The beta of the new Haken Editor for EaganMatrix devices just dropped.
Download from the Haken Audio site in from the usual Software and Firmware download page.
This is the new editor rewritten in C/C++. Starts instantly, Overall performance is improved. On my Windows machines, the display is sharper and clearer. You can run two instances at the same time to control two EM devices, as long as no two instances have any connection to the other device, even as an input. This is pretty much expected on Windows, but if there were cross-instance communication, this could be solved.
With the release, Haken Audio is messaging a transition to a new generation of developers.
If you were looking for innovations in the metaphor to make it easier to program EM presets, this update is not that. It is a faithful re-creation of the old interface, down to the themes and fixed scaling steps. There are some little changes in the UI for pedal assignments and other features, but nothing ground-breaking. The new editor looks to be Unicode-aware, and shows indications of being able to be localized into multiple languages pretty easily.
For developers, the updated HakenMidi.h now documents the format of download data for Tuning grids and for Loris synthesis data. This opens up some new opportunities for third-party innovation in these areas.
fantastic news, and bravo to Will Hoerner and Paul Haken, I can imagine this was a huge undertaking, and really puts Hakenās editor on a firm footing for the future.
@Anckorage do you know the plan is to open source the editor at some future point?
(ofc, after releaseā¦ not during betas)
weāve seen with many other projects e.g. Joue, EigenD - open sourcing is an important āsecurity netā for the ever changing IT world, where new OS versions can (and do) break things.
It seems , unlike the firmware, the editor code is not much use without a Haken Engine.
please, I know from first hand experience, open source can be a bit of a āleap of faithā for some developers (against fears of ownerships / clones etc). but its important for instruments which musicians have invest alot of time (and money) into. the firmware side will (usually) work forever, but the same is not true for client side apps, they will always need updating.
also there can be some benefits, from involvement of 3rd party devs, sire its not that common , but Ive worked on / improved numerous open source projects over the years - so you never know it can happen
notes:
haken audio - ofc, Im not suggesting Haken Audio is going anywhere in the future!
existing solution - one āside effectā of using Max, over a compiled language - was whilst the code was not āopen sourceā per se, its very nature of Max, meant code was available.
Looks very promising! Might be neat to have a āUI builderā so simpler overlays could be built directly in the EaganMatrix editor and people could share presets not only on low-level EaganMatrix but also on overlay basis.
Something like Loris would probably be beyond the scope of such an overlay builder (so there would still be room for more complex standalone overlays), but many other overlays I have seen might be in the cards.
Edit: Open sourcing the Editor and introducing an API for overlays could on the other side mean that even more complex ones could be created, as kind of a plugin for the EaganMatrix.
I donāt think an overlay builder needs integration with the Editor or necessarily belong in the preset editor. Thereās not much to gain with that, and it unnecessarily limits what platforms you can create overlay synths for.
The issues for creating overlay synths are:
Cross platform. You want to be able to make DAW plugins, standalone programs, and apps for Windows, Mac, IOS, Android, and maybe Web.
Higher level API for the EM, better than raw MIDI. (I have most of the code for this but needs repackaging for independent use).
UI framework (again cross-platform is a big issue).
A programmability layer between the UI and the EM API.
A way to package the app with the underlying overlay preset and any ancillary data such as resynthesis data and tuning grids. Ideally an app shouldnāt depend on the user preinstalling anything on the device ā it needs the ability to send all those over on demand.
yeah, the issue with building overlays is not really the UI, or frankly the EM API.
the main issue, I think, is going to be the complexity of the underlying EM patch.
few people build EM patches, even fewer will be able to create āgeneric overlay patchesā.
I do think Haken / ExpressiveE need to extend overlays to support āoverlay presetsā that are bound to a particular overlay. for most overlays this is little more than saving the āparametersā, whilst not having to save the entire patch.
(ofc, complications like versioning could be problematic, but kiss initially)
note: I think Loris is a special case - its not really an overlay, its also a new synthesis model with its own data stream. the overlay ui is a small part of this.
overall, Im very happy with what Haken have done.
I think the EM API was the missing link, itās simple to use and is well documented, and being a binary protocol means no dependancies which is great !
We definitely plan to do something open source, but right now our plate is really full. We hope to have open source code available by late next year. We are still working on basic features like Undo.
Super easy update, and a nice snappy fast UI. Well done to those involved, and Iām delighted to hear there are more people involved and plans to open source at some point.
It hasnāt done anything to my itchin to trade up to a Slim tho!!
Great work to leave the very slow starting Max based interface behind!
It would indeed be great to have it open source, also to make it run cross platform. For now I tried running the new editor on Linux using Wine, but that didnāt work. The Max patch I could run on Linux, but the hassle of having to run Max and the slow starting stopped me from using it really.
I agree with @thetechnobear that unlike the firmware thereās not so much risk in open sourcing the editor. I looks like the new editor uses JUCE, so it should be not too hard to make it work on Linux, and maybe also Android and iOS.
(including DAW plugins running on Linux, hopefully)
Yes, please!
Haken Editor based on JUCE instead of Max is a very good improvement in terms of cross-compatibility. Looking forward to the day when i.e. a Bitwig on Linux user can modulate parameters of a Haken preset through the DAW modulators or a MIDI controller while happily playing the Continuumini.
you can already do that, as you dont need the editor to do this.
look at the CC messages supported in the Eagan Matrix user guide./
also, if you want to do more, if you look in the HakenEditor directory, youāll find HakenMidi.h which details all the various midi messages used.
