Beat Scholar has been released!

geremy

Ah I haven't tried it standalone, only AUv3, and it did not work.

kewtips

I like the app but found it a bit disappointing initially. But using an Apple Pencil really helped my fat fingers and also revealed some awesome presets that I hadn’t found. Loving it now.

Krupa

Sometimes keyboard stuff only works with auv3 if the required plugin is in prime focus, selected as it were; it’s definitely like that if you want to use dRambo key mode…

hes

@eyalamir said:

@hes said:
. . . . . I don't know of any drum apps out there that make it easy to control real jazz swing, with control over swing level that affects only the pairs and not the triplets. I can think of two methods to do this that could be easily implemented in Beat Scholar, curious if you'd think about doing it: Method 1 would be to have a global option to toggle whether swing is applied to (1) all pizzas, or (2) only to pizzas that have an even number of slices. This would allow adjusting true jazz swing in fairly straightforward way, might have some strange (possibly interesting) effects if this "jazz swing" were toggled on in sequences where somebody has just randomly added lots of slices and isn't really concerned about maintaining jazz swing (i.e., doesn't care whether triplets are affected).

This is a topic that greatly interests me, and I'm pretty preoccupied to answer in full depth now, but as a general idea:
I totally agree with you regarding swing that would only be applied to certain musical values, to act like it works in actual notation, where the 1/8th notes are swung but the 16th notes are usually straight.

I'm not sure how to implement that feature just yet, but it's definitely something we'd consider adding if we find a good way to represent it in the UI.

FWIW, I was just playing with Beat Scholar as AUv3 for the first time. In AUM it's easy enough to have two Beat Scholar instances and work with both on screen at the same time. Main problem is they're then both a little small, and size is kind of an issue for Beat Scholar's detailed iPad interface. For my swing issue, it's pretty straightforward to have a swung pattern in one instance combined with a straight pattern in the other. Slightly wasteful of resources but definitely doable. I did disable the sampler on one instance and ran its midi out to the other; I think that saved a bit on resources, cool feature.

Still seems to me like there should be way to combine this pretty seamlessly in one instance. In the research I did today on this, I turned up Xequence 2 as one iOS solution; it's a (non-AUv3) general purpose sequencer that can apply swing on a track by track basis, seems some people are using it for drums. I also wonder whether this two-instance solution I'm using with Beat Scholar might solve the problem with some other, simpler, drum apps.

Also, I'm feeling like a lot of the touch functionality with the small gui items is really fiddly. I will persist because I'm kind of enamored of the app, but I suspect it would turn a lot of people off, doesn't feel optimized for an iPad touch interface.

I noticed in one of your videos that on desktop there's the functionality to drag and drop a pattern onto a DAW track and have the midi get copied there. Is that feature on iPad? What's best way to get midi onto a DAW track or into another midi sequencer app?

HotStrange

@tyslothrop1 said:

@HotStrange said:

@Poppadocrock said:

@HotStrange said:
Really enjoying this app. Mostly tweaking presets right now but it’s a lot of fun. Slowly getting a grasp of how it works. It’s a really unique and cool idea.

It is fun as well as useful. It’s almost like a sequencer of multiple “patterning” circles.

Exactly. And for how detailed it is, the interface is actually very good. And built in sounds are excellent. Am I correct in thinking it can also send midi out? I think I read that.

I like Patterning quite a bit, and this is in some way similar, but the slicing in combination with the swing makes this so much more flexible. I'm having lots of fun setting uneven slices, sparsely putting hits in and then playing with the swing, ending up with stuff that's musical and wonky in so many different and cool ways. My new favourite drum sequencer .

Agreed! It’s not quite my favorite yet but it’s definitely becoming one of them. Just a killer app.

Robin2

@OrLub @eyalamir Apologies if this has already been asked elsewhere in this thread but is it possible to export audio loops from the standalone version? I can’t find a way to do it (or export MIDI). I’m still using the trial version so maybe this functionality is hidden until the full version is purchased?

Also, I can’t get the manual to load properly using Safari on iPad, hence why I’m asking about the functionality above. Thanks.

HotStrange

The more I dive into this app the more I absolutely love it. I had heard good things about desktop for a while but I’m so glad it came to iOS. I can really see this becoming one of my go-to drum apps and a favorite in general.

