SquaredHeads Nora: Arpeggiator (2.5 Released!)

[firepile]

Sorry, I'm late to the party. But after taking a closer look at the demo videos, I was being reminded of the old 7Aliens Catanya. Only that NORA is definitely more up to date.

And Nora runs on Mac OS, which is a definite advantage over Catanya for us who work on Macs.

Also, the AU version overcomes a somewhat crippling VST limitation in Live.

/Joachim

It's exactly Catanya - plus with other stuff like eight tracks. Why anyone would want to use Nora's interface to program eight tracks of material within a DAW - any one of which would have far superior multitrack sequencing capabilities boggles me.

Because you can trigger multiple synths with different patterns from the same chords.

It seems like a really cumbersome way to go about things. But, different strokes....

Why would anyone use an arpeggiator at all when they can use the piano roll?

[lnikj]

Yes, IL Minihost is a good VST Chainer. Try this:
1. Load a Nora instance in any track
2. Create a new track and load IL Minihost.
3. Create a chain inside midi host, using a MIDI Filter (example: http://www.niallmoody.com/ndcplugs/ndcmidi.htm - MIDI Channel Filter) and an instrument. Set in the MIDI Filter the desired channel, and setup the Nora output track.
4. Repeat 2 and 3 for each track
5. Save the Live project as a template.

And you should have Nora working with multiple tracks in Live. I didn't test it personally, but it must work

As soon as I finish 2.01 I'll create multiple video tutorials.

Can anybody confirm that they have got this to work.

Because Nora is not working yet in OS X 10.8 64 bit, I am using Live 32 bit.

After several hours of fiddling with IL Minihost will not stay open very long without crashing Live. I cannot reopen any project that contains it without crashing Live again which necessitates setting things up from scratch each time. I switched to using a demo of Blue Cat's Patchwork which is completely stable (but I am in no hurry to purchase it just for this purpose).

The niall moody midi vsts aren't recognised by Live so I tried EA Reckon's Midi Polysher (http://www.eareckon.com/en/products/freebies.html). Patchwork has advanced midi routing capabilities so I don't think it was needed so I tried things with it loaded and without.

From what I can see, and from what was said above, once Live gets its hands on any midi it just merges it down to channel 1. Thus, if I tell Nora to output on, say, channel 16, Midi Polysher or Patchwork just see it as coming through on channel 1.

There doesn't seem to be any way of filtering the midi - it has been through Live by the time it has got to the filter and the channel information has been lost it seems.

I may be doing something wrong so if anybody can get this to work I'd love to hear about it.

[jcook5376]

Hi,
just tried all 8 channels and i can say all works here Reaper4.75 x64 Nora x64
Only thing that came to mind is did you check record input configuration of Reaper's track?
right click to recarm button of track and be sure
"All Midi inputs / All Channels " was checked.
i hope this helps

Thanks, I did confirm this and I also manually right clicked on a note on the piano roll and changed the note channel to 3. Not sure whats different about my environment but I'll mess around with it more tonight maybe on a clean project with just nora.

[iDesignSound]

Sorry, I'm late to the party. But after taking a closer look at the demo videos, I was being reminded of the old 7Aliens Catanya. Only that NORA is definitely more up to date.

And Nora runs on Mac OS, which is a definite advantage over Catanya for us who work on Macs.

Also, the AU version overcomes a somewhat crippling VST limitation in Live.

/Joachim

It's exactly Catanya - plus with other stuff like eight tracks. Why anyone would want to use Nora's interface to program eight tracks of material within a DAW - any one of which would have far superior multitrack sequencing capabilities boggles me.

Because you can trigger multiple synths with different patterns from the same chords.

It seems like a really cumbersome way to go about things. But, different strokes....

Why would anyone use an arpeggiator at all when they can use the piano roll?

Actually, I am struggling with the same thing to be honest.

You can trigger multiple synths with different patterns from the same chords just using Abletons MIDI effects (scales, chord, arpeggiator etc.). I can't see at the moment what real benefit it brings to Live users. I can see that it would bring some of Lives workflow to other DAWs though.

