manic is an 8 slot random sample player where you decide the samples, but manic decides when to play them. Samples are triggered according to their probability, on a tempo sync pattern. Also allows for randomising of volume, pitch, pan, delay, reverse and swing. You decide how much, but not when. You can loop the sequence, change sequence seed with midi keys and quantise the pitch randomising for a more melodic sequence. Works well for random glitchy percussion, instant melodic sequences of multisamples or total chaos
- 8 sample slots, supports 16 & 24 bit mono & stereo wavs
- each sample played randomly according to it's probability
- tempo sync hit rate (hits/beat)
- seeded randomising for repeatable sequences
- midi playable seeding, change sequence with a midi key press
- random sequences can be looped for repeatability
- randomised swing
- per sample volume, pan & pitch
- per sample randomising of volume, pan, pitch and reverse
- per sample pitch quantising to semitone/cent
- per sample routing to randomised delay
- play / stop / resync controls
- midi CC and midi learn
- 246 samples and 25 presets covering acoustic & electronic drums, glitch and 8 bit noises, synth bass and keys
Download full version (12.5 MB) this contains the plugin, 25 presets and 246 samples
or
Download lite version (1.1 MB) this contains the same plugin, but only 1 preset and 8 samples
or
Download mult-out version (1.3 MB) this contains a multi-out version* with all 25 presets, but no samples. You will need to download the full version if you want to hear the preset samples
Please consider making a donation towards the hosting costs if you do download and like this plugin, as 12MB is not much to download, but hits my bandwidth hard when several thousand people download it every month
Download audio demo (1.9 MB) this is a demo of some of the presets
All patterns you hear are straight presets, no other effects or processing, only one preset is playing at a time. All sequences are generated entirely randomly, no programming is done here (or indeed possible)
Controls
Transport controls are play, stop and resync
play and stop are on the same midi CC and can be automated to control when manic plays in your track
resync returns manic to the start of the sequence, which can be useful if you have lost sync with your host. Make sure you press stop then resync before hitting play
all knobs and slider controls have midi CC support and midi learn
- press the 'learn' button
- led will light
- tweak a GUI control
- tweak your midi controller knob/slider/button/whatever
- led will go out
- controller will now move the GUI control
- press 'reset' button to remove all learned controls
samples
load up to 8 samples into the slots using the file load icon to the left of the sample name
you can audition the sample with the play icon to the right of the sample name
you can mute each sample with the m button
adjust the probability of each sample to determine how likely it is to play
manic uses a tempo sync clock to trigger each hit. Use the slider to determine how many hits per beat you want
you can adjust the swing to get a less rigid timing, the amount of swing is random each hit
all the randomising in manic is seeded. this means for any given seed, the random sequence is repeatable every time you play your track. set seed to zero to switch this off
you can loop a seeded random sequence by highlighting the loop button
use the slider to determine how many hits the loop contains
if you don't like the loop manic plays, just change the seed for a new one
you can also 'play' the seed on your midi keyboard. select the midi button and each midi key will bring up a different seed. you can use this to switch between seeds on the fly
delay
highlight the d button for any sample to route it to the delay effect
set the prob control to adjust the probability that the delay will trigger
the hits control is to allow tempo sync delay times (1 = 1 hit interval)
feedback is the amount of delay feedback
cutoff is to LP filter the delayed signal
per sample controls
use the buttons 1-8 on the left to switch the per sample controls in the lighter coloured window
each sample has controls for volume, pan and pitch (in semitones and cents)
in addition, these parameters can be randomised using the rnd controls
The pitch rnd and quant are also in semitones/cents. pitch rnd will set the +/- range of randomising from the set pitch, quant will quantise the random change to the nearest semitone/cent set. Set this to whole semitones for a more melodic random sequence. zero will turn quantise off for more chaos
rev rnd will adjust the probability of the sample being played in reverse
*multi-out version only
The multi-out version of manic has 9 stereo outputs instead of 1 in the standard version (1 per slot, plus 1 for the delay). The benefit is that you can route each output to it's own mixer channel for individual processing/automation of effects, eq, etc
Installation
copy manic_multi.dll into your VST folder and install in your host
A folder called 'manic_multi' will be created in this folder
If you want to hear the preset samples, you will need to have already installed 'manic.dll' and the full sample pack into the VST folder. In the 'manic' folder, copy the 'manic_samples' folder into the 'manic_multi' folder
Ensure your host is set up correctly to see 'manic_multi' as a multi-out plugin
Some hosts will automatically route the 9 stereo outputs to individual mixer tracks, other hosts require you to do this manually
The outputs are labelled L1, R1, L2, R2, corresponding to each slot, with Ld and Rd for the delay outputs
Delay
Because the delay is a shared effect, individual sample slots routed to this effect cannot be separated out, and so have their own output channels (Ld and Rd)
If a sample slot is routed to the delay, it will not output to the assigned slot outputs, all signals (delayed or not) will pass through the Ld & Rd outputs. The delay works on a random probability basis, but even when the signal is not delayed, by routing it to the delay it is no longer possible to keep the signal separate
For this reason, it is best not to use the delay function where you want to apply individual processing to a sample slot
credits
the excellent additional samples kindly supplied by sink, WhiskeyPriest and audiofudge
Thanks for the 3rd party modules from Dave Haupt, Lance Putnam, SoundFonts.it and Kelly Lynch
