randy's Recent Posts

Unfortunately fixing this turned out to be a bigger task than I thought. I am moving to a different registration scheme soon, and at that time everything will be set up for Unicode. Thanks for your patience.

Meanwhile you can edit the appearance of your name in the plugin yourself. Just go to your account settings on the site and edit your name, then download and install your software again.

A minor update, this 1.2.1 version of Kaivo for Mac and Windows brings a couple of fixes to the new granulator code.

  • fixed high CPU usage when granulator pitch env was high
  • fixed distortion with certain pitch env settings in granulator

Upgrade from 1.1 -> 1.2 should of course be OK. The old patches will be translated to the new format. Selecting any old preset is also fine on the new version. The patch will be translated.

Going back from 1.2.1 to 1.1 there may (unfortunately) be problems. The intent is of course not to crash, but I confess I have seen a crash with 1.1 loading 1.2 presets. So, if you are seeing crashes, make sure you are running the new version and not the old one. I was wondering if possibly you have a 1.2.1 VST but 1.1 AU, or something like that.

"convert presets" will convert all your .aupreset files to .mlpreset format, which will be the only preset file format in the future.

Hi Stefan,

I added the 1.1 download to your account.

If you send a Kaivo 1.2.1 patch to Kaivo 1.1, the 1.1 version will be confused and possibly crash. Maybe this is happening somehow?

The presets go into C:/AppData/Roaming which is where the installer should put them. Where did the Aalto plugin appear after you ran the installer? You said you moved it into C:/VSTPlugins but that is where the installer should have put it unless you specified a different location.

Using the installer should be easier than trying to figure out the right places for everything by hand. Make sure you are running the installer from the same user account you are launching Reaper.

Reaper should be a decent option on Windows. I use a free thing called VSTHost sometimes but only for testing plugins.

Soon, I hope!

@bktr, thanks for your purchase. You should see the 1.6.1 in "My downloads" now.

I would still call it a bug, or math fail, anyway, because the resonator shouldn't lock up like that. Made a note and will try to fix for whenever the next Kaivo update is.

Thanks for the report.

What you are describing is a lockup that can occur when turning "nonlin" up. Turning "nonlin" down will restore the resonator to its happy place. I'll work on a fix.

1.1 does the same thing. I haven't changed anything with the resonators in 1.2.

OK, the installer should be good on Windows now.

Oops, installer problem. Will fix shortly.

Version 1.2 of Kaivo is now available for download for both Mac OS and Windows. This upgrade has focused on performance and usability issues. Enjoy!

  • added multiple disk selector to audio file import dialog
  • fixed granulator pitch errors
  • granulator samples now loaded as needed, speeding startup time
  • granulator optimized with SSE instructions
  • fix body model sound blowup with certain extreme settings
  • increased resolution of granulator pitch envelope
  • improve UI responsiveness under heavy load
  • MPE (Multichannel Polyphonic Expresion) support
  • improved Soundplane compatibility with all patches. (requires Soundplane 1.3 or higher)
  • new protocol switching UI (MIDI / MPE / OSC) under settings menu
  • fixed an issue where automation would not play before a note was received
  • improved voice stealing algorithm
  • optimized drawing on Mac OS



Mac OS 10.6 users please note: Kaivo now requires OS X 10.7 or higher. Unfortunately I had to make this change in order to use newer and better dev tools, specifically C++11. I am truly sorry for any inconvenience.

Yes I did, thanks. In your patch the envelope is being triggered by the sequencer. I imagine that Live is resetting its clock whenever the armed track is clicked on, which will retrigger the envelope.

Do that!!! PLEEEEEEAAAAAAASE!!!!!

I definitely want to release a fully modular system in the future. Stay tuned (for a long while, maybe).

So, in Aalto 1.6 I changed the order of the KEY outputs so that Soundplane and MIDI presets would be more compatible with each other. This opens up all of the presets to be played better with the Soundplane, but the downside is that old Soundplane presets need a couple of wires switched. I forgot to update these Soundplane presets.

I just converted the patches in the directory (http://madronalabs.com/media/soundplane/Aalto%20Soundplane.zip)
and uploaded it over the previous link.

I have to try the EigenD Matrix and software again , to be honest the first time I just found it to complicated to achieve very simpolke results but again it must be me.

It's not just you.

Having lots of options is fine. But if they not are presented to the player with great care, more options result in less music being made. I've seen this time and time again with music systems. I'm doing my best to create new environments that are humane and musical.

I just want my Dx back :-)

I'm listening. It's easier for me to do a Soundplane release than a plugin release, so I'll see what I can do to speed this up.

You can add one at gravatar,com.

Thanks for your understanding! It's bad of me to break features, and I usually work hard not to. But better compatibility between Soundplane and MIDI patches is such a big improvement I had to go for it.

I'm sorry to have removed that possibility temporarily in the new version. I realized I could shuffle the positions of the outputs (in the KEY module) around to make all of the patches for Kaivo / Aalto play well with Soundplane. But in doing this I had to remove the dx output.

