Here are the two versions of the methods I described above. The samples and images are already on your Orbas so I have only included the artipreset files that should go into your Lead folder. (You will need pitch bend set to 100% for the pads version - possibly for the other as well, I haven't checked that out yet, because I've had pitch bend set to 100% for a long while so take it for granted!.)
Hi all. I'm new to Orba 2 and am trying to add custom presets in different musical modes (Phrygian in this case). I took a preset from this folder:
C:\Users\Public\Documents\Artiphon\Common\Presets\Lead
Modified it, and saved it to this folder:
C:\Users\[user]\Documents\Artiphon\Common\Presets\LeadHowever, no matter what I try, I cannot see the new preset in the app. Is this not a functionality that is currently available?
Thanks!
Looking at the factory_content_Songs folder I notice that some (but not all) of the songs in a minor key have intervals parameters showing a minor scale but the tuning parameters (midi numbers) are for a major scale.
The Wind and Sea song is one example of this. Whether that's significant or not I haven't investigated.
@Andy,
Subskybox will know more about his than I, but the first thing is that drum presets are quite different to the other types. You need at least eight samples for a drum preset (one for each key) and they are handled differently to pitched voices. The inbuilt sampling function is not really suitable for that.
I suppose Artiphon could create a method for handling it but I don't think that fits in with their view of what the Orba should be.
You could use externally created samples and use Subskybox's method of creating a preset using an existing drum artipreset file as a template. However, the drum presets have different parameters and seem to me to be rather more complicated. (I have looked - but not dared to try anything myself!) Such a preset might also present problems with midi compatibility unless it is made carefully with that in mind.
Thanks for this. When I first received my Orba 2, I had a look through the Orba 2 App binary and found the following:
<TuningList category="percussion" keySelection="false">
<TuningEntry name="All Kicks" />
<TuningEntry name="Drum Kit" />
<TuningEntry name="Electro Kit" />
</TuningList>
<TuningList category="tonal" keySelection="true">
<TuningEntry name="Major" type="tonal" intervals="P1, M2, M3, P4, P5, M6, M7, P8" />
<TuningEntry name="Natural Minor" type="tonal" intervals="P1, M2, m3, P4, P5, m6, m7, P8" />
<TuningEntry name="Harmonic Minor" type="tonal" intervals="P1, M2, m3, P4, P5, m6, M7, P8" />
<TuningEntry name="Melodic Minor" type="tonal" intervals="P1, M2, m3, P4, P5, M6, M7, P8" />
<TuningEntry name="Major Pentatonic" type="tonal" intervals="P1, M2, M3, P5, M6, P8, M9, M10" />
<TuningEntry name="Minor Pentatonic" type="tonal" intervals="P1, m3, P4, P5, m7, P8, m10, P11" />
<!--
<TuningEntry name="Dorian" type="tonal" intervals="P1, M2, m3, P4, P5, M6, m7, P8" />
<TuningEntry name="Phrygian" type="tonal" intervals="P1, m2, m3, P4, P5, m6, m7, P8" />
<TuningEntry name="Lydian" type="tonal" intervals="P1, M2, M3, A4, P5, M6, M7, P8" />
<TuningEntry name="Mixolydian" type="tonal" intervals="P1, M2, M3, P4, P5, M6, m7, P8" />
<TuningEntry name="Locrian" type="tonal" intervals="P1, m2, m3, P4, d5, m6, m7, P8" />
-->
</TuningList>I thought at one point I had succeeded in Harmonic Minor and Melodic Minor but I haven't been able to re-create this. I had tried setting tunings from the voices and also from the songs to see how to get these to take effect. I believe it had something to do with being in Chord mode but had not invested much time to figure this out. I found it interesting that there are other modes in there but they are commented out. This is likely because it really messes up Chord mode if you leave the current tunings.
@Andy
Those scripts were never designed to work with Drum Presets. I've been holding off hoping Artiphon will release an update of OrbaSynth which would allow this. I did make an update a while back so that the script will work for Stem Presets (similar to Drum Preset but will repeat). I don't think this would help you achieve what you are looking for however. :(
I think the best approach is what I did in the very beginning.. Take a Drum Preset, update the UUIDs and just edit the paths to the wav files.. That's how I achieved this:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ny9TQ-hYHyE
Actually, use my scripts to make a stem voice (it will generate all the UUIDs you need) Then edit an existing Drum Preset and just replace the .wav files referenced. Good Luck!
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SU5Fp5xQyQE
I've generated a list of known unique factory preset collections tunings.
By collections I mean presets starting with the same name like "EyesClosed" appearing in all three types of instruments - Lead Bass Chords. Also I excluded stem presets, as soon as tunings there could be random, and pitch is not transposed anyway.
Assuming that each factory collection contains instruments compatible with each other by tuning, by using one of these sets of tunings , you should also get instruments compatible with each other the same way as original factory collection instruments are.
