DanT: Charlie Foxtrot

Plugins & Modules
1

Hello everyone, I have a new module to try out.

It is included in the v2.4.41_beta01 and should be in the next plugin update.

edit: v2.4.41 is available in the library now

Charlie Foxtrot

This module is the opposite end of the rainbow to Time Lord, it is designed to offer features based on a clock counter / divider that can help structure a track.

Essentially it is an 8-channel polyphonic VCA that is controlled by a clock input and has shapable slews (similar to Bogaudio Slew).

It can also output the divided clock and channel envelope, and has a bunch of other things that it can be used for…

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  • Top left is the Clock input, followed by the clock count readout, the input can be any type of signal but of course a trigger or gate works best.
  • Then there is the Clock Divide knob, at value 1 this has no effect, other values will divide the clock inputs into Beats which are then displayed in the beat count readout - all the controls below it are based on the beat count
  • Next is the pass-through Clock & Beat output. This is polyphonic, channels 1-8 are the clock pluses and channels 9-16 are the beat pulses, but they will only be present when the corresponding channel is enabled
  • The following port is the Enable / Toggle input, a positive signal to channels 1-8 will enable / disable the corresponding channel, a positive signal to channels 9-16 will override the corresponding channel, or in other words, if the channel is enabled its active status will be flipped; disregarding the start value
  • Finally on the top row is the Reset input and button, the reset will zero the clock and beat counts and can revert channel enabled status

The rest of the module is made up of 8 identical vertically arranged channels:

  • At the top is the Enable / Disable button, unlit means disabled, white is enabled, green is active, yellow is overridden
  • Next is the polyphonic Signal input, bypass routed to the output at the bottom
  • The Start knob is how you select the beat on which the VCA is opened
  • Next to it is the Start trigger output this will fire a trigger if the channel is enabled and when the beat count matches the Start parameter, or when the channel is overridden
  • The Length knob is how you select how many beats the VCA stays open for, 0 = infinite
  • Next to it is the End trigger output this will fire a trigger when the VCA closes, this could be due to reaching the length beat, overriding the active state, or disabling the channel
  • The Rise knob controls how long the VCA takes to open from instant to 60 seconds
  • The Rise Shape knob can change how the VCA opens, from a logarithmic (left) through linear (centre) to exponential (right) style curves
  • The Fall knob is the same as the rise knob but for when the VCA closes
  • and the Fall Shape knob is the same as the rise shape
  • The Envelope output will output a +10 volts signal while the channel is active that matches the rise and fall settings
  • Finally at the bottom the Signal output is the VCA’ed input signals

The context menu has two options:

  • Immediate Slew Reset when this is active a reset will cause the slews to close as quickly as possible (but not instantly, hopefully this avoids generating clicks), when not active, the slews will close according to their fall settings
  • Reset to Enabled Snapshot If this option is active, when the reset is triggered, the enabled / disabled state of each channel will be set according to their state when the last snapshot was made
  • Save Enabled Snapshot Overwrites the snapshot to the current state

I hope you enjoy the new module, please do leave me bug reports or feedback

Note: the module is currently a touch CPU heavy (~2.2% on my system for the patch below) and I do want to try to improve this at some point, I am just a little apprehensive to get into any of that simd stuff :grimacing:

:timer_clock: :robot:

Here is a simple demo video where I am using some channels to open and close the VCAs on some different voices, channels 1-5 controls the chords, channel 8 controls the lead

13 Likes
2

@dan.tilley

Hi Dan I think that after the last update, when I zoom in/out and move the screen your modules lose their skin for a while like this :

afbeelding

But they do recover

afbeelding

Windows 10 VCV252

Here’s a movie

3

I can reproduce this, am looking into it, thank you for the report.

1 Like
4

Eugh, my original modules are a real PITA when it comes to the themes and dark panels, maybe I should just ditch the SVGs and convert them all to the Nu-Metal algorithmic panels?

There was a logic error that meant I was calling rack::app::ModuleWidget::setPanel() in every draw().

I will have a beta to test as soon as I get enough time to build it…

5

I did not realize that there was a thread on this issue already, and just sent you a message about the same issue. sorry about that.

2 Likes
6

No worries, all bug reports and feedback are gratefully received!

Posted the beta build with a fix over in the new releases thread since this bug does not affect Charlie Foxtrot

7

hey Dan! I stumbled over this forum looking for a plugin replacing my Malekko Charlie Foxtrott pedal. Is your plugin able to simulate it somehow? I am especially looking for the random granular delay function (delay time sweeping up and down by chance)

8

Hi, welcome to the forum.

Sorry to disappoint, but my Charlie Foxtrot is totally unrelated to the Malekko one despite the same name. It is a somewhat common slang term, so I’m afraid that is the only connection.

You will no doubt find endless ways to reproduce the functionality of the Malekko pedal in Rack though, so maybe not all is lost…

9

Check out the manual for Panther Cap, terrific granular sampler with pitch and time controls, buffer size and start/end points . It will take some Cv to the inputs to get the desired behavior, but it can do it.