Blockhead v0.14.0 alpha (Patreon)

Updated transport controls:

• Added a new keybinding to move the playback position to the current cursor position without starting playback (default: X)
• Multiple start blocks can now be added to the project (Right click on track -> "Add Start Block")
• Right clicking on a start block and enabling "Auto-restart" will automatically trigger a restart event when the playback stops, but only when that block is set as the current "home block" (see below).

• The home block
  • Clicking on either the play or reset button on a start block sets that block as the current home block
  • The current home block is indicated by a small arrow indicator on the right edge of the block
  • The home block is simply where the playback will jump back to whenever a restart event occurs
  • If there is no current home block when the playback is restarted, it will jump back to the song start block (see below). If there is no current song start block, it will jump back to the zero position.
  • Starting  the playback from the cursor position (default: Tab), or setting the playback to the current cursor position (default: X) will clear the current home block

• Song start block
  • Only one start block at a time can be set as the "song start". To do this, right click on the block and enable "Is song start"
  • The song start block is indicated by the treble clef icon, which also acts as the playback restart button.
  • If a song start is set, the song exporter will render the project from that position.

Audio input:

The catch buffer has been extended to support the addition of audio device input buffers. You should check your audio settings (F2) to make sure you have your preferred input device selected.

• 'Catch' button renamed to 'Input'
• You can now add a new audio input buffer by clicking the (+) button on the input panel. The input buffer configuration will be saved to the project file, but not the contents.
• Input buffers are circular meaning once they fill up they will automatically begin overwriting from the start.
• By default input buffers will automatically start recording when they detect an input signal and automatically stop when the input signal drops below the threshold level (controlled by the spin-box in the top-right of the buffer view). By dragging the threshold control all the way down you can prevent the recording from stopping automatically.
• A 'Gain' control has been added in the top-left of the buffer view. The gain is applied after the threshold.
• The following features are unchanged but I am reiterating them for new people:
  • Any time the recording stops, a preview block will be automatically generated containing the chunk of audio that was just recorded (since recording started). You can create your own preview blocks by clicking and dragging anywhere in the buffer.
  • Click once on a preview block to generate a sampler block from it. It will stick to your mouse cursor and you can then place it in the workspace. It will appear in the sample list with an auto-generated name.

Additional changes:

• Feature: Tracks can now be individually muted.
• Update: Loop toggle was removed from the tempo guide block
• Update: Credits and licenses removed from external files and can now be viewed in the options panel (F2)
• Update: Envelope and scale editors will now make themselves read-only when they are not taking up enough horizontal width on-screen (100 pixels)
• Update: Blink plugin manager will now search for the latest versions of each plugin and will automatically fall back to older versions if loading fails.
• Bugfix: Crash when trying to resize a locked block
• Bugfix: Crash when disabling envelope
• Bugfix: Crash when deactivating a block parameter via the context menu
• Bugfix: Crash on exit if an export is in progress
• Bugfix: Possible crash when redo'ing and undo'd sampler mode change
• Bugfix: Returning floating-point precision error where very long blocks would elicit a sample-rate reduction effect both audibly and visually
• Bugfix: Block color override control doesn't update the block color immediately
• Bugfix: Undoing a "lock block" operation results in incorrect state
• Bugfix: Warp marker input is broken when the sample is reversed
• Bugfix: Track resizing breaks after changing the order of tracks
• Bugfix: Track context menu -> "Add track" doesn't do anything
• Bugfix: Performance issue where blocks perform a partial visual reconfigure when they are off-screen
• Bugfix: Effect blocks occasionally end up in an unstable parameter state while erratically manipulating loop regions
• Bugfix: Master level meter visually updates at a higher rate than it should (decays more quickly as a result)
• Bugfix: Catch buffer can generate sample data which exceeds 0 dB
• Bugfix: Fixed several errors in envelope point re-calculator (hold CTRL while changing "step size" or "snap amount")

Links

Public issue tracker: https://trello.com/b/MT1A3Zob/blockhead-issues

Planned features: https://trello.com/b/DJsP5eL9/blockhead-planned-features

Discord: https://discord.gg/9ZW2UXM