Robotic Bean - Portatron Tape Synthesizer (VST3)

[Ahornberg]

At the end it should be a little DAW

[moalla]

This sale reminds i would get Berna3 from Giorgios Ancristoforo, what also has a 4track tape looper, it´s not comparable at all with portatron wich is playable with keys, but also brings a tape stop and pitch/speed effect with it, don´t think it sounds as good as robotic beans but as a non syncable looper i hope it gives more benefits than the unfinished RepeatLooper, especial it can export recorded stuff! To play with sounds 4track tapes are at all really interesting, meanwhile I´m using the koala sampler on ipad via fireface/babyface over adat and audiobus for looping midi synced via ableton link / audiobus, feeding midiclock external, cause of reason midisync problem....


https://www.giorgiosancristoforo.net/news/

see page 37 three LOOPIONIX recorders
https://www.giorgiosancristoforo.net/do ... Manual.pdf

So my speculation for late spring 2023, Robotic Bean will bring some looper device, to complete the live arsenal of reason

upload pic

[MrFigg]

This sale reminds i would get Berna3 from Giorgios Ancristoforo, what also has a 4track tape looper, it´s not comparable at all with portatron wich is playable with keys, but also brings a tape stop and pitch/speed effect with it, don´t think it sounds as good as robotic beans but as a non syncable looper i hope it gives more benefits than the unfinished RepeatLooper, especial it can export recorded stuff! To play with sounds 4track tapes are at all really interesting, meanwhile I´m using the koala sampler on ipad via fireface/babyface over adat and audiobus for looping midi synced via ableton link / audiobus, feeding midiclock external, cause of reason midisync problem....


https://www.giorgiosancristoforo.net/news/

see page 37 three LOOPIONIX recorders
https://www.giorgiosancristoforo.net/do ... Manual.pdf

So my speculation for late spring 2023, Robotic Bean will bring some looper device, to complete the live arsenal of reason

upload pic

Delia Derbyshire Machine

[crimsonwarlock]

Delia Derbyshire Machine

... of Doctor Who theme fame

[MrFigg]

Delia Derbyshire Machine

... of Doctor Who theme fame

Amongst many other things . Have you read Cosey's book? Or seen the recent documentary?

[crimsonwarlock]

... of Doctor Who theme fame

Amongst many other things . Have you read Cosey's book? Or seen the recent documentary?

I don't remember exactly, but I think I saw a short docu on YT about the origin of the Doctor Who theme, with a few snippets of old interviews with her.

[MrFigg]

Amongst many other things . Have you read Cosey's book? Or seen the recent documentary?

I don't remember exactly, but I think I saw a short docu on YT about the origin of the Doctor Who theme, with a few snippets of old interviews with her.

Nah...it's full length. Cosey from TG did the soundtrack. Pretty cool.

[crimsonwarlock]

I don't remember exactly, but I think I saw a short docu on YT about the origin of the Doctor Who theme, with a few snippets of old interviews with her.

Nah...it's full length. Cosey from TG did the soundtrack. Pretty cool.

That's what I meant that I didn't see a full documentary, but a short thing on YT, like 15 minutes or so.

[rorystorm]

Portatron looks great, though sadly I"m really poor at the moment. Next time I'm working it's a buy.

Delia Darbyshire is one of my musical heroes (as well as one of my biggest celebrity crushes). Google 'Delia Darbyshire lampshade'. You won't regret it. If you like this kind of thing I also highly recommend Tristam Carey's soundtracks to Doctor Who: the Daleks and Quartermass. Plus you should check out Daphne Oram - she also started at the Radiophonic Workshop but checked out because their stuff was too commercial! Though she did do her own quite commercial stuff herself - but the real gold is her serious avant garde shit like Pulse Persephone - quite intense noisy experimental music, decades ahead of its time. She's amazing. Both her and Delia Darbyshire are still criminally under rated - because, you know, partriachy. But I'd put them up there with the greats of early electronic electro-acoustic music.

On that topic, I think I've posted this in RT before, but here's a spotify playlist I made one time that's an electro-acoustic greatest hits. It starts off with the discography from the Berna 3 manual (which is really good) and then I added some other personal favourites. I'm a big fan of this kind of thing. (though the opera based tracks, not so much).

https://open.spotify.com/playlist/6KqpE ... 2c74a24dbf

and then, if you really want to obsessive deepdive - Ubuweb's History of Electronic Music - https://www.ubu.com/sound/electronic.html

I really like Berna 3 but it's a pig to use. The dev designed it to replicate the experience of the working conditions at the time (as much as you can with software) and holy shit, you can see why it took Stockhausen a year to make Gesang der Juling. Anyone batch about Reason's workflow needs to spend a week trying to make music and Berna 3 and then revisit their ideas about track folders.

