Chris @ AI is running an interesting open thread inviting readers to dream up their own plugins/software.

Being the software geek I am, this is something I’ve thought about before. So, to further refine my initial idea:

A 12×12¹ MPC-style grid. The cells can be triggered individually or in groups, and rows and columns can be triggered horizontally, vertically or, why not?, diagonally. Grouping could be done by color. Each cell can contain either a MIDI or an audio clip (REX, wav, aiff), play either looped or as a one-shot, forward and reverse. Drag ‘n’ drop between cells. MIDI cells can contain note and/or control data. Each cell, group, row and column can be mapped to a MIDI trigger.

Integrated Piano roll MIDI editing and a beat slicer.

Now here’s the thing: the MIDI can be routed completely internally. So the MIDI in one cell can modulate various parameters on any number of other cells: the MIDI-steps in one cell routed to the CC# of another cell, or the velocity of another, or to the clock-division of the whole engine. If you can think of it, it can be wired up in the matrix. Throw in a hosting engine, so you can put in put in your synths and effects, or build chains, and the steps of the MIDI cells can be routed to the exposed plugin parameters of the plugin. Or MIDI VSTs can be hosted and send/receive data through the matrix.

Oh yeah, you can record directly from one cell to another, or from one output routed back into an empty cell. No multi-channel audio recording, but a single stereo in would be useful. 16 configurable outs, though. Right? So, a real sampler.

The whole thing can run stand-alone or as a plugin - or ReWire or Jack I suppose - and it outputs multi-out audio *and* multi-out MIDI. So you could build a complete sequence/song in the software, wire it up to your host, and record the complete ball of wax. Or perhaps there could be a “track” sequencer, that in a record mode records the sequencing of the channels and cells.

Obviously, this is hugely based on the GrooveMatrix of Project5. It may be glaringly similar to Live; I wouldn’t really know. There’s a bit of Tenori in there, too. And some energyXT as well. Basically, I’ve just cobbled together all the bits I like about other software/plugins and put it into one package. But in my software there is minimal bloat.

^{1Originally I thought 32×32 but doing the wireframe I realized this is way too much information for a GUI so I whittled it down.}

EDIT: Due should also go to cakewalk form member “b rock” Tom Brockway for doing the heavy lifting on this one. The whole MIDI-routing thing was something he was talking about in one of those old threads wish-list thread I can’t be bothered to dig up.

Well, after a few posts of looking at and celebrating cross-platform plugins, I’m going to whip the wheel back and bring up a Windows-only environment that I think has some pretty brilliant moments, thanks to a few individuals.

I speak of course of SynthEdit, the loved/hated/bashed/celebrated plugin development environment. It’s hard not to get into the pro/con argument even though it’s really fuckin’ tiresome. It’s easy enough to bash considering some of the crap it’s spawned - a vast field of gewgaws that is distracting to the uninitiated, many of which are barely indistinguishable, as well as the occasional dodgy developer who uses it for some sort of VST Three-card Monte. The latest round of bluster has to with the well-documented and over-discussed multi-core bug (multiple instances of the same plug will take down its host). And I suppose it could shoulder some blame for the user who thinks that DSP development is as easy opening an object-oriented software program. But every time I’m fully over it I am reminded of some of the brilliant things some people can do with it. Because so much of the environment is open to raw DSP coding, in the right hands, even imperfect as it may be, it can be truly inspiring.

