Blue Cat's PatchWork 2.3 Available, with Drag and Drop support

[Blue Cat Audio]

After several months of testing, we are happy to unleash Blue Cat's PatchWork 2.3 free update, bringing drag and drop support for plug-ins, and more!



What's New:
- Drag and drop support:
--- drag and drop plug-ins between slots
--- hold the alt key on Mac and Ctrl key on windows to copy (duplicate) a plug-in instead of moving it.
--- drop the plug-in before another to insert it in the chain
--- drag and drop plug-ins between several instances of PatchWork or accross plug-ins (compatible with the latest preview of Late Replies and Axiom).
--- drag and drop .dll, .vst, .vst3, or .component files directly from the Finder or Explorer onto plug-in slots.
--- drag and drop plgnfo files (previously saved from the software) directly from the Finder or Explorer onto plug-in slots.
- Built-in EQ plug-in can now load and manipulate impulse responses (IR).
- Fixed: effect tail not processed when just inserted on a track (avoids using CPU when not necessary).
- Fixed: built-in multitap delay plug-in could get out of sync in some host applications.
- Improved performance of the built-in EQ plug-in.
- improved performance when saving preset/session with many built-in plug-ins.

[morelia]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=28RFIvZtaq4

[Blue Cat Audio]

[Blue Cat Audio]

Here is a short video that shows how drag and drop works with PatchWork 2.3:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PbAiLgtcopQ

[morelia]

Can't drag from explorer to PW. This should work right?

[Blue Cat Audio]

Yes, it should work for .vst3, .dll and plgnfo files. Which version of Windows are you using? Any error message when dropping onto the slot?

[Funkybot's Evil Twin]

Having messed around with another "Modular Effect" recently, I'd love to see some similar features eventually worked into Patchwork (and the broader lineup). So just some potential enhancements that came to me between having used another plugin with some nice features, and having spent a quite a bit of time with Patchwork today.

1. Being able to assign multiple parameters to a single knob (i.e. Macro knobs).

2. Being able to rename the mapped knobs on the GUI (I thought this was here at one point - but I can't seem to rename these knobs). I completely cannot keep track of what each knob does or what effect a particular "Mix" knob in a preset I created months ago might be assigned to. Being able to name a knob Drive Mix and another Delay Mix will seriously help.

3. LFO's/modulators. It would be really cool if a modulation section could be built in, allowing users to assign plugin parameters to LFO's, input followers, etc. for more fun.

4. A multiband util in Patchwork. Yeah, I know MB-7 is the multi-band plugin, but it would overkill for some application. Plus, it's relatively easy to workaround the lack of a multiband utility in Patchwork using other multiband plugins, so just having a built-in MB splitter would be a nice addition IMO. MB-7 would continue being it's own thing, with far more capabilities than a simple multi-band splitter in Patchwork could offer.

5. Remove a plugin by clicking and dragging to nowhere. I saw in the Patchwork 2.3 video that a plugin can be removed by clicking and dragging it to the trash bin on Mac, but 1) I can't figure out what the comparable Windows action is, and 2) this seems like it may be a bit of overkill. Suggestion: allow users to click and drag to a non-slot (or Ctrl+click and drag to a non-slot) section of the GUI to remove a plugin. This way, a quick wrist movement can remove plugins. If a user messes up, no sweat, you already have undo!

And thanks for doing such a great job updating these plugins! I don't know what the effort was for drag and drop, but you did a great job with it and it was my top request!

[morelia]

Yes, it should work for .vst3, .dll and plgnfo files. Which version of Windows are you using? Any error message when dropping onto the slot?

Win 10Pro. VST 2 x64. No error. Just nothing.

It's admin rights causing the problem. I run all hosts as admin so scanning for new plugins works reliably. Has to be disabled for drag and drop to work though.

[Blue Cat Audio]

It's admin rights causing the problem. I run all hosts as admin so scanning for new plugins works reliably. Has to be disabled for drag and drop to work though.

On Windows there are indeed limitations regarding drag and drop between apps run by different users. If you run explorer as admin too, maybe it will work properly.

