Sanguine Mutants Releases

[Bloodbat]

The file you need to download and place in the plugins folder for the Mutants nightly is

SanguineMutants-2.4.0-xxxxxxx-lin-x64.vcvplugin

and the one of the Monsters is

SanguineMonsters-2.3.0-xxxxxxx-lin-x64.vcvplugin

Where xxxxxxx is part of the SHA-1 for the commit from which the plugins are built (e.g. e455170 is the one for the Mutants when I wrote this).

If you subscribed in the library you need to go to the Library menu in Rack and update your selected plugins (or update all). You won’t get the stuff from the Mutants nightly builds, just what is available right now in the Library. If you hand picked modules, the different ones in the nightly builds won’t show up.

Sorry I haven’t been dealing with this, I just had a family death, so thanks to everyone that’s been helping.

[Bloodbat]

Sanguine Mutants 2.3.2 has been released!

This release offers no new modules.

Fixes

• Contextus crashing Rack! (from 2.3.1 Thanks to Fractalgee for noticing and reporting).

• Better CV trigger handling for Apices and Mortuus.

• Apices and Mortuus: Tap LFO.

• Mortuus: P.L.O.

• Nebulae time stretcher.

• Renaissance spelling.

• Aleae reset.

Changes

• Display values for certain knobs.

You can get it now in the link below or when it’s released in the Library.

Releases · Bloodbat/SanguineMutants

Nightly users: these fixes and changes are also included in the development branch: the latest Nightly includes them, so, updating is recommended (particularly to fix the Rack crash), you can get the Nightly at the same releases link above under the Nightly tag.

[Bloodbat]

Wow… real life issues; bug chasing; ui tweaking; manual writing… it certainly took a while; but Sanguine Mutants 2.4.0 has been released!

New Modules

Fluctus

Create hypnotic beats with a module based on the Kammerl Beat-Repeat firmware for Clouds.

Incurvationes

Twist your sound in every way imaginable with this module based on MI’s Warps; make your frequencies go wild with the now enabled Frequency Shifter “Easter egg”. Miss the original big knob light colors? They’re back!

Distortiones

Delay, wave shape, generate and add Doppler to your sounds with this module based on the Parasite firmware for MI’s Warps.

Have as many copies as you want! This version won’t crash Rack; doesn’t need separate modules for some modes; doesn’t disable anything, and doesn’t interfere with other copies: want 50 separate delays? Sure, here you go!

Mutuus

Fresh out of the labs, have some crazy reverbs, perhaps an stereo dual filter, or the Ensemble effect from Funes’ String Machine in this module based on the Symbiote firmware for Warps.

Explorator

Multiply, mix, invert, rectify, separate and sample your signals!

Links and Kinks get along so well… we fused them! While we were splicing them… we thought they should be completely polyphonic… so now the Kinks section doesn’t feel left out and enjoys the sweet, sweet ability to handle up to 16 channels.

Miss the 3:1 section being an averager? It regained that ability, that you can control: just enable it by pressing the “HW” button!

Marmora

Such a wonderful mystery machine! Control the t Generator, the X Generator, the Y Generator…

Based on the last firmware for MI’s Marbles, it exposes every control and adds missing features like super locks for t and X; t and X manual resets; restores missing light animations; output LEDs change color according to signal polarity, and, perhaps of most interest to a lot of users… it adds the ability to create and use custom scales.

Custom scales are saved in patches and presets, so your hard work is never lost.

Make sure to read the manual to figure out how to add your personal scales (it’s easy!) and how the Steps knob affects them.

Anuli

Bang on a plethora of materials with Anuli!

Based on MI’s Rings, it restores missing light animations; the “3” polyphony mode… and, due to popular demand, now it is completely polyphonic.

16 channels of Anuli into Nimbus!

Velamina

You want more VCAs in a compact package you say? Heeeeere’s… Velamania!

My attempt to recreate Veils… the 2020 version. It is polyphonic and saturates outputs beyond +/-10V.

Additions to existing modules

• Ever wanted a polyphonic version of Braids? (I know some of you did! :P) It’s yours! Nodi and Contextus are now polyphonic.

• More hardware-like LED behavior for Nebulae and its descendants.

• More hardware-like LED behavior for Funes.

• Added frequency mode (range) to Funes faceplate.

• Faceplates now sport some familiar markings for certain modules

• Modules are less shy in the browser and show their displays and custom lights turned on when peeked at.

• Funes has certain modes that only need to be excited by a trigger, so polyphonic channel count can also be set by the trigger input.

• Nicer context menus for mode selection (for certain modules and modes).

Changes

• Different alternative firmwares use different face plate colors.

• Mortuus’ ByteBeats equation 6 regained some of its complexity (don’t expect a lot out of this, sorry :().

Bugs squashed!

• Stop Funes throat singing when the trigger input is patched; VOWLSPCH is selected, and the first trigger hasn’t been received.

For those who love reading… a 134 page manual awaits you.

