Michael A.D.

Volume 1 was great fun - looking forward to this new one!

I looked at the demo and I don't get it.  Yes, it's a nice arpeggiator, but I see nothing special about it.   Most DAWs will let you record the MIDI out of a VST, so nothing special there.    You can always record automation into the MIDI after you've recorded it into your DAW.

Perhaps for $19 this might be a consideration, but $99 for the intro price?    That's way too expensive for an arpeggiator.   Cthulhu is $39 and will give you a great arpeggiator as well as one-finger chord playback.   Scaler 2 is $59 and will do live playback of arpeggios (Reid's request) and I am pretty sure you can change them over the course of a song via keyswitches.   And of course Scaler 2 provides so many more features for far less than the cost of Sample Logic's expensive arpeggiator.

12 minutes ago, paulo said:

Taking money from people for things that they take home and happily put straight in the bin and yet still come back for more once they've thrown them all away.

Gotta love that bottled water market!    Whoever said "Let's charge people to buy something that they already have" was a marketing genius.

Note that Evian spelled backwards is Naive.

I found this freebie on KVR.  I have not tried it...

https://www.kvraudio.com/news/ultimate-midi-plugin-updates-free-simple-chord-detection-vst-plug-in-for-windows-to-v1-1-52001

Is there some advantage to the new version compared to the original Kontakt version?

How about the free version of Jamstix? 

https://www.rayzoon.com/rayzoon_downloads.html

I like these:

http://www.smashupthestudio.com/funky_electric_bass.html

The MT32 predates the GM spec.

If you do anything with strings, then just get this.    Even at full price this is a great tool to have in your kit.   At this sale price you have no excuse - just get it and marvel at how good it sounds!

NI's yearly 50% off Komplete sale is probably coming next week.  I don't know the regular price of Komplete 13 with the full version of Kontakt, but if it's $599, then $300 is a good deal for those without Kontakt to get the full version of Kontakt plus a lot of other stuff. 

I've had the full version of Kontakt for a long time (think I got it in Komplete 9) and I think it's one of the most important pieces of software a person can have.  It will open you up to a world of other software, much of which can be very inexpensive and very high quality.  

I too have both Scaler2 and ChordJam.  

I gave my opinion about ChordJam above, but would like to add a couple more things.  ChordJam is not CPU friendly.  It will bog your system down pretty quickly, but as a quick idea generator, it's fine.  You'll never be able to use it in a live situation, though I doubt that was it's intended use.  One other thing I forgot to mention is that ChordJam does not allow  you set a different MIDI channel for each note in the chords it creates.   Perhaps they can add that in a future upgrade.

I like Brian's description of ChordJam as  a "happy accident" creative toy.    You can get something fun out it in seconds - as I mentioned I like to feed it into ChordPotion, but I'm sure there are other VSTs that will also be "happy accident" compatible.

Scaler2 is light years ahead of ChordJam and does so much more, in so many ways, that I can only say buy Scaler2 if you can only buy one or the other.  You will be amply rewarded for the time you spend exploring Scaler2 and there is LOTS to explore. 

Too bad they don't discount their $29 stuff.  I guess Spitfire must think they are so cheap already?   But even a 10% discount ($3 off) would be nice.

I bought Audio Modern’s ChordJam from Plugin Boutique... got it for about $36 as I had a few dollars in my account that I used.

I tried the demo first and I liked how it allowed me, using only 1 finger, to generate complex chords with random velocities and timing info.  I experimented feeding the output into ChordPotion and was having fun with it, so I made the purchase.

Here’s a few more thoughts:

1) They don’t provide the manual with the full program (at least not the Windows version), so you might want to download the demo if you need the manual.

2) The sequencer seems to be a complete waste... I spent some time trying to get something decent out of it, but ultimately decided it was easier just to create a chord and then use the DRAG CHORD option into the DAW.   

