A modest suggestion for Rapture's next update

Hello all,

First post here, though I've been lurking and reading for awhile, having purchased Z3TA, Rapture, and Dimension Pro in the last several months.

At any rate, I've been digging into Rapture's various features, which are really quite extensive and impressive (kudos to Rene!), but I can't help noticing one thing which is missing, and would come in handy: a step sequencer.  I know about the 42 different step generators that one can use in Rapture (7 per element, times 6 elements), but none of them acts as a true step sequence (though the combination of the amp stepgen and pitch stepgen can do a lot of what a step sequencer does). I submit, humbly, that Rapture would really benefit from having true step sequencer capabilities, and that it wouldn't be hard to add those.

The main thing that would need to change is the way the amp stepgen works.  At present, if you create, say, a 16-step sequence in the amp stepgen, and create two adjacent steps with values greater than zero, you will get a continuous tone (2 16ths= 1 8th note).  If an additional variable was added to the amp stepgen, where Rapture could be told to treat adjacent steps as new note-on events for the ADSR envelope, then you'd be able to have two 16th notes one after the other, or a continuous rhythm of steady 16ths, et cetera.  You can already do steady 8th-note patterns with a 16-step sequence just by having alternating zero-level steps in the amp mod, but only if your 8ths are actually a 16th in duration, separated by a dead 16th.  Close, but not the same.

Obviously, Renee knows how to create step sequencers, he did one for Z3TA (though, admittedly, not the most accessible step sequencer ever, given that you cannot SEE the patterns for the sequencer).  Some of the other notable softsynths have them, including Blue and Albino just to name 2 off the top of my head.  Rapture can certainly compete with those two in every other significant respect, but the lack of a step sequencer does, to some extent, hurt Rapture when it is compared to its direct competitors in the VSTi market.

b rock

If an additional variable was added to the amp stepgen, where Rapture could be told to treat adjacent steps as new note-on events for the ADSR envelope, then you'd be able to have two 16th notes one after the other, or a continuous rhythm of steady 16ths, et cetera.

 
Have you looked into the EG retrigger feature for StepGens [Rapture 1.2 or greater]?

Thanks for the suggestion.  I googled how to do the retrigger, and found your post on the topic (use the ALT key when clicking on the step).  However, when I have two steps next to each other in the AMP stepgen, I am not getting repeated 16th notes, I am getting a continuous tone, even when all of the steps have been set to retrigger (they are changing color as indicated in your post).

It is a tad disappointing that they didn't issue new documentation to coincide with the 1.2 update, as that feature isn't mentioned at all in the PDF that comes with the Rapture download.

If I'm understanding you correctly, the reason I'm getting a steady tone instead of repeated, distinct 16th-notes is tied to the amp envelope shape, both in terms of the duration of the envelope and the presence of a sustain point.  So, a shorter envelope with no sustain point may work.

I'm looking forward to giving that a try.  At the moment, my computer and MIDI controller are packed up, as we just moved.  If I set up my music rig before unpacking the other stuff, my wife would probably kill me in my sleep. (:0)