SLOOP 2.6

The biggest SLOOP update so far: 11 more punch-in effects, an effect on every track, a texture bed under the mix, a full MIDI setup (a channel per track, sustain, pitch bend, Program Change, MIDI LEARN, step entry from a keyboard), a cleaner output and many fixes. Most of it comes from your comments and reports: thank you.

Install: open the installer page in Chrome or Edge, connect the FM-1, press INSTALL. Keep a backup made with the web editor before updating.

New

• 27 punch-in effects: eleven more on the black keys (hold FX): KILL LOW / MID / HIGH, REWIND, OCT UP, FLANGER, AUTO-PAN, FREEZE, LOOP 8T, MONO, FADE OUT.
• REV THROW / ECHO THROW: hold FX + OCT− (reverb) or OCT+ (echo): every track's send goes full while held, the song's settings untouched.
• INSERT on every track (the drums too): SOFT, HARD, FOLD, FUZZ, CRUSH, PHASR, FLANG, CHOR, with dry / wet (FX → INSERT).
• LFO 2: the LFO synced to the tempo (4 bars to 1/32), TRIG NOTE / FREE, POL bipolar / unipolar.
• ENV SYNC: attack, decay and release as note values.
• ANALOG filter TYPE: low-pass, band-pass or high-pass.
• Note LEN and step velocity: how many steps a note lasts (STEP page, KNOB 3), each step's velocity (SEQ + step + KNOB 2).
• TEXTURE: a looping bed under the mix (vinyl, tape, rain, wind, radio, room tone or your own sample), breathing with the tempo, saved with the project and each song section (GLO → TEXTURE).
• Live drum mutes: EDIT + a black key, then the sounds' keys.
• MIDI, all in one place: GLO → MIDI sets each track's channel (CH1–CH4, in and out; two tracks never share one), GLO → MIDI 2 the rest: IN (notes, clock only, or one channel only), OTHER, OUT, BEND.
• Sustain pedal (CC 64) and pitch bend (1–12 semitones).
• Program Change loads a track's sound (the n-th sound of the PRESETS list; kit n on the drum channel).
• MIDI LEARN: GLO + F#3, turn a knob of SLOOP, move a knob of your controller. Kept through power-off and in backups.
• Step entry from a MIDI keyboard on the STEP page; and when you record with a keyboard that plays another track than the one recording, the screen says MIDI PLAYS TRACK n.
• Erase a saved loop: SAVE → PROJECT → ERASE (KNOB 2) empties a project slot, song section A–D; the song's steps that played it are taken out.
• The web editor offline: Download the editor (under Connect, or on the installer page) saves it as one file, sloop-editor-2.6.html (attached below too). Double-click it: it runs in Chrome or Edge without internet.
• 1/4D delay time.
• A bolder screen: Terminus Bold, all in capitals.

Fixed

• No more clicks when a sound loads over held notes, or when a filter starts to close.
• A cleaner output, in headphones too: the master limiter looks 0.7 ms ahead, so loud kicks and basses no longer crackle with MASTER turned up.
• The kicks of the synthesised kits (808, 909 and the others) no longer whistle: their level now glides without a tiny step every 0.7 ms, which made a high tone under the long kick tail (in 2.5 too).
• FREEZE holds the sound at the mix's level (it could jump +11 dB and distort).
• The latched arp follows TRN, ROOT, SCALE and KEYS (#191).
• The sustain pedal and the pitch wheel let go of the right track after a track change; no stuck note when a MIDI channel changes; OFF channels are off in and out.
• Web editor: the same value on a second track (DIV 1/8 on the drums, then on track 1) is now sent.
• Backups: a 2.6 backup restored into an older SLOOP stops before writing anything; MIDI settings are restored too.
• The installer also recognises an FM-1 running CLIPPER. Nothing changes for the official firmware, Felucca or older SLOOP versions.

Compatibility

Projects, autosaves and backups from 2.5 load as they are. A project saved in 2.6 does not open in 2.5. Going back to 2.5 after changing GLO → MIDI or learning CCs: restore your SYN drum kits from a backup.

Thanks

• Leo Kuroshita (@kurogedelic) / Hügelton Instruments: Felucca, and in this release the INSERT, LFO 2, ENV SYNC, the ANALOG filter types, note LEN and step velocity, MIDI LEARN, the live drum mutes, the #191 fix, the 1/4D delay and the THROWs (Felucca 1.4 to 1.5.1).
• @renebohne: MIDI Program Change (Felucca pull request #179).
• The Felucca community, who asked for those features first: Wulgaren, etyrnal, benjaminguerrer, gospodindilly-ops, Armstrong1980, oMauNaProducer, lostfictions and planist79.
• Everyone who commented, tested and reported on SLOOP: the MIDI channels, sustain and pitch bend, step entry from a keyboard, TEXTURE, the crackle fixes and the web editor fix all come from you.
• Font: Terminus and Terminus Bold (SIL OFL 1.1).