ATOM Piano Roll update is coming soon

Svetlovska

blueveek

Ok!

Thank you.

A few days ago I said that I'd like to gather your thoughts until the end of the week, and whatever you decide, that's what's going to happen. Well, it's Friday

From what I can tell, the majority would prefer releasing now. There have been tons of amazingly nuanced takes in this thread, in particular around best-practices in software development and well-being in general. You feedback has been great, I truly appreciate it! Now, while I'm hyper-aware that missing automation will undoubtedly be crucial to some of you, I hope that the plethora of other new features will make up for some of that.

Starting today, I'll begin the process of submitting the app for review. There's a few things to prepare, including the store screenshots and description text, and a couple of demo videos to satisfy Apple's AUv3 review shenanigans. Luckily @tk32 and @winconway are helping me out with that, without them this whole process would've taken me yet more time! It's clear that Audioveek, Midi Tools, Atom v1, and now v2, would not have been the same without them.

One last thing

Now that I know release is coming, there's this one feature I've kept hidden, that I feel comfortable sharing now. And that's add-ons:

Atom 2 has user-scripting support that lets you extend it with your own code, allowing you to do your own hardware scripting to add new controllers or completely change the behavior of supported ones (e.g. Launchpads), as well as overhauling the entire interface with custom styles for new colors schemes and even changing the entire layout. Programming is with a language similar to JS, and styling is done with CSS.

You can share and import add-ons, so if there's adventurous folks among you that want to add support for their own controllers, or build new themes, you can, and they'll work everywhere and for everyone if you decide to share them. The extensibility surface area is extremely large, it's theoretically possible to even do crazy stuff like write custom arpeggiator or humanizer plugins; however, documenting and supporting this is a daunting task for me, so I'll start with just hardware control and custom theming officially supported for now (though If you want to go ahead and reverse engineer everything else, be my guest).

nickneek

@blueveek said:
Ok!

Thank you.

A few days ago I said that I'd like to gather your thoughts until the end of the week, and whatever you decide, that's what's going to happen. Well, it's Friday

From what I can tell, the majority would prefer releasing now. There have been tons of amazingly nuanced takes in this thread, in particular around best-practices in software development and well-being in general. You feedback has been great, I truly appreciate it! Now, while I'm hyper-aware that missing automation will undoubtedly be crucial to some of you, I hope that the plethora of other new features will make up for some of that.

Starting today, I'll begin the process of submitting the app for review. There's a few things to prepare, including the store screenshots and description text, and a couple of demo videos to satisfy Apple's AUv3 review shenanigans. Luckily @tk32 and @winconway are helping me out with that, without them this whole process would've taken me yet more time! It's clear that Audioveek, Midi Tools, Atom v1, and now v2, would not have been the same without them.

One last thing

Now that I know release is coming, there's this one feature I've kept hidden, that I feel comfortable sharing now. And that's add-ons:

Atom 2 has user-scripting support that lets you extend it with your own code, allowing you to do your own hardware scripting to add new controllers or completely change the behavior of supported ones (e.g. Launchpads), as well as overhauling the entire interface with custom styles for new colors schemes and even changing the entire layout. Programming is with a language similar to JS, and styling is done with CSS.

You can share and import add-ons, so if there's adventurous folks among you that want to add support for their own controllers, or build new themes, you can, and they'll work everywhere and for everyone if you decide to share them. The extensibility surface area is extremely large, it's theoretically possible to even do crazy stuff like write custom arpeggiator or humanizer plugins; however, documenting and supporting this is a daunting task for me, so I'll start with just hardware control and custom theming officially supported for now (though If you want to go ahead and reverse engineer everything else, be my guest).

!!!!! Nice reveal!

mlau

congrats @blueveek

MrBlaschke

@blueveek said:
I hope that the plethora of other new features will make up for some of that.

Well, i guess you can rest assured that it will - at least for some time. Especially with the revealing of „that little bonus thing“ you did...

Thanks for the possibility to make this happen. Much appreciated.

Skyblazer

@blueveek said:
Ok!

Thank you.

A few days ago I said that I'd like to gather your thoughts until the end of the week, and whatever you decide, that's what's going to happen. Well, it's Friday

From what I can tell, the majority would prefer releasing now. There have been tons of amazingly nuanced takes in this thread, in particular around best-practices in software development and well-being in general. You feedback has been great, I truly appreciate it! Now, while I'm hyper-aware that missing automation will undoubtedly be crucial to some of you, I hope that the plethora of other new features will make up for some of that.

Starting today, I'll begin the process of submitting the app for review. There's a few things to prepare, including the store screenshots and description text, and a couple of demo videos to satisfy Apple's AUv3 review shenanigans. Luckily @tk32 and @winconway are helping me out with that, without them this whole process would've taken me yet more time! It's clear that Audioveek, Midi Tools, Atom v1, and now v2, would not have been the same without them.