[yellukhan]

Hi,
just tried all 8 channels and i can say all works here Reaper4.75 x64 Nora x64
Only thing that came to mind is did you check record input configuration of Reaper's track?
right click to recarm button of track and be sure
"All Midi inputs / All Channels " was checked.
i hope this helps

Thanks, I did confirm this and I also manually right clicked on a note on the piano roll and changed the note channel to 3. Not sure whats different about my environment but I'll mess around with it more tonight maybe on a clean project with just nora.

i assume you already checked your fx chain of Nora track ..
so i mean there is no midi or js fx that fixes ins/outs by accident before signal goes to Nora...
then last thing i suggest to check input channel selector in Nora configs
by the way just let me know i can also send Reaper Track Template easily if you need.

[squaredheads]

I will reply your questions in a while. I finished Nora 2.01, it should be avaliable in 24h. It includes the demo version.

Code: Select all

* Added
- Auxiliar MIDI output recorder for these host that does not support MIDI recording from plugins.
- Option to dock the Playlist in the main interface.

* Modified
- Touch-edit tool now modify only selected notes (Only when there is at least one selected note).

* Bugfixes
- Modifiers (Ctrl, Alt...) were getting stuck when you dragged any object outside its window.
- Fixed a weird bug that could provoke the host miss some notes.
- Normalized Mutate start/lenghts amount.
- Internal clock was having some accuracy problems with variable buffers.
- Phrase Editor's timeline was not loading its height from snm files.
- Free navigation icon was not reading its size from the Misc Size Map.
- Fixed a problem with OSX 10.8 and Nora 64 bit.

[lnikj]

I will reply your questions in a while. I finished Nora 2.01, it should be avaliable in 24h. It includes the demo version.

Great news!

[Martin Simon]

Sorry, I'm late to the party. But after taking a closer look at the demo videos, I was being reminded of the old 7Aliens Catanya. Only that NORA is definitely more up to date.

And Nora runs on Mac OS, which is a definite advantage over Catanya for us who work on Macs.

Also, the AU version overcomes a somewhat crippling VST limitation in Live.

/Joachim

It's exactly Catanya - plus with other stuff like eight tracks. Why anyone would want to use Nora's interface to program eight tracks of material within a DAW - any one of which would have far superior multitrack sequencing capabilities boggles me.

Because you can trigger multiple synths with different patterns from the same chords.

It seems like a really cumbersome way to go about things. But, different strokes....

Why would anyone use an arpeggiator at all when they can use the piano roll?

Actually, I am struggling with the same thing to be honest.

You can trigger multiple synths with different patterns from the same chords just using Abletons MIDI effects (scales, chord, arpeggiator etc.). I can't see at the moment what real benefit it brings to Live users. I can see that it would bring some of Lives workflow to other DAWs though.

Yes, I see what you mean. I just downloaded and tried the 1.4 demo and I really liked it.
I like the workflow and i'm having fun with it.

Live's arp is ok, but Nora is, imo, much more advanced. I must admid I never use the scales or chords in Live, because I always find I get better results without them.

A lot of Nora's presets are pretty usefull and it's very easy to create your own...
of course you could get the same results with MIDIclips in Live, but not as quickly.

Bottom line is, as usual, try the demo. If you like it and you feel you are going to use it often then this might be for you. If not, just pass it.

[jcook5376]

Hi,
just tried all 8 channels and i can say all works here Reaper4.75 x64 Nora x64
Only thing that came to mind is did you check record input configuration of Reaper's track?
right click to recarm button of track and be sure
"All Midi inputs / All Channels " was checked.
i hope this helps

Thanks, I did confirm this and I also manually right clicked on a note on the piano roll and changed the note channel to 3. Not sure whats different about my environment but I'll mess around with it more tonight maybe on a clean project with just nora.

i assume you already checked your fx chain of Nora track ..
so i mean there is no midi or js fx that fixes ins/outs by accident before signal goes to Nora...
then last thing i suggest to check input channel selector in Nora configs
by the way just let me know i can also send Reaper Track Template easily if you need.

Ok after some more testing it turns out that NoraHarm is the culprit. Multiple Channels work fine without NoraHarm at the top of the FX chain. I guess NoraHarm can't handle multiple channels.

