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Chenille looks a lot sweeter !

Thats a radically different interface. I wonder if they changed the sound?

Awesome! I'm excited to see this go live -- JP contacted me a while back to do the new design, and I'm really proud of how it came out. It's a really deep and complex device, and with that in mind I aimed to make its new layout as approachable and understandable as possible. I hope you guys like it!

@miscend: To my knowledge, Chenille's sound hasn't changed any, just the interface. Also, some controls that were previously only available on the back panel have been moved to the front, to be more accessible (and automatable, too!)

The Combo Electric Harpsichord looks endearingly retro as heck! JP, will you be mad if I call it cute?

miscend wrote:Thats a radically different interface. I wonder if they changed the sound?

It sounds the same (although I've done a major reorganisation of the root folder, so the best presets are FAR easier to select quickly now, and it defaults to a Dimension D, which is what I use 90% of the time) but visually radically different was the only way to do it! I let Sarah just do it from scratch, then from that first mockup we revised and tweaked until satisfaction assured.

I was never pleased with the my original BBD looks: I'm way more confident at doing recreations for Reason than new designs. Naturally, Titus and Steerpike GUI's are being worked on too, but we're a little bit behind as Titus has proved... difficult. Let's just say, there two too many knobs on the front. But we're getting there.

Titus 2 will be a free upgrade, given it's already a cheap device it seems unfair to charge half the full price again. Chenille 2 and Steerpike 2 will be paid upgrade (the minimum amount), though, as I need to account for Sarah's excellent services and some additional tweaking by Pitchblende to get them building again under SDK2. (Which means of course, this upgrade won't be available to 6.5 users).

Expect Chenille 2 next week. The Harpsichord? Tomorrow or Friday.

esselfortium wrote:Awesome! I'm excited to see this go live -- JP contacted me a while back to do the new design, and I'm really proud of how it came out. It's a really deep and complex device, and with that in mind I aimed to make its new layout as approachable and understandable as possible. I hope you guys like it!

Great work! Looks fantastic

Next Steerpike please Mr. Gorilla

It looks like you are keeping 'phase' on the back maybe (and moving compander and bass boost to the front where they belong.) But adding a rate dial to all of the stages... so you are adding 12 dials to the unit? Unreal.

Please be sure to give us the remotables for it, because I want to integrate it on my BCR2000 right away.

Catblack wrote:It looks like you are keeping 'phase' on the back maybe (and moving compander and bass boost to the front where they belong.) But adding a rate dial to all of the stages... so you are adding 12 dials to the unit? Unreal.

Please be sure to give us the remotables for it, because I want to integrate it on my BCR2000 right away.

The phase is on the front (where it should have been from the start really!) but some I've renamed some things to be clearer (at least on the front panel, underlying Remote property names sadly can't be changed due to backwards compatibility requirements, so there are a couple of discrepencies, i.e BBD Mixer Gain is now called "Chorus Gain", which is more logical because it works the same on DDL not just the BBD, but the remote still has to be called "BBD Mixer Gain", I hope it's not too confusing to Remoters).

"Phase", well, that's now "Chorus Model".

And the new back-side is lovely too. Kleenex shares spiked the day I first saw it.

edit: JP beat me to the punch!

Catblack wrote:It looks like you are keeping 'phase' on the back maybe (and moving compander and bass boost to the front where they belong.) But adding a rate dial to all of the stages... so you are adding 12 dials to the unit? Unreal.

Please be sure to give us the remotables for it, because I want to integrate it on my BCR2000 right away.

The old "Phase" switch from the back is now the "Chorus Model" switch on the left, with more descriptive settings.

There are indeed a lot more knobs now, but the functionality is the same, just not so obscured as it used to be. I think having everything visible at once makes it easier to understand and edit, compared with the old setup that repurposed fewer knobs for multiple functions.

I utilized the confusion I felt when first trying to use the original version of Chenille (sorry JP! ), and tried to make the new version as straightforward as possible based on that. JP had me make the new layout one rack-unit taller than the original, which helped make room for this sort of rearrangement.

Jiggery, so glad you got the Harpsichord to "pass inspection" without change (I'm assuming there's no change from the original?) - will purchase it as a matter of support for unique instruments and UIs (and because it's one of my favorite non-standard instruments of all time).

JiggeryPokery wrote: "Phase", well, that's now "Chorus Model".

Maybe leave that as a // comment in the remotable file?

I'm really looking forward to the new version!

Catblack wrote:

JiggeryPokery wrote: "Phase", well, that's now "Chorus Model".

Maybe leave that as a // comment in the remotable file?

I'm really looking forward to the new version!

Yeah, that's a good idea. I'm sure I would have had it too once I got around to updating the user guide, but you've saved me the effort of making that particular leap .

selig wrote:Jiggery, so glad you got the Harpsichord to "pass inspection" without change (I'm assuming there's no change from the original?) - will purchase it as a matter of support for unique instruments and UIs (and because it's one of my favorite non-standard instruments of all time).

