Imitone -- wow! Most embarassing post I ever started

[ThomasHelzle]

Got the mail today - will have to see when I find time to try it.

Cheers,

Tom

[don1thedon]

Email dropped at 08.27 (UK) this morning. I've not managed to get it working yet though (in Studio One). Hopeful that this might start getting some use at last.

[sl1914]

VST3 version did not work in Bitwig Studio.

[ThomasHelzle]

The plugin crashes in Bitwig Studio.
In Reaper I only see one of the two plugin versions and I wasn't able to get it to work (which may be related to me not groking Reaper).
In Studio One 3 I got it to work with the VST3 Expression version but after some seconds it did shut down and didn't wake up again until I saved the Song, then it suddenly re-awoke - no idea what that is about.

It somehow reacted to voice, CPU was 16% on a i7 6 core @ 4 GHz.
There is no GUI and not all controls seemed to work in a quick test, I couldn't get Vibrato/Pitch bend to do anything.
I'll probably wait for a proper version.

I'm rather suspicious about the two versions though:

- imitone app-to-app midi
This plugin poses as a virtual MIDI controller, like the imitone app.
It may act as a main MIDI input to its host, or other apps on your system.
Host apps may recognize it as an audio effect (it outputs silence).
1. Create a new audio track and insert the "imitone app-to-app midi" plugin.
2. Set up the plugin to receive input from your microphone at all times.
* Steps vary by DAW. You'll want to disable recording on this track if possible.
3. Open your DAW's MIDI options and select "imitone VST3" as your MIDI input.
* You may need to "rescan" or "reset" MIDI devices, or set up an "external device".
4. Use your DAW normally. Your voice takes the place of a MIDI keyboard in its workflow.

- imitone VST3 expression
This plugin sends VST3 events to trigger and articulate notes.
It is most useful in combination with other VST3 plugins and event routings.
Pitch bend, power control and
Host apps may recognize it as an audio effect (it outputs silence).
1. Create a new audio track and insert the "imitone VST3 expression plugin".
2. Set up the plugin to receive input from your microphone, even when using other tracks.
* Steps vary by DAW. You'll want to disable recording on this track if possible.
3. Set up an instrument plugin in another track, and create a routing from imitone to it.
* Routing works very differently across DAWs! Consult your DAW's manual about this.
* Keep in mind that this plugin doesn't create MIDI per se -- so this can be tricky!
4. To control different instruments, adjust the routings you've set up.

So one seems to send out it's midi like the standalone to be re-received via a virtual midi input - sounds silly to me in a DAW context but maybe I'm missing something where this would be useful.
The second emphasises the VST3 aspect and I can only hope it sends out normal Midi instead of some specific VST3 stuff that may not work in most DAWs.
Let's hope Mr. Balster didn't sabotage the whole thing once again by overcomplicating what should be rather simple and straight forward.

So after 4 years we have a Plugin - yay.

Cheers,

Tom

[don1thedon]

I dropped a support email to Imitone & also advised that this thread was (obviously) active again, hopefully he'll be along to advise us of intentions.

[No_Use]

First test report...
Basic functionality seems to be there, ie I could get it basically working in Reaper (with the VST3 expression version).

Very first test (default settings, no tweaks at all, also the voice is not me, it was the first voice snippet I found ), left: voice, right: imitone output triggering a synth.

https://www.dropbox.com/s/l848gxoiw741t ... y.mp3?dl=1

Promising start I'd say.

No GUI here either, but that's intended for now I assume.
No pitchbend output currently ?

Preset loading doesn't work here currently:
https://i.imgur.com/zjL9L5m.gif

Happy overall that we finally see a plugin version.

[ThomasHelzle]

No pitchbend output currently ?

Yeah, let's hope Evan didn't put that into "VST3 expressions only" instead of normal Midi.
Does any DAW other than Cubase even support those?
Can't test in Bitwig since the plugin is crashing there.

Cheers,

Tom

[fluffy_little_something]

Does anyone here know whether one can sell one's license?

[don1thedon]

No luck loading into Cubase 9.0.30 either, Cubase just hangs when scanning VST3

[interactopia]

Hello, all —

For reference, please mention which DAW you're using the imitone VST with, how it's behaving, and whether you are using the app-to-app MIDI or VST3 note expression flavor. I've been testing with REAPER and Steinberg products myself.

Results so far:

• Reaper supports app-to-app midi (requires refresh)
• Cubase scan fails for many users (seeking data)
• Bitwig scan fails for all users (seeking data)
• Studio One has issues (seeking data)

There's some technical data you can collect to help us find and fix problems with the VST. Immediately after a failure in scanning/re-scanning/loading/running the plugin, do the following:

1. Open the imitone app. (You may wish to close your DAW).
2. Press Control-R (or Command-R on Mac). A folder will appear.
3. The folder will contain a file called vst3_calls.txt. Post its contents or send it to [url=mailto://support@imitone.com]imitone support[/url].

We'll be trying to automate this reporting in future updates, like we did in the app.