First up, developer Ugo has released a few new goodies that promise to be as good to look at as they are fun to play - I say without having actually played any of them. No demos, you ask? I don’t download demos any more unless it’s something I might be able to afford. So when I’m skint why torture myself, or why try something just because? If it endures and it’s something I might use when I have the funds then I’ll download the demo… But I digress. I’m not sure which of these I’ll eventually buy because they all look so unique and interesting. M-Theory, the 2nd coming of his popular String Theory synth, promises to be gorgeous and useful. But the loop mangler Disturbance is really unlike anything I’ve seen produced with SynthEdit, and looks like it would fuck shit up but good. And the beefed up Ironhead looks tempting, better sound, more control. Additionally, we Metallurgy users got a nice update on that as well, though to be honest I haven’t really used my Metallurgy all that much. (Note to self…)

Also on my radar is KvR favorite xoxos who has a great imagination when it comes to synth design. His new CIRCUIT plugin, “probability based MIDI sequencer that joins short phrases together to create natural feeling rhythms” looks especially clever. I love tools that generate MIDI data you can throw at tracks to, create sounds you wouldn’t otherwise come up with bashing on the keys and tweaking the filter. This looks to be a very nice addition to energyXT.

And I would be remiss when talking about commercial SynthEdit creations not to mention ChordSpacePlaya. Have I written about it before? Who knows. Nevertheless, it’s a brilliant piece of programming. I use it mostly as to develop melodic ideas. And for strings and pads it’s dead useful. And it’s author, or at least his/her public KvR persona, is one entertaining mofo. I don’t use it often but when I do it always helps me come up with things I’m too feeble to do on my own.

What have I missed?

Two new VST pluings are now available to anyone who wishes to download. One appears to be a rather polished “sampler” that is more or less official abandonware. The other is a raw chunk of open source programming that may be a diamond in the rough.

The former, Vember Audio’s Shortcircuit, is simple-sample engine, with the emphasis on traditional sampler paradigms, i.e. not build around huge sample libraries, i.e. you drop single sample into it and mangle, modulate and trigger them. Windows only. I don’t know, is there a good MAC VST/AU simple sample playback, like Live’s Simpler or Cakewalk’s DropZone?

B.) The other, VSTLus by programmer John Williamson, is the first iteration of a MIDI utility that runs custom MIDI scripts. So all those hours you’ve spent scoring the web for free VSTi MIDI/MFX plugs and trying to understand/get them to work, can now be spent learning what appears a straightforward scripting language, that will do whatever MIDI tricks you can dream up. It’s all a bit above my head, especially in regard the the plugin’s programming, but I’m definitely keeping an eye on it. Windows only, but since it’s a BSD license here’s to hoping some enterprising MAC/~nix coder can recompile it. I image the scripts are cross-platform, and there’s a rudimentary API, so there’s plenty there for the hardcore. In some ways it reminds me of mucoder’s hypercyclic (my top choice for the Dev Challenge), or, more specifically, a stripped down MFX Development Kit. Personally, I love a good GUI, and the MIDI-hacking I’m most interested in are those that lead me in directions I’d probably not come across on my own, different flavors/degrees of generative and sequencing and modulation scripts. So hypercyclic fills that slot nicely for me. But who knows what can happen with this.

via createdigitalmusic.com: A project that has been in the works for some time is now beginning to surface, Jack for the Windows Platform. If you’re not familiar with Jack - not making music on Linus, or you don’t need it on Mac - it’s a low-latency audio server for your music software: i.e. - a way to route the audio from one software program to another. If you use different software for different tasks, have stand-alone applications that you’d like to play in real-time rather than rendering/importing, you know how useful something like this could be.

Since this is a more or less open source matter, a lot of the technical information may take me a while to absorb. But from what I can tell, it is working, though still in early (?) development. There are graphical controllers for the Jack server: here & here. And if you have a multi-processor setup you’re golden. So if you’re at all inclined to hack your OS and really loosen the tyranny of closed systems, get in on this. And since I’m still playing catch up with the technical end of all this (I’m a little thick sometimes if you haven’t noticed), I’m not entirely clear whether it is able transmit MIDI as well. But on the CreateDigitalMusic thread the developer of the Jack API joined the comments to give some good insights into the workings of this project. Good stuff.

Also,

Another commenter pointed to LoopBe1 a virtual MIDI-driver that I wasn’t aware of. It appears to be a good alternative to MIDI-Ox/MIDI Yoke which, frankly, is looking a little long in the tooth. If I could just find a decent system MIDI monitor than I would be set.