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Venomode Releases PhraseBox


cclarry

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Venomode has announced the release of Phrasebox with a 30% off introductory discount.

Phrasebox is a phrase arpeggiator that gives you control over playback "like never before". With its DAW-like piano roll you can create expressive, layered melodies from simple MIDI chords.

Phrase Arpeggiation
Turn simple chord sequences into expressive melody lines and musical phrases. Simply design your phrase in the piano roll, and Phrasebox will play back the pattern using whatever notes you input. You have complete control over how the phrase is played. Select notes in pitch order, or use the special selectors – such as the loudest/quietest or first-played/last-played. Your phrase will be played back with sample-accurate timing.

DAW-Like Control
Phrasebox isn't like traditional step sequencers or arpeggiators – you have full control over the timing and length of notes as you would in your DAW. Alongside velocity controls, you can also adjust each note's transposition, and even select a random chance that the note will play. If your transpositions end up falling between the notes of a scale, you can enable the "Lock To Key" feature to make sure your riffs are always in tune.

Controller Editing
Alongside note patterns, you can also send MIDI controller data. With up to 8 assignable controllers, you can design everything from piano parts using the hold pedal, to automated synth filters and pitch bends to make the perfect melody line.

Generation
If you want quick access to an unlimited number of phrases, you can use the built-in generation tools to quickly get inspiration. Simply set how you want the notes and controller data to be generated, and Phrasebox will create a unique phrase pattern with just the click of a button.

Price: £35 (RRP £49 - Offer ends 29th February).

https://venomode.com/phrasebox

 

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Thanks Larry.

Looks interesting and there's a demo  (Windows, OSX and even Ubuntu).

Seems to do similar things to Chordpotion but in a different way.

FYI running the Windows demo exe ( Phrasebox Setup 1.0.0.exe ) through VirusTotal, 1 engine (BKAV) out of 70 detected --> W32.AIDetectVM.malware  

Probably a false positive but just a heads up and I have emailed Venomode's support.

Edited by ZincT
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Anyone having it working in Cakewalk? If so please enlighten me as to how you did it.

EDIT: Nevermind  - it had just timed out on me.

EDIT Again: Worked for all of a minute and then crapped out again. I give up. Bored with it now.

Edited by paulo
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FWIW I heard back from Venomode...

Quote

Unfortunately, our Windows installers sometimes get flagged by one of the less-known engines on Virus Total. I’ve contacted them and just have to wait for them to white-flag it, although sometimes I get no response.

It is a false positive, but if you’re worried about potential malware, I can send you a ZIP of the necessary files and manual installation instructions (which should be clear in VirusTotal as it’s the installer they don’t like)?

Cheers,

Adam Rogers
Venomode

 

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It's actually pretty nice and the demo works for 30 minutes.

You feed it with MIDI e.g. chords and it can then treat the MIDI to create melody, bass, chords patterns from the data. I'm trying to decide whether it offers anything significantly different to Chordpotion which I bought at Christmas. 

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1 hour ago, ZincT said:

It's actually pretty nice and the demo works for 30 minutes.

You feed it with MIDI e.g. chords and it can then treat the MIDI to create melody, bass, chords patterns from the data. I'm trying to decide whether it offers anything significantly different to Chordpotion which I bought at Christmas. 

Is this in CW?

I tried again today and can't get it to do anything. If yes can you let me in on the set-up? I have the midi output  set to the synth of choice but all I hear is the same notes I played exactly as I played them. I must be doing something wrong, but I can't figure out what.

(Yes I have RTFM but all it says is to output the midi from one to the other which I have done)

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44 minutes ago, paulo said:

Is this in CW?

I tried again today and can't get it to do anything. If yes can you let me in on the set-up? I have the midi output  set to the synth of choice but all I hear is the same notes I played exactly as I played them. I must be doing something wrong, but I can't figure out what.

(Yes I have RTFM but all it says is to output the midi from one to the other which I have done)

Yes in CbB, but I think my setup may need some tweaking to get it as clean as possible.

I like to work with instruments as separate Audio and MIDI tracks in CbB so I always split any instrument tracks or create them separately in the first place by dragging from the browser.

Phrasebox appears as an instrument and you need as many instances of Phrasebox as there are instruments you want to control with it. e.g. one for chords, one for bass, one for melody  etc 

So my my first test I had a Korg M1 track for piano and it's associated MIDI track plus DX7 track for bass and its MIDI track.

I also had two copies of Phrasebox instruments and their associated MIDI tracks.

Make sure the MIDI output of any Phrasebox instance is enabled (on the VST drop down menu).

Then on the MIDI track associated with each instrument set the MIDI input to whichever Phrasebox is controlling that instrument and also enable MIDI input echo. 

Then use some chords from a MIDI file or record some yourself and put these on each of the Phrasebox MIDI tracks.

In each copy of Phrasebox load a suitable preset e.g. one for chords or piano for the M1 Piano and one for Bass for the DX7.

When you now play the chords they are filtered through each copy of Phrasebox which creates parts based on the chords but modified by the preset that is loaded.

Hope this makes sense. I will post a screenshot when I get a moment.

Edited by ZincT
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Thanks ZincT. That sounds much like what I did (only one instance of PB and one synth in my case). It had it working for a minute or two yesterday so I must have had something right. I'm wondering if maybe I somehow managed to turn off Input echo and didn't notice. I Not at DAW now, so I'll try again tomorrow.

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1 minute ago, paulo said:

Thanks ZincT. That sounds much like what I did (only one instance of PB and one synth in my case). It had it working for a minute or two yesterday so I must have had something right. I'm wondering if maybe I somehow managed to turn off Input echo and didn't notice. I Not at DAW now, so I'll try again tomorrow.

Yup that's usually what catches me out with this type of plugin. When I get it working I always save the project (however crappy) so that when I come back to it later I can figure out wtf I did before to get it working :) 

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On 1/14/2020 at 8:23 PM, ZincT said:

Yup that's usually what catches me out with this type of plugin. When I get it working I always save the project (however crappy) so that when I come back to it later I can figure out wtf I did before to get it working :) 

Tried again today -  I had it set up correctly as per your screenshot but had to re-insert due to demo time out. Did that, still nothing. Tried using replace synth to replace it with an instance of itself and then it worked (go figure).......... for 5-10 minutes until Cakewalk crashed, but then a CW crash is not an unusual thing here, so that's not necessarily related to this plug in. Same again at next attempt though. Total PITA because the demo resets each time so I had to start over and try to remember how I had it set before the crash. I'm taking it as a sign that it's not for me. Thanks again for your help though.

 

Edited by paulo
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@paulo Funny you should say that as I tried to reload my project today. It loaded OK and looked as it should but... 

I had to dismiss the demo timeout message immediately after loading but the PhraseBox instances still looked non functional. Reselecting the patches on each instance brought the UI back to life but as soon as I hit play they greyed out again and nothing played! 

I'm sure the full version works OK but the demo seems to require too much effort so I am leaving it for now. I have emailed the developer so if he comes up with a solution I will let you know. 

Edited by ZincT
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