Hi all, Friday lunchtime for me means new release announcement (finally, after months of being distracted), woot!
Here is a new build for the plugin (it does include both mac builds, but I have personally only tested windows):
This 2.0.6 version adds an experimental new module called Kalkatron
This module might look a little bit crazy or intimidating, but its really quite a simple idea.
When I was doing some generative patching, I often found I wanted to count something, like gates from a sequencer for example, so that I could automatically change something in the composition during playback.
There are ways to do this of course, but I figured Iâd like to just have a dedicated module that does exactly what I want. (This is typically how all my modules start).
So the core concept of this module is: count when something happens, have a signal that allows me to act on that count.
This then grew, because if you can count (ie add), then why not subtract? And if you can add and subtract, then why not multiply and divide? And if we are outputting a signal, then you should have some control over that signalâŚ
Although the core concept is simple, iâve found that the module is actually quite versatile now that I have implemented everything. You can use it as a sequencer, a mixer, a generative source, a quantizer, an arp⌠and iâm sure you will come up with more ways.
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A: Input section - This is where the signal is tracked or generated. There is a signal input with attenuvertor & offset param, and there is a signal sample trigger input and button. When signal sample is triggered, the value at the input will be added to the offset and displayed in the xInput
box. Since the value inputs have an offset, you can set this offset to a specific value and leave the input disconnected if you want a static value.
-
B: Maths section - This is where the maths operations can be performed. You can add, subtract, multiply or divide the input signal by a specific value. Each operation has its own controls and they all work in the same way. There is an operation trigger input and button. A value input with attenuvertor and offset. And a sample value trigger input and button. When sample value is triggered, the value at the input will be added to the offset and displayed in the operation box at the bottom. When the operation is triggered, the value in the operation box will be used to perform the operation upon the current xInput
value. Note that divide by 0
is a no-op.
-
C: Calculation section - This is where the current calculation result = Equals
is displayed. Note that this display is affected by the output mode, output slew, output attenuvertor and output clip.
-
D: Mode & Output section - This is where you control the module output. The lights indicate the currently selected output mode. There is an output mode selector knob, and input with attenvertor. The main module output is bottom right, and it has an attenuvertor and Clip output
switch. When clip is active the output will be limited between -10.0
and 10.0
. There are 6 output modes:
- Floating Point - The standard calculation result
- Rounded
.1
- The calculation will be rounded to the nearest .1
- Rounded
.2
- The calculation will be rounded to the nearest .2
- Rounded
.5
- The calculation will be rounded to the nearest .5
- Integer - The calculation will be rounded to the nearest whole number
- Quantized - The calculation will be quantized to the nearest note frequency and a note display will be shown next to the Calculation box
-
E: Slew section - This allows you to slew between the previous calculation result and the current calculation result. There is a slew length knob, with an input and attenuvertor. The slew length is in milliseconds, and has a light to show when its actively slewing the output.
-
F: Auto-reset & Bounds section - This area allows you to set an upper and lower bound for the output signal. When the calculation result is out of bounds there are gates output and you can also automatically reset the module. The switch activates auto-reset. The top row is for the upper bound and the bottom row is for the lower bound. The gate outputs for out of bounds signals are to the right. The other controls are the same as the operations, a value input with attenuvertor and offset, and a sample trigger and button.
-
G: Reset section - This is simply a trigger input and button to reset the module, however, the reset behaviour can be customised:
- Initialize Parameters - On a reset, all the parameters will be set to their default values, the same as if you select
Initialize
from the context menu
- Zero Signal Value - On a reset, the
xInput
value will be set to 0
- Zero Plus Value - On a reset, the
+ Plus
value will be set to 0
- Zero Subtract Value - On a reset, the
- Subtract
value will be set to 0
- Zero Multiply Value - On a reset, the
Ă Multiply
value will be set to 0
- Zero Divide Value - On a reset, the
á Divide
value will be set to 0
- Zero Calculation - On a reset, the
= Equals
calculation result will be set to 0
- Reset Upper-bound - On a reset, the upper bound value will be set to the default of
10
- Reset Lower-bound - On a reset, the lower bound value will be set to the default of
-10
- Sample Signal Value - On a reset, the
xInput
value sample will be triggered
- Sample Plus Value - On a reset, the
+ Plus
value sample will be triggered
- Sample Subtract Value - On a reset, the
- Subtract
value sample will be triggered
- Sample Multiply Value - On a reset, the
Ă Multiply
value sample will be triggered
- Sample Divide Value - On a reset, the
á Divide
value sample will be triggered
- Sample Upper-bound - On a reset, the upper bound value sample will be triggered
- Sample Lower-bound - On a reset, the lower bound value sample will be triggered
- Reset Slew - On a reset, any currently active slew will be ended and the slew value will be set to
0
. If the slew length is > 0
this will instigate a new slew, this is great for creating boing
noises
Experi-Mental I anticipate a few bugs or undefined behaviours with this module because the complexity of the code grew significantly during development, so I appreciate any reports, please be patient with me.
Ideally I would like to (at some point in the future) expand the functionality of this module, perhaps with new controls, perhaps with an expander that has more output options, perhaps with polyphony (although that most likely needs a complete code refactor, and maybe needs me to learn simd too).
Iâd love to hear if you find uses for this module and any suggestions on how it might be more useful.
Thanks, DanT.