Release Notes

Update of the manual to follow shortly.  Next releases will be bug fix releases (if any) and cleanup of the user interface.

New/Changed Features:

• In the variations tab you can now indicate whether you want swing according to 1/4 or 1/8.  Default is 1/4.
• In the variations tab you can now define Velocity Offset for each pool.  This allows you to set different velocities (volumes) for different instruments in different pools; you might e.g. make a variation in which the hi-hats are louder/softer.
• Layout of the variation tab has been cleaned up and is final now.
• Some changes under the hood that were not bugs and that do no change functionality.

Bugfixes:

• There was a case, when pattern length = 1 measure, patterns were not generated during playback (meaning the plugin output 1 measure and then became silent). ( https://github.com/tomto66/Topiary-Beatz/issues/75 )
• When creating a new pattern (and not changing pattern length or importing a midi file) the patternlenght internally was set incorrectly, leading to all sorts of unpleasantness, including strange behavior of the pattern editor. (  https://github.com/tomto66/Topiary-Beatz/issues/76 )

Download link: https://github.com/tomto66/Topiary-Beatz/tree/master/Topiary%20Beatz/binaries

Overview 

Manual

Rationale behind the development

Release Notes

Update of the manual to follow shortly. Apart from some i’s to dot, this release is feature complete. Next releases will be bug fix releases (if any) and cleanup of the user interface.

New/Changed Features:

• In the variation definition tab, you can now set the variation type; there are 4 types:
  • Steady: a steady variation keeps running; then done it repeats itself.  Note that every “run” of a variation re-does any randomizations.
  • Ending: see previous release notes; an ending variation plays only once, and then shuts up the plugin until the transport is stopped and restarted.
  • Intro: and intro variation plays only once, and then the plugin switches to the first Steady variation it can find.  If no steady variation can be found it tries a Fill variation, if that cannot be found it repeats the Intro variation.
  • Fill: a Fill variation plays only once; when done the plugin reverts to the last played Steady variation (if any), if that one is undefined it picks the first Steady variation, if that cannot be found it keeps repeating the Fill variation.
• Pattern editor now has quantize functionality.

Bugfixes:

• Previous release created duplicate notes in some cases ( https://github.com/tomto66/Topiary-Beatz/issues/70 ).
• In some cases the last NoteOff events were not generated when transport was stopped ( https://github.com/tomto66/Topiary-Beatz/issues/71 ).
• When Q Variation Start was set to Beat, variation switching would not work ( https://github.com/tomto66/Topiary-Beatz/issues/69 ).

Download link: https://github.com/tomto66/Topiary-Beatz/tree/master/Topiary%20Beatz/binaries

Overview 

Manual

Rationale behind the development

Release Notes

Update of the manual to follow shortly.

New/Changed Features:

• The whole MIDI engine has been rewritten from scratch. It now uses more memory, but takes about 75% less CPU.
• Debug button in the Log tab is gone – it is simply no longer needed. Some information, like block size and sample rate are now shown when “Info” is toggled on.
• Previous version tried to guess which output channel a note should go to when recording. This is gone now; during recording notes are output to the channel they are played on.  If Echo MIDI is on, this will cause all new notes during recording to sound twice (once caused by you, and echoed) and one by the recording. If you don’t want this, simply set Echo MIDI to off.  Note that this only happens with new notes as you are recording; notes you newly recorded in a previous pass of the pattern in the same recording session only sound once of course.
• When recording is on, the utility Tab is now disabled.
• Editing a note label now automatically upcases. That was not the case in previous versions (though that did not create any problems).
• The note pool table now keeps itself sorted by Note.
• Previously the plugin insisted that the pattern in the pattern tab was in the variation selected before allowing record. It no longer does that. And if, during recording, you switch variations, you may even record in different patterns!
• Variation definition now have a toggle “Ending”.  An ending variation is on that will run only once; it will not repeat itself. You can use that for a drum fill to end a song.  Be careful if you use your DAWs transport – because the transport will continue to run, but Topiary Beatz will not return to a running state unless you stop the host transport first.
• While a variation is ending (e.g. you set it to end at end of current measure), the start button remains disabled (to prevent you from prematurely restarting it).  The stop button now turns dark purple to indicate this status (previously it was dirty green).

Breaking Change:

• File format has changed once again! This means loading your previous preset files, or restoring previous states in a DAW will most likely cause a crash.  Rationale behind this is was the change of the MIDI engine under the hood. Sorry about that. The good news is that the file format is now certainly stable for further releases into final 1.x versions.

Bugfixes:

• When changing the length of a pattern in the pattern editor, the pattern length in the master tab was not updated (it was correct though and would show as such if you were to delete or add another pattern ( https://github.com/tomto66/Topiary-Beatz/issues/61 ).
• Pattern edit now makes sure that beat edits always match the meter (in a 4 beat pattern nothing would have stopped you to entered a beat value of e.g. 6) – which was not the case earlier, and that might give rise to unexpected timing surprises ( https://github.com/tomto66/Topiary-Beatz/issues/60 ).

Download link: https://github.com/tomto66/Topiary-Beatz/tree/master/Topiary%20Beatz/binaries

Overview 

Manual

Rationale behind the development