FordTimeLord

@Krupa said:

@FordTimeLord said:

@Krupa said:
Is there a way to load samples without drag and drop? I’ve been trying on and off for a couple of days now and my iPad is lucky I haven’t yet caveman style smashed it to pieces 😂

I get it right maybe one time in twenty, the rest are a mix of nothing, opening Wavebox , or a few random pulsings or flashes and again nothing…

Drag and drop is much less frustrating with Samplecrate btw. Well worth a look if you don’t have it 👍

https://apps.apple.com/gb/app/sample-crate/id1593900129

Actually that’s what I was using, I can’t for the life of me get drag and drop to be anything but a recipe for rapid aging and heart palpitations…

You’re right. I’ve only had a chance to mess around with this properly today and getting samples into it is a nightmare. It keeps freezing/crashing on me. I have to restart it and lose the kit I was trying to build. Really frustrating.

hes

@Robin2 said:
@OrLub @eyalamir Apologies if this has already been asked elsewhere in this thread but is it possible to export audio loops from the standalone version? I can’t find a way to do it (or export MIDI). I’m still using the trial version so maybe this functionality is hidden until the full version is purchased?

You can send midi from Beat Scholar. I believe it's always sending midi out, but if you want to use it you will probably also want to disable its sampler section, so it doesn't also play itself. Then it will automatically send midi from the patterns out, can route it to wherever you want. To do this long-click on the name of the preset in upper left to bring up preset menu, then choose 'Enable' at bottom of menu, then uncheck 'Sampler'.

Desktop version has ability to drag and drop from a pattern onto a DAW track to copy the midi there. I haven't found that functionality in iPad version yet. I don't believe the trial is limited in any way, except for terminating after 12 days. But iPad version is not quite identical to desktop version (and the manual so far is just for desktop version).

telecharge

@Robin2 said:
Also, I can’t get the manual to load properly using Safari on iPad, hence why I’m asking about the functionality above. Thanks.

I rendered another copy of the PDF manual if you want to give it a go.

Robin2

@hes Thanks for the info, really appreciate it. No audio loop export from the standalone version though? I know this can easily be done when hosted in AUM but it still seems a strange omission to not be able to export the thing you’ve been working on as audio from the standalone version?

@telecharge Brilliant, yes, that works - thank you so much for creating that, I missed it earlier in the thread. Cheers.

eyalamir

Export MIDI was broken in the released version - but we already submitted a fix to it (and to a few other annoying bugs, some have already been reported here). Hopefully Apple will approve it in a few hours (version 1.4.7).

I do agree that exporting audio in standalone would be useful too... it's really a constant battle with those kind of standalone features because we'd like them in there but sometimes features like that become a 'handicapped' version of what can already be done in AUM/Logic/etc.

eyalamir

@FordTimeLord said:
You’re right. I’ve only had a chance to mess around with this properly today and getting samples into it is a nightmare. It keeps freezing/crashing on me. I have to restart it and lose the kit I was trying to build. Really frustrating.

That's indeed annoying! I'm hoping the latest update we submitted (1.4.7) will fix some of those issues.
Please let me know if it didn't! Also, did you load the samples with drag/drop or with the folder icon? Is it in standalone or AUv3?

Robin2

@eyalamir said:
Export MIDI was broken in the released version - but we already submitted a fix to it (and to a few other annoying bugs, some have already been reported here). Hopefully Apple will approve it in a few hours (version 1.4.7).

I do agree that exporting audio in standalone would be useful too... it's really a constant battle with those kind of standalone features because we'd like them in there but sometimes features like that become a 'handicapped' version of what can already be done in AUM/Logic/etc.

Sometimes it’s just easier and quicker to use a standalone app like yours to create a beat which you then just want to render as a perfect audio loop to drop into, for example, Koala Sampler. Having to set it up in AUM and record out the loop in real time is just more of a hassle.

Only being able to export MIDI from the standalone version and not audio almost defeats the point of having a standalone version (to my mind). What precisely do you feel AUM and others can do in rendering an audio loop of the current pattern which the standalone app couldn’t?

Also, currently, it doesn’t seem possible to open user saved presets or user created kits made in the standalone version when loaded as an AUv3. Presumably just a bug, but if not this makes the standalone version even more redundant?

Hopefully a simple ‘Render current pattern to audio’ is something you’ll consider for the standalone version? Koala Sampler is actually a really good example of this functionality being implemented.

eyalamir

@Robin2 said:
Sometimes it’s just easier and quicker to use a standalone app like yours to create a beat which you then just want to render as a perfect audio loop to drop into, for example, Koala Sampler. Having to set it up in AUM and record out the loop in real time is just more of a hassle.

Right, I don't disagree with you on that one. It will certainly be a useful feature to export from the standalone.

Only being able to export MIDI from the standalone version and not audio almost defeats the point of having a standalone version (to my mind). What precisely do you feel AUM and others can do in rendering an audio loop of the current pattern which the standalone app couldn’t?

Quite a lot actually: In a DAW you can export the audio in multi-channel. More importantly, you can also use keyswitches to set things like how many times each pattern returns and a song structure.

But the most important this is that to me, in a DAW you can you Beat Scholar MIDI with other sampler plugins and hardware synth, and you will mostly lose that ability when exporting audio.