One last thing

Now that I know release is coming, there's this one feature I've kept hidden, that I feel comfortable sharing now. And that's add-ons:

Atom 2 has user-scripting support that lets you extend it with your own code, allowing you to do your own hardware scripting to add new controllers or completely change the behavior of supported ones (e.g. Launchpads), as well as overhauling the entire interface with custom styles for new colors schemes and even changing the entire layout. Programming is with a language similar to JS, and styling is done with CSS.

You can share and import add-ons, so if there's adventurous folks among you that want to add support for their own controllers, or build new themes, you can, and they'll work everywhere and for everyone if you decide to share them. The extensibility surface area is extremely large, it's theoretically possible to even do crazy stuff like write custom arpeggiator or humanizer plugins; however, documenting and supporting this is a daunting task for me, so I'll start with just hardware control and custom theming officially supported for now (though If you want to go ahead and reverse engineer everything else, be my guest).

Nice reveal. Looking forward to learning some more advanced scripting with Atom 2!

0tolerance4silence

Wow... you weren’t kidding when you said modular...
This is incredible, even more is your top attitude... class on its own 👍
Thanks!

edit: slowly realising that the long wait is over... 🤩😍🥳

gregsmith

Wow @blueveek you are full of surprises! 😂

I’m gonna see if I can code in some sort of native LK integration!

AAnton

@blueveek congrats with your progress, looking forward to your app.

Maye a new app with scripting? An app where one just could use scripting to control the synth apps, trigger audio loops and effects would be awesome and a big time saver.

Something like apematrix but with scripting? No more typing in midi notes for synth apps, triggering midi patterns, automate synths and effects, set up midi effects, triggering sound loops, a chord pad here, an arp there ... Just everything in one place and controlled in a sane way, that would make it so easy to make sound/ music ...

blueveek

@gregsmith said:
Wow @blueveek you are full of surprises! 😂

I’m gonna see if I can code in some sort of native LK integration!

I haven't tested this, but it may be possible when talking to the standalone version of LK, since it's theoretically indistinguishable from an external piece of hardware as far as Atom is concerned. Same goes for any other app that has virtual MIDI ports. I'm happy to try making a demo prototype and help you out, DM me when it comes to that. For my own sanity, I'd really like to limit public scripting support to new or existing hardware controllers, and user themes, at least for now

blueveek

@AAnton said:
@blueveek congrats with your progress, looking forward to your app.

Maye a new app with scripting? An app where one just could use scripting to control the synth apps, trigger audio loops and effects would be awesome and a big time saver.

Something like apematrix but with scripting? No more typing in midi notes for synth apps, triggering midi patterns, automate synths and effects, set up midi effects, triggering sound loops, a chord pad here, an arp there ... Just everything in one place and controlled in a sane way, that would make it so easy to make sound/ music ...

That's a very interesting idea for a host. I wonder what the audience for such an app could be.

Carnbot

That looks like a great additional feature, any customisation options increases the lifespan of an app

FloRi89

Atom 2 has user-scripting support that lets you extend it with your own code, allowing you to do your own hardware scripting to add new controllers or completely change the behavior of supported ones (e.g. Launchpads), as well as overhauling the entire interface with custom styles for new colors schemes and even changing the entire layout. Programming is with a language similar to JS, and styling is done with CSS.

Bro, you kept the best thing for last, didn't you? That is an insane addition. I'm so looking forward to this.

Charlesalbert

I'm amazed. Thanks so much.

[Deleted User]

Looking forward, @blueveek and congratulations. 🍾

It is a privilege to follow your progress with the app and be witness of your generosity and dedication. Now remember to take a deep breath now and then.

david_2017

Wow @blueveek that sounds great!

If anyone needs someone with Launchpad Pro (Mk3) I could give it a go - would be cool to have this controller supported too

blueveek

@david_2017 said:
Wow @blueveek that sounds great!

If anyone needs someone with Launchpad Pro (Mk3) I could give it a go - would be cool to have this controller supported too

I would be very happy to guide you through the process. I bought a Pro for this purpose too, happy to work together on it.

FloRi89

@blueveek said:

@david_2017 said:
Wow @blueveek that sounds great!

If anyone needs someone with Launchpad Pro (Mk3) I could give it a go - would be cool to have this controller supported too

I would be very happy to guide you through the process. I bought a Pro for this purpose too, happy to work together on it.

@blueveek
I want to make a video about apps that support the LP Pro MK3, AFAIK this is only the third app that supports it out of the box (Launchpad and LK beeing the other ones).

One thing that interests me is the "save to clip" button, that currently only works in Ableton. I wonder what that buttons sends, did you ever try it? The developers reference documents about every button, but leaves that out.

Since all the other buttons are either MIDI or Sysex I was wondering if this button maybe sends a batch of midi commands. Furthermore since you are opening your scripting I was thinking if I can use that to implement this.

Print 2 Clip into Atom 2 would be insanely cool .

If you need help with implementing anything for the LP Pro MK3 contact me over PM. I'm a programmer in my regular life and I wrote a few Mozaic scripts to controll the Launchpad and the Launchkey, so I know my way around the stuff that is documented in the developers reference.

