Here at Studio Six Plus 1, we have been busy with our next module, a trigger sequencer for use with midi grid controllers such as the APC mini, and other similar grid-based devices. It is still in an early beta stage but is stable to use, I have been using it for all my jams for the past few weeks. I am posting here as an early beta, and welcome any feedback or feature requests. Downloads can be found: Release RC1.1.1.2 Iverson · StudioSixPlusOne/rack-modules · GitHub
It can be used with a single controller, with 4 tracks, or two controllers to give 8 tracks. All controls can be midi mapped, and clicking on the preset option in the context menu reveals presets for APC mini and launchpad. I only received delivery of a launchpad a few days ago, and additional work is required to take advantage of the colored feedback, and the mapping of additional controls. As this is mappable to various controllers I would be interested in feedback of compatibility, and when closer to release if anyone would be so kind to share mappings I could include with the release if you so wish.
The sequencer is 8 tracks, each track can have its own length, up to 64 steps. The length can be set by pressing the length button and selecting the last step you wish to include. Track active buttons are included, these would normally be labeled mutes, but due to the green LED’s on the APC I opted for the unusual convention. Page buttons to allow navigation of the 64 steps are provided and are mappable. External controllers reflect the current pattern, step, and track length, and the UI provides an overview of all 64 steps.
No internal clock is provided, but the external clock signal is forwarded to the active outputs, allowing for pulse width to be controlled by the external clock.
Thanks, I would try to use Launchpad classic and create Touchosc template for it as well but for touchosc is pretty tricky because it needs to know what buttons to use - momentary or toggle. And with momentary buttons there is no chance to get a visual feedback on the controller and so on.
Also curious how to map lauchpad classic for example if there is 16 steps on the one page but actually Launchpad has only 8 buttons in the one row
Anyway thanks for your work! I very like the concept and looking for that kind of gate sequencer for ages
This looks fantastic, I’ve been waiting for a simple solution to use my launchpad mk2 for a while and was even thinking of selling it but this is a game changer.
I had a little play and it seems to work for me. The one thing that caught my attention is having to click the map button after each pad/assignment, it’s going to be pretty tedious doing that 64+ times. Maybe a mapping mode would be good where you can do multiple assignments quickly.
As expected, the launchpad preset is mapped incorrectly for the mk2 so I can attempt to create a preset if it would be useful.
@Nils@VCVRackIdeas Looks like I shall need to spend some more time over the next few days investigating this. I appear to get varying results depending on the order I plug in my apc minis. If I connect my older one first, all is fine, If I connect my newer one first the midi feedback get confused and I get a similar crash log to the one posted after 5 - 10 minutes.
When I have mapped to a single controller I have been spreading 16 steps across two rows, Maybe I should also have a second module, with an 8 x 8 Grid
May I ask what OS you are on, please?
Your feedback about the midi mapping is very helpful and I shall update. I am thinking simply not turning off learn mode after each assignment, with some visual feedback on the UI when assigned.
A preset for the mk2 would be very useful, I can extract the required JSON from a module preset or a vcv patch file.
We are planning on adding some probability controls, and a rework of the UI, as I am sure you will agree there is room for improvements. When we are nearing completion an 8x8 version will also be made.
If you the community have any requests or feedback we shall be happy to discuss.
Thanks for the midi mapping fix, that’s much better.
How was the launchpad mini mapped? I was hoping I might be able to set the length to 8 but still use all 4 pages but that doesn’t seem possible. I guess that’s where the 8x8 will come in useful.
When I mapped the single controller, I split the 16 steps across two rows of the midi controller. So yes that is where the 8x8 version will be much better for a single controller. I feel I should progress the 8x8 version before any other features, as this would make the module more useful at this stage.
The monome grid looks nice, I am not familiar with this device but have had a google and am impressed. It looks really sleek, and seems to be designed to adapt to many scenarios, where as most grid controllers are aimed at a single piece of software.
If The grid can be used as a midi device in VCV then I would hope it can be used by Iverson. You would need to map the keys yourself, but these can be saved as a preset, and if you wish I could include the preset for other users of the community.
Your testing would be valued, and would be happy to work with you, if tweaks are required.
I use Max for that. I created a very simple in-out patch that can be used with max free version.
There used to be a monome for Rack plugin, but they seem to have dropped support which is quite a shame because the modules connected directly to the hardware.
I have been working this week on adding probability controls, for both the main and Alt outputs, improving the layout of the UI, and producing an 8x8 version suited to a single midi controller. I feel the modules are now feature complete, but as always I am open to suggestions.
i played around a bit with the 8x16 (as 8x8 was not yet available - will look into it tomorrow) version yesterday combined with an akai apc key 25 and it is really amazing for moving the control over vcvrack patches from the computer to external controllers … i tried it with the sonaremin (and thus can confirm that it also builds and works well on arm cpu systems) and the only thing i noticed was that sometimes the lights on the knobs are not fully in sync to the computer display and the actual sound events - is this due to the sonaremin having less power or is it a general problem (i.e. do others see it too on regular computer setups)?
keep up the good work - its amazing - best wishes - hexdump
I have revised the svg for the 8x8 version as you suggested, and will be included in the next release, and has already been pushed to github.
It is good to know it can be used with sonaremin. If you wish to experiment the speed of the midi feedback for use on Sonaremin you could try changing the clock divider, controlPageUpdateDivider reducing the value from 10000 will speed up the midi feedback, but may increase the required processing power.
Good catch on the incorrect image in the documentation, This was based on the old manual when I started the project, before my last UI update, It should be corrected when I merge into the master branch, I have checked the master documentation and the correct images are used. I have added to my checklist.
Anyway thanks for your work! I very like the concept and looking for that kind of gate sequencer for ages