For example - I'd expect people to use Beat Scholar as something that triggers Koala Sampler you mentioned, or Logic's Drum Kit Designer, etc...

Anyway, I like the idea of having some basic form of audio export in the standalone.

Also, currently, it doesn’t seem possible to open user saved presets or user created kits made in the standalone version when loaded as an AUv3. Presumably just a bug, but if not this makes the standalone version even more redundant?

This is a critical bug that will be fixed shortly.

FordTimeLord

@eyalamir said:

@FordTimeLord said:
You’re right. I’ve only had a chance to mess around with this properly today and getting samples into it is a nightmare. It keeps freezing/crashing on me. I have to restart it and lose the kit I was trying to build. Really frustrating.

Please let me know if it didn't! Also, did you load the samples with drag/drop or with the folder icon? Is it in standalone or AUv3?

Thanks! I’ll keep an eye out for the update, hopefully it will sort the issue 🤞

It was happening with drag and drop, the folder icon and both standalone & auv3, unfortunately. I’ll let you know how it goes when the update arrives 👍

Robin2

@eyalamir said:

@Robin2 said:
Sometimes it’s just easier and quicker to use a standalone app like yours to create a beat which you then just want to render as a perfect audio loop to drop into, for example, Koala Sampler. Having to set it up in AUM and record out the loop in real time is just more of a hassle.

Right, I don't disagree with you on that one. It will certainly be a useful feature to export from the standalone.

Only being able to export MIDI from the standalone version and not audio almost defeats the point of having a standalone version (to my mind). What precisely do you feel AUM and others can do in rendering an audio loop of the current pattern which the standalone app couldn’t?

Quite a lot actually: In a DAW you can export the audio in multi-channel. More importantly, you can also use keyswitches to set things like how many times each pattern returns and a song structure.

But the most important this is that to me, in a DAW you can you Beat Scholar MIDI with other sampler plugins and hardware synth, and you will mostly lose that ability when exporting audio.

For example - I'd expect people to use Beat Scholar as something that triggers Koala Sampler you mentioned, or Logic's Drum Kit Designer, etc...

Anyway, I like the idea of having some basic form of audio export in the standalone.

Also, currently, it doesn’t seem possible to open user saved presets or user created kits made in the standalone version when loaded as an AUv3. Presumably just a bug, but if not this makes the standalone version even more redundant?

This is a critical bug that will be fixed shortly.

Thanks for such a full response, much appreciated. Yeah, all I was suggesting was that I was surprised that a simple audio export wasn’t present, maybe I didn’t make that clear enough.

The things you highlight which export via a DAW would enable understandably wouldn’t exist via the standalone version - that is why it is important to have the plug-in version, which you do have so no problem. What I meant, though, was that if you just wanted a simple render of the current pattern, the standalone version could do that just as well as rendering via a DAW, that’s all.

eyalamir

We just posted Beat Scholar version 1.4.10 with a bunch of important updates, many of them are things there were discussed here in the last few days:

Added iPad user manual
Fixed issues with sessions in AUv3 sometimes not saving correctly
Added about window and version number
Added Import/Export of data to help collaborate with desktop/other devices
Fixed Standalone and AUv3 not sharing presets
Fixed some dialogs freezing when in AUv3
Fixed Sampler sometimes taking too long to load samples on the first time they're played.
Fixed Disabled overlay locations
Fixed MIDI export
Changed "Reverse" to "Mirror" in context menus.

Stuntman_mike

@eyalamir said:
We just posted Beat Scholar version 1.4.10 with a bunch of important updates, many of them are things there were discussed here in the last few days:

Added iPad user manual
Fixed issues with sessions in AUv3 sometimes not saving correctly
Added about window and version number
Added Import/Export of data to help collaborate with desktop/other devices
Fixed Standalone and AUv3 not sharing presets
Fixed some dialogs freezing when in AUv3
Fixed Sampler sometimes taking too long to load samples on the first time they're played.
Fixed Disabled overlay locations
Fixed MIDI export
Changed "Reverse" to "Mirror" in context menus.

Thank you 🙏🏻

hes

@MisplacedDevelopment said:
I got this one not for the drum side of it but it looks like a convenient way of coming up with interesting melodic rhythms. Once we are able to drag and drop MIDI (or someone works out how to do it!) then I can see this being handy for melodic composition - come up with a decent sounding rhythmic section, drag MIDI onto MultiTrackStudio piano roll, edit the melody in the score editor.

Video by a guy who had the same idea:

Robin2

@eyalamir Thanks for the update, fixes so much!

I’ve discovered a bug though, still present in the latest version. Trying to load a sample a second time causes the app the freeze up.

1. Add a user sample to one of the drum slots.
2. Select the same sample to load to another slot.
3. App freezes.
4. Even after force closing the app and reopening it, trying to load the same sample again still causes the app to freeze.

