Loomer Architect: A modular MIDI toolkit

[colin@loomer]

Is there an alternative method to making a mono stream with changing metronomes and durations in the data realm other than using the note priority module for midi? Thanks!

Could you elaborate a little on what it is you are trying to do? Are you essentially combining several MIDI streams, each playing at different times, into a single mono stream? Thanks!

[mannymang]

An example would be using the pack note module and calling the module with different metronome timings using a switch and the duration being fed the same ticks that match the metronome at the same time. I always get overlapping notes when changing timings. I suspect I just don't understand how the pack note module works. Thanks!

Edit 1:
Upon further thinking, Would I need to add or subtract from the duration ticks the difference between each timing change?

Edit 2:
My goal is to be able to adjust the mono notes durations to either overlap a little for legato or shorten. My attempts so far have failed.

[colin@loomer]

I think I see. Notes generated by [pack note] are independent and changing the duration will not affect any notes that have already started. Internally this module keeps track of all noteons that it has previously generated. If you try to generate a new note while a preceeding one is still playing, the original note won't stop, but will be allowed to continue playing to whatever previous duration was that you had specified.

I'm trying to read between the lines and see if I can work out what you actually need to solve your problem. From Edit 2, it sounds like you want a module that will either take a MIDI note stream and either:
- lengthen notes so that they overlap slightly to play legato
or
- cut them short so that notes never overlap.

So a module with a MIDI input, a mode parameter, and a MIDI output. Does that sound about right?

[mannymang]

That sounds great! If possible the parameter could be adjustable in length, long or short?

Another separate idea, if possible, to cut off a playing note when the new note comes in? That would be only for no overlapping?

I appreciate your time and patience Colin,
Thank you!

[gentleclockdivider]

C.mon Colin. Just release it , even I is beginning to lose faith

[enCiphered]

Just out of pure curiosity, what is so special about the final release compared to the latest beta or pre-release version? Why this persistent pressure? If the developer is not ready for it yet, I find this absolutely questionable and not very helpful.

[michaelinmelbourne]

There are lots of major changes, here are a few that I'm looking forward to:

- additional graph within graph (you'll be able to load a plugin which outputs midi within a separate graph, then route the midi to the main graph)

- changes to the graph UI to make the sequencer/arp modules visible on graph

- LFOs, envelopes, triggerable automation curves

- changes to make the midi pool playback system more robust/ user friendly

- plenty of changes to ease of use (cable routing, custom templates for modules on the panel, colour coding the performance parameters)

- random seed, plenty of other bits and pieces

- other people are quite excited about some presets too

So I think that people are really eager for it, because there'll be pretty major changes in functionality & workflow. One example: at the moment I'm routing midi with loopMidi between plug-ins which results in jitters and crash, but I wouldn't need to in arch 1.0.

**I think that's why its taking time though, because it's there are expansive / major changes which (as Colin mentioned) have required an overhaul of certain parts of the software..**

[enCiphered]

There are lots of major changes, here are a few that I'm looking forward to:

- additional graph within graph (you'll be able to load a plugin which outputs midi within a separate graph, then route the midi to the main graph)

- changes to the graph UI to make the sequencer/arp modules visible on graph

- LFOs, envelopes, triggerable automation curves

- changes to make the midi pool playback system more robust/ user friendly

- plenty of changes to ease of use (cable routing, custom templates for modules on the panel, colour coding the performance parameters)

- random seed, plenty of other bits and pieces

- other people are quite excited about some presets too

So I think that people are really eager for it, because there'll be pretty major changes in functionality & workflow. One example: at the moment I'm routing midi with loopMidi between plug-ins which results in jitters and crash, but I wouldn't need to in arch 1.0.

**I think that's why its taking time though, because it's there are expansive / major changes which (as Colin mentioned) have required an overhaul of certain parts of the software..**

I see, thanks for the detailed reply!

[cmnl]

Hi, what a brilliant midi environment @colin has created! Architect is simply amazing - pretty much everything I was looking for - so much freedom, flexibility and power.

I've worked through the Quick start guide and already managed to build some devices. One thing I have been hoping to achieve being able to input to the step sequencers from a midi controller. So far this has been really easy to do - the hardware controller outputs a CC on button press and in Architect I can receive this CC and a Lua script by sending an array to the sequencers row trigger input where CC0 with a value of 0/1 will update the first element in the array with 0/1.

The only problem I'm struggling with now is to update the buttons on the hardware when a change is made in the Architect UI. There doesn't seem to be a way to either get the state of the triggers from the sequencer or to know which step has been changed so that I can send this to the hardware controller and update the buttons LEDs. I am able to achieve some kind of eventual consistency by using the sequencers 'step' output together with the 'note' output such that the LEDS will update once the playhead has reached the changed step but it needs to wait for the step to be played which is not ideal. When changing the steps on the UI while the transport is stopped there is no way to know which step was modified. I see that in the numeric and boolean tables that there is an output 'signal' when the UI is clicked but nothing that says for example (step1, 1).

So, what I would really like is to be able to get the state of the triggers/table as an array OR to get the step number and value when they are changed from the UI. In my mind this should be fairly easy as I guess the UI components must know which step has been interacted with but I really don't know.

I could easily be missing something obvious but it's hard to know without some more detailed documentation. Any help greatly appreciated - would be so awesome to get bi-directional feedback working with a hardware controller and these sequencers

[digitallysane]

Celebrating exactly 2 years today since I bought my Architect license!
I have to say that it's pretty unique to have absolutely no updates or releases in two years, for a piece of software that is considered current and in active development.
And when the software is described as Beta, that's even more perplexing.

[enCiphered]

What do you think is more likely, Architect leaving Beta or a unicorn to show up? Patience is a virtue. Keep the faith and remember, Rome wasn't built in a day..

[colin@loomer]

Just to clarify though, whilst we're all waiting patiently for the next major release, there have been updates released sporadically to the 0.10 branch. (Admittedly, though, it's just bug fixes rather than features, as the vast majority of my time has been on the major update.)

[digitallysane]

Just to clarify though, whilst we're all waiting patiently for the next major release, there have been updates released sporadically to the 0.10 branch.

Since Architect doesn't check for updates, no emails are sent to licensed users and there's no release log anywhere on the website, the only way to know is to rollover with the mouse on the download link and check if the last digits are different to the ones in the About dialog box on the user's install.

[colin@loomer]

Yes, I really need to add auto-check for updates at some point.

[Kalamata Kid]

I would love to see a multi-touch resizable midi keyboard module. Could be like Xotopad style https://feelyoursound.com/xotopad/ or even an isomorphic Hex https://www.synthtopia.com/content/2008 ... -keyboard/
Will something like these keyboards be included in Architect or will there be a capability to build one?