Edit: For the interested, print2clip currently sends whatever you have in the sequenzer to Ableton and saves it as MIDI there. That's really cool, because you can sketch something with the sequenzer and then send it to Ableton for fine tuneing.

horsetrainer

Thank you!

blueveek

@FloRi89 said:

One thing that interests me is the "save to clip" button, that currently only works in Ableton. I wonder what that buttons sends, did you ever try it? The developers reference documents about every button, but leaves that out.

Since all the other buttons are either MIDI or Sysex I was wondering if this button maybe sends a batch of midi commands. Furthermore since you are opening your scripting I was thinking if I can use that to implement this.

I'm extremely curious about this too. It should't be too hard to add a MIDI monitor in-between to check and see what the controller is actually sending over. If it's still MIDI, and not too obfuscated or some unknown Ableton thing, I see no reason why it couldn't be added in an Atom script.

Generally, the nice thing about having hardware customization through scripting is that you don't need to be limited to the default functionality or behavior. Community-driven scripting is a thing, just look at what this guy got together for Bitwig, which is far beyond what "official" support offers http://mossgrabers.de/Software/Bitwig/Bitwig.html:

FloRi89

@blueveek said:

@FloRi89 said:

One thing that interests me is the "save to clip" button, that currently only works in Ableton. I wonder what that buttons sends, did you ever try it? The developers reference documents about every button, but leaves that out.

Since all the other buttons are either MIDI or Sysex I was wondering if this button maybe sends a batch of midi commands. Furthermore since you are opening your scripting I was thinking if I can use that to implement this.

I'm extremely curious about this too. It should't be too hard to add a MIDI monitor in-between to check and see what the controller is actually sending over. If it's still MIDI, and not too obfuscated or some unknown Ableton thing, I see no reason why it couldn't be added in an Atom script.

Generally, the nice thing about having hardware customization through scripting is that you don't need to be limited to the default functionality or behavior. Community-driven scripting is a thing, just look at what this guy got together for Bitwig, which is far beyond what "official" support offers http://mossgrabers.de/Software/Bitwig/Bitwig.html:

Yea absolutely! I would say the Bitwig integration is probably better then for Ableton itself . So far I'm doing everything with Mozaic, but you are right, I'll debug this tonight to see what that sends. If it's really midi or sysex it should be easy to loop over it and forward the result.

RajahP

A great day for iOs music production... Thanks..

sloJordan

Wooooo!!! So excited for this! And really cool about the scripting. I'm still trying to grasp the scope of that (in the long term), so is it possible to actually write scripts that could change the layout/sizes of the buttons or write scripts that effect the midi notes themselves? I understand in the immediate future its more about supporting hardware controllers / colours / simple things.

blueveek

@sloJordan said:
Wooooo!!! So excited for this! And really cool about the scripting. I'm still trying to grasp the scope of that (in the long term), so is it possible to actually write scripts that could change the layout/sizes of the buttons or write scripts that effect the midi notes themselves? I understand in the immediate future its more about supporting hardware controllers / colours / simple things.

Yes, changing the sizes of buttons is possible for 2.0, as well as fonts, colors, defaults, and tons more. It really is something like "here's something that targets this bit, write some CSS in there", or "tweak these variables for easy theming", or "tweak this config file for different input defaults".

In terms of coding, also yes. While the immediate future is about building seamless integration with hardware controllers, after the dust settles I plan to also enable (read: publicly document ) the ability to script the clip itself (e.g. completely alter the notes to build an arpeggiator, turn notes into CC messages, and so on).

For everything, you can edit the files on the iPad in an editor, and tap a button Atom to apply the changes. This is live, so you don't need to create a new project, it'll load the scripts in-place.

FloRi89

For everything, you can edit the files on the iPad in an editor, and tap a button Atom to apply the changes. This is live, so you don't need to create a new project, it'll load the scripts in-place.

@blueveek
That sounds perfect, I'm looking forward to trying that. I think you are really creating a great playground there.

wim

@blueveek - patchstorage.com seems like a perfect place to share customizations and scripts. If that seems appropriate then the earlier in the process it’s set up the better.

blueveek

@wim said:
@blueveek - patchstorage.com seems like a perfect place to share customizations and scripts. If that seems appropriate then the earlier in the process it’s set up the better.

Is this something I'd need to implement in Atom? Or is it like https://gist.github.com where people just post stuff?

wim

@blueveek said:

@wim said:
@blueveek - patchstorage.com seems like a perfect place to share customizations and scripts. If that seems appropriate then the earlier in the process it’s set up the better.

Is this something I'd need to implement in Atom? Or is it like https://gist.github.com where people just post stuff?

It’s a bit like Github. No app coding involved.

Mozaic, Drambo, and lots of other apps have sections on the site.

Github is an option too of course but patchstorage is a bit less intimidating for non programmers.

lukesleepwalker

@RajahP said:
A great day for iOs music production... Thanks..

This, indeed. Just blew me out of the water again with the latest news, @blueveek !

auxmux

The scripting aspect looks immense, can't wait to try with my midi controllers.