No tales, though, the manual is big enough

Get the 2.4.0 release at the usual spot:

Releases · Bloodbat/SanguineMutants

Thanks to Fractalgee for discussion, testing, encouragement and bug reports.

Thanks to SteveRussell33 for discussion and bug reports.

[PaulPiko]

Does loading a new wavetable into Funes work? Wavetable generated with the Plaits tool. I don’t see any change when I try it. No troubles with loading DX7 patches.

[Bloodbat]

It does, but it is rather particular about the waves that work.

If the editor shows changes, they will. (The first pic is the editor just loaded, the second one after loading one that I know works), one I know doesn’t: “BassTables 01” from the Surge XT BassTables Vol. 1

The one I used that works comes from a commercial plugin; but it’s good enough for testing.

Look a the differences marked with red rectangles, the notice about single cycle wave files is important as well.

Saving a preset also shows the user data in the format used by Funes when saving and loading

"userData": "wMDAwMDAwMDAwMDAwMDAwMDAwMDAwMDAwMDAwMDAwMDAwMDAwMDAwMDAwMDAwMDAwMDAwMDAwMDAwMDAwMDAwEsAaABoAFUAjgDr/qP+AAD6AEb+pf9IAy8

[EXAMPLE TRUNCATED]

It is important to set the HARMONICS knob to around 12 o’clock, that’s where the custom wave table will be loaded, the other tables (a, b and c) are always the factory ones.

[Bloodbat]

An online version of the Funes/Plaits editor is live!

You can use it here!

https://bloodbat.github.io/Funes-Editors/

It doesn’t really fix issues or anything; but it’s a little clearer when it comes to what is intended for Funes and what is intended for Plaits (yes, it should work for both); it’s customized to look more Mutant like; since it’s an online thingie, the Play buttons and such work again (the reason why they don’t work when offline is beyond this post; but, it is important NOT to let them work offline), and, also, you no longer have to download the code to use it. Enjoy :).

Also, version 2.4.1 of the plugin has been released: the only change is using better knobs for the Nebulae family mode selection encoders.

[VirtualModular]

@Bloodbat

16 channels of Anuli into Nimbus!

100% this! Just wanted to say thanks for making Anuli, amazing work. I was asking a while ago if it would be possible to make a poly Rings and boom you’ve gone and done it. Take a bow! I know Rings into Clouds is a bit of a cliché, but x16 using polyphony is amazing. I’ve used Rings polyphonically in a few patches previously by duplicating it to multiple instances, and using splits to send audio and CV per channel. This makes it so much easier, tried it earlier and it works perfectly (I like to use it as a resonator with the external audio input). I haven’t tried the poly Braids yet either, huge potential for some wild sound design here. Cheers!

[Bloodbat]

You’re most welcome, I’m glad you find it useful

Thank you for the kind words

[Tobi]

Really great to see how much your collection of Mutable Instruments based modules and new ones is growing, and to have all of them as part of the library!

Just some small feedback, and I am aware that module designs are very personal, therefore please consider this simply as my opinion and do with it whatever you want. I like that you have a new design which clearly distinguishes your modules from the official MI modules, I just feel like the little troll and vampire heads for example make them look a little “playful” compared to many of the other modules. You have for example some very professional looking background images already, e.g. for the werewolf module, and perhaps it makes sense now that your collection is growing that large to review the design choices for your logos etc. a bit. Of course a module should be judged by its sound and workflow, but user experience and especially a fitting design which is pleasing to the user in a rack combined with other modules just should not be underestimated.

PS: I still did not receive any feedback from the VCV support regarding merging the plaits 1.2 firmware into the official module, seems like it’s really not a priority for them and therefore your version will probably stay the only one in the library for some time:

[Bloodbat]

Thanks for the comments

I see where you are coming from regarding the playfulness… but it is actually intentional…

Some modules (both virtual and physical) still look like lab equipment (probably a lot of them, some I like, some I don’t); some have colors that look garish and awful to my eyes or designs that don’t connect with me at all (I bet some people really love them, really cool! I hope they enjoy them to their fullest) ; there’s a banshee physical one with a backlit cartoony ghost; the Bat Cluster with a popular, but honestly, terrible, tattoo among goths (physical one, with backlights, like the Mutants and Monsters logos); one with knobs with eyes (for VCV, I like the art and the sound, don’t like that it drags the browser down for a second when it’s loading them all); some with art I really, really dislike (both physical and virtual); some with really cool, intricate engravings (the cost of manufacturing that faceplate probably drives price quite a bit) but at the end of the day, I think they show both the personality of the designer and the user. I like my goblin and vampire, so, they will remain.

I find mine mix really well with other dark modules and it does bring me joy both looking at and showing my “backlit acrylics”, and… yes, my silly cartoon characters. One I really enjoy, for example, is the silly looking frankensheep that decorates Dolly-X, it is as cartoony as it gets, and, also, the monster wearing pajamas that’s not part of a module; but the icon for a tool made for editing module manifests, I’m sorry you’re not terrible fond of them.

