Yeah -but I think these PatternLists are not related to quantization. I saw it as a programming tool to allow different behaviours in some circumstances, and that could be quite flexible - ie: use the settings in the PatternList or stick to those in the main preset. However when I looked at this this morning I had it in my head that there were only 8 pattern entries in artipresets, whereas there are 12 in this song and in the Orba2 presets - so my thinking may have been over-imaginative.
On a whim I decided to put a cello sampled voice together today (not tested yet) - boy, the looping was a nightmare - the waveshapes varied a lot so finding working points was a toughie.
Artiphon has recently introduced some new things that I will be digging into. So far I've noticed they created a new file format for stems: .artistem files are stored in a new 'Stems' folder. From the release notes, it seems that stems will now observe tempo and perhaps pitch as well. Looking into these new files I noticed that they contain this new node:
<Stems defaultNoteSource="12" secondaryNoteSource="1"/>
... and I noticed that the .artisong files associated with the stems now have a new attribute scaleWeights:
<TuningEntry key="D" name="Natural Minor" intervals="P1, M2, m3, P4, P5, m6, m7, P8" midiOctave="3" scaleWeights="1, 0, 1, 1, 0, 1, 0, 1, 1, 0, 1, 0"/>
OR
<TuningEntry key="G" name="Major" intervals="P1, M2, m3, P4, P5, m6, m7, P8" midiOctave="3" scaleWeights="1, 0, 1, 0, 1, 1, 0, 1, 0, 1, 0, 1"/>
I'm hopeful that scaleWeights is an array of flags for if each of the chromatic notes (there are 12) are affected by future new scales :) I'll report back if I figure out what these actually do (if anything yet)
@Subskybox - I haven't looked into stem and song files more than casually yet - so I have no meaningful observations about that yet. But I did notice that the scaleWeights appear to be on/off values and describe the notes in the scale, just in a different way to the intervals values. But I presume you will have already seen that.
It also seemed rather odd that the stem files use a NoteSource attribute. The default in presets seems to refer to the 8 keys and the alternative was motion - but these new attributes in the stems don't seem to match that.
I noticed that after the update images for my custom presets all disappeared from the app, which is disappointing, but that would happen occasionally with individual presets when I was editing them. Perhaps they'll reappear in time.
I intend to post some new presets soon but I've not spent much time with the Orba lately - other things drew my attention away!
@David. Actually, I had not noticed that they describe the scales yet, but I probably would have seen it with a little more thought. I had spent all of about 10 minutes when I saw the update and posted. I haven't spent much time with it either as Artiphon has only focused on new sounds and not features. I don't believe the new stems even allow what they describe (matching tempo). Tempo appears to be disabled when you choose these new stems. I suspect there will be a new update coming and they rushed it just to get out some new content. The latest release is very buggy for me.
I wonder if ScaleWeights is even live yet. Perhaps it can be used to edit scales which is what I'm really looking for.
Pardon if I missed this, but I couldn't find any explanation of why the sample function doesn't permit copying to the Drum Preset? I tried Subskybox's (very cool) approach to generating presets, but can't adapt it to enable creation of new Drum presets. I'm sure it's user error, I'm just unsure how.
Thanks for the quick reply, David--I did actually use Subskybox's python scripts, using a drum preset file as the 'template.artipreset' in the Sample Set folder. The Orba 2 always fails to load the preset after I've deployed it. But you're right, the drum preset is much more involved, and I don't pretend to know how to reverse engineer it to debug the issue.
Wow, I really appreciate the suggestions--I feel like if I can get this working, this gadget will really be a great little compositional tool for me. I also appreciate the mental stimulation of digging into Python a bit--cheers! I will report back with results. Thanks again, you all.
On the advice of Subskybox (or others - I can't quite remember!) it is well worth using a XML Validator Tool and a MD5 Hash Generator. Small errors can creep into your preset which will stop it being loaded. The Orba also seems to dislike blank lines. Checking the "factory" and "readOnly" entries are both "0" is also a helpful thing to do. I have found sometimes a preset won't load and I've been unable to figure out why - but I've messed about with my Orba 2 quite a lot so I tend to think it's beginning not to like me!
@Subskybox
Hi,
I have had a spate of experimenting with your ideas on pitch bend again.
I have posted a couple of the first results in the repository thread, but I think I have just managed something which is better - but I've not tested it fully yet - I think it may interest you.
At first I could only get the two note effect playing the scale notes near the centre and shifting up at closer to the rim. But I really wanted to get that in reverse. So I would have the scale playing at the rim and flattened notes near the centre - I think this would be the most useable way for it to work.
I was trying to see first if I could reverse the direction of the modulation, and second to try "lying" to the Orba to play a semitone low and pitch bending to the right pitch. These didn't seem to work but somehow I seem to have managed to get what I wanted.
There are hints of my attempts - I reversed your values for inMax and outMax, which seems to give a cleaner break between the two notes on each key, and my lie about the key is still there though I'm not sure the Orba pays any attention to it.
So this works well in the key of C major but I've not yet tried it in a minor song or a different key - but I think you'll like this if it works well in those scenarios.
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.
I've been trying to make a sample based drum preset with only partial success (at last attempts I've found myself with one key not playing a sound. I know it's not the sample and I've exhausted any things I can think of doing with the code without success.)
What I did discover in the process was that synth patches will play along with the samples. Since there are parameters that will control the level of the synth element you can finese how much you want of each keys' patch, or indeed silence it. Pretty cool.
I did some quick experimenting with the HangDrum idea.
Somehow I didn't pay attention to something @Ignis32 did whilst discussing the issue with @Subskybox. He made a very nice drum mode preset using samples. Loved the scale he used (something that can't be done in a Lead preset). But one flaw it had was that when a finger is held down the note disappears abruptly, whereas a quick touch rings on. The Ohm presets do something like this but they are synth based - so I wondered whether this might be controlled in a sample based preset using the synth patch parameters.
The result was it can be done. First I had to try and use the samples in a Lead preset - easy enough and it worked better than I had hoped (using the synthPatch from Ohm, and Ignis32s samples). But then I had to see if I could make that abrupt stopping be smoothed over and I seem to have succeeded. Which demonstrates that the SynthPatch can to some degree affect a sample based preset.
Basically I was playing with AmpEnv parameters.
(When I made my first test I could get three octaves in lead mode - but that became only two later - don't know why.)
In case anyone is interested I am posting the preset as it is now - it's rather overdone on the time notes sound for, and the major scale is not ideal for this sort of instrument. And it doesn't sound much like a real hangdrum - but I think there could be ways of doing something better.
If you guys don't mind I may add this to the repository thread at some stage but for now I think it's best here.
Anyway, FWIW here it is.
Ignore that last post!
It's now just playing a modified Ohm preset not the samples! Aargh! I'm having a spell of preset failures. I expect I'll get over it.
>>But one flaw it had was that when a finger is held down the note disappears abruptly, whereas a quick touch rings on
If you are speaking about my hang drum (drum) preset, this behavior matches the one of of the real world handpans. Actually that was the whole point, not a flaw, and I like it.
My real Rav Vast worked exactly like that - if you do not remove your hand immediately after beating out the note, note gets muted by hand. Same applies to steel tongue/tank drums.
When I was explaining my friends how to play it to get a bright and long lasting sound, I told them to imagine that the drum is a super hot frying pan, which you are beating while trying not to burn you hands.
This muting, as a playing technique. can be an intentional musical expression.
Subskybox
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