FAQ:

Q: Why no GUI?
A: To speed up alpha testing. The imitone GUI is likely to create (more) compatibility problems for various hosts. We decided to prioritize functionality over look and feel for the first stage of alpha testing, so we're using the host GUI for now.

Q: Why no Mac?
A: Because the imitone app is less problematic on Mac, making plugins less necessary. Nevertheless, we want to support VST2, VST3 and Audio Units on Mac as soon as we can make time for those ports.

Q: Why isn't there a direct audio-to-MIDI adaptor plugin?
A: It isn't actually possible to create one with VST3, which uses its own event format. Hosts are responsible for translating from MIDI to VST3 and back. But VST3 doesn't support translating back to MIDI CC and Pitch Bend, which is a bit of a disaster... For obvious reasons, we'll be releasing a VST2 plugin with direct MIDI capability as soon as we can.
(App-to-app MIDI does allow an imitone track to be treated as a keyboard, which I believe will be friendlier for novice workflows even if it seems bonkers to veteran users.)

Q: Why has this taken so long? Will future developments be slow?
A: Supporting all the modern plugin formats we're interested in required a lot of imitone to be rewritten, which is an ongoing effort. While there is a lot of middleware for writing portable plugins, it isn't suitable for types of processing imitone has to do. Audio-to-Event transcription is the least common signal path for plugins; as a result, a lot of tweaking will be necessary with each plugin format to get various hosts to play well with it.
We've built a common foundation which makes other plugin formats (AU, VST2, AAX) fairly approachable from here.

Preset loading doesn't work here currently:

That would appear to be my oversight. The presets are correctly formatted but it looks like the plugin ID is wrong because they were made with another variant on the plugin.

No pitchbend output currently ?

Consider using the app-to-app MIDI flavor instead. This will support all the articulations the app does. You may need to rescan for MIDI devices after loading up the project.

Yeah, let's hope Evan didn't put that into "VST3 expressions only" instead of normal Midi.

Heh, if only MIDI were an option with VST3... The app-to-app MIDI is a pretty weird arrangement, but it's necessary to send actual MIDI messages from the current plugin. (In theory a host could recover CC and Pitch Bend from Note Expression, but this would be a hack and nobody seems to implement it in practice.)

Does anyone here know whether one can sell one's license?

Contact support for anything related to refunds or transfers. Our policy (see that page) is pretty liberal.

[ThomasHelzle]

If that statement about VST3 not being able to output midi is a fact, I personally see no reason for a VST3 version at all, especially not as a first step. JamOrigin don't have VST3s either AFAIK.

As for testing:
Here you can download the demo version of Bitwig Studio for Windows, Mac and Linux:
https://www.bitwig.com/en/download.html
It is not time limited and does everything you need for testing.

The Studio One Demo is time-limited IIRC:
https://www.presonus.com/products/Studi ... studio-one
The "Prime" version doesn't load VSTs AFAIK.

Ableton Live has a demo here:
https://www.ableton.com/en/trial/
It's time limited, but you should be able to get the Lite version with a lot of audio interfaces and other gear or second hand here on KVR in the marketplace for very little money and it loads vsts (no VST3 support though).

Tracktion 6 is free and should suffice to see if the plugin loads:
https://www.tracktion.com/products/t6-daw

This should be much quicker for testing than relying on user feedback, at least in the "does it load at all" phase.

Cheers,

Tom

[fluffy_little_something]

If that statement about VST3 not being able to output midi is a fact, I personally see no reason for a VST3 version at all, especially not as a first step. JamOrigin don't have VST3s either AFAIK.

That would also be a problem for dedicated sequencer/arp plugins, right?

[fluffy_little_something]

Does anyone here know whether one can sell one's license?

Contact support for anything related to refunds or transfers. Our policy (see that page) is pretty liberal.

OK. There is nothing wrong with the standalone version (have not tried the VST yet), but I just can't seem to make it produce the Midi data that reflects the melody I have in my mind. I bought it mostly for entering synth bass lines with lots of pitch bending, but the plugin is not tight enough for that, and my voice not good enough it seems

As the problem is mostly my voice, I don't want a refund, which always implies that a product is not good. That's not the case.
Maybe someone else wants my license...

[vurt]

Does anyone here know whether one can sell one's license?

Contact support for anything related to refunds or transfers. Our policy (see that page) is pretty liberal.

OK. There is nothing wrong with the standalone version (have not tried the VST yet), but I just can't seem to make it produce the Midi data that reflects the melody I have in my mind. I bought it mostly for entering synth bass lines with lots of pitch bending, but the plugin is not tight enough for that, and my voice not good enough it seems

As the problem is mostly my voice, I don't want a refund, which always implies that a product is not good. That's not the case.
Maybe someone else wants my license...

that is pretty good of you a very fair approach.
on both sides really, nice to see some cool behaviour

[don1thedon]

No luck loading into Cubase 9.0.30 either, Cubase just hangs when scanning VST3

Just to add that I have now managed to load Imitone VST into both Studio One 3 & Cubase 9.0, I reinstalled the main Imitone application (imitone 0.9.2d). Both DAWs have scanned the VST & I managed to load the app & get midi signals from it ... I must try and remember how to best use this!