stoermelder's Idea und Development Thread

The initial reason was 128 CCs for one MIDI channel. As MIDI-CAT can also map MIDI note messages this argument is kind of moot. You can easily adjust my code (static const int MAX_CHANNELS = 128 in MidiCat.hpp) but I will investigate any performance issues before making a change here.

MIDI SysEx is a topic on its own. I see it unlikely that MIDI-CAT will support SysEx messages in the future but we will see.

Why not use CV-MAP?

I haven’t checked all the options and functions you are describing but you might want to look at these two:

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The next release of PackOne will include a “macro” module which I wrote some time ago. I’m not sure though if it covers every aspect of your description.

You might also take a look at this one:

Endless knobs are supported but rarely used by plugin developers.

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This could be interesting for you:
https://github.com/VCVRack/Rack/issues/655#issuecomment-660595843

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This sounds interesting but I think it will be covered by “8FACE mk2” sometime in the future :slight_smile:

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It adds a context menu to cable ports. It will be more useful with labels for ports which will arrive in Rack v2.

I’m preparing the next release of PackOne which should be ready within the next week. Especially the manuals need to be written or updated.
Here is the preliminary changelog:

1.8.0

  • Module HIVE
    • New module, 4 channel sequencer running on a 2-dimensional hexagonal grid
  • Module MACRO
    • New module, marco-knob for four parameter-mappings and two CV outputs
  • Module RAW
    • New module, a digital effect based on the dynamics of bistable systems

Fixes and Changes

  • Module CV-PAM
    • Fixed wrong channel count of the polyphonic output ports
  • Modules 8FACE, 8FACEx2
    • Fixed hanging pingpong-mode when changing slots manually (#191, #203)
    • Added trigger-option “pseudo-random”
    • Added trigger-option “random walk”
    • Added trigger-option “alternating”
  • Module GRIP
    • Fixed crash on locking more than 32 parameters (#176)
  • Module INTERMIX
    • Added support for polyphony (#199)
  • Module MEM
    • Added support for MIDI-CAT’s new slew-limiting and scaling options
    • Added scanning for next or previous modules with stored mapping (#200)
  • Module µMAP
    • Added input voltage display
  • Module MIDI-CAT
    • Added context menu sliders for MIDI filtering/slew-limiting for CCs and notes (#79)
    • Added context menu sliders for scaling or transforming the MIDI-input and parameter-range (#169)
    • Added context menu options for precision/CPU-usage
    • Added context menu options on mapped parameters of target module for MIDI-CAT
    • Added skipping of current slot with SPACE-key while in mapping-mode
    • Added context menu option for clearing all mapping-slots
    • Added option for ignoring MIDI device settings on preset load (#185)
    • Fixed broken “Re-send MIDI feedback” option
    • Added context menu option for re-sending MIDI feedback periodically
  • Module MIDI-STEP
    • Added option for Akai MPD218
  • Module MIRROR
    • Added syncing of module presets even if bound module has no parameters (#189)
    • Added hotkey for syncing module presets
  • Module STRIP
    • Added hotkeys Shift+L (load), Shift+S (save as), Shift+X (cut)
    • Added context menu option “Load with replace” (#186)
    • Fixed crash on loading vcvss-files with missing modules
    • Added context menu option for custom presets, listing all .vcvss-files in presets/Strip (#198)
  • Module STROKE
    • Added command “Toggle engine pause”
    • Added command “Toggle lock modules”
    • Added LEDs for signaling a triggered hotkey
    • Allow loading presets (#187)
  • Module TRANSIT
    • Fixed hanging pingpong-mode when changing slots manually
    • Added trigger-option “pseudo-random”
    • Added trigger-option “random walk”
    • Added trigger-option “alternating”
    • Fixed broken snapshots on save after mapped modules have been deleted (#205)
  • Module X4
    • Fixed advancing to the lower button after the upper button has been mapped
    • Fixed wrong tooltip of lower mapping button
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Beautiful.

That’s quite the trippy sequencer! How do you come up with this stuff :joy: fun to use! :clap:t4: :+1:t4:

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Actually @xandra-max contributed this one, all credit is due to him :slight_smile:

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Great stuff guys! It reminds me of how a butterfly moves, or a bee inside a hive for that matter :slight_smile: Great to watch as well.

