits and mp3s = 1 good HG freebie?

[Astralp]

I can't really think about that at the moment, I see it more as rewarding people who have put some enthusiasm into it, rather than earning freebies.

The better quality stuff you send me the more generous I'll be, how does that sound?

[Musical Gym]

I can't really think about that at the moment, I see it more as rewarding people who have put some enthusiasm into it, rather than earning freebies.

The better quality stuff you send me the more generous I'll be, how does that sound?

I agree: tacky for me to ask.
I'll do as much as I can.
I don't need anything else in return really.
The testing experience is enough.

[Chester Desmond]

What is happening is that the synth is being redrawn under the mouse cursor and thus tying up the GUI CPU cycles. I use GDI+ for the Knob markers to get the anti alias effect which uses more cpu than standard GDI drawing. I've recoded the Knobs last night and think I've found a way to minimize the slowdown which will be in the next beta, if you can see if that helps.

Thanks for the info, I am in over my head discussing it but I get it . I look forward to testing the next beta.

I don't really understand what you mean here. The idea in terms of attempting to stick to a Hardware Emulation is that the Panels are displayed on an External VGA Monitor. The Menu at the top switches between the various Screens, Main Basically switches the Monitor Off. Perhaps there could be a better Name than Main, any ideas?

Ah I was unaware of the Harware Emulation idea. I see where the design is coming from now. My tabbed thing was more of a virtual (software) gui. I think "Main" is fine now that I see it for what it is. Out of curiosity, are there hardware units that hookup to monitors like that?

The more I play, the more I understand and the documentation will flesh it all out for me. I've been approaching it like RMV or Jamstix where I can jam along with the host's transport, but it's in a different niche that I can't quite nail down yet.

[Astralp]

are there hardware units that hookup to monitors like that?

I don't know to be honest except Receptor I suppose, we just had to come up with some way of making it work and decided on that idea. The whole design began life as a 3D model which looks stunning, it will be up on the site soon
Andreas has been wanting to design some hardware synths for a while and we finally came together on this.

The more I play, the more I understand and the documentation will flesh it all out for me. I've been approaching it like RMV or Jamstix where I can jam along with the host's transport, but it's in a different niche that I can't quite nail down yet.

Well the most important thing for me was to easily create diverse and extreme loops easily thus all the randomizers. I spent a few years making sample CDs and wished for tools like the VSTs I now build. The built in Record then automatically records a loop and dumps it in a BPM folder named by time (open opens that folder). When you hit Record it will start recording on the next first beat of section 1 sequencer and Record for as many bars as you have selected in the Master panel. You can use the randomizers to create loops easily, tweak the masters and in a few hours create a huge number of loops. This all assumes that you are using the onboard sequencer, press the A button to play all Sequences.

Also after you have recorded a loop, you can audition it instantly by pressing Play to make sure there are no glitches etc...

Second use is via midi, (to Record this way you need to use manual record mode incidentally). The 1st Octave is regular drum hits, the second is the sequences, so you can actually play the sequences. the B in that octave corresponds to the A button for playing the whole thing. The next Octave affects the master pitch so you can play tunes with whatever is playing.

Hopefully that will give some idea I haven't used any other current drum machine software except BFD, I didn't want to be corrupted, I hope that way it is a unique product.

Andy

[Astralp]

Beta 12! changes:

* 75 Kits Added
* Random Sequence could produce blank sequence
* Recoded the Knobs to hopefully fix the slowness for the those having trouble with this.
* Changed to Clearer Font for Section Samples.
* Bongos Sample Set submitted by JDT
* Default Pans are all now centered
* Added Filter ON/OFF per section to the Mixer Panel & Kit Screen
* Added Filter ALL ON/OFF buttons to the Kit Screen
* Changed Automation label from Master Filter to Master Cutoff
* Graphical changes around and about
* 70+ new patches, old bank is included as an fxb.
* Patches sent by JDT and Alex - thanks! They are in the latest bank