OMG Instruments has released an update to its free MIDI arpeggiator plugin with pattern sequencer style, designed for electronic music genres.
Version 2.8.0 of BlueARP comes with various improvements and bug fixes.
BlueARP plugin is a programmable pattern arpeggiator / step sequencer. It is available both on Windows (VST plugin) and on OSX (VST and MIDI-FX plugin), free of change, ready to use in your music production and performances, either commercial or not.
Changes in BlueARP v2.8.0
- Bug Fix: VST3, changing preset (program) from the host wasn’t handled by the plugin.
- Bug Fix: VST3, plugin didn’t inform host about the program change.
- Bug Fix: In guitar mode, some chords would sound wrong is ‘capo’ param is above 0.
- Bug Fix: In guitar mode, some inverted chords like m7 would sound wrong, while non-inverted ones are fine (normally they should sound the same).
- Reworked logic for ‘restart on’ = ‘key’, now it is more consistent, with respect to quantization. ‘key’ option will restart from step 0 when a key is pressed, but only on the next quantization measure. (before that, it would only restart after a gap in pressed keys). ‘1st key’ works as before – steps will start running as you press the very first key and will keep running until you stop playback.
- Operation mode list rearranged: arp, fixed arp, drum mode, guitar mode. It shouldn’t affect your saved projects, cause internal conversion routine takes care of that. You might need to adjust your projects only if you automated the ‘operation mode’ param.
- Patch format level is incremented with this version, so be careful, please check your projects before moving to 2.8.0. It should convert your previous projects, but in case something goes wrong there’s no option to go back to 2.7.0 – it won’t load projects saved with version 2.8.0.
- In guitar mode, settings for chuck strumming have changes, instead of ‘octave’ and ‘cannel’ settings, there’s now ‘chuck mode’ and ‘chuck value’, the latter’s value list depends on the selected mode.
- Saved banks and programs now use lightweight compression, which reduces bank size about 3.5x times (22KBytes bank size instead 78KBytes).
- New black color scheme: “Robert P: Midnight”.
- Bug Fix: incorrect timing for ‘1/12’ sync option (I wonder why it wasn’t noticed for so long, probably in EDM it is rarely used, but with the guitar mode it is needed more often).
- Bug Fix for step calculation in chains, when some program in chain has dotted time signature (like sync = 1/12, 3/16), it had some convoluted logic for start time alignment, I removed that and now all program lengths in chain will simply add up when calculating the step; this is more transparent and gives more control over the sequence.
- New option for ‘arp. state’ param – ‘OFF / CC thru’. Works just like OFF, but all CC pass thru settings will work. Saved projects shouldn’t be affected since conversion routine takes care of that, but you may need to update your projects if you automated ‘arp. state’ param.
- Added polyphonic mode switch for ONE STRING lane in Guitar mode. So you can program any combinations of strings to be strummed / plucked at once for some steps.
- Some refinements for Guitar mode chord voicing (sus2, add2, m add2, 7, m7, Maj7 chords).
- Factory banks for Drum and Guitar modes are now embedded into the plugin (they are halfway ready yet though). So when you switch the operation mode, instead of the initial bank you’ll get the factory bank for that mode.
- Updated the manual – check the descriptions for the Guitar and Drum mode parameters.
BlueARP is free to download for Windows and Mac (VST/VST3 and MFX for Logic). An update of BlueARP DM is scheduled for release in mid/late February.
More information: OMG Instruments