what started as a new version of Orca’s Heart became a whole new plugin with 2 other modules (and more planned) - i’d like to present Eightfold, a collection of modules centered around the concept of generating and processing eight voices.
Orca’s Heart v2 is the flagship of this collection, an algorithmic sequence generator that can generate up to 8 sequences and 8 CV/gate modulation voltages. while working on the new version, i realized some ideas would work better as separate modules, and i also wanted to have more ways to process 8 related signals in different ways - so that’s what this plugin is about.
three modules are available now:
Orca’s Heart v2
Lines - a simple poly voltage visualizer
Formation - a module that converts a single voltage into a swarm of 8 related voltages
I built from source on Mac ARM64 - no issues. Currently giving Formation a try - using it on a melody line to vary the voices a little. Seems to be having a nice effect.
thank you all for testing - i’m on windows, so all platforms have been tested now.
i’ve found a couple of minor bugs, will post a new beta later today.
@contemporaryinsanity - i’m planning to add a module that will allow scaling/offsetting multiple voltages at once, would that cover what you have in mind?
if you use the Rack VST plugin, you can use Orca’s Heart to sequence other VST plugins. to keep it in sync, connect the MIDI > CV module CLK/N output to OH Clock input.
if you then connect 1V/Oct output to Trans input you can use a MIDI track in your DAW to transpose OH sequences:
A reset for the A/B switch would be nice. When I start a melody with another module, e.g. Process, everything is synchronised. Only Orca’s Heart starts the A or B or B or etc. This problem is also present in the first version. Otherwise a cool module with potential. No other problems found.
makes sense, i think instead of a reset there should be trigger inputs to select scale A and scale B, which would also work as a reset but with the ability to choose either scale.
the module is pretty packed though, so it might have to be something for a future expander.
another option is to interpret the A/B switch input so that A is selected if the voltage is low and B if it’s high. this could be easily added and would be selectable between the regular behaviour and this through the context menu.
Great update and big winner, thanx a lot! Perhaps the only thing I find severely missed compared to the first version is the lack of an information screen. Is there any chance that it could appear again, at least as an additional extension (module)?
it didn’t serve any practical purpose since you can easily grab the current parameter values, and i wanted to keep the size the same for the new version, but yeah i might add an expander that will visualize the inner algorithm workings.
Well, I don’t quite agree with your first statement, because now I can’t keep track (visually) of e.g. algorithms changes (and space too), which helped me a lot earlier while I was modulating them ). Anyway thanks again and please consider adding such an extension.
a couple of small improvements, and now you can switch the scale toggle input between the trigger mode (it will toggle between the scales when a trigger is received) and the gate mode (scale A selected when the gate is low, scale B when it’s high).
I have tried your Orca’s Heart pluggii. I’m still using here the old one but it also has these scale A/B reset problems. I have not found a solution, not even with the new beta. Maybe I’m doing something wrong. Here is an example from the old Orca’s Heart.
i’m on a road trip for the next week and a half, so i can’t check your patch until i’m back, but if i understand correctly what you’re trying to do, you can just set the scale switch input to gate mode and then use something like VCV Library - Bogaudio FLIPFLOP - connect A to the scale switch input, and plug your trigger and reset to flip flop.
prototyping a new module - transgate. its purpose is to transpose up to eight 1V/oct sequences. the knobs have a -12…+12 semitone range, and transposition is only applied when the corresponding gate is high (which comes from the polyphonic GATES input but can also be overridden with individual gate inputs).
this module is meant to compliment orca’s heart - you can already transpose all 8 voices on orca’s heart itself with TRANS knob/input, but this gives you the ability to transpose each voice separately. an easy way to add more variation to generated sequences is by plugging poly VOICES CV through transgate and using poly MOD gate output (which generates 8 gates - everything is built around the concept of 8 voices) to control transposition:
or keep it even more interesting by controlling the gates with another orca’s heart that is out of sync with the main one! here is a couple of small demos:
transgate is a good example of what i have in mind for eightfold: a collection of modules centered around orca’s heart. i debated what to include in orca’s heart - there are many interesting features i could add, but i also wanted to keep it concise and sufficiently self contained, so you could quickly get a nice sequence going with just the module itself.
and then you can start adding other modules from the plugin to essentially create your own sequencer - and more importantly, have the ability to easily morph / modulate sequences in a non destructive manner.
i’m excited to share that Orca’s Heart v2 has been ported to 4ms MetaModule. this will not only allow you to run it on standalone hardware, but to integrate it more easily with a eurorack modular.
