Author: pronvit

First of all, we’re happy to see and let you know about a new release of Holon app from our friends at Holonic Systems. Holon uses motion and spatial computing to make data-driven, auto-generated, long-form music from your everyday activities.

The new version now uses a built-in miRack audio engine and comes with a variety of new high-quality presets. Soon we will provide a way for artist to create and share new Holon presets using miRack and Holon.ist apps.

Now to miRack news:

APP FEATURES

• The new keep last touched cables highlighted option in Settings not only improves visibility of the said cable but also greatly simplifies work with multiple cables connected to the same port. You can now tap on a port to cycle through all connected cables – and then either drag the cable you want once it becomes highlighted or change its color.
• The new minimap makes navigation around patches so much easier. It is enabled in Settings and has a few options for position and size. The minimap can be dragged to scroll the rack view or tapped to re-center it.

Let us know how you like these two new features, and how they or anything else in the UI can be improved further.

• The new module pack manager (accessed using Manage button in the module browser) allows to disable unwanted packs. This will hide them from the module browser and may also slightly reduce app startup time and memory consumption. Don’t worry, if you open a patch with disabled modules, they will be automatically loaded.
• Paths to external assets (e.g. samples) located in miRack Documents folder are now stored in a way that allows patches using such assets to be moved between devices (given the used assets are present on all devices). We’re working on improving handling of external assets, but in the meanwhile, it’s recommended to keep all of them in miRack Documents folder (either on the device or on iCloud Drive), this will prevent losing access to those files due to iOS and macOS file access restrictions.

Also, note that multi-touch switch has been moved to the new bigger Settings screen from Tools menu.

MODULES

• New module pack: voxglitch. The pack includes sample players, granular synths, effects, sequencers and a programmer. Don’t forget you can donate to the authors of this as well as many other module packs to support their work. Donation link for a module can be found in its manual.

BUG FIXES

• Fixed a few issues with dragging cables when multi-touch is enabled.
• Fixed scroll bar behavior on macOS.
• Fixed rendering issue in Submarine EO-102 module after patch load.
• Fixed Submarine EO-102 triggers on patch load instead of waiting for the connected external trigger.

APP FEATURES

• We made improvements to the audio engine resulting in significantly lower CPU consumption (depending on the patch). If you notice any issues with the new engine version, please let us know. You can also switch to the old engine version in Settings menu.
• Selected device is now preserved in MIDI modules even if it’s not connected when a patch is loaded.
• New Duplicate with Inputs command in module menu allows to duplicate a module and have the new module’s inputs connected to the same ports as the original one.
• New commands to make managing module rows easier: Split onto New Row moves a module and all modules to the right of it to a new row; Join onto Previous Row (available for the first module in a row only) moves a module and all modules to the right of it to the end of the previous row, then deletes the empty row.
• Support for factory presets. They’re currently available for a few modules only, but more preset management functionality is in the works.

MODULES

Two module packs added, please see Recently Added section in module browser for a full list of new modules.

BUG FIXES

• Fixed a few issues and crashes in AUv3 mode.
• Fixed undo/redo functionality for Paste Preset command.

APP FEATURES

macOS version of miRack now runs natively on Apple Silicon, and therefore can be loaded into ARM versions of DAWs that do not support loading Intel plugins. If you are using miRack VST or Legacy AU plugins, you need do download universal versions of those as well from mirack.app/vst and mirack.app/au respectively.

On this topic, looks like in one of the recent Logic Pro updates fixed a bug that prevented miRack from showing as a MIDI FX plugin. If you didn’t know about this option, try it out as it opens a lot of possibilities to process incoming MIDI. If miRack is still not showing in the list for you, please contact support.

Other changes:

• Incompatible ports are now dimmed when dragging a cable.
• Added a button to mark modules as favorite from their menus.
• Added protection from repeated crashes if there’s a problem loading a patch on miRack launch.
• Added 32- and 64-sample audio buffer size options.
• Number of DSP threads can now be increased in settings (only in standalone mode). Use this with caution, on newer devices and only if required for a large patch.

MODULES

This update adds 66 modules, please see Recently Added section in module browser for a full list.

BUG FIXES

• Fixed editing LPG responce/decay in Audible Instruments Macro Oscillator 2.
• Fixed FPS setting is not applied after restarting miRack.
• Fixed incorrect operation when double-tapping toggle switches.
• Fixed incorrect behaviour of several MSM modules.
• [iOS] Fixed a freeze when loading samples.
• [macOS] Fixed incorrect behaviour of rack view scrollbars when using a mouse.

APP FEATURES

• This update adds the long awaited undo/redo functionality. Operations that can be undone are: adding/removing modules and cables, moving cables, changing module parameters, randomizing/initializing modules, moving modules, and changing text fields in modules. Some modules may contain controls, including custom settings and operations in module menus, that are not undoable. We’re planning to improve support for them in the future.
• Since the start of miRack project, we are committed to providing the best possible performance while saving battery and keeping your devices cool, that’s why certain visual effects have been disabled. But after switching to Metal rendering and with additional optimizations, it is now possible to bring them back. This update improves appearance of module lights, and adds a bunch of options to the settings menu that allow to increase FPS, enable plug lights, light halos, cable shadows, and realistic light fading.
• Tools menu has new buttons to quickly zoom to fit the desired whole number of module rows on the screen: one zooms out to fit the nearest whole number of rows or add one more row, and the other zooms in the same way.
• Cable opacity can now be adjusted using a slider in the tools menu.
• [Mac] MIDI Learn function is now available when using miRack VST plugin. Make sure to also download the latest version from mirack.app/vst.

