I can see that there are many capable hands here, if Artiphon team is willing to give some code or so, guess this can be done in the blink of an eye. Hope the team can hear us (finger cross)
Just a quick note for other users. @Subskybox has made this super easy to use now.
Basically you just run a program (the "daemon") that handles the background processing, then open a couple of web pages. One lets you adjust the chords, and the other gives a graphical display of the chords the Orba is currently sending out.
(Note that you can also adjust the Orba for higher and lower notes beyond this visible range.)
The Orba can be in major or minor mode as usual. The pads in the left column affect major mode, and the ones on the right affect minor mode.
You can adjust any of the four notes for any of the eight pads up or down by semtones, then choose "Copy to clipboard" followed by "Deploy". At this point you can upload an Orba preset called "Disentangle" which is automatically made available in the Orba app, to program the Orba with the new chords.
If you refresh the Chord Fiddler HTML page, it resets it to the default values.
I'd definitely encourage people to try this out and post if you have any questions.
The new tools and discoveries by @Subskybox have inspired me to go digging around with other random changes to the code to see what else we might find. Eg a set of random changes within the "Uuid" strings has turned up a patch where "Lead" delivers the same set of chords as "Chord", but with the Lead voice, allowing you to switch between them live.
There's a problem in that the utility presets are based around CC output instead of synth output, because that's what I'm mainly interested in. So I'm not sure how useful this data will be in that respect. Maybe I should start again, referring to the Lead presets instead. :-(
Just received my Orba 2 this afternoon! I will see if the tools work with Orba 2 in the next week or so. We should probably start an Orba 2 Hacking forum.
>I also had another realization. If I change all the offsets to zeros (i.e. [0,0,0,0]), that will essentially play the same note four times. This could be used to set the scale of a regular sound like Bass or Lead. I tried this by dumping a Chord sound into the Bass Preset folder and it only plays one of the voices from the chords. Once I have the Fiddler updated, it could also work for regular voice scales! AND it would be able to be transposed not like the "percussion" hack that has been shared. I'll hopefully have some updates in the next week or two.
I've only just caught up with this idea. So...yes, this gives us a way to put something like a transposable Dorian scale on the "Lead" button. :-)
Here's an example:
"Orbacam is available for iOS from the Apple App Store."
I don't understand why Artiphon spends time on applications like "Orbacam" - iOS only(!) and ignores basic feature requests.
They should go open-source...
Just had an epiphany.. What if you change the weird dual-note voice to be a semitone up (not sure this is possible.. I think it starts at 2 semitones.. Maybe using Pitch settings at 50% in the App). Once you have that, combine with your whole tone scale. This should give 16 consecutive semitones without even tilting?!
Boy boy. No fun, just pity. It sounds a lot like what Artiphon did with the Orba 1. Put out an unfinished product and then engage the customers with false promises. Before you know it, you can participate in the beta team for free. Good luck!
@BJG145
I like your ideas for the "Note Fiddler".. At this point I'm going to stop any development on the Chord Fiddler and start working on bringing this functionality into Orba Virtual Piano. If you noticed, the Virtual Piano can sense what mode you're in (Drum, Bass, Chord, Lead) so I imagine I'll have a section underneath that is the editor portion for that mode. I may never get to drums, especially now that Orba 2 is coming. Bass is monophonic so editing the scale is straightforward. I like the Dorian scale you shared above (this confirms it can be done). There are a few places where the mode can be set in the .orbapreset file and messing with those may correct the phasing effect you describe. As for the Lead mode (which is polyphonic), I can see why it accepts all 4 voices even if they are the same. Maybe the remaining characters in the ModifierData string control turning the voices on/off. Who knows. I can quite easily make a version of this that supports the whole string. More on this later. I'd love your help trying to see what they control. There are obvious indexes where there are values that seem deliberate. I think one might control the scale mode. That's a theory I have from messing with these values with the old Fiddler, but the new version will correctly target the values.
I just created a new Topic: Orba Utilities to continue this conversation.
More Presets!! 7th chords rule!
Couldn't believe it when I found the 7th chords option, but only for one patch... Those 7th chords sound nice! A quick diff between the 7th chords.orbapreset and others, shows that the only noticeable differences exist in the <ModifierList> and <SeekerList> entries - while I can't decipher any of the actual contents, simply swapping out the entire ModifierList and SeekerList from the 7th chords preset to other presets puts them into 7th chord mode!
Once again, an archive with all stock chord presets as 7th chords is attached. I've also included 'Normal Chords.orbapreset' which is the stock 7th chords preset, but modified to use the standard chord layout.
@StefanGick - Your Wish has come True!
...a couple of minutes' work with a hot glue gun, and voila - the Orba Diabolo.
Hot glue is great. It holds things quite securely, but if you change your mind you can break it off.
WIth the new-found scale knowledge I can configure this beauty for over an octave chromatic, or self-accompany with chords+lead.
Many thanks to everyone for all the tips and very cool presets!!!
Especially like Andrea's note re. diatonic tuning any preset. Very fun!
Andrea Mannocci
This thread is intended to gather the feedback of Orba tinkerers.
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