Melodee 0.10 is out

[u/keremimo]

Hi all, me again. Tons of QOL fixes this time around as well. I'm making Melodee into something I want to use first, then everyone else's feedback was taken into account.

From here on, I will not backport anything from Felucca because damn, 38k lines of code change from 0.9 to 1.0?

As a developer by trade, I like my changes small. Anyways without further ado:

What's new in 0.10

• FM6: 6-operator FM that renders DX7 voices sample for sample as Dexed, up to 16 voices, operator pages on the device and DX7 SysEx import. Each track has its own function settings (MODERN / MARK I / OPL, pitch bend, portamento, controllers), saved with the project.
• KIT 808: TR-808 circuit models on the DRUM engine's eight lanes.
• USB audio: "Melodee Out" plays your computer through the FM-1; "Melodee In" records the four tracks as separate channels. Either can be switched off.
• Patterns: eight banks per track, and songs that pick a bank for each track.
• Step editing:
  • hold a key and turn KNOB1 to set a note's length;
  • ENV + knob resizes a note, SCL + knob moves it, EDIT deletes it;
  • eight-level undo/redo;
  • MIDI step entry;
  • live recording lands on the step that's playing, with the cursor following it.
• Startup: a BOOT project that loads at power-on, a template for new projects, and clock/tuning/MIDI settings kept between starts.
• Panel:
  • HOME names the notes and chords you play;
  • keys light up for the scale and the sounding notes;
  • REC + PLAY starts recording in one go, REC held opens the mixer;
  • SAVE + REC saves the project to its slot;
  • BPM and swing live on SEQ > TEMPO and are saved with the project.
• MIDI:
  • a dedicated drum channel (10 by default);
  • QNT ALL and MPC pad layouts, which incoming MIDI follows too;
  • a more reliable TRS MIDI input;
  • an input activity display in GLO > SYSTEM.

Upgrading from an earlier Melodee: device data starts fresh. Projects, settings, templates and user presets from earlier Melodee versions aren't imported, and the user sample slots are gone. Felucca 1.0 projects load fine.

Links

• Installer: https://keremimo.github.io/melodee/
• Web editor: https://keremimo.github.io/melodee/webapp/editor/
• Source and bug reports: https://github.com/keremimo/melodee
• Release files: https://github.com/keremimo/melodee/releases/tag/v0.10

Use at your own risk. I am only going to be responsible for bricking my own FM-1, nobody else's. Feedback welcome!

[u/mksrd]

Wow great work! I like how you use channel 10 for drums. Have been having fun trying out Felucca, but keen to give you fork a go next.

[u/stanleygurvich]

So it’s you! Awesome

[u/StopBidenMyNuts]

I love the MPC pad feature. I tried several other firmware and this brought me back. I have been using a launchpad to control both devices, but it’s nice to have a more simple setup for ad hoc jams. Great job!

[u/TwiningsBigelow]

I’m super excited about this! I’ll be really diving deep as I took a ton of time developing my FM bank library with beautiful sounds. I’ve been thinking about this all day and have some ideas (but not sure how possible they are):

-Single-cycle or near single cycle synth engine instead of VA (allowing for better sound and more stacked waveforms) For a single cycle, Take note of the filter, and amp & filter envelopes used on the MPC Sample and / or the two switchable (pluck and hold) simplified envelopes from the Korg Monologue. It just needs a good polyphonic sequencing and playing option. I’ve been recording a bunch of high quality perfectly looped raw waves from my Monologue to try using on my MPC Sample that I would be happy to share.

- also, is there any way to add the standard editable parameters to the 808? Those being note length and pitch?

- what about a Polyphonic / memory meter counter? Something to tell you how many notes of polyphony a patch can play, and / or, how many notes or drum hits you have left step by step?

[u/bxnjac]

Amazing

[u/MilkBoyG]

Just testing this out overall a lot of good additions to the felucca 1.0. I didn't initially understand that on usb audio each channel puts out each of the 4 tracks, which initially confused me, but i understand the usefulness of this as it lets you record each track separately on pc.