3) However, I think they need to do some work on the DRAG CHORD function as it would never line up properly where I wanted it.  I was using the random time feature but I would have expected the first note to line up at the bar line or the spot I specified and the other notes would show the random timing.  But no matter what I tried it would always have a large gap between the point I wanted and the first note.  If I set the time function to 0 for all notes, then it would left-justify all notes at the point I wanted, but that defeats the idea of the random timing.  Seems like they need to fix this.

4) There are no modulation options as far as I can tell, so if you want to have chords from 2 different keys, then the DRAG CHORD option is the only choice.  You would have to change key, drag the chord, change key and drag another chord, etc.

4) The interface is a bit murky.  It seems odd to me that the pull-down option you select is faded out and the options are all highlighted.  I would want my selection to be highlighted and show my options as faded text.

I think with an upgrade this could be quite a bit better, but overall I'm happy as I got what I had enjoyed in the demo.

Free Rock MIDI Drum Grooves:

28 MIDI rock grooves

All in 4/4

9 tempos, ranging from 68 to 145 BPM

Arranged for Toontrack EZdrummer & Superior Drummer, XLN Audio Addictive Drums, Steven Slate Drums, NI Studio Drummer, I-Map and of course General MIDI

All recorded live by Magnus Brandell, of course not quantized

Totally free of charge

https://oddgrooves.com/product/straight-ahead-groovin-rock-lite/

They also have LOTS of other free MIDI drum tracks!

The original OP said he was using the "Free" version.

I suggest that he goes back and uses the "Trial" version, which will have all features, but is limited to 7 days.

This should confirm whether the "Free" version is causing his problems or not.

http://amplesound.net/en/download.asp

Last week Loot Audio had almost the same Image Sounds guitar pack for about $18.   Only difference was Loot had Acoustic Guitar 2 and Big Fish has 60's Guitar 1 - otherwise identical. 

I have Cthulhu, but for a far better program for chord generation, check out Trackbout's Ripchord.  It doesn't have Cthulu's arpeggiator, but it's chord progression capabilities are much nicer, much easier to edit, and it has more playback options.  It also allows you to play chords rather than Cthulu's single note player.   Best of all, Ripchord is free.  Check it out here:

https://trackbout.com/ripchord

I too grabbed this.  I figured for about $11 how much do I have to lose if it's bad?  But, like Reid, I have been pleasantly surprised. 

Lately I have been using the new randomization features of Live 11 to make ambient stuff and this Freak pack really works well for that purpose.  

For drums for ambient music, check out the ECM style MIDI loops from Odd Grooves.  They have an entire pack devoted to that style, but you can get freebie examples from them.  (They offer lots of free MIDI drum styles, so worth checking out for all styles besides ambient.)   They have frequent sales too.  I like their MIDI loops because they are not quantized.

https://oddgrooves.com/product-category/jazz/

Also, Ample Sound freebies have a limited note range, so that may explain why you are not hearing a particular note.

8 hours ago, Jason Morin said:

Updated the old standalone host (ASHost) to the Rectangles (new standalone host, new features to be added in the future)

Thanks Jason.  I have no need for standalone use, but I do appreciate another nice upgrade from Ample Sound.  Their upright bass is one of my favorite basses.

The Riffendium series is excellent, so if you don't have any, then buy pack 1 at this low price and you'll be convinced!

What is Rectangles?  I saw that on the Strat upgrade and now I see it for this upgrade.

I had figured out how to use it when I got it.  And that's why I called it unusable!    What a nightmare of a workflow.  Your diagram shows how crazy it is to use!

And I see that you are using it with Ample Sound's ES-335 which already gives you the ability to create sophisticated chord patterns with precise strumming patterns.   

But hey, it seems like you're having fun with InstaChord and getting something out of it.  I guess that's what matters most!

Horrible product.  Avoid!

Save your money and buy Scaler.

I too paid for this on a sale and found it unusable.  I presume it's only for people who know absolutely nothing about music theory.  

As Zo said - very unintuitive.   

If you can get this for free, then you have paid too much!  Avoid at all costs!