stoermelder's Idea und Development Thread

stoermelder · August 13, 2020, 9:22pm

Ok, I should really stop lying about these things…

Yeager · August 13, 2020, 9:38pm

You’re my favorite

Aria_Salvatrice · August 14, 2020, 12:31am

Faves + thumbnails is fantastic

I was not a fan of the text-only browser, but usable faves was definitely something I needed

VCVRackIdeas · August 14, 2020, 6:33am

OH! That was a real long waited killshot! Thank you so much Ben. As always hotkey suggestions - Ctrl-F for marking module as a favorite, Ctrl-H for hiding? I’m not sure that the mouse right-click can handle over 2 thousand modules) Thanks again. and yeah maybe I’m a slowpoke but should to ask - would PACKTAU be released in library for rack v1 ever? Oh yeah, and last but not least - is there any possiblities to transfer hidden and favorite modules settings to the another machine? EDIT - Also I found hiding modules is pretty useful when you really want to improve not only the workflow but also render speed of browser’s previews! Gamechanger, niiice

stoermelder · August 14, 2020, 7:11am

I’ll add something like that later this day.

No, that won’t happen. I consider “PackTau” as my public plugin for testing and other sort of crazy stuff. What might happen is that I move one of the modules to PackOne which is available in the VCV Library.

Yes. The settings are stored in “Stoermelder-PT.json” in your Documents-folder. You can copy this file to another machine if you like. Maybe I’ll add an export/import function as well, we will see.

gc3 · August 14, 2020, 6:28pm

This is absolutely awesome work! Thank you!

+1 for export/import function, if you have the time; multiple lists for different contexts (as well as sharing lists) would be great!

Is hiding modules a one-way trip right now? [ETA: no, it’s not; Ctrl-Space toggles them back in; thanks @stoermelder] I haven’t looked closely at the new code, but I couldn’t see it in the interface–apologies if I missed it. Without it, hiding is still useful but pretty drastic as it requires a trip to the JSON to bring something back.

Assuming unhiding isn’t implemented, it seems like a very quick solution (if you felt like it) would be to add a “Hidden” collection below “Favorites” that showed all of, and only, the Hidden modules (filtered by brand/tag exactly the way that Favorites is). That would allow things like “Which of the NYSTHI modules did I hide, again? I’d like that one back.”

When I implemented a version of module hiding back in V0.6 days, I did a “hide mode” (opened with Ctrl-click) that replaced the Favorites button with a Hidden button, which seemed like a reasonable solution for the text browser (assuming that hiding was something users would want to do in batches, rather than during ordinary workflow). But of course the V1 browser doesn’t have buttons of either kind.

stoermelder · August 14, 2020, 6:44pm

See here: Zoom thumbnails in Module Browser - #32 by stoermelder

gc3 · August 14, 2020, 7:29pm

Beautiful! Thanks very much. Sorry I missed the cross-reference

stoermelder · August 14, 2020, 8:11pm

No problem, I didn’t reference the instructions at first.
I added hotkeys and import/export a few moments ago.

LarsBjerregaard · August 14, 2020, 10:24pm

Please don’t You’re doing the lord’s work Ben, thank you!

gc3 · August 14, 2020, 11:23pm

Indeed. Truly awesome!

stoermelder · August 15, 2020, 6:05pm

I started preparing the next release of PackOne!
Manual for STROKE - done.

github.com

stoermelder/vcvrack-packone/blob/v1-dev/docs/Stroke.md

# stoermelder STROKE

STROKE is an utility module which converts any hotkey command (assuming it is not used anywhere else in Rack) into triggers or gates. Additionally, the module provides some special commands which aren't available anywhere else in Rack.

![STROKE Intro](./Stroke-intro.png)

The module provides ten independent mapping slots which are unmapped by default. A slot needs to be "learned" for a hotkey using the context menu option "Learn". The currently assigned key is visible on the display and its modifiers (ALT, CTRL/CMD and SHIFT) on the LEDs.

![STROKE learn](./Stroke-learn.gif)

## Output mode

- **Off**  
  The hotkey is cought by the module but no action is executed.
- **Trigger**  
  The hotkey generates a 10V trigger signal on the output port.
- **Gate**  
  The hotkey generates a 10V gate signal on the output port as long the key is pressed.
- **Toggle**  
  The hotkey toggles on and off a 10V signal on the output port.

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stoermelder · August 15, 2020, 10:37pm

SPIN
Device for converting mouse-wheel events or middle mouse-button into triggers. The module is especially useful with SAIL: this combination gives you mouse-wheel control of hovered parameters and fine-control using the middle mouse-button.

github.com

stoermelder/vcvrack-packone/blob/v1-dev/docs/Spin.md

# stoermelder SPIN

SPIN is an utility module which converts mouse wheel events or middle mouse buttons into triggers. The module is especially useful with [SAIL](./Sail.md): this combination gives you mouse-wheel control of hovered parameters and fine-control using the middle mouse-botton.