Thanks. Unfortunately the damp pedal on this guy's BEH was broken, so I was unable to get damped samples (when his back was turned I briefly tried to manually push the damper down but it was hard work to keep it held down over the bridge, play a note, and keep an eye on the sample software, as Sampleit is very erratic on electric instruments, creating many false samples) so it wasn't really going to be a viable method ). As a niche device I'd have liked to have a charged a bit more than the other Combos to make up for the lower sales, but the lack of damp samples means it's not "complete", so I feel it would be a bit unfair to charge more. The Damp control I've included is filter and envelope based; useful, for sure, but I won't pretend the result is exactly the same. I'd consider an update to include an alternate, more aggressive artificial damping if there's a call for it.

OH MY! JP, your awesome for these updates especially Chenille, what a sexy new design! Bravo!
Question: On Chenille, Is this just a prototype design? I noticed the Bypass/On/Off switch has a different design from other devices. Will this or other parts change when its in the shop?
I am also curious on my little friend Titus new design. Any pictures?

Mmj85 wrote:OH MY! JP, your awesome for these updates especially Chenille, what a sexy new design! Bravo!
Question: On Chenille, Is this just a prototype design? I noticed the Bypass/On/Off switch has a different design from other devices. Will this or other parts change when its in the shop?
I am also curious on my little friend Titus new design. Any pictures?

It's finalized, to my knowledge.

Titus is getting there but is still a bit undercooked at the moment. It should be ready soonish, though!

Mmj85 wrote: I noticed the Bypass/On/Off switch has a different design from other devices. Will this or other parts change when its in the shop?

I laughed because I'm glad you mentioned that!

I had it with the original part and it just didn't look right with that style of fader with the nice ones right next to it. So I reused my new, handbuilt part (most of the parts I recreated in bespoke 3D from essel's 2D design). I'm half expecting a rejection because of that fader; I know changing the text is grounds for rejection (i.e, the actual words "Off/Bypass/On", the font can be changed as I know at least one other dev has done that (Synapse?)) , but I'm not aware of any specific requirement that the fader itself has to be the default part, so I think it should be ok. I'll argue the case and won't budge on it, because it does look sooooo much better.

Has no-one else ever used a different bypass fader in a now-live product?

JiggeryPokery wrote:

Mmj85 wrote: I noticed the Bypass/On/Off switch has a different design from other devices. Will this or other parts change when its in the shop?

I laughed because I'm glad you mentioned that!

I had it with the original part and it just didn't look right with that style of fader with the nice ones right next to it. So I reused my new, handbuilt part (most of the parts I recreated in bespoke 3D from essel's 2D design). I'm half expecting a rejection because of that fader; I know changing the text is grounds for rejection (i.e, the actual words "Off/Bypass/On", the font can be changed as I know at least one other dev has done that (Synapse?)) , but I'm not aware of any specific requirement that the fader itself has to be the default part, so I think it should be ok. I'll argue the case and won't budge on it, because it does look sooooo much better.

I agree, the new custom fader design looks a lot better with the new design of Chenille. Since we use the Bypass/On/Off fader exhaustedly its great to see something new and fresh added in the rack and since its doesn't compromise its main use, it works. Lets all cross our fingers for its approval. Even if its a small detail, i Love it.

esselfortium wrote:

Mmj85 wrote:OH MY! JP, your awesome for these updates especially Chenille, what a sexy new design! Bravo!
Question: On Chenille, Is this just a prototype design? I noticed the Bypass/On/Off switch has a different design from other devices. Will this or other parts change when its in the shop?
I am also curious on my little friend Titus new design. Any pictures?

It's finalized, to my knowledge.

Titus is getting there but is still a bit undercooked at the moment. It should be ready soonish, though!

Actually, i like my devices medium rear so i hope sooner then expected lol

chenille was indeed a bit confusing and i did not use if often except for some presets, that is why appreciate a design update. good job.

Great move Jiggery!

It's good that the original Chenille and Steerpike came with plenty of great presets, because their GUI doesn't really invite me to tweaking.

The new GUI seems a lot easier to work with - even though the knobs are fugly VSTish

I love the smell of RE upgrades in the morning

Exowildebeest wrote:Great move Jiggery!

It's good that the original Chenille and Steerpike came with plenty of great presets, because their GUI doesn't really invite me to tweaking.

The new GUI seems a lot easier to work with - even though the knobs are fugly VSTish

Modern-retro

You make a fair point regarding tweaking. I think especially with the preset re-organisation in Chenille, one might still just use the presets cos these ones are so good, and frankly I don't think anyone need feel ashamed to use just those and not tweak anything other than the dry/wet. I've finally added DimD modes 5 and 6 too.

So this is the new root folder, and Roland Dimension Mode 4 Chorus is the new default. So selecting any of these presets (provided "Load default patch" is enabled in prefs) even when not in the browser, is as easy as just clicking on Chenille's patch display to get this full selection as the pop-up list and clicking the one you want.
That said, I think removing the rate/depth knob paging, getting all the controls on the front, and renaming one or two things make it a lot clearer in terms of tweaking those presets.

This? Used by Rick Wakeman and Tony Banks?

I won't upgrade as I would miss the orange dry/wet knob too much But the graphics look a lot cleaner on the new GUI.