Hopefully reproducible and an easy fix. Cheers.

Gavinski

@hes said:

@MisplacedDevelopment said:
I got this one not for the drum side of it but it looks like a convenient way of coming up with interesting melodic rhythms. Once we are able to drag and drop MIDI (or someone works out how to do it!) then I can see this being handy for melodic composition - come up with a decent sounding rhythmic section, drag MIDI onto MultiTrackStudio piano roll, edit the melody in the score editor.

Video by a guy who had the same idea:

You can now export midi at least! That was broken but is now working. And yes - this is very cool for melodic stuff too, definitely! Great for minimalist type stuff, John Cage etc. Really digging it.

eyalamir

@Robin2 said:
@eyalamir Thanks for the update, fixes so much!

I’ve discovered a bug though, still present in the latest version. Trying to load a sample a second time causes the app the freeze up.

1. Add a user sample to one of the drum slots.
2. Select the same sample to load to another slot.
3. App freezes.
4. Even after force closing the app and reopening it, trying to load the same sample again still causes the app to freeze.

Hopefully reproducible and an easy fix. Cheers.

Yes, I could reproduce this one straight away, thank you for the accurate report! I will submit a fix soon.

Gavinski

Personally thou I’d probably rather perform live in Beat Scholar midi version and record that into something like Atom Piano Roll as I go. And that is already possible

MisplacedDevelopment

@eyalamir said:
We just posted Beat Scholar version 1.4.10 with a bunch of important updates, many of them are things there were discussed here in the last few days:

Added iPad user manual
Fixed issues with sessions in AUv3 sometimes not saving correctly
Added about window and version number
Added Import/Export of data to help collaborate with desktop/other devices
Fixed Standalone and AUv3 not sharing presets
Fixed some dialogs freezing when in AUv3
Fixed Sampler sometimes taking too long to load samples on the first time they're played.
Fixed Disabled overlay locations
Fixed MIDI export
Changed "Reverse" to "Mirror" in context menus.

Excellent, thanks for such a quick set of fixes. I wasn’t sure if the subdivisions of notes would transfer to MIDI correctly as I have seen many apps fail at this step, but it is looking great to me:

Am I correct in thinking drag/drop MIDI out of the app is not yet implemented? The export option gets me most of the way there as I can simply bring up the export window a second time and drag the exported file into my DAW.

eyalamir

@MisplacedDevelopment said:
Excellent, thanks for such a quick set of fixes. I wasn’t sure if the subdivisions of notes would transfer to MIDI correctly as I have seen many apps fail at this step, but it is looking great to me:

Awesome! I'm happy to hear that.

Am I correct in thinking drag/drop MIDI out of the app is not yet implemented? The export option gets me most of the way there as I can simply bring up the export window a second time and drag the exported file into my DAW.

Yeah. It works on the desktop but we ran into some framework issues implementing it in the iPad version. We do have dragging (samples, etc) into the app, but dragging the MIDI out of it seems more complicated.

I'm still looking into it so hopefully a solution will materialize...

Gavinski

@MisplacedDevelopment said:

@eyalamir said:
We just posted Beat Scholar version 1.4.10 with a bunch of important updates, many of them are things there were discussed here in the last few days:

Added iPad user manual
Fixed issues with sessions in AUv3 sometimes not saving correctly
Added about window and version number
Added Import/Export of data to help collaborate with desktop/other devices
Fixed Standalone and AUv3 not sharing presets
Fixed some dialogs freezing when in AUv3
Fixed Sampler sometimes taking too long to load samples on the first time they're played.
Fixed Disabled overlay locations
Fixed MIDI export
Changed "Reverse" to "Mirror" in context menus.

Excellent, thanks for such a quick set of fixes. I wasn’t sure if the subdivisions of notes would transfer to MIDI correctly as I have seen many apps fail at this step, but it is looking great to me:

Am I correct in thinking drag/drop MIDI out of the app is not yet implemented? The export option gets me most of the way there as I can simply bring up the export window a second time and drag the exported file into my DAW.

Not yet

Gavinski

You could always record the midi into another app that allows drag and drop. Will Atom2 let you drag and drop out of it. I think so, but not sure

geremy

Just a note that I lost all presets that I made in the AUv3 with the upgrade (the standalone ones are still there).

Also, thanks for the manual! I had no idea the AB button was pattern arrange mode. I’m an idiot and thought it was similar to other plugs where they have the A/B switch to compare sounds…

eyalamir

@geremy said:
Just a note that I lost all presets that I made in the AUv3 with the upgrade (the standalone ones are still there).

If you run the AUv3 once, is it not copying all the presets in there (we've set it to copy them for the first time to the shared location)? Do they appear as blank in the menu?