Arpeggiator seems to not function on device

[jaygarcia]

Arpeggiator seems not function in the current Master. It plays once through and it's done.

Seems to work in the UI. Can't tell where the problem is.

(updated to attach files)

[jaygarcia]

arpeggiator.atm.txt

[jaygarcia]

arpeggiator.h.txt

[dxxb]

New docs:

P2
    Size   : 1 byte
    Name   : Effect configuration
    Format : b-edttttt
              |||└└└└└-> ticks between note change minus one [0, 31]
              ||└------> 0: auto repeat, 1: trigger with note
              |└-------> 1: skip 3rd note, 0: play 3rd note
              └--------> [reserved]

Old docs (these are only partially visible on the page because of markup errors, you need to open the raw view to read the complete content of the cells):

Next to the current playing note, play a second
and third note *[__X__]* for every *[__Y__]* ticks.

*[__X__]* includes 2 parameters: AAAABBBB, where
AAAA = base + amount to second note and
BBBB = second note + amount to third note.

*[__Y__]* includes 4 parameters: FEDttttt,
where F = reserved, E = toggle no third note,
D = toggle retrigger
ttttt = tick amount.

**_Note:_** Arpeggio is used for playing 3 notes out of a chord indivually

The offending song uses ATM_CMD_M_ARPEGGIO_ON(221, 97) which means 0xdd, 0x61, first byte is the notes offset in semitones so 2nd and 3rd note are 13 semitones up from the base note. Second byte says to play a new note every 2 ticks and don't play the 3rd note. Which means it will alternate between base_note and base_note+13 semitones. Second byte also sets bit 5. bit 5 is documented in the old docs as "toggle retrigger" (it doesn't say exactly what bit states 0 and 1 mean nor what exactly retrigger means).

The original code restarts the arpeggio on note-ON when bit 5 is set but lets the arpeggio continue until stopped explicitly independently of bit 5.

The new code plays a chord on note-ON when bit 5 is set (like the old code) but when bit 5 is reset it plays the chord once i.e. automatic chord re-trigger is disabled.

My reasoning was as follows: The docs were not clear in explaining how the effect should work so I looked at the code and saw that the chord was restarted when bit 5 was set but when bit 5 was reset it was ignored resulting in the behaviour outlined above. I figured that, as implemented, the bit wasn't useful because the original behaviour can be implemented without using a dedicated bit at all. So I concluded that there was probably a bug and the intention was to differentiate between chords that play once on every note-ON and chords that keep playing and that's what I have implemented in the current library.

We can fix this in at least two ways:

1. Change the UI to state more clearly what the tick box means (e.g. "auto re-trigger" vs "note triggered") and set or reset bit 5 according to the new implementation.

2. Change the library to swap the meaning of 0 and 1 for bit 5 and state more clearly what the tick box means (e.g. "auto re-trigger" vs "note triggered").

Comments?

[jaygarcia]

@dxxb thank you very much for this.

I'm OK w/ changing the UI, but that also means digging into ATMLib.js and I've got zero bandwidth at this time.

@slemmon please work to update the UI and I'll try to find time to update the JS Synth in 2018.

[dxxb]

For a quick fix change:

ATM_CMD_M_ARPEGGIO_ON(221, 97), \

to:

ATM_CMD_M_ARPEGGIO_ON(221, 65), \

it will change the arpeggio to be continuous in your song. Tell me if/how I can help you further.

[jaygarcia]

@slemmon can you get this to work properly in ShowCodeNew tomorrow?

I'm going to need to heavily rely on arpeggiator to reduce music size.

[slemmon]

PR: #37

@jaygarcia I'm not 1000% sure I follow yet how this all will work but I think for the moment this change will allow the UI to keep working like it's been working and export the arpeggio command expected by lib2 for player playback.

If I've missed the mark I'll rework it tomorrow once you, me, and dxxb are online.

[dxxb]

I'm going to need to heavily rely on arpeggiator to reduce music size.

FYI, the arpeggiator also supports alternating between 1 note and silence (equally spaced), see notecut. Mentioning it just in case.

PR: #37

I see you changed the value assembled by the UI. That's one way to do it. I think changing the text associated with that FX option is essential to spare confusion on the user part. You could even get away with leaving the code as is with the right wording in the UI.

[jaygarcia]

@slemmon it doesn't work at all. Have you tested on device? Try the below atm file for something that is sonically more pleasing.
arpeggiator2.atm.txt

[dxxb]

@jaygarcia, could it be a problem with the library instead? I don't have an arduboy with me right now so I cannot test it myself. Does changing manually:

ATM_CMD_M_ARPEGGIO_ON(221, 97), \

to:

ATM_CMD_M_ARPEGGIO_ON(221, 65), \

solve the issue?

[jaygarcia]

@dxxb i'm working on that now. I am not good w/ numbers to binary so I am working on it by hand.

ATM_CMD_M_ARPEGGIO_ON(0b00110100, 0b01000001),

[jaygarcia]

@dxxb yeah it's an issue with the library (i think).

ATM_CMD_M_ARPEGGIO_ON(221, 65), \ <-- Still fails