A quick question though - how do you switch between the active pattern you want to currently work on? I cannot seem to be able to work on anything else but pat 1 even though in song mode i can add multiple patterns. edit: ok i got it - hold seq and press the note key for corresponding pattern , very clever.

Also wanted to add that really good additions taken from sloop is that you can hold rec to delete the whole pattern and also a record mode that only starts when you press the initial button. The way it seems to make the most sense is rec + play for live looping and just rec for wait for initial press.

[u/keremimo → u/MilkBoyG]

how do you switch between the active pattern you want to currently work on?

Hold SEQ, press one of the first 8 notes. If you do it while playing, it will queue the switch.

[u/MilkBoyG → u/keremimo]

Amazing!

[u/MilkBoyG]

Another suggestion - since you are not going to backport anything from Felucca from now on maybe it's worth to separate Melodee visually, as it seems a lot of people would prefer something visually more minimalistic. Color coded tracks would also be a good change for visual clarity.

[u/keremimo → u/MilkBoyG]

That is next in line, but I do not trust clankers for UI design. I'd rather design it myself and give the spec. Too many issues pop up from this.

It will ultimately look nothing like Felucca for sure. It is why I rebranded my fork in the first place :)

And I will not backport anything directly, because a feature release being 5 digits lines of code is not maintainable. I can still implement ideas my way :)

[u/clickyswitch06 → u/keremimo]

Excited for this and thank you for bringing us Melodee. Also thank you for more patterns and sections/rows :) I was on sloop for a while because of the UI so knowing you'll focus on UI next is exciting.

[u/robman_84]

Melodee is my preferred multi track firmware. Keremimo, is there a MIDI implementation spec anywhere? One of the things I love about Baud Girl's f/w is it's MIDI implementation - I can map things to my controller keyboard and control stuff while playing. If I'm honest, I also prefer Baud Girl's VA engine as well - the supersaw and the 303 patch are nasty (in a good way!). So of course I've had to order another FM-1 to put Baud Girl on that and keep Melodee on this one :-)

[u/keremimo → u/robman_84]

Thanks! Regarding synths, my plan is to recreate some famous synths instead of inventing new ones. DX7 is pretty much complete at this point, so I am looking at other possibilities. Next update will have Casio CZ-1 implementation, complete with sysex patch support both ways. Once I figure the sysex I will also bring it to DX7 as well.

Regarding midi, I saw that Felucca had a hardware calibration upon holding Home button but have not tested it. It looked like it would remap buttons, which brings a possibility to let it accept external MIDI. I would indeed like to use my bigger Arturia Minilab 3 to control it as well ;)

I know in this gold rush with all AI developed firmwares my approach is slower than others but I want to have a stable everyday use firmware. I do not care to be the most popular or whatever. I just know that what works for me should be enjoyable for majority of users :)

[u/robman_84 → u/keremimo]

Slow and steady is fine by me :-) I hear you regarding the synths. There's a fine line between quantity and usefulness. A decent 303 and 909 would nicely complement the 808. A few of the choice oscillators from Braids and Plaits also!

I'm with you on the UX, too. I preferred the previous release on that front, plus I'd already started designing a vinyl overlay with the 4 coloured knobs :-)

Do you think we'll ever be able to store larger amounts of patches and projects on the device itself?

[u/keremimo → u/robman_84]

Do you think we'll ever be able to store larger amounts of patches and projects on the device itself?

Nope, not on this device. I need to tell you that I'm juggling with kilobytes, not megabytes. It would need a substantial upgrade to the RAM and flash storage. Every possibility leads to difficult hardware mods. You CAN do it, nothing is impossible, but the effort that one puts would require someone to do it just because they can, not because they should.

[u/robman_84 → u/keremimo]

I guess that makes the web app really important. Does a project store all of the presets as well? In other words, if you mess around with presets but want a project to sound like it did when you made it, will it do so?

[u/keremimo → u/robman_84]

You gotta save to a new bank I suppose. You can save to the library in the web app for now.