[squaredheads]

Thank for testing. Please, do a final test: play the host with Nora loaded and switch between playlist and pattern mode. Each time you switch the mode, Nora will send the noteOff to all its outputs, like when you stop the host. So, if it's a noteOff problem related with Dune 2, you should have the same results.

Yes switching between playlist and pattern mode has the same results

I'll try for next release change the mode it works to optimize this reset, at least I will optimize it

[squaredheads]

Can anybody confirm that they have got this to work.

Because Nora is not working yet in OS X 10.8 64 bit, I am using Live 32 bit.

After several hours of fiddling with IL Minihost will not stay open very long without crashing Live. I cannot reopen any project that contains it without crashing Live again which necessitates setting things up from scratch each time. I switched to using a demo of Blue Cat's Patchwork which is completely stable (but I am in no hurry to purchase it just for this purpose).

The niall moody midi vsts aren't recognised by Live so I tried EA Reckon's Midi Polysher (http://www.eareckon.com/en/products/freebies.html). Patchwork has advanced midi routing capabilities so I don't think it was needed so I tried things with it loaded and without.

From what I can see, and from what was said above, once Live gets its hands on any midi it just merges it down to channel 1. Thus, if I tell Nora to output on, say, channel 16, Midi Polysher or Patchwork just see it as coming through on channel 1.

There doesn't seem to be any way of filtering the midi - it has been through Live by the time it has got to the filter and the channel information has been lost it seems.

I may be doing something wrong so if anybody can get this to work I'd love to hear about it.

If Live is merging all its notes to channel 1, almost nothing can be done. How does Live work with multitimbral VSTi?

[squaredheads]

Yes, I see what you mean. I just downloaded and tried the 1.4 demo and I really liked it.
I like the workflow and i'm having fun with it.

Live's arp is ok, but Nora is, imo, much more advanced. I must admid I never use the scales or chords in Live, because I always find I get better results without them.

A lot of Nora's presets are pretty usefull and it's very easy to create your own...
of course you could get the same results with MIDIclips in Live, but not as quickly.

Bottom line is, as usual, try the demo. If you like it and you feel you are going to use it often then this might be for you. If not, just pass it.

To be honest, I included presets because the users asked for a bigger database. But I think that Nora should be used creating preset from the scratch. Having your own presets it's very easy and fast, and it will fit better your songs. Factory preset are just a starting point, but you shouldn't stop there.

[squaredheads]

Ok after some more testing it turns out that NoraHarm is the culprit. Multiple Channels work fine without NoraHarm at the top of the FX chain. I guess NoraHarm can't handle multiple channels.

I'll fix that for next release (not in 2.01, but in next one) - that's a NoraHarm bug

[lnikj]

Can anybody confirm that they have got this to work.

Because Nora is not working yet in OS X 10.8 64 bit, I am using Live 32 bit.

After several hours of fiddling with IL Minihost will not stay open very long without crashing Live. I cannot reopen any project that contains it without crashing Live again which necessitates setting things up from scratch each time. I switched to using a demo of Blue Cat's Patchwork which is completely stable (but I am in no hurry to purchase it just for this purpose).

The niall moody midi vsts aren't recognised by Live so I tried EA Reckon's Midi Polysher (http://www.eareckon.com/en/products/freebies.html). Patchwork has advanced midi routing capabilities so I don't think it was needed so I tried things with it loaded and without.

From what I can see, and from what was said above, once Live gets its hands on any midi it just merges it down to channel 1. Thus, if I tell Nora to output on, say, channel 16, Midi Polysher or Patchwork just see it as coming through on channel 1.

There doesn't seem to be any way of filtering the midi - it has been through Live by the time it has got to the filter and the channel information has been lost it seems.

I may be doing something wrong so if anybody can get this to work I'd love to hear about it.

If Live is merging all its notes to channel 1, almost nothing can be done. How does Live work with multitimbral VSTi?

Basically, stick the multitimbral instrument on a midi track. Then create midi tracks to send midi to its inputs, and create audio tracks to receive audio from its outputs.

Audio output channels can be routed, but midi output channels cannot.

You mentioned hosting VSTs, perhaps like Rapid Composer. Is that a serious possibility?

[squaredheads]

Yes, it is. However it needs a big amount of work and I must plan it carefully, because others customers that does not need this must be satisfied with another new features.