My plan is to add a way to select the meanings of x / y / dx / dy in the Soundplane app so there will be a simple way to have it back soon. So the x output can be either x over the whole zone, x within a key, or dx, and likewise for y.

That's if I am remembering all this right... my head is in other issues now with fixing the Kaivo granulator and the upcoming plugin. But I'll return to this soon.

No worries.

"Awful" seems a bit unkind. But I know what you are referring to.

The problem is, I animate the dials 30 times a second. This rendering is done in software. If I scaled up the dials to Retina resolution they would eat an unacceptable amount of CPU.

In the future I plan to rewrite the interface using OpenGL. But this is not a quick thing to get right, and I have other things to finish first.

These issues with this update are still a complete mystery. I am using the same build process here as I used for the last update, so I have no idea what could have changed. I'll continue to investigate.

The patches and samples are updated for 1.2 on the Kaivo page. I updated them to the new format and added a few example patches I plan to use in a tutorial.

I have to correct myself: I changed the body to fix some possible blowups as well, which unavoidably altered some sounds. The changes should be pretty subtle. I don't understand what's going on with Garf's path yet but will check into it. I'll wait for the dust to settle then get an update out.

re: the clicking / triggering: I can't reproduce this. Garf can you send me an email with as many details as possible, including Live version, 64/32, VST/AU, OS as well as the patch and a short audio clip? Actually, this is a case where video woul dbe even better if that's possible. I don't doubt that something is going on, but I can't imagine any way that clicking could trigger a sound.

[EDIT]

The granulator is responsible for the difference here—Garf's patch is using the a sine wave in the granulator with wrap off, and the way this is clipping creates more noise in the 1.2 version of the granulator. I'll see what I can do to make this more like it was in 1.1.

It's just a small section to test. And one test out of many so we can't read too much into it. :-)

@garf, the only changes were to the granulator. Can you email me a patch that you feel got messed up? I can get you an old installer but I would rather fix what is bothering you. Thanks.

I was finally able to reproduce this by using the 32-bit version. Sorry for the headache, I'll work on a fix. Meanwhile you can work around this problem by either using the 64-bit version, or turning "Auto-Hide Plug-in Windows" off in Live.

Some tips:

If the Audio Unit is not being found, the first thing you can try is simply rebooting.

Then I would try removing the old AU component manually if you had one installed. You can find it in ~/Library/Audio/Plug-Ins/Components (your home dir) or in /Library/Audio/Plug-Ins/Components (the root dir).

Then run the new installer again. After installation the new plugin component should be visible in ~/Library/Audio/Plug-Ins/Components.

You can also try this voodoo to remove your Audio Units cache: http://support.apple.com/kb/ts1086

For Ableton Live, make sure "Use Audio Units" is on in the File / Folder Preferences page, and try "Rescan" there as well.

Please try and let me know how it goes. This could be a new El Capitan problem.

I would be doing the wrong thing to charge for the Soundplane software. I think that it has been a work in progress for some time, and so I prefer to keep it free. But thanks for helping me think outside the box of my habits.

You are not alone in the issues you are finding with precision, especially over MIDI. Everybody has a different reaction to them—some people focus on the technical details and try to iron out the problems, while others kind of probe out the limitations of the instrument, put those in a corner, and get on with music making. Both approaches are valid—your feedback is helping me improve both software and hardware.

It is possible but Aalto wants to stay small & simple!

Glad to hear! Other improvements that Aalto got since the 1.6.0 release should be present, too:

  • both AU and VST versions now use .mlpreset files in new JSON format
  • added preset converter to convert all old presets to new format
  • presets directory moved to ~/Music/Madrona Labs
  • improved speed of preset loading
  • fixed a problem with keyboard stealing in 64-bit VST
  • now saving window size state properly in compatible DAWs
  • added OSC enable / disable and port offset (Mac OS)
  • sequencer now quantizes to currently selected musical scale.
  • fix parameter loading when no DSP is active in application (for Max/MSP and Vienna Instruments)
  • fixed problem with sequencer retrig
  • fixed defaults for envelope trigger and x vel
  • added defaults to make MIDI patches more compatible with Soundplane / t3d
  • added clearer display of multiple channels in scope dials
  • fixed a bug affecting MIDI timing
  • added multi-channel MIDI receive for voice-per-channel operation with Soundplane, Linnstrument, etc.
  • fixed an issue affecting Save as... on some systems
  • improved graphics performance
  • fixed a problem that prevented MIDI program changes on some systems
  • fixed bug when no MIDI Programs folder was present
  • Scala keyboard mapping files (.kbm) now loaded if present in scales directory with same name as scale
  • improved UI response for dials with only a few values
  • on Save as... outside normal patch directory, warn then allow anyway.
  • fix an issue loading patches if the home directory was renamed (Mac OS)
  • fixed a bug where a program change could cause t3d to stop receiving
  • added environment menu that contains editor and OSC settings
  • added "reset editor size" option in settings