Orac : release 1.0

In every Routing module you have the IN GAIN, its by default turn to 0, just increase this; you can see in my video feeding input to Orac :wink: and processing that input audio.

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Oh dang! Sorry, must have missed that part in all the excitement.

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great point Antonio … I forgot to mention this on release notes!

yeah, we turned down IN gain to zero by default!

originally (during testing) IN gain was 100% by default,
but we found that on some Organelles when using some PSU, the input contains a lot of noise/hum, when its not connected to anything… which would bleed into synths, not nice!

so, rather than explain to users to turn the IN down if not using FX, we decided it would easier to tell them to turn it on when they use FX.

… and then I completely forgot about it :slight_smile:

EDIT: added an FAQ on top post, to include this !

btw,
tip : talking of ‘defaults’, you can change the Default preset, and then save it, if you want Orac to start up with different modules, or different parameters, default CC mapping.
and when you use New preset, it starts with however the current rack is i.e. it’ll inherit those new defaults.

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Say I have rngs in slot 1 and clds in slot 2 of a chain. Is there a way to keep playing rngs using the maple keys whilst I tweak the settings in clds?

use an external keyboard on the chain, or use midi learn on the clds params :slight_smile:

alternatively, you can change the behaviour of which module the organelle keys are targeting by creating a custom router module - id not advise this for your first project however :wink:
(though its not hard, basically , just change the ‘active module handling’)


as a bit of background here… @chrisk actually wanted similar, for the keys to always go to the head of the chain, and its a very valid use-case, e.g. if you using arps, or just a synth into an fx.

however, the issue with that, is that this means modules down the chain would never be able to get keys input.

e.g. imagine you have a pitch shifter fx (like clouds i believe) , this can be played using the keys, and its quite fun, when for example you might be sequencing the synth, into clds, then play the pitch shift.

so its an example of neither is ‘right’, just different cases - and I think having the keys follow the display makes more sense in a general use case .
(also considered when multiple chains are involved, theres more than one head of chain)

I guess I could add a ‘lock keys’ to module function, but im not sure that wont create as much confusion as clarifications… i.e. people saying the synths not playing , or acting weird due to it being linked to a poly beats sequencer :wink:

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I’ll be able to do this once my new xkey arrives then, cool! :smiley:

How is this set up (directing an external keyboard to only play one of the modules)? And apologies if it’s elsewhere, there’s a lot to take in! :wink:

no worries, Oracs is pretty deep in places… and a slightly different mindset.
Ive been living with it for a while now, and had some great feedback/suggestions from others during pre-release, thats the only reason, Ive got answers ready :wink:

Its setup in the Router pages, you’ll find a midi channel for each chain head…
(actually I think this might be in my in depth video too?!)
remember to also check your midi settings on the Organelle, often midi ch1 (or omni) is routed to the keys (i.e active module) , so use other channels for the chains.

another tip…
in the router menu you can also turn off note-thru, even within a chain.
so for example to play 2 sequencers into 2 synths, you dont actually have to use a multi chain setup, you can use 1x10

e.g.
(0) polybeats → (1)basicmono → (2) punchy → (3) rngs
then turn off notes thru on module (1) in the router
audio will still flow, but not notes.

this means you can now program the sequencers by just switching to module 0 and 2

usually you’d use say R-4x2+2 , but this is a trick worth having up your sleeves.

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Awesome, not really had a look at the router menu yet, still dizzy with the possibilities with the default setting!

Amazing development! Having a lot of fun so far.
I’m definitely planning to make some modules.
The sample and modulation stuff will open up a lot of possibilities too.

Of course some bugs are inevitable with so many features/submodules, I’ve experienced two crashes, somewhat similar circumstances.
One time I had a polybeats sequencing something (I think a basicpoly), and when I tried to replace the basicpoly with an lmnts, the UI and audio froze.
Waited several minutes but the organelle was unresponsive.

Second one was when I had a punchy playing a sequence into a rhodey, then replaced the rhodey with a brdsmono, same thing happened.
I don’t know if it was because there was a sequence playing into the module while it was being replaced but that was common to both times.
Next time I’m ssh’d into my organelle I’ll try doing that again and see if I can replicate it and get any more information.

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Yeah these are not really Orac bugs… so much as bugs in lmnts and brds externals
unfortunately they never crash on macOS when I’m debugging :wink:

I suspect we now see it more, just because they are being unloaded and loaded more frequently (for me they tended to crash when I load them)

Lmnts seems much more proned to crashing of the two, but unfortunately they will be unrelated bugs.