MODULES

• Min-Max module added to HetrickCV module pack.

BUG FIXES

• Fixed the issue where the new ··· (Split View) button in iPadOS 15 was displayed on top of the app toolbar buttons.

miRack is now available as a VST^® (VST3) plugin on macOS, which brings it to DAWs that do not support AU plugins, including Cubase and Bitwig. VST also allows sample accurate MIDI output to other plugins inside a DAW. See mirack.app/vst for details and download. Please consider miRack VST a beta software at the moment and let us know about any issues you encounter.

BUG FIXES

• Fixed Bogaudio Walk2 module crashes when trying to initialise it via the module menu.
• Fixed Bidoo dTrOY and bordL modules output a bogus gate signal on patch load.
• Fixed Squinky Labs Stairway module behaves incorrectly with some input/outptu cable configurations.
• Fixed cf Stereo module produces invalid output if its Pan CV input is connected.
• Fixed patches created from custom templates don’t have autogenerated names.
• [AU/VST] Fixed a crash when loading a preset (in the host) while MIDI or parameter mapping panel is shown.
• [Mac] Fixed garbage audio output may be produced when loading a patch without an audio output module.
• [Mac] Fixed Fit N Rows function calculates incorrect zoom level.
• [Mac] Fixed last document isn’t reloaded on app launch in some cases.

VST is a trademark of Steinberg Media Technologies GmbH, registered in Europe and other countries.

This update adds search function to the module browser. Pull down the module categories list on the left to reveal a search field. On macOS, you can also press Cmd+F as usual.

Also, we added two more cable colors. They will not be used automatically but can be selected from the cable color panel.

BUG FIXES

• [AUv3] Fixed synchronization issues when buffer size is set to 2048 in the host.
• Fixed JW NoteSeq module not initialized properly when added to a patch.

This update adds the ability to choose a color to be used for new cables and to change color of existing ones using a new button on the toolbar. You can select a color while dragging a cable or touching a port, in which case it will be applied to the currently active cable only (the color used for new cables will not change).

BUG FIXES

• Fixed Meander module doesn’t correctly restore its Harmony Steps parameter.
• Fixed trowaSoft modules have wrong sizes.

MODULES

New module added – Meander by PurrSoftware. Meander is a self-contained algorithmic composer, it has quite a few rules for what makes western music sound good and applies those rules to sequence other sound generation modules. The module looks complex but it is easy to use – just connect V/Oct and Gate outputs to VCO/ADSR modules for harmony, melody and bass parts (or some of them) to get started. The next step is to adjust the module’s many parameters, all of which can also be controlled with CVs. See Meander demo patch for a basic setup.

BUG FIXES

• Fixed a bug where a quick touch and drag action on a port could result in a wrong cable being dragged.
• [macOS] Fixes and improvements to the UI, especially when running on macOS 11.3 and later.
• [macOS] Fixed miRack not using the whole window size in Legacy AU mode on macOS 11.3 and later.

If you are using miRack Legacy AU component on macOS, it is also recommended to update it to the latest version which can be downloaded from mirack.app/au.

This version mainly updates many of the included module packs to latest available versions and adds a bunch of new modules, including a calibration module for Expert Sleepers (and similar) audio interfaces and a module to send/receive CVs via OSC protocol.

Other changes:

• New Recently Added category in module browser showing modules added in the last few app updates.
• When starting a two finger pan and zoom gesture, it’s now much less likely to accidentally adjust module controls instead.
• The number of AU parameters that can be exposed to a DAW is increased to 32.
• Other minor UI and rendering tweaks.

This version is also built using the latest iOS/macOS SDK versions. If you experience any issues because of this or because of the module updates, or if you have any other suggestions, please contact us or visit the discussion board.

Sorry this update took so long to be released, we will now return to our normal practice of releasing frequent smaller updates with fixes and improvements from our (pretty long) to-do list.

There hasn’t been miRack app updates in a while now, and I guess some explanation is needed. Partly that was due to personal reasons, partly because most major features people were asking for had been implemented and there was no rush to do another release. I used this time to do a biggish API-related refactoring in preparation for releasing miRack SDK and supporting commercial modules. I also didn’t want to update included plugins (especially big ones) until the API is finalised.

Unfortunately the internal changes took longer than expected and didn’t go completely as I hoped (this has little end user impact so not to worry). The good news is, this is now finished, and I also updated most of the plugins to latest available version.

The should be a new version in the next two or so weeks which will mainly include these updated modules and some fixes. Then hopefully updates will come much more often – I have a long todo list by now. At the same time, I’ll make the SDK and documentation available, and continue to work on support for commercial modules.