If I had not been mistaken with my python code for generating this stuff, there are 3 sets of stock tunings used in Orba2 currently:
02ecf3facb473666d5ec99c721fca102
{
"Bass": {
"tuning": "48, 50, 52, 53, 55, 57, 59, 60",
"intervals": "P1, M2, M3, P4, P5, M6, M7, P8",
"key": "C",
"name": "Major"
},
"Chords": {
"tuning": "48, 50, 52, 53, 55, 57, 59, 60",
"intervals": "P1, M2, M3, P4, P5, M6, M7, P8",
"key": "C",
"name": "Major"
},
"Lead": {
"tuning": "60, 62, 64, 67, 69, 72, 74, 76",
"intervals": "P1, M2, M3, P5, M6, P8, M9, M10",
"key": "C",
"name": "Major Pentatonic"
}
}
45308bef837ea0c8c556f3ad86bb11f1
{
"Bass": {
"tuning": "57, 59, 60, 62, 64, 65, 67, 69",
"intervals": "P1, M2, m3, P4, P5, m6, m7, P8",
"key": "A",
"name": "Major"
},
"Chords": {
"tuning": "57, 59, 60, 62, 64, 65, 67, 69",
"intervals": "P1, M2, m3, P4, P5, m6, m7, P8",
"key": "A",
"name": "Natural Minor"
},
"Lead": {
"tuning": "69, 72, 74, 76, 79, 81, 84, 86",
"intervals": "P1, m3, P4, P5, m7, P8, m10, P11",
"key": "A",
"name": "Minor Pentatonic"
}
}
793f94d1591e0df9e712b4b338be5376
{
"Bass": {
"tuning": "50, 52, 53, 55, 57, 58, 60, 62",
"intervals": "P1, M2, m3, P4, P5, m6, m7, P8",
"key": "D",
"name": "Natural Minor"
},
"Chords": {
"tuning": "50, 52, 53, 55, 57, 58, 60, 62",
"intervals": "P1, M2, m3, P4, P5, m6, m7, P8",
"key": "D",
"name": "Natural Minor"
},
"Lead": {
"tuning": "62, 65, 67, 69, 72, 74, 77, 79",
"intervals": "P1, m3, P4, P5, m7, P8, m10, P11",
"key": "D",
"name": "Minor Pentatonic"
}
}
(I'd encourage you to contact Artiphon tech support, because they did offer to replace mine. I opted to go via the UK reseller instead, which was quite irritating as it took them 6 months to conclude they couldn't fix it.)
I've just tried this preset (the zip file pipedowntest above) and it did work in another key correctly and also in a minor key. So I think this is a workable and useable formula for chromatic presets - at least, those synth based. I guess sample based presets will present different challenges.
This is a video I made of what my loop looked like. If your looks the same, it's probably had it.
https://youtu.be/LOtRwo4UvXM
If it appears in Device Manager (Windows), it may be possible to work with it. The problem with mine was that it only appeared in Device Manager very briefly while looping, and not long enough to send any commands to it.
I think it stopped looping after something like 16 cycles. After this, I think one of the partitions was available in File Explorer on Windows. Manually resetting the contents of that partition didn't save it, but may be worth a try. I think Artiphon Tech Support provided a copy of the file(s) for it. I admitted I'd broken it by messing with it, but they still did their best and offered to replace it.
...oops. Been there done that. I eventually got a replacement although it took several months.I'm being very cautious with this one. As we know, there's no complete "factory reset" on Orba 2 like there was on Orba 1.
I messed mine up by opening partitions that aren't supposed to be opened (thanks @Subskybox! ;-) ) and messing with the device directly. I wasn't sure if it was possible to bork it just by messing with the XML.
If you can't get it replaced and it's basically a doorstop anyway, I'll dig out some notes on the stuff I tried with mine before giving up. It's possible that yours isn't so far gone, though a bootlooping Orba 2 isn't good news.
Well, it was inevitable - my Orba 2 is now in a state of bootlooping uselessness. I have tried most of what I can think of but I don't hold much hope of recovery. I have a new Orba on it's way to me but I will stop experimenting and load it with the presets that I will find most pleasing and useful for my own purposes and leave it at that. Given all the things I've done to my Orba I can hardly expect Artiphon to help.
I do have it in mind to create a document to share what I do (and don't) know but I won't be able to attach examples in a coherent way since I won't be able to check on which versions of presets illustrate things.
In case any one is interested I will mention now the main things I have played around with - ask if anything is of particular interest to you I'll try and answer if I can.
I did some experiments with drum presets mostly to increase the number of sounds that can be accessed in a single preset using the velocityThresholds. They also showed that sample and synth sounds could be blended together, although I never worked out how to do that at will, rather than just accident. The examples may give clues though. The sets aren't particularly useful - I used some "eccentric" samples to try and make it clear to tell what was happening.
Much of the rest was about using pitchbend - in chords I was able to create presets with a wider range of chords (and unusual combinations) available and they also created options that I find musically quite inspiring. With lead presets (and that would apply to bass presets) I wanted to find ways to make playing them more expressive. I had limited success with that - in particular I didn't do well trying to add other gestures with pitchbend to get the effects I hoped for. I also tried to improve the ranges without having to interrupt playing. That was successful but I couldn't find a good way of getting two octaves with accidentals. It may be possible to get further and do better on that.
Yes, I think I saw the 16383 value in a preset (perhaps one of yours). When I was experimenting I stopped at a value that gave me an octave up because I didn't see a use for going further. I didn't really explore going through lower values because beyond a whole tone it didn't seem to work on my first attempts and since again it didn't seem so useful. I'm really just looking to expand what I can do for my own playing and sharing what I learn.
...I found what I was sent Dec 2022.
""When it's constantly trying to boot, that means it has corrupted firmware which can typically be remedied by reinstalling it. A full reinstall can be done via the app. I've attached the full firmware below that you can drag (still zipped) anywhere onto the settings page of the app. This of course will need to be after the app has first recovered Orba 2. The other method is the one you already tried, where you can just drop the partial firmware (.bin file) onto the bootloader drive.
If you can get the firmware stable, I can send you the correct partition contents. Otherwise, I can look into replacing the Orba 2 for you.""
(Attached)
I presume the app can't recover yours, but if you wait for it to stop looping you may see a partition containing this zip file, or its contents, which you could use to replace whatever's there.
Like I say, didn't work for me, but worth a go. Otherwise you can hopefully get a replacement.
Subskybox
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