[Blue Cat Audio]

Having messed around with another "Modular Effect" recently, I'd love to see some similar features eventually worked into Patchwork (and the broader lineup).

Thank you for the suggestions. Please find below our answers & comments.

1. 2.3. parameters / macros etc: we have plans to improve parameters assignments in the future - there is quite a bit of work on this topic!

About (2): I guess you already know that you can see the actual name of the parameter in the LCD at the top of the GUI when hovering the mouse over the assigned knob?

About (3): you can already do similar things with plug-ins that can generate MIDI CC, using MIDI routing. It is probably not as convenient as a built-in solution, but it is already possible.

4. Multiband is currently not in our list, but maybe we'll indeed add some crossover built-in plug-ins in the future. But I guess you can already find such plug-ins as freeware VSTs.

5. On windows too you can drop a plug-in onto the trash, just like on Mac . We could indeed add a trash icon somewhere to remove a plug-in, but I am not sure it is worth cluttering the GUI with this!

[Blue Cat Audio]

For your information, the Instrument version ("PatchWork Synth") and the Audio Unit MFX (Midi effect) are reporting the wrong version number.

So if PatchWork tells you it is still 2.2 after installing the update, don't panic: if you can drag and drop the plug-ins, you have version 2.3 installed.

We apologize for the inconvenience.

[Funkybot's Evil Twin]

Thanks for getting back to me. Very interested in seeing what you cook up with the Macro knobs!

About (2): I guess you already know that you can see the actual name of the parameter in the LCD at the top of the GUI when hovering the mouse over the assigned knob?

Yes, but it doesn't actually say what plugin it is. So for example, if Macro knob 2 is the delay "Mix" parameter from some plugin, Patchwork will just say "2. Mix 100%." Now, I don't know if that's the delay mix, the reverb mix, the distortion mix, etc. Including the plugin name and instance number might be helpful in the short term.

4. Multiband is currently not in our list, but maybe we'll indeed add some crossover built-in plug-ins in the future. But I guess you can already find such plug-ins as freeware VSTs.

Not a high priority, but having a simple Util plugin would be a nice to have.

5. On windows too you can drop a plug-in onto the trash, just like on Mac . We could indeed add a trash icon somewhere to remove a plug-in, but I am not sure it is worth cluttering the GUI with this!

I agree a trash icon would be clutter, but I don't think you need one. I'd suggest something much easier: click and drag into an empty section of the GUI (example: the borders) to remove a plugin. Studio One does something similar with Inserts in the mixer, where you can just drag and drop an effect to nowhere, and that removes it from the plugin from the insert bin. It could be a hidden secret for people who read the manual and are looking for an efficient way to remove plugins!

[Blue Cat Audio]

Yes, but it doesn't actually say what plugin it is. So for example, if Macro knob 2 is the delay "Mix" parameter from some plugin, Patchwork will just say "2. Mix 100%." Now, I don't know if that's the delay mix, the reverb mix, the distortion mix, etc. Including the plugin name and instance number might be helpful in the short term.

Indeed!

Not a high priority, but having a simple Util plugin would be a nice to have.

Yeah, the list of built-in plug-ins we'd like to implement is getting larger every day

I agree a trash icon would be clutter, but I don't think you need one. I'd suggest something much easier: click and drag into an empty section of the GUI (example: the borders) to remove a plugin. Studio One does something similar with Inserts in the mixer, where you can just drag and drop an effect to nowhere, and that removes it from the plugin from the insert bin. It could be a hidden secret for people who read the manual and are looking for an efficient way to remove plugins!

I am not sure such implicit behavior would work very well for us, but we'll investigate. In the meantime you can still use the Windows trash if you really want to remove a plug-in by dragging it

[M2E]

Hello BC, used your plugin to explain the benefits of using Patchwork in Pro Tools on my new YouTube Channel. Check it out... Great plugin!
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HaZYp2wNomc

[Blue Cat Audio]

Thanks! The link gain feature can indeed be used for such sanity checks!