A better Arp

[MikeB]

Please Please Take Care of the Arp.

1. a start/stop button that allows the arp to run independently of note-ON/OFF commands.

The speed is possible either internally via script/slider or externally via the DAW.

2. Midi Out for the Arp - Please allow the Arp to transmit its Note-On/Off, Velocity, Length and Pitch data.

As already mentioned, the Arp is very good except for these small shortcomings.

[Christoph Hart]

1. Just script a button that plays / stops a note that goes into the arpeggiator. How should it know which notes to play otherwise?

2. Do you mean send the generated MIDI notes back to the host? This can be done using the new Message.sendToMidiOut() function, but you also need to change the Plugin produces MIDI out flag in the Projucer (for now, I'll add a Project setting for this soon).

[MikeB]

@Christoph-Hart said in A better Arp:

1. Just script a button that plays / stops a note that goes into the arpeggiator. How should it know which notes to play otherwise?

I already did that last year - it works wonderfully. But since the Arp expects a NoteOn to run, it unfortunately also reacts to a NoteOff when changing presets. If it would continue to run without reacting to NoteOff, a preset change would work without interruption as in really every VST drum plug-in, that would be brilliant!

It would need its own hardcoded start button, stop button and a note value as start value, e.g. the note number.

2. Do you mean send the generated MIDI notes back to the host? This can be done using the new Message.sendToMidiOut() function, but you also need to change the Plugin produces MIDI out flag in the Projucer (for now, I'll add a Project setting for this soon).

Thank you - that sounds fantastic

[Lindon]

@MikeB you keep saying this sort of thing;

" as in really every VST drum plug-in"

-- but every drum plugin with a sequencer DOESNT use an arp to get there - they use timers. If you used a (set of) timers and wrote your own sequencer then I think you would find your problem goes away...

[MikeB]

@Lindon If the Arp didn't react to NoteOff commands by having its own start/stop button, I wouldn't have to write my own sequencer.

And no not every VST drum plugin uses an arp - probably none as you say - but every VST I have (Atlas, XO, div Kontakt Drums, Superior Drummer etc) don't stop on preset change - that's what I'd like.

And with the HISE arp you can conjure up beautiful polyrythms.

[Lindon]

@MikeB - you can do everything you are doing with the arp with your own sequencer.

There may be a clue in the info. that no drum machine is using an arp....

[MikeB]

@Lindon You don't understand me - if I could write my own sequencer, I would - but unfortunately I'm a graphic designer, not a programmer.
So I tend to approach things visually. That may not be a problem for you - but it is for me. And that's why a visually available arp is very helpful to me. If it didn't have this one shortcoming.

I hope Christoph will find a way here.

[d.healey]

Can't you just ignore the note off?

[MikeB]

@d-healey David - If YOU don't know that - how should I, the dummy, know it?

[Natan]

This post is deleted!

[Natan]

Plugin produces MIDI out @Christoph-Hart Legend, Where is this FLAG located on Projucer?
@d-healey Any idea Sir?

[MikeB]

@Christoph-Hart Is there a possibility that the Arp gets a NoteOn/Off independent start/stop button?

[d.healey]

@MikeB What would happen when you press the on button without a note?

[MikeB]

@d-healey said in A better Arp:

@MikeB What would happen when you press the on button without a note?

The problem with the Arp is:

If you want to use it as a sequencer for drum oneshots.

The Arp is currently started by a NoteOn and then runs.

With a drum VST (Atlas, XO, Superior Drummer and many others) the Arp/sequencer is not started by a NoteOn but by clicking on the Play button in the VST or DAW.

Then it runs in the set parameters BPM (int or ext.).

If the user now changes the preset in the drum VST, the arp/sequencer continues to run. It does not stop until Stop is clicked in the VST or DAW.

So I can change the preset while the arp is running.

However, the HISE Arp stops when the preset is changed - because it receives a NoteOff command.

A Start/Stop button and note numbers that work independently of a NoteOn/Off command could work around this.

The ARP could start and continue to run when changing presets until Stop is clicked in the Arp - or Stop is clicked in the DAW.

[ulrik]

@Christoph-Hart It's all about the arp stopping when the preset browser send out the All Notes Off message as I understand.

Is there some sort of function/filtering, so that the arp will not receive the AllNotesOff message and can continue to run?

[d.healey]

@MikeB But an arp and a sequencer are not the same thing.

An arp triggers the notes you are holding in a pattern.

A sequencer plays a defined set of notes.

The MIDI player is a sequencer so would seem best suited for your purpose.

[MikeB]

@d-healey said in A better Arp:

@MikeB But an arp and a sequencer are not the same thing.

An arp triggers the notes you are holding in a pattern.

A sequencer plays a defined set of notes.

The MIDI player is a sequencer so would seem best suited for your purpose.

Please David - I am 63 years old and have been making music for 50 years and with a computer for 30 years. I know what an Arp, a sequencer and a MidiPlayer is.

But HISE only provides an Arp and a MidiPlayer.

The Midi Player is not suitable for my purposes - and it has exactly the same problem. It stops when changing presets.

The player expects prefabricated midi files - in my drum project, the user can - or should - change pitch, velocity, length, etc. via the midi player. By using the Random button.

Last year, I dealt intensively with the MidiPlayer and found it unusable for my purposes.

The HISE Arp has an ingenious feature - which no one here recognises, doesn't want to see? I don't know.

It only has to keep running when changing presets.
A problem that has been addressed here since last August and has not been solved since then.

The NoteOff command for preset changes is absolutely necessary for notes played via the keyboard. Otherwise midi hangs and echo flags occur.

However, a drum machine is not played via the keyboard but is started and runs and runs and runs.
Until I click Stop.

That's exactly what I want for the Arp.

[Christoph Hart]

@MikeB You can easily script that behavior (you could even roll your own dumbed-down arpeggiator that doesn't care about note lengths / pitch information and just reacts on a start / stop command. It's all there, just use the timer callback and play notes in there whose velocities you can fetch from a SliderPack.

I'm hesitant to extend the arpeggiator with the changes you suggested because the fact that you're working against the limitations of this module for so long time despite the fact that nobody else is having a similar issue with the arpeggiator looks like you're just using the wrong tool for the job (and as I've stated multiple times, the MIDI player is capable of powering a drum sequencer where you can make edits).

[MikeB]

@Christoph-Hart Last year in August I asked here in the forum whether it would be possible to bypass the NotOff command when changing presets via script.

The answer was - no - not possible. Then I wrote you a PM in which you answered that you were working on a possibility.

A few months later you say you don't know if it's possible.

Now you say that the behaviour can be easily scripted?

There is no example of it.

And the fact that no one uses the Arp here - or exploits its potential is not really a criterion. Someone has to be the first - and if I get my PlugIn done - everyone will say - great you can do that with 4 Arps. Wow :-)

And even David says (and shows it by a missing video) that he doesn't know much about the Arp and doesn't use it.

I don't expect you to rebuild the Arp - a simple snippet or a description of how to get around the NoteOff problem when changing presets would make me very happy.

The Arp as it is at the moment covers 99% of my needs for my project.

Building my own via script without sufficient programming knowledge will surely age me 5 years - in 2 weeks.

[d.healey]

@MikeB I've used the arp in a commercial project - it doesn't really require a video though. I think Christoph was suggesting you script your own arp - I know you said you're not a scripter.