Aria's thread of barely working betas and bug squashing: Psychopump (in library soon)

Whoa - I don’t really know what I’m doing, just patching stuff but I’m getting very cool evolving melodies. Seems very powerful and unique! I’m going to investigate more…

EDIT:

Played with it some more. It’s not as intimidating as it first appears with all those patch points - the design is super smart and very unique, I don’t think I’ve ever used a sequencer quite like it. If I had to describe it, it’s like a sequencer with a brain that you can program. So cool!

As an aside, it looks really great in lights off mode.

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And the manual is now finished! https://aria.dog/modules/modulus

We still haven’t figured out how to get my stuff to build again in the library, but I’ll be doing a manual release soon. If you got feedback, don’t delay!

I have added one more feature: right-click option to quantize upon reset input.

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The module is now soft-released, beta-testers just can’t keep up with my pace lol.

I’ll just do a 1.6.1 if stuff breaks.

Stable downloads: https://github.com/AriaSalvatrice/AriaVCVModules/releases/tag/1.6.0

I submitted it to the library, but we haven’t solved the build issue yet, so for now it’s a manual install.

Still gotta finish up the doc site & collection video intro, then I’ll make an announcement thread.

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Fun trick you must try at home:

  • Save a sequence in Modulus Salomonis Regis.
  • Use Modulellus Salomonis Regis to generate a new chord each bar.
  • Turn the chord into a Poly External Scale using a merger then Quale
  • Send that Poly External Scale to Modulus Salomonis Regis (on this pic, going thru QQQQ)
  • Set Modulus Salomonis Regis to re-load and re-quantize the pattern on reset
  • Reset each bar

It’s nice to see all the pieces of the system I have in mind starting to combine together the way I wanted

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Looks like we might have a solution for library automatic builds, so I’ll hold off on making a 1.6.0 announcement with a manual download link and get a few bugs fixed first.

Thanks to @cschol and @jerrysv for figuring out all those compilation issues!

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Coming in 1.6.1:

Additionally, I implement the changes from Revision 2 of Poly External Scales (behavior subject to change pending reactions from other developers):

I kinda wanna provide an option for saving knob positions with scenes, but:

  • It’s hard to expose to the user in a way that makes sense
  • It’s full of edge cases
  • 8FACE already does the job just fine in a way that matches users’ intuitions
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Hands down the most playfully done and cool manuals around. Well done !

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Rotatoes: A new little thing I made today real quick, mostly for my own use. Four little knobs that output CV.

Yeah, there’s already a lot of modules that do that in the library! But none that are tiny with a built-in offsetter.

There’s a little black rectangle where the map indicator normally goes, and I’ve made the bounding box of the knob larger than it visually is to offset that rectangle a bit, so it feels integrated to the design. I want to make it obvious it’s meant for automation, if you want a performance knob Vult’s big one would serve you better.

Optional quantization via Poly External Scale from QQQQ is not implemented yet.

Next, I plan to make a version with a fader, and one with buttons. I’ve written the module in such a way I can easily create versions with more knobs if there is interest, but hey, copy-pasting works too.

Builds from the usual place. Lemme know what you think.

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Why do I add quantization support to everything?

Yes.

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Now with a single fader version, too. I’m using templates so they are really just two different interfaces to the same underlying module, and I could make more form factors.

I’ll do the version with 4 buttons next. What would be useful? I’m thinking:

  • Invert input
  • Set the voltage output when low and high
  • Latch mode

Also there’s some unused space at the top, if anyone’s got a bright idea for something useful. I’m thinking of adding an input that can either be a global trig or set the global voltage when pressed.

Test builds: Release Dangerous development builds that may or may not destroy your computer · AriaSalvatrice/AriaModules · GitHub

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I think we’re done here. Anyone tested it? Any feedback?

It’s off to the library as soon as I write the docs unless you speak up now.

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Oh my goodness I was literally asking a developer about this import chords from a text line the other day. Hadn’t realised you had implemented that! Rock n roll!

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Thanks! Getting that one feature integrated to the library has been a month-long adventure, but it was a very necessary building block for the system I have in mind, for generative music within chordal & scalar frameworks.

Unfortunately my collection hasn’t been any Youtuber’s favorite yet, so despite the manuals, I think very few people understand yet how the basic parts can be combined, or the advanced features they hide.

I think the only thing that’s a bit of an annoyance is that there seems to be no way of setting precise values with the “menu” sliders in the way you can with normal knobs and sliders on a panel gui. Let’s say I want a range of precisely 3.0 to 7.0 for instance. I have to nervously jigger the min and max sliders back and forth hoping to hit the desired values rather than having boxes on right-click in which to enter the numbers.

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True, it’s a limitation of that slider widget. My priorities for those were first, being compact (fit a good amount of features in 3HP without being cramped), and second, working with mouse operation only.

If it were a text input, it’d require using a keyboard. Personally, I use a graphics tablet, the keyboard is often out of the way, and my modules always consider my own use case first.

And if I were to provide both inputs, the UI would be inelegant and confusing. Hard to find a satisfying solution to this.

Ideally, the slider widget provided by the API should allow direct text input on right-click, like knobs do - might want to put a feature request on that if there’s none yet.

hasn’t been any YouTuber’s favorite yet

I am crossing my fingers Omri will dive into your new sequencers!

I love em and hope more people try them out. :slight_smile:

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Any chance of more intelligence re. chord voicings? Would love inversions and voice leading options, and a way to reliably know which line will have the root of the chord in it.

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I suspect that there are others like me who read the manual as a last resort. I was not making much headway in learning how to use the modules until the past few days at which point I began working through the manuals and detailed instructions on how to use the modules. Good job on the manuals!

Other plugins and modules have scant documentation and have to be intuitively and explicitly obvious (with panel labels) in order to be useable.

I’m slowly changing my strategy to “read the manual first, if it exists and helps.”.

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QQQQ is only concerned with scales (and chords expressed as a list of valid pitches to quantize to), but I want to do things with chords in the future, with new modules. Since the most recent update, the Poly External Scale cable linking my modules together already outputs the key/tonic (when it can be inferred) a higher voltage than the rest. This data is not used yet, but I have plans for it.

I’m not exactly sure yet how I want to go about this in detail.

I have considered just making my own video tutorial explaining how the collection fits together, but I’m no fan of the format myself (the format in general - not slighting his videos in particular) - more often than not I find them disrespectful of my time, delivering info way too slowly and assuming an audience of beginners, without a good way to skip the unnecessary parts like scanning text allows.

But I don’t think it’d do much good to introduce how things work in a second media, making videos myself would give me no more visibilitiy than actually having manuals did. People want the brand recognition of the recommended youtubers.

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I have had the same thoughts. I enjoy watching videos of other people’s creative process, but I like manuals more for learning new modules. I know that when I read your manual that I can keep it by my side when I’m playing around with a module.

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