@thetechnobear Ah, thank you for the clarification. I had got the impression that EaganMatrix was somehow required to send data from a PC to the ContinuuMini but of course MIDI is MIDI and it can be sent by the DAW directly. Sorry for the noise. (((I ordered the Mini today and Iām looking forward to learning and testing all this soon.)))
FWIW, If you want some nice options for controlling any EM-based device on Linux (including Osmose), my pachde CHEM plugin for VCV Rack is an option. Not a full editor, but has everything you need from a performance perspective, including a nice preset browser.
Even though you can use Rack as a DAW plugin if you buy VCV Rack Pro, not sure you can get CHEM to work in the DAW context unless you can figure out the MIDI connection. Works great standalone, though.
This is what the Jenny and Ratio Overlays do and the ones I create for EL1. The parameters are stored in the overlay and only one overlay preset is ever required per overlay. Loris works the other way. The parameters are all stored in each Overlay preset so you wind up with many Overlay presets over time - but once you learn the Overlay Preset operation itās really generic from there in terms of use. Of course Loris Overlays canāt be generic as they rely on your own additive conversions that are not part of the preset. So Loris is always going to be a special case. But you donāt need to use the overlay presets to use Loris. You can write your own presets to do different things.
Now I agree an Overlay GUI Builder would be really nice and ideally that should generate overlay presets on the fly keeping track of resources so not to create impossible presets. But that kind of thing is best done as an Open Source project as itās diminishing returns for Haken Audio because I think itās their assumption that the community, not them, will be writing the majority of the overlays. But how many people are really going to be creating overlays even with an API? Not many unless EaganMatrix itself is ported to a stand-alone digital product that can maybe also be run as a plugin in a DAW - creating a much more widespread audience for use and support. That probably is the better use of their time to open up a new market for products (lots of people have asked for a digital only version of EaganMatrix). And that is really the main IP of EaganMatrix - the complex proprietary DSP code that implements it - that would have to be ported to a general purpose processor - but again maybe not worth their time. So all of this likely might be Open Source related in the future if they decide to open it up. I totally agree that Open Source is really the future here for creating new tools.
So far all the software Iāve done in the EM sphere like CHEM is open source, and Iād gladly contribute to other open source efforts.
My impression is that itās just the editor that theyāre considering open-sourcing. The chances of finding anyone with the expertise to develop for the EM firmware and the SHARC processors it uses is probably vanishingly small, so the effort wouldnāt be worth it. EE took a couple of years to find firmware developers, and thatās for stuff thatās much more ordinary programming.
Does anyone know what processor the Osmose uses on the non-EM side? I havenāt opened up my Osmose to look (yet).
and these (overlay parameters) can be stored on the hardware? (which was my point ;))
as far as I saw, this could be done within the overlay UI on the computer.
the issue with this, is it means you cannot switch overlay presets on the hardware (whilst the computer is not attached)
I think the way it is at present isā¦
overlay = is ājustā a patch (complex, as its more generic than traditional ones)
overlay UI = could theoretically coded in anything, mostly sends parameter changes
overlay presets = are (usually) just a set of parameter values.
in theory, as we have, the haken api - an overlay UI could be pretty much anything, really the overlay is just a ātemplateā , a starting point. whilst most will simply change parameters - theres nothing stopping an overall UI recoding the entire matrix - though it be tricky to manage.
or have I misunderstood this?
the main point here being, from what Ive seen the overlays are tied to their UI,
but users are going to, quickly, want to be able to switch presets for that overlay from the hardware without bringing up an additional UI. esp. on the Osmose which has a full display and encoders, so it seems logical.
ofc, as I said already, theres nothing stopping EE saving the overlay presets on the Osmose itself, so its not a big issue for them.
Thereās likely not enough room on the hardware to store arbitrary sets of parameters for one overlay preset and then you might have hundreds of overlay presets over time. Especially on Haken instrument that have no separate processor like Osmose. That could get very tricky trying to set up a separate storage area on the hardware for parameters vs just storage for presets and playlists and internal configurations that are there now. I think all parameters should be stored in the overlay app and you only need one overlay preset then but could have 1000 different configurations stored in the overlay app if you like. Overlays in essence are the UI. You have an Overlay app and you have the preset that it interfaces with. But I have no idea how EE is going to do theirs. They do have the extra processor that they have now configured to store 3000+ presets (over time). Maybe they will store the parameters in the app. Maybe on the hardware. Weāll have to see what they cook up.
By the way, a big issue is people wanting to play the new overlay sounds without a computer. That brings up the issue of running some kind of overlay app on the Osmose itself (canāt happen on Continuum). I expect EE to say you need the app connected. But again we shall see. Thatās the advantage of Loris presets. You can run them fine without Loris running and still have the six macros available for onboard control.
I find it a bit funny how many musicians reject the idea of a laptop on stage but have no problems using an iPad. Overlay synths are probably best delivered for performers in an iPad app.
I could be wrong, but Iām guessing from just an intuition that the interfaces they are showing are implemented using a web view-based application, which makes sense of you want an easy-to-implement cross-platform solution. Just guessing but the installer and updater appear to be the same UI tech.
