Starless unofficial Dwarf image - ALABS v4b

[AndreaDelSignore]

@fer was this working with the standard firmware?

Anyway I’ll try myself when arriving at home.

[fer]

Yes, it never happened before. I also tried with a new empty pedalboard and adding just a plugin with presets.

[zwabo]

Hi Andrea, thanks again for your work !
Regarding the Edit feature on the Dwarf, I’m testing version 5 beta and I still have some freezes when I try to enter the parameters of some plugins, this happens for example with the BM7 (reverb) in this pedalboard (256 frames). Same issue with other plugins in more loaded pedalboards.

Starless Beta 5 test - MOD Audio

[fer]

Hi @AndreaDelSignore , I tested a bit more. Looks it is not related only to Plugin Presets “ASSIGN ALL”. The same problem occurs if you “ASSIGN ALL” the Pedalboard Snapshots to B&C.

On the other hand, if you assign a plugin list to B&C it works fine! This is also a case where you get this 2-FootButton Up-Down function. For example the parameter Channel of the Plugin: CV Switchbox 1-3.

PD: I hope it helps, unfortunately I can not help much with the code…

[AndreaDelSignore]

Yes it helps a lot, I reproduced the issue, let’s see if I can solve it.

Thanks for both you and @zwabo, I’ll be back when I need some more help or fixed

[fer]

finally I had some spare time today, so I had a look in the code. I think there is an indentation bug in addressings.py, in the new def get_hmitype for the last part where group is checked. I’m gonna test and let you know, so you have more time for the rest of topics

[jon]

@fer

I found a couple of small bugs with the Plugin presets: when you “ASSIGN ALL” to B&C footswitches, the Up Button (B) goes down the preset list like Button (C) and sometimes is shown like 2 individual foot switches. Also on the performance view, only the factory preset is shown…

It’s interesting that you mentioned that @fer. I found a bug that seemed to be similar. Basically, on the list, it was not really going down when supposed to, nor up. Sometimes I felt that I was stuck in between some values of the list. For reference, I was scrolling between models on AIDA-X.
But I wanted to do a bit more investigation, to clearly understand the issue. Also, I wanted to reinstall the “official” image and check if the behavior there was correct.
Unfortunately, still didn’t have time to do proper testing that would allow me to properly report what’s going on (sorry @AndreaDelSignore )

@AndreaDelSignore

My main goal was just to give something back to the MOD ecosystem for free. Let’s not forget that the real people who made Starless possible are @gianfranco and the MOD team — they’re the ones who built and open-sourced the whole stack in the first place.

Let me partially disagree with you here @AndreaDelSignore
Sure, without @gianfranco and a team full of cool, open-minded and “in love” with MOD people, what MOD built/builds and all the “derivatives” would not be possible.
Yet, if it were not such a cool community (that, allow me to say it, it’s mostly like an “oasis” on nowadays internet and online “forums”…sadly for a fan of what the Internet brought to all of us), all the MOD stuff and “derivatives” would certainly not be possible.

You don’t need to search much to find proof of that. Look here:

@Rom

Do you have a midi controller ?
Do you need some finances to get one to test ? Do you have a liberapay account where we can help to remunerate the time spend on making our lives easier ?

@plutek

the question of how we can best help - including financially if that’s useful - has been in my mind as well!

@toferyu

I was going to mention that some sort of way to tip / fund your work @AndreaDelSignore would be more than welcome

@CharlyRebell

I’d happily also send a few beers/coffees in your direction for your work!

@fer

I also happily tip/fund your work.

And then you have your own

@AndreaDelSignore

At the moment, I don’t have any way to receive donations — I might think about it later, but it’s not something essential for what I do.

My main goal was just to give something back to the MOD ecosystem for free.

Back to make things great

@fer

About the “ASSIGN ALL” plugin preset bug, I tested a bit more. First time, it is shown fine. A wide box with Up-Down Arrows.

But after moving through the preset list, I get following screen, with 2 individual boxes.

ok…that seems to be quite different from what I experienced. I hope this or next week to check it out.

@fer

It is not just visual. If I click Button B (Up), it goes wrongly down the list, like the Button C (Down). Strange thing is that after click Button C, for one time Button B goes Up, but after that it goes down.

Although this behavior seems to be what I got.

[AndreaDelSignore]

@fer

I think there is an indentation bug in addressings.py, in the new def get_hmitype for the last part where group is checked.

Great really good catch @fer! That fixed the bug.

[AndreaDelSignore]

Good news also for this bug: I found the reason, I’ve a fix but I need some more time to cleanup the code.

The fix was just implement paginated control values for the builder page because some plugins like the BM7 have a lot of presets.

[fer]

yes indeed. I was lucky.