I think I’m just going to have to review the code again… but last time I didn’t spit anything obvious.

Btw I don’t think it kills organelle iirc , if you have a WiFi stick you can still login and restart mother.
The ‘issue’ is once Pd gains control of the display, the ‘mother host’ can do nothing, so you can’t change patches/shutdown etc, so if Pd dies your locked out.
I’ve proposed before that Pd should send a ‘keep alive’ message , such that if it dies mother could cease control - actually thinking about it now, I could get Mother host to monitor the Pd process and just cease control of it sees it dies!
Hmm, so OS 3.2 :slight_smile:

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This is wonderful work @Thetechnobear; thank you so much for your time and effort! Well documented, great UI and flow, and a wide selection of initial modules/patches. Awesome stuff!!! As a musician (and wage slave) with limited time to do PD programming this workflow is optimal for me and a wonderful way to leverage the organelle.

How difficult do you think it will be to convert a pre-existing patch into a patch that plays nicely with Orac? If I could get my favorite FX in here I think this could replace several links in my pedalboard!

Do you have a Patreon?

*Cancel question about patch conversion; I just found your other thread on the subject!!! Wohoo!

There is no visible jitter. The parameters don’t jump. Mine was an assumption that may involve some small fluctuation that may change the raw value of the knob, but not the rounded up parameter value. Anyway, at the moment there is a workaround to this.

It has, however, nothing to do with deactivating midi learn. I was careful to move only one MIDI knob for one parameter. And I wasn’t sending CC0.

I am running 3.1

I cannot disable midi input at the moment as I use the Organelle with other patches that are played with MIDI controllers.

Yes same thing happened to me with similar patches loaded, it was definitely one of those last loaded (lmnts, brdsmono type patches)

Changing sequencer also causes me stuck notes/freezes, i guess because synths are interrupted and yet to receive a 0/off message for said stuck note - ala the mellotron quirk. Something to remember rather than a huge issue, except for sequencers without ‘stop playing’ type commands.

Im going to do a 'how to convert" video see here .
generally its very easy to convert, but of course can depend on the patches complexity.
the UI is usually trivial to do.
the main thing to watch for is patches using ‘global’ names , if they do this, whilst they will probably work, once you load up more than one of them they will interfere with each other.
but once you have done one patch (and hence my ‘video tips’) these are pretty easy to support, so its just a matter of being thorough about it :wink:

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yup, what I need to do, is give the sequencers a chance to know they are being unloaded, to then cancel any active note.
(it has to be this way around, since the neither the sequencer nor the synth knows what they are connected to… i.e. so a synth cant cancel notes… it might be nice though to have an all-notes-off option)

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Hi @thetechnobear do you know why when i ores install it shows me this message? i use the version 3.1…
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given others have been installing from PatchStorage (and Ive not changed it since release) , and Ive had no reports of errors, I think we can assume the uploaded version is ok.

so, I can only imagine either:

  • the zop file was corrupted whilst downloading
  • the zop file was corrupted whilst copying the USB stick
  • the USB stick your using is unreliable (if its the white C&G supplied one, this is very likely)

(the errors a bit surprising, basically it means when it reads the zop file, which is basically a zip file, if doesnt file any files… so almost like the zop is empty, rather than found to be corrupted whilst unzip)

basically, id try re-downloading, and copying to the USB stick patch folder again.
if you get the same error, Id try a different usb stick.

(unfortunately, seeing files get corrupted whilst getting copied across to the USB stick is something we do see quite frequently… but mainly just when using unbranded usb sticks)

anyone else downloaded and installed in the last few hours?
if not i guess I can download it again, and it again… but im 99% sure thats going to work :wink:

(p.s. I assume you did just copy the zop file across, you didnt try to unzip it or anything)

UPDATE:
ok, I just downloaded from Patchstorage, copied to my USB stick and installed, everything ok.
so must be corruption on your end :frowning:

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Thank you very much.

But it gave me the same error even if i use another usb stick.
I think there are some problem with my organelle because, if you remember, also the OTC gave me lots of problems and it never worked out at the end.

Do you know if there’s a procedure to reset the organelle?

Thanks a lot

this is awesome, @thetechnobear!!!

watched all the vids last night, and was curious if the children of sample patch could be loaded in here somehow (i would love to run multiple instances of this patch!)

i wish i didn’t have a show tomorrow, i’d rather be playing with this all day!!!

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