Maybe an idea to add selectable voltage output range per color output? (context menu)

ie:

+/- 10

+/- 5

+/- 1

edit: question, does wiring up all of the clock make a difference on the behavior of the movement per individual color, do they influence each others movement? Or are the 4 colors all independent?

Already possible, the same way as in MAZE with edit-mode!

By default the inputs are normalized to yellow but yes, they are independent, except for the SHIFT-inputs which affect all colors the same time.

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Ah inside edit mode, and a lot of other nice goodies there, didn’t notice it the first time i went in there, thanks!!

edit: whoaaaa, this thing is really entertaining! love the ratcheting and that it has probability! thanks a lot for this module :pray:t4: @stoermelder @xandra-max

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Definitely check out MAZE if you haven’t already; HIVE is the same as MAZE except the original runs on squares whereas this variant runs on hexagons. All credit for the underlying concept goes to @stoermelder for sure, as well as for writing code that’s nice enough to allow me to extend it in this way without having a very clear idea of what I was doing at the start!

I think HIVE and MAZE look and work nice together in tandem, side-by-side. In that case I personally like to clock HIVE with multiples of 3 while clocking MAZE with multiples of 2. :grinning:

Some general thoughts on HIVE, for anyone curious:

I’ve been intrigued by hexagonal grids for about as long as I can remember, largely driven by experiences with strategy games played on hexagonally-gridded game boards: Battle for Wesnoth, Settlers of Catan, Civilization 5, and more recently abstract games from Nick Bentley like Bug, Circle of Life, and Blooms.

In scenarios like those involving strategic positioning and movement, the 6 degrees of hexagonal space create a significant impact in the structure, flow, feel, and apparent complexity of the game. Also, in my completely subjective opinion, hexagonal grids and the games played upon them have a striking visual appeal.

I was also driven by an interest in the interface between the visual appearance of a grid and the pitch/amplitude and rhythm information derived from it, as seen in MAZE. Using MAZE to make music involves beginning perhaps with a musical idea, translating that into intent visually upon MAZE’s grid, hearing a (likely unexpected) result, and finally the resultant sound feeds backward psychologically and informs our perception of the visual appearance of the grid, or at least that’s how it seems to me.

When a sequencer is also a visualizer, and sequences are programmed visually, and the sequencer has a bit of a mind of its own via randomization and probability, there seems to be a rich cyclic interaction between the aural and visual components of perception.

Playing with MAZE and then having the idea for HIVE provided me with a unique opportunity to explore that interest in hexagonal grids. I implemented it while wondering how that same sort of transformation from square to hexagonal in the strategy-space of a game might translate to some sort of an analogous transformation in the music-space of a sequencer, via MAZE’s laws of physics.

It also gave me an opportunity to explore the math behind implementing a hexagonal grid in code, which was for me equally fascinating. Who knew that a hexagonal grid can be thought of as a cube grid? Under-the-hood, HIVE’s coordinate system is derived from cube grid coordinates! If you’re interested in this sort of thing, I highly recommend this impressively thorough exploration from Red Blob Games. It’s got lots of enlightening interactive diagrams and animations.

After making HIVE, I started work on another module based on a hexagonal grid. I put a lot of time into it before switching gears and focusing Algomorph. Eventually I hope to get back to that and get it in working-order, so as to bring more hexagonal modules to the Library. :slightly_smiling_face:

(Hexagonal modules… I wonder if a hexagonal Eurorack case could be built in order to house modules with hexagonal face-plates. It would be more space efficient… I can dream.)

I’m so glad you’re enjoying HIVE @Eurikon ! Also a big thank you to Ben not only for all his modules, but also for making them open source so that others can learn from them like I have, and for accepting HIVE into the PackOne plugin. It’s truly an honor!

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Nice module! Since you talk about games, I’ll add that there’s a board game by the same name: Hive, that might be interesting to you.

Only had a chance to try it once but it is a really nice, minimalistic game with rules that are simple but hard to master.

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Thanks for mentioning that. I’d heard of that game a long time ago but never got to spend any time with it, and I’d completely forgotten about it since then. I guess the name HIVE might be a bit on the nose.

Hi Ben a great update of the pack, just one question:

would it be possible to make the moving dots in Hive (Maze) visible with the LightsOff module? IMHO it would look great.

Absolutely.

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Have never checked Maze before, will definitely give it a spin too!