![SPIN intro](./Spin-intro.gif)

All ports of the module output a voltage of 10V. **INC** and **DEC** are used for positive or negative mouse-wheel changes, respectively, **M-CLICK** outputs 10V for middle mouse-button events.

The **PARAM** switch controls if events are handled only while hovering a parameter of any module. If **PARAM** is switched to the lower position the events are handled constantly (according to the used modifiers, see the following passage).

There are some options found in the context menu:

- As the mouse wheel is primarly used in Rack for srolling the current view the module provides modifiers: When enabled, the mouse-wheel events are only caught if the keyboard keys are held while scrolling. Modifiers can be combined or disabled at all.
- The middle click can be used to generate triggers, to generate gates (as long as the button is held) or the output value can be toggled. Additionaly the middle-click handling can be disabled. Please note that modifiers also apply on the middle-click.

![SPIN options](./Spin-options.png)

SPIN was added in v1.7.0 of PackOne.

Yeager · August 15, 2020, 10:55pm

I only just now noticed the lovely German typo in the title of this thread. And it makes me love Ben even more

stoermelder · August 15, 2020, 10:58pm

Haha…

aetrion-music · August 16, 2020, 10:09am

Great Addition, Ben! Mouse Wheel control was something I expected to work in VCV coming from the DAW-world.

This will likely go into every patch from now on.

stoermelder · August 16, 2020, 12:33pm

MEM
A companion module for MIDI-CAT: The expander allows you store an unlimited number of module-specific mappings which can be recalled for the same type of module without doing any mapping manually.

github.com

stoermelder/vcvrack-packone/blob/v1-dev/docs/MidiCat.md#mem-expander

# stoermelder MIDI-CAT and MEM-expander

MIDI-CAT is a module for MIDI-mapping and an evolution of [VCV's MIDI-MAP](https://vcvrack.com/manual/Core.html#midi-map) with several additional features:

- It can be configured for an MIDI output-port to send **controller feedback**, all your controls get initalized on patch-loading if your controller supports it!

- It has two different **pickup-modes** for controllers without input or automatic adjustment, so your parameters won't change until your controls reach their current positions.

- It allows mapping of **MIDI note messages**, providing momentary-mode, momentary-mode with velocity and toggle-mode.

- You can switch the module to "Locate and indicate" mode, which will help you to retrace your midi controls to the mapped module and parameter.

- CPU usage has been optimized.

Besides these new features the module brings the goodies known from stoermelder's other mapping modules like...

- ...text scrolling for long parameter names,

- ..."Locate and indicate" on slot's context menu for finding mapped parameters and

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Also, the manual for MIDI-CAT has been updated, or should I say “completely re-written”.
Sometimes I think that writing manuals takes more of my time than implementing the modules…

rsmus7 · August 16, 2020, 2:37pm

Ben your hard work is really appreciated

tho may I ask two questions?

will the gamma pack ever be updated/officially released (I like the cheb12 very much)?

is there any kind of manual for seeds/flowers/offspring ?

stoermelder · August 16, 2020, 3:11pm

To be honest, I don’t know. I didn’t look at the modules for quite some time. These are my first attempt to do some dsp-processing using an external library… Thanks for reminding me, I need to take another look…

Not yet. I’m planning to release version 1.7.0 of PackOne until next weekend but I won’t include FLOWER/SEEDS/OFFSPRING in this release. They are the my most complicated modules yet (about 3000 lines of code) and need much more testing before release, maybe even some changes. Also, it will take time to write the manuals.

I’ll can you give some hints for getting started:

FLOWER is the main sequencer module. I suggest you concentrate on this module at first.
The sequence has various settings. The EDIT-button on the bottom rotates the interface between the modes output voltage/step active, step probability, step ratchets, step slew, auxiliary sequence.
The LED circle is used for selecting the steps and displaying their values the same time. The selected step flashes in white, the value is shown by the number of lit LEDs of the ring. Fine adjustments can be made by the “flower”-control in the center.
The pattern-section on the right defines how the main sequence is played and is the core-idea of the module. There are several pattern-modes but these might change before the release. Long pressing the pattern-buttons sets the number of times the pattern/sequence is repeated.
The phrase-section on the left sets different presets for the pattern-section. The main-sequence is not part of a phrase.
The radomize-function has various settings in the context menu.
OFFSPRING is an extender that needs to be placed on the right side of FLOWER but you can use multiple instances. It extends the sequencer with another track and provides the same settings as the main module and follows the main module on patterns and phrases.
SEEDS is an extender that needs to be placed on the left side of FLOWER, also with multiple instances possible. It focuses on triggers and envelopes which also follow the main module on patterns and phrases.

The main module is loosely inspired on a hardware sequencer, I won’t name it though If you want to know something specfic feel free to ask!

rsmus7 · August 16, 2020, 4:06pm

thanks Ben for the short explanations of Flower/Seed/Offspring

I will try them and see if I can understand them more by using them.

And I would like you to work on the gamma modules too,

I shurely would like to help by betatesting them and any other modules you will develope