Another minor bug, not very important but…, about On Device edit:

1. If you click the MENU button (configured to latch) you enter the Settings Menu. If you click again the MENU button you exit and go back to the main page. Good
2. Inside the Setting Menu, if you click the EDIT button you Enter the On Device Edit. If you click EXIT you exit and go back to the main page. Good
3. Inside the Setting Menu, if you click the EDIT button you Enter the On Device Edit. If you click the MENU button you go back to the Setting menu. Then you click again the MENU button to exit, but nothing happens. Not so Good. (the way out is going again to On Device Edit and click EXIT)

[AndreaDelSignore]

Global pedalboard binding management

As I’ve anticipated the next Starless version, which will be released this weekend, will include a new global binding overview.

This is only the first iteration, the design is basically taken from the @rom proposal which in my opinion it’s very functional and nice.

Due to some time constraint, I decided to only release the device part, midi & cv will be added in next releases.

How it works

The new function can be reached with the Bindings button on the constructor toolbar:

After clicking the button, this new dialog will appear, showing the assigned controls:

The advanced pane is now pinnable using the toggle on the upper right corner, this pin setting will be remembered and it’s the same for this dialog and the usual per “control port” dialog.

When you select a binding, by clicking on its cell you have access to the following function:

1. You can rename the binding or change the range like you will do in the usual dialog (when done click on the Modify button)
2. You can delete the binding with the Delete button
3. You can also rearrange the binding using drag & drop:

Future planned features

As said, midi and cv tab will be implemented, also an ‘Add new’ binding is planned to have the opportunity of a complete binding management within this only dialog.

Happy music!

[plutek]

wow, this is awesome - the drag’n’drop feature is very slick!

can’t wait for MIDI and CV!!

thanks a lot, @AndreaDelSignore !

[Rom]

Oh !

[AndreaDelSignore]

@fer

Another minor bug, not very important but…, about On Device edit:

1. If you click the MENU button (configured to latch) you enter the Settings Menu. If you click again the MENU button you exit and go back to the main page. Good
2. Inside the Setting Menu, if you click the EDIT button you Enter the On Device Edit. If you click EXIT you exit and go back to the main page. Good
3. Inside the Setting Menu, if you click the EDIT button you Enter the On Device Edit. If you click the MENU button you go back to the Setting menu. Then you click again the MENU button to exit, but nothing happens. Not so Good. (the way out is going again to On Device Edit and click EXIT)

Right there’s a minor glitch, but I don’t have a optimal solution.

1. We can disable the MENU (shift) button when in edit
2. We can remove the edit button when the MENU is called from the builder itself
3. We can change the edit button to exit when the MENU is called from the builder (but there is so little space and exit is not so clear: exit from what?)

Any idea, I’m leaning toward 2…

[AndreaDelSignore]

@Abotte

Another improvement it would be the possibility to change the buffer frame size directly on the device.

This is a question I’ve had for a loooong time

Why do we need to change the frame buffer size on the devce?

Is just for completeness or is there an actual live scenario where this is really necessary?

[fer]

Normally I would say better to keep consistency with the existing functionalities…

Or you do like the save button, which is option 1. Menu button does nothing in the save page. You have to click exit.

Or you do like the settings menu, where clicking menu moves between the menu page and the settings page, till you exit from settings. (A little strange anyway)

[fer]

I think here the point is that you have a very overloaded pedalboard which needs 256, otherwise a lot of xruns. But the last pedalboard you used was lighter so you changed in the browser to 128. Now you are hopefully at rehearsal and want to show your friends this crazy pedalboard, but no browser.

[AndreaDelSignore]

@fer

Or you do like the save button, which is option 1. Menu button does nothing in the save page. You have to click exit.

This is what I’d like but, when you are editing parameters on the device you may need to adjust some volume like the headphones one.

@fer

Or you do like the settings menu, where clicking menu moves between the menu page and the settings page, till you exit from settings. (A little strange anyway)

I will take a better look to the settings behaviour which is something like my point 2 from your description.

[Abotte]

To achieve lower latency you should set the buffer size to 128, but sometimes you have too many plugins or models that are too heavy and you need to switch to 256 to avoid Xruns.

It would be handy to been able to change the buffer size from the device, so that it would be possible to use both “light” and “heavy” pedalboards.

An even better improvement would be the option to define the buffer size for each pedalboards, so that you won’t really need to set it manually on the device.

[malfunction54]

@Abotte

An even better improvement would be the option to define the buffer size for each pedalboards, so that you won’t really need to set it manually on the device.

I absolutely agree! I have some very heavy pedalboards where I need 256 and many pedalboards that are fine at 128. It would be great to be able to assign the buffer size per-pedalboard.