[MrFigg]

Apparently this code will get you it for $24. Haven’t tested as I l ready bought it.

apd-nwvbbyy9-5-off

[huggermugger]

Apparently this code will get you it for $24. Haven’t tested as I l ready bought it.

apd-nwvbbyy9-5-off

Thanks Mr Figg, discount worked fine! I was just about the grab Portatron at $29, a nice price at that. $24 makes it a no-brainer.

[Arpeg]

Unless I am missing something then Portatron does not Save a patch correctly inside Reason 12.5, luckily, I saved a VST3 patch as well. So, on playback of a Portatron saved patch the EQ's reset themselves?! Other parameters may be reset too but I just heard the sound wasn't correct and flipped open Portatron and focused on the EQ's and saw a reset. So, immediately loaded up the Reason VST3 saved patch and that saved correctly.
This is happening with a number of VST3's in Reason at the moment.. Ugh!

WIN 10(latest update), i7 3770, 3.4 Ghz - Reason 12.5

[huggermugger]

I wanted to push it to the limit, since there's a limit on the loop length of 15 mins (!). So I loaded a 1.1GB 48k/24-bit sample (1 hour and 4 minutes long). It took about 10 seconds to load, and the tape editor displayed the entire thing. The loop length indicator did indeed max out at 15 mins, but the sample loaded no problem.

Also, you can drag and drop samples, so easy!

[moneykube]

I wanted to push it to the limit, since there's a limit on the loop length of 15 mins (!). So I loaded a 1.1GB 48k/24-bit sample (1 hour and 4 minutes long). It took about 10 seconds to load, and the tape editor displayed the entire thing. The loop length indicator did indeed max out at 15 mins, but the sample loaded no problem.

Also, you can drag and drop samples, so easy!

It would be awesome if loops could be longer... I had a few files that I had hoped to loop, that are longer than 15 minutes.
I can work around it... but still it would be nice for the option of longer loops( if possible )
Ambient constructs I have made that are longer> was my initial plan

[rorystorm]

Portatron looks great, though sadly I"m really poor at the moment. Next time I'm working it's a buy.

I bit the bullet and bought this last night. Who needs food.

What an absolute pleasure to work with. A beautiful device.

[Arpeg]

So, I loaded up 4 portatron's in a combi, one sample and variations per portatron so effectively each sample(s) have their own out channel to overcome no multi-outs and for more FX/control. For example, I wanted ES's Sadist just on a synthwave Bass sample and nothing else. Plus, Sugar Bytes Turnado for Loop FX.
This also allows me to use the global BAR 1,2,4 looper per sound. I would like BAR loop to be in each channel in one Portatron if possible, would be cool. That pre-delay on Reverb is ace and a lot of automation under the hood.

Tried it with Sequences, too, as this has 'conditions'. For an all-in-one experience it would be good to have Sequences or a version inside Portatron. Not a major thing of course, just I'm inspired by the device. Great work Robotic Bean

[Tiny Montgomery]

Portatron looks great, though sadly I"m really poor at the moment. Next time I'm working it's a buy.

I bit the bullet and bought this last night. Who needs food.

What an absolute pleasure to work with. A beautiful device.

Same.

Making your own patches from the supplied sounds is very rewarding. The thing itself just generates so many ideas and possibilities.

I noticed it wouldn't let me configure controls in the usual way in Ableton (by clicking on the config button on the plugin then moving a parameter on the device), I had to address them from the control list in the envelope views in the clip. This might be because im running in Rosetta mode so I can load RRP, not sure. I didnt see the reverse button as automatable - if this is the case that's a feature request from me.

[Ahornberg]

I didnt see the reverse button as automatable

The reverse button is automatable. It is named "Reverse". I tried it in Reason, Birwig and Ableton and automating the reverse button worked fine.

[MrFigg]

I didnt see the reverse button as automatable

The reverse button is automatable. It is named "Reverse". I tried it in Reason, Birwig and Ableton and automating the reverse button worked fine.

To automate the transport bar I recorded them in as notes using my MIDI keyboard.

[Tiny Montgomery]

I didnt see the reverse button as automatable

The reverse button is automatable. It is named "Reverse". I tried it in Reason, Birwig and Ableton and automating the reverse button worked fine.

Thanks, I didnt see it in the list of parameters, I'll check again when at home later. Were you able to add parameters using the configure button on the plugin in Ableton? When i tried this it didnt work.

[Tiny Montgomery]

The reverse button is automatable. It is named "Reverse". I tried it in Reason, Birwig and Ableton and automating the reverse button worked fine.

Thanks, I didnt see it in the list of parameters, I'll check again when at home later. Were you able to add parameters using the configure button on the plugin in Ableton? When i tried this it didnt work.

OK happy to report that automation works as expected when i opened the project just now, perhaps i needed a restart after installing the vst. I can do the thing with the reverse button I was going to do now.

[joeyluck]

They talked about Portatron during today's Sonic Talk:

I wish Nick would cue up videos ahead of streaming. It seems to be a constant thing where they show the intro to something and then cut it off before the real content...