#5

Yeah, I check it every month, just for fun and I find it quite disappointing :sweat_smile:
I know they won’t make Aleph(s) anymore, but it is not a good reason to give up on soft development.

#6

freezes with 0.6.0? please report what’s going on so we can address it!

a substantial number of hours between many people were put into the last update, and we feel that bees is at a very good state of being musically interesting and capable. we’re working on “new” features in our personal time, which we intend on sharing with everyone when they’re in a state that is presentable.

in the last update we also put together development tutorials for DSP, applications, and ops-- for those inclined. but most importantly, learning the bees patching system will greatly expand what you can do with the aleph, not just loading the existing patches.

we’re absolutely committed to having things work-- so please report bugs. however, new features will only come out of our free time, at this point.

the aleph can possibly already do what you might want, also. any ideas?

#7

Further to @tehn’s comments, I just wanted to say that I’m working on some new DSP for the aleph. Nothing too full on, but some kind of continuously variable delay / looping engine with interpolated read / write. There’s a simple reverb process as well that I’ve been playing with but not fully happy in order to release it. I’ve slightly expanded existing ops like BARS for my own use, but again, in ways that are largely esoteric to my own performance.

In short, there’s still things going on, it just takes a little longer than you might expect to reach the public sphere, not least because these coding languages / environments are new to many of us. I didn’t know a line of C code before delving into this box, so I’m pretty stoked to be at a point where I can develop things even as slowly as I currently am.

#8

yo for real

aside from @dspk i think everybody who owns this thing tweaks stuff for their own use and then thinks it’s too weird to share

(i’m probably the number one culprit)

gonna start sharing everything and worry about it later

#9

I use the aleph constantly, especially in performance. BEES 0.6.0 is definitely stable and ready to roll and I’m not even sure what I would want updated really… There’s so much still to learn and explore.

Only slight problem is the loading hang.

I’m much more eager to see LINES get an eventual update. But even then all I want is to be able to get a tight cv-clock out of it.

(And yes I am completely guilty of not sharing much because my scenes are weird and personal).

Ps. If anyone wants me to test that verb your working on… I’m here :smile:

1 Like
#10

Yeah, from time to time it freezes when I’m switching to edit mode. I have no idea why and can’t say it’s bothering me much, but bit sketchy for lives. I can do some basics, but didn’t dig too deep. I definitely would like stable clock source maybe some new operators. After all Aleph has a huge screen, maybe some graphical operators? I hope you would still be releasing updates from time to time.
PS: I want wavetable synthesis :yum:

#11

True true :laughing:

#12

yeah i have been leeching off of other peoples scenes quite a bit but i use this thing ALOT

i spent most of this evening sorting thru dozens of cassettes and md’s full of weird aleph sessions

just recorded a full three tapes of drones and feedback bursts w/ resdelay on tuesday

2 Likes
#13

New aleph owner here. I’ve started to work on some new bees operators which I hope to share at some point.

One thing I was curious about is if there is a centralized list of feature requests and/or bug reports? I wouldn’t mind trying to tackle some of the low hanging fruit time permitting (like trying to get the buffer clearing code in lines working)

#14

i need to scrub this list. some of them are fantasy features, some are ill-defined.

#15

Are you using WAVES mostly, @KthulhTriokus? I find it feels a little less complete than LINES… mostly because I find using amplitude slew instead of an envelope function weird. I wish there was an AD or AHD op… or even just something like ~line…

#16

The buffer clearing code works for the most part in Lines, just need to uncomment the ‘memset’ line (not the for loop) in the init function, then be tested especially when recalled from different scenes.

I’m going to push that change up along with some file naming fixes which should solve (some of?) the load-hang issues. Unfortunately such changes require all the scenes to be edited to rename the DSP module. If you beat me to the punch by all means submit a pull request!

#17

I’m using WAVES a lot and yes I 'm also for ASR envelopes.

#18

I remember ezra said something about building an envelope out of presets, but I was never able to wrap my head around it.

#19

for AD have a look at the LFO tutorials that @Galapagoose made - http://monome.org/docs/aleph:bees:tutorial4 I think using the Triangle LFO as a starting pointa combination of ACC and IS to reverse the direction could do it. To trigger the triangle you’d need to create something that would start/stop the metro and reset the ACC value. Changing the value of the metro would change the speed of the ramp too. (with a delay operator you could prob also make it into an AHD by delaying the downward run of the ACC. )

2 Likes
#21

interpolated reading and a buffer clearing code?! these things would mean you would instantly become a god!!! … especially the interpolation… being able to bend the read/write speed would open up the Aleph to such an incredible set of new possibilities!!! I guess the ‘minor numerical challenge’ it was described as when the Aleph was released turned out to be not so minor!!!

( and also then I’d maybe forgive you for making that amazing 128 and MPD video ages ago that was the reason I travelled down this whole Monome/Aleph wormhole wink )

For the renaming thing do you mean we’d have to rebuild all scenes from scratch if Lines is updated? I only get hangs if I’m doing something crazy with rapid resizing of delay and loop length. haven’t been able to pinpoint/replicate the hanging moments yet though.

#22

[quote=“dspk, post:21, topic:415”]
that amazing 128 and MPD video
[/quote]coincidentally, i just rewatched it a few days ago and it’s still inspiring

incredible performance of too many

#23

Thanks for the encouragement! I’m working toward a new set of technology that will allow me a similar sense of performance to match my current musical aesthetic…

Hence the interpolated buffer looper thing. In many ways it’s just a twisted version of lines but also includes many other goodies. For those interested in the DSP dev side of things, there’s a few new library classes for lowpass gate filters (not a buchla recreation, but a subtle HF rolloff attached to volume) and a ‘vactrol’ slew. I’ve been using the latter instead of ezra’s slew parameter approach, meaning there’s way less params but just enough smoothing to maintain transients but smooth sudden digital changes.

@dspk the interpolated read/write is working, but I’ve been having big aliasing issues when resampling feedback after changing the delay time. As with everything there’s many solutions, but it’s not as modular as I was hoping (my current solution involves processing delay feedback inside the class, restricting the modulations one could put in the loop).

#24

@Galapagoose where can we find these new library classes? would love to try these slew/filters on feedback loops.

#25

Sorry I haven’t pushed that stuff yet. I’ll throw up those classes tonight once I get home. I built the LPG class exactly for that purpose. It’s really nice in a feedback delay being used as a looper because you can just roll off a tiny bit of highs and it prints the ‘softened’ version to the buffer. Really nice to make a loop less present.

The vactrol class is only setup for control values (has time constants around 10-100ms) but I’ve been thinking about parameterizing it so the developer can use it as a full function generator / modifiable vactrol. The code is really basic - essentially a standard integrator (like the filter_1p_lp) but with different coefficients depending on whether it’s rising or falling. The really nice part (of vactrols and the code) is that the rate is also effected by the current state, ie. response is fastest when nearest maximum output, getting less responsive as the output nears minimum.

Sorry to tease!