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Live MIDI looper plug-in (with rolling buffer like MolliLooper)
I am looking for a kind of "MolliLooper for MIDI":
- continuous MIDI recording into a ring buffer.
- slicing and playback of parts of the sequence.
- maybe some added effects (ratcheting, gate length modification etc.).
Comments
You could maybe try Midi Tape Recorder and Photon AU. I don’t think they have much in the way of effects though. Helium can do this as well but I’m not sure of the recording length for all of them.
Drambo ring buffer-style midi capture?
Holonic Systems’ Pantry plugin for miRack does 1. and 2.
How long of a ring buffer are we talking about @catherder ?
Nice! I had forgotten about Pantry.
That would be monophonic (x2) and 32 steps max though, right?
Yes, that's how its looped pattern recording works now, with up to 16 bars length.
Cool. Do you know if anyone has posted a demo/tutorial for the Drambo ignorant?
Are you just talking about the Auto-grow?
I don't think it's really the same as what OP is asking for.
Yes, that’s right 32.
How does this work? When I record into a midi track, it just adds to what is already there, rather than overwriting.
Edit. I just switched off overdubbing from the bpm menu. That was it!
Oh yes, there's quite a nice collection available on Youtube now, mos of them generously provided by ABF members.
One of the first and still great Videos from @bcrichards:
https://www.youtube.com/@benrichards4554/videos
More well done videos by @sfm:
https://www.youtube.com/@soundformore/search?query=drambo
And a nicely categorized tutorial playlist by @Daveypoo, also great for getting into the concepts quickly:
https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLRBZP04TGwkzYd5vdawLTty9uyx2oLhPeNot to forget the nice tutorials by @thesoundtestroom:
https://www.youtube.com/@TheSoundTestRoom/search?query=drambo
These are the ones that stood out for me over the years.
As you're quite an experienced guy, I'd also recommend to pick your favorite projects on
https://patchstorage.com/platform/drambo/ and just play with them.
Most uploads are tagged well enough so the search function works quite well.
One thing to take note of is that some uploads are projects (.drproject) which you simply open in Drambo and go ahead (including saving if you want to keep it) and some are presets (.drmodule) meant to be loaded in Drambo modules.
Module presets will open in Drambo as well but you'll then be shown a little import dialog, telling you which kind of preset it is in the window header. Remember this, it will tell you which module type it's made for and it will let you save it, defaulting to the preset sub folder of that specific module.
If you have any Drambo specific questions or suggestions, feel free to also register & post at forum.beepstreet.com.
@rs2000 : I guess I wasn’t clear. I meant is there a short tutorial or demo showing how to use Drambo as a circular buffer style midi recorder—something showing how to set it up if you aren’t already experienced with Drambo.
@rs2000: When I MIDI record in Drambo with overdub off and auto-grow off, it doesn't behave like a circular buffer it records a persistent loop. it will delete a note if you play over it, but it doesn't clear itself as the record head passes as a circular buffer does.
Can someone post screenshots or a short screen recording or a link to a video showing the setup for the sort of circular buffer being asked about?
@espiegel123 Well a circular buffer and how to write to and read from it are two different things, so what exact behavior are you looking for? I'm just trying to figure out what musical scenario you have in mind...
I think Drambo. When you highlight sequence with green editor. Then use undo button. Is better than loopbud ( which is a buffer recorder? )
The inconvienience of pressing undo for a new sequence but also gives you overdub.
You could write from a drambo mfx to drambo host sequencer.
The scenario under discussion. Something that behaves like Mollilooper or Endless or Loopy Pro's retrospective recording.
loopbud can almost do this sort of thing; or I wish it could.
Thanks a lot for the many suggestions and ideas. Using Drambo as a MIDI looper is great - I didn’t know that is possible. And I will give Loopbud a try. Otherwise in the end there’s always Mozaic and a bit of coding when it comes to MIDI…
I don't think it can record mpe, can it?
Eh. trust me you don't want to try to code something like this in Mozaic. It's just not cut out for it. Something simple, locked to quantized notes, and with a short buffer sure, but not a true rolling buffer. I've done it a proof of concept. The code was monstrously huge and pushed the boundaries of what Mozaic could reliably support.
I'm still curious about what length of buffer you're thinking of?
Lots of other questions come to mind. A few bars? A few minutes? Many minutes? Just notes, or also other MIDI messages? Does it need midi export? Does it need to run also when transport isn't running? Does it need to play back literally what was played, or should playback adjust to tempo? But the first question is the most critical in thinking about which apps are possibilities.
I don't need answers to those questions. 😉
I'm just tossing out some of the many factors that could go into choosing an app if it existed.
My idea is to have a simple quantised buffer that records notes as steps - no need for millisecond length accuracy, MPE or CC recording like MIDI tape recorder. The buffer would be able to hold a few bars. So we talk about typical sequencer storage of about 64 to 128 steps. Polyphony and MIDI export are not essential. The whole thing would be synced to the hosts tempo and only run when the transport is running.
LoopBud comes close. Sadly it only has “new” and “add” modes and is missing a mode that constantly erases played notes and adds new ones at the play head position.
Actually Midi Echo comes to my mind while writing this. Something to test tomorrow…
If the steps are restricted to a limited number of steps per beat and relying on host for tempo that shouldn’t be too hard to do in Mozaic.
Would it need to be polyphonic?
Ahh. That clarifies a lot. I thought you might have been looking for something asked for more than once recently here - something to sit in the background during noodling, always listening, so that any good stuff could be grabbed later.
Mozaic is a good candidate for that kind of thing. In fact, there are a few scripts that might fit the bill already or could be adapted or used for inspiration. I think Flow is the one I enjoyed using the most. There may be others.
Well if you wanted a midi version of Mollilooper it would have to:
Have a constant buffer of MIDI notes recording which would then allow you to choose when and for how long you wanted to play back the last recorded chunk of MIDI notes. You would then also have to be able to non-destructively change the duration of the clip.
I could definitely see the value in it but I don’t think it’s a job for Drambo.
I have been doing this with audio since the Echoplex Digital Pro, later with Flux:FX and more recently with Loopy Pro. You just couldn’t non-destructively change the loop length like Mollilooper which is a total game changier.