Blockhead v0.39.0 alpha

Here is a video of me trying to explain the new keyboard shortcuts

www.youtube.com/watch?v=Igi8naCJbv8

Update Notes:

Note: On macOS the 'Command' key is used instead of 'Ctrl' in all the default key bindings mentioned below.

Feature: "Remember block" function. I could instead call this "copy and paste" but that is a little misleading due to "copy" having a more specific meaning in Blockhead.

Hover over a block instance and press C to remember it. From there you have four different "paste" operations:

1. V will create a COPY of the remembered block, and replace the hovered BLOCK INSTANCE with it.

2. Ctrl+V will create a CLONE of the remembered block, and replace the hovered BLOCK INSTANCE with it.

3. Alt+V will create a COPY of the remembered block, and replace the hovered BLOCK with it (meaning all instances of the hovered block will be affected.)

4. Ctrl+Alt+V will create a CLONE of the remembered block, and replace the hovered BLOCK with it (meaning all instances of the hovered block will be affected.)

Feature: 4 new keyboard shortcuts for arrangement duplication.

1. "Copy selected blocks and insert them to the right" (Default: Ctrl+D)

This will copy the selected blocks and paste them immediately to the right.

The width of the copy area depends on where the mouse cursor is. Other workspace blocks to the right of the copy area will be shifted to the right by the area width to make room for the new blocks.

If the cursor is not hovering over any block, the copy area ranges from the left-hand edge of the leftmost selected block to the right-hand edge of the rightmost selected block.

If the cursor is hovering over a block, the copy area ranges from the left-hand edge of the hovered block to the right-hand edge of the hovered block. Only selected blocks whose left-hand edges lie inside the copy area are involved in the operation.

2. "Clone selected blocks and insert them to the right" (Default: Ctrl+Shift+D)

3. "Copy selected blocks and insert them to the left" (Default: Ctrl+Alt+D)

4. "Clone selected blocks and insert them to the left" (Default: Ctrl+Alt+Shift+D)

Feature: 2 new keyboard shortcuts for block shifting only the blocks within the hovered track.

- "Shift left-hand track blocks" (Default: Ctrl+J)

- "Shift right-hand track blocks" (Default: Ctrl+K)

Feature: 2 new buttons added to the meta block.

- WS SELECT: Select all blocks whose left-hand edge lies within the meta block area.

- TRACK SELECT: As above, but only blocks which are on the same track as the meta block.

Update: Old default keybindings changed, to accomodate new functions.

 - "Create macro from selection" was: K -> now: semicolon (;)

 - "Shift left-hand workspace blocks" was: G -> now: J

 - "Shift right-hand workspace blocks" was: H -> now: K

Update: Vastly improved workspace UI performance. Things are now much less laggy when there are lots and lots of blocks on a workspace. Blocks that are not currently visible should now have zero impact on zooming/panning performance. Creating lots and lots of blocks (e.g. hundreds) in a single operation may still cause a momentary lag spike, but should also be much faster than it was previously.

Update: Lower memory usage.

Bugfix: Crash when attempting to copy a manipulator which is set up to target any instance of a particular block.

Bugfix: Keyboard shortcuts which only differ by their modifiers may conflict (For example, binding two operations to "B" and "Ctrl+B" respectively, may not work in some situtations.)

Bugfix: Waveforms often fully update in situations where they don't need to.

Bugfix: Point edit toolbar is not removed when envelope clear button is pressed.

Bugfix: Ratter effect: Dry/wet sliders and envelopes do not interact correctly (values are added together instead of multiplied.)

Bugfix: Zap effect: 'Spread' parameter is completely broken.

Blink Plugin API

Was completely changed and somewhat future-proofed. All plugins were refactored to use the new Blink API. If you want to play around with creating your own Blink plugins then my advice is no longer "Don't." The documentation is not very good but feel free to ask questions. I will probably make some kind of plugin development video tutorial at some point. Effect and Synth plugins are the easiest type of plugins to make. Sampler plugins are very scary but if you really want to make one then let me know and I will try to help. The existing Blockhead plugins are all open-source: https://github.com/colugomusic/blockhead_generators. There is also an example effect project here which you could use as a starting point: https://github.com/colugomusic/blink_example_effect

Links

Manual (WIP): https://docs.google.com/document/d/1y6je_g2oNnxClL1eXV20dcQpoyZEkek5LTxQPyEFT0w
Known Issues: https://trello.com/b/MT1A3Zob/blockhead-issues
Discord: Blockhead (discord.com)
Development Videos: https://www.youtube.com/@colugo5172/videos