Frozen Wasteland Probably Not(e) unexpected behavior

Plugins & Modules
1

I’ve been having fun with Probably Not(e) - I’ve barely scratched the surface. I really like introducing a small element of randomness by setting the spread to 2

But I am having problems with just intonation. I don’t know if I am doing something wrong, or if my expectations are wrong, or if there is a bug.

If I reset the Probably Not(e) quantizer (PN) to defaults, then I expect all randomness to be eliminated.

The root note is C, and the scale is chromatic.

If I feed in an already quantized C, then PN produces a B :thinking: Not what I expected.

If I change the scale to something where B is disallowed, then I do indeed get a C.

I suppose I don’t care so much, since the chosen notes do stay within the selected scale and key when I feed in random CV. My real issue comes in when I try to use just intonation and change the root note - I am not able to reliably get the root that I want.

For a trivial example of what I want to achieve. Suppose I have a tuned major triad starting at C, and then I feed that into PN set to chromatic, just intonation enabled. I also feed the root note (C in this case) into the root selector so that the root is C. I want to get the C major triad ringing nicely - perfectly tuned.

I then bump everything up 1/2 step, and I want to get the C# major triad perfectly in tune. On up the line, it should always result in a perfectly tuned triad.

I’ve tried lots of settings, but cannot get the result I want.

Assuming this can be made to work, either by correcting some settings on my end, or a bug fix, I wonder if there could be an enhancement.

As it stands now, the quantization would need to be staged through two quantizers to get the just intonation chords I am looking for. The first quantizer sets the chord using equal temperament. That then gets fed into PN in chromatic mode, just intonation enabled, and the root note of the chord fed in as the scale root.

Would it be possible to eliminate the need for two quantizers? The quantizer would operate normally to produce an equal temperament chord according to the selected scale and root. It would then go through an extra step where it would use chromatic mode, use the root of the chord as the scale root, and apply just intonation. The note names should not change, just the fine tuning to give the notes just intonation relative to the chord.

Ideally the selection of the root for just intonation computation could have multiple modes

  • Pick the lowest note
  • Pick the highest note
  • Pick a specific channel (perhaps fixed at 1, or allow any selection somehow)
  • Use the V/Oct input as it is now to specify the root, regardless what notes are playing (assuming everything is fixed)

Thanks

2

What are you using as a quantizer? I tried to reproduce the behavior your described of a C being turned into a B, but I didn’t see that happening.

3

Frozen Wasteland Probably Not(e). I probably should have put the plugin name in the title. I just used the module name. I’ll edit.

If you meant for the initial note before I feed it into PN, then it doesn’t really matter. The simplest thing is to use 0V with the oscillator initialized to the default value of C at 0V (261.63Hz). I also verified with a tuner that the oscillator was outputting a C if the quantizer was removed. Put the quantizer in line, and it changes to a B.

PN must be set to a scale and key that includes both B and C to get the behavior. As I said, the simplest is to use a chromatic scale.

4

Is it possible this is one of those issue where what comes our for .001V and -.001V are different, even though they should be the same? I had that bug in my just intonation quantizer.

5

Yes - I can reproduce this now. I hadn’t changed the scale away from chromatic, I misunderstood that part. Going even slightly above C results in an output of C. So the intervals used to define the quantization are perhaps not ideal. You could probably work around it by adjusting every pitch to be a little high with a “fine” knob, or add a tiny constant some other way.

6

Sounds like exactly the same bug I had. Easy to fix.

7

I’ll look into it. GitHub is the best place to report issues :wink:

8

Thanks. I will set myself up with GitHub. But in the mean time, the behavior is definitely odd / inconsistent. It seems as though PN sometimes gets in some weird state where certain voltage ranges behave oddly, while others are OK. At one point I couldn’t reproduce the behavior. Then I started getting some other weirdness, like octaves would shift back and forth, and some other weird behavior. But when I stumbled on the reset button, things suddenly clicked into place. Everything became stable and predictable. I couldn’t find any documentation on the reset button.

I was finally able to achieve my goal! Besides the reset button, I needed to add 5V to the incoming key selector CV, as it does not respond to negative voltages. So now my chords all have perfect intervals :smiley: Now if I can just eliminate the need for two quantizers :wink:

One other undocumented feature - the trigger delay. I’m curious how much delay it introduces.

9

it is a 5 sample delay

10

Thanks for the updated PN - note selection is now consistently as expected. And I like the new quantize mode menu options.

1 Like