Tuareg and Tunafish -- not any more?

[Jazz Franco]

Just visited Bram's re-newed page
http://www.brambos.com/
Cool stuff for iPad/iPhone, cute new software to run with a Monotron (will try at home with an APM and a Kaossilator-)))
But where are Tuareg and Tunafish? Or are we expecting (ta-dam!) some updated versions of both? Or otherwise could we please have them somewhere as legacy software (maybe as legal torrents to save Bram's bandwidth)?
Bram?

[brambos]

I'm open to suggestions

Three years after the last update to Tunafish (and something like 7 years after the last Tu2 update) I thought it was time for them to go into retirement.

They were developed for Windows XP and the audio hardware of the time, and with the proliferation of new operating systems (older computers with XP, all the variations of Vista and 7 that are around), complex drivers and the looming of 64 bit I foresaw a lot of issues.

Also, people's expectations and requirements of music software today are a lot harder to meet - especially if you're a solo developer with a busy dayjob. In short: I thought this was the responsible thing to do considering the situation.

For now my dayjob only lets me do small projects in my sparetime - hence the iPhone app thingies which are somewhat manageable without turning into multi-year projects (for comparison: Tunafish took me a year and a half to reach 1.0). It's not unlikely that I'll ever start working on a Tu3/Tunafish combo project, but I'm not sure which platform that will be for.

[C00kie]

I'm open to suggestions

I think the second part of the request was simply for an "archive" section on your homepage, to be able to download the ancient stuff.

[Jazz Franco]

I still have Tu1.5Free and MoonFish installed on my new Win7 desktop -- and even use them sporadically
Fortunately, I kept the distributables in my archives from times back then, so I hope they both will run on the netbook I'm still planning to buy.
Updated version would be great of course, but those progs are good as they are, and moreover they're piece of history now.
I mean, could you make them available to the public again (with no support or whatever) -- guess they will still remain popular, even if for fun reasons. Maybe just seed them through ClearBits or some other legal torrents network.
It's just sad to know these little creatures are gone.

[brambos]

I'll add a little archive/trip-down-memory-lane section on my site where I can also host old stuff like Tuareg, Lunchbox Battles and PUMP.

[Jazz Franco]

I'll add a little archive/trip-down-memory-lane section on my site where I can also host old stuff like Tuareg, Lunchbox Battles and PUMP.

Thanks Bram! That'll be great!

[MRT]

Just curious, You've given us such great apps over the years I've always wondered why none of them were ever ported over to Vst's?

[brambos]

Just curious, You've given us such great apps over the years I've always wondered why none of them were ever ported over to Vst's?

Good question - I don't know. I guess I'm more a standalone application type of guy looking for strange niches?

Actually I once started working on a VST version of Moonfish (with more FSU features thrown in) but I never completed it.

[spacedad]

oh,a vst moonfish would have been awsome!

i've just got win7 and haven't had chance to try out my old favourites yet,but it'd be sad if yours don't work.
maybe one day,we'll be able to have any virtual os onboard.
i voted a big yes btw.

[Jazz Franco]

oh,a vst moonfish would have been awsome!

i've just got win7 and haven't had chance to try out my old favourites yet,but it'd be sad if yours don't work.
maybe one day,we'll be able to have any virtual os onboard.
i voted a big yes btw.

Moonfish and Tuareg (1.5) work fine here, dunno about Tunafish though.

[BERFAB]

I've owned a Tu2 license for a few years. Though I haven't used it in awhile, I would think this would make an excellent iapp--it has a pretty small footprint, and has enough features to really allow some serious sketching in the iPad/phone environment.

Here's my 2 cents on what to do with it other than retirement:

1) Iphone app.
2) Legacy freebie.
3) Break it up into its various parts for easy re-distribution i.e. drums, synths, sequencer.

The reason I bought it in the first place is because I really couldn't find anything that broke up drum loops and re-arranged them with as much variety and creativity as this thing. Panning options really made for some very cool beats. IIRC the only drawback was a bit limitation on loop files (16 only?). But I still have not, as yet, found anything as cool as the various presets that allowed instant loop rearrangement to give a completely different feel to just about any loop. Slicex, Guru, Kontakt, etc., with all their features, still don't do this as well.

Cheers
-B

[spacedad]

Moonfish and Tuareg (1.5) work fine on win7 here, dunno about Tunafish though.

good news.

[grymmjack]

The reason I bought it in the first place is because I really couldn't find anything that broke up drum loops and re-arranged them with as much variety and creativity as this thing. Panning options really made for some very cool beats. IIRC the only drawback was a bit limitation on loop files (16 only?). But I still have not, as yet, found anything as cool as the various presets that allowed instant loop rearrangement to give a completely different feel to just about any loop. Slicex, Guru, Kontakt, etc., with all their features, still don't do this as well.

Cheers
-B

Can you explain a bit about this BERFAB? Does it rearrange the slices randomly? If so, the dlm plugin slix might be of interest. It's quite excellent for this, but it randomizes each time through I think, and does not remain consistent after the first pass.

[BERFAB]

The reason I bought it in the first place is because I really couldn't find anything that broke up drum loops and re-arranged them with as much variety and creativity as this thing. Panning options really made for some very cool beats. IIRC the only drawback was a bit limitation on loop files (16 only?). But I still have not, as yet, found anything as cool as the various presets that allowed instant loop rearrangement to give a completely different feel to just about any loop. Slicex, Guru, Kontakt, etc., with all their features, still don't do this as well.

Cheers
-B

Can you explain a bit about this BERFAB? Does it rearrange the slices randomly? If so, the dlm plugin slix might be of interest. It's quite excellent for this, but it randomizes each time through I think, and does not remain consistent after the first pass.

I haven't used it in awhile, but I recall that you could set it with predictable results. Bram included a number of extremely useful presets that would actually take a loop, and with the push of a button, re-arrange it into a new loop according to a predictable set of rules. The presets had names of the various genres being immitated, and I recall that the results were consistently useful.

Perhaps Bram could comment on his method? I was always knocked out by this particular feature and somewhat surprised that no one else really tried to emulate it.

Cheers
-B

[brambos]

Perhaps Bram could comment on his method?

The "variator" divides a loop in a number of segments (say 16). Instead of cutting up the loop, it actually just places markers and lets the playback-pointer jump from marker to marker (with the obligatory trickery to avoid pops and clicks between markers ofcourse). You can skip segments or use segments multiple times.

Additionally, you can mute [parts of] segments and play them in reverse. And it works on multi-measure loops as well.

It's a fairly simple tool that allows for very complex beatmangling - and since it is non-destructive, it also allows for easy experimentation.

I think one of its additional strengths is the way it is integrated in the rest of the application. You can quickly change something and combine it with the other mangling effects without breaking the flow too much.

The presets give predictable results because with typical drumloops you can e.g. assume where a kick and where a snare may be. This allowed me to program preset-beats using the imaginary drums that I guessed would be in your loops (like playing blind chess )