[ale47p (Alessandro Paglia)]

thank you for bringing Parasites into an interface that looks like Clouds/Monsoon, now I feel at home

[Tobi]

Thank you for that detailed explanation. I am usually a fan of more minimalistic and clean designs, but that’s just my taste. Performance is of course an important topic as well, the greatest design is useless if it requires too much CPU and memory.

[Guenon]

Playful is good!

[Squinky]

While I also like a more clean and basic interface, there’s nothing about these modules that screams to me that the UI is not efficient. From a quick glance I don’t see anything unusual or CPU heavy about the UI.

Have there been some reports of bad performance?

fwiw - using “too many” colors does not use any extra CPU afaik.

[pyer]

Thanks for this incredible work! we are so lucky to have you making all of this available!!

As for color and graphic design I think relying on taste is a valid and important part of the color choices, everyone is free to connect with a design style or not, and devs are artists, it’s great to see bold visual statements from bold artists! I personally like the engraving and illustrations I like black background better but can’t justify it other than by a matter of taste.

This said, I think an important part of color is utilitarian: when one put two colors together, they “vibrate” or they match. this effect can be used to attract the eye to a specific part of the GUI that requires attention for a better use of the module. This vibration is a powerful tool for “speaking” to the user’s attention.

In the case of this great module collection, I must admit the color vibration effect makes my eyes highly solicitated by every element on the GUI with the same level of intensity… of course ift feels very picky to say this, facing the huge work behind your collection

Maybe it would be interesting to finely “retune” these colors in a pallette and observing their vibration effect when putting them together, keeping some high contrast so there is one or two highlight per module, with the other colors blending at a lower intensity. To keep the bold character of the module alive, I’d recommend looking at street artists’ works and their color palette, they are great at making bold artworks with loud colors, with a great use of contrast to balance the attention where they want.

Cheers!

[Bloodbat]

Thank you for the comments

[Tobi]

No, I just underlined what Bloodbat said in his response above. Performance is simply an aspect where design choices are not only personal taste anymore, and that’s usually an advantage for minimalistic designs. I am aware that there are modules where this is relevant, but I was of course not talking about the Sanguine module collection here. My feedback was simply my personal subjective opinion. I am working in a development environment where we have a big focus on clean and efficient UX simply due to the type of products that we implement, but that’s of course different to a more artistic software like vcv and its modules, but as always you also “eat with your eyes”.

Just to make that clear once again, everybody is free to design their modules however they like. I just wanted to mention my opinion because while Bloodbats collection is really great I feel like some design tweaks here and there could lift the modules up even further and perhaps raise interest to work with them by even more people, for example the modules could even end up on meta module at some point. But that’s totally Bloodbats decision. And due to the nature of open source luckily everybody could adapt them to their liking if necessary.

To be honest, usually I would simply skip a module that I personally am not a fan of and move on, as luckily there are thousands available. But Bloodbats collection is already growing rapidly with great ideas, and it includes many of the really great Mutable Instruments original and adapted firmwares (including Plaits 1.2) which I am a big fan of and a lot of other people as well. Therefore I tried to support him with my feedback, that’s all there is to this discussion.

I totally agree with pyers comment as well, and I think the MI designs are perfect examples of such concepts. Those designs guide you through the module workflow (e.g. stronger colors for some buttons, color coding etc.) while also showing the “personality” of the module creator due to the background images and special icons. And they also don’t try to push themselves in focus in a rack with a lot of modules, they just blend in. Of course for some modules this might be wanted, but if every module tries to shine in front in the end none will. (not saying that this is the case for the Sanguine modules, just a general comment)

[Bloodbat]

@Tobi

And due to the nature of open source luckily everybody could adapt them to their liking if necessary.

Indeed, adapt them, improve them, redesign them, and then try to reinject their changes via PRs.

I try to make, adapt and massage sources to be quite readable and easily changed (MI’s sources, by themselves, are usually ace in this regard).

But, I’d rather not open another can of worms about what people consider readable source… that’s reserved for PRs… then I’ll state clearly what I consider as such… and what is and isn’t acceptable.

This lovely cycle of improvement or customization has happened to MI’s hardware modules as well, not only internally; but externally as well (for example Monsoons and Typhoons…)

There’s a kind fun note about knob colors in MI’s docs (quite a playful collection those texts) and why they ended up being all white (boring IMO; but… not my modules).

[VirtualModular]

I don’t mind how these modules look at all, but for me it’s about the sound and functionality. If it’s nice to look at too, that’s a bonus. These are mybe a bit loud visually but that’s fine, they certainly stand out. Anuli is so good, I don’t really care what it looks like! Hope you don’t mind me spamming your announcement thread, but here’s a quick thing I made doing the obvious thing of trying 16 channels of Rings into Clouds!

Polyphonic Rings into Polyphonic Clouds!

[Bloodbat]

Thanks, I saw it in your thread as well.

I’m glad you are enjoying the module