Hey, I'm having an issue with MIDI. I assigned my midi as a keyboard and when i press the keys it reflects down at the bottom, but when i leave that menu I cant play samples with the midi anymore, only with the computer keyboard. I tried turning off virtual keyboard but nothing is different. Im using Windows 10, an alesis VI 61 midi and 1.36 QasarBeach
FYI - I've discovered that there is a fair amount more in your help files than can actually be displayed in the QB Help. For example, looking at the help for Page R, I can on "scroll" down about 1/3 of way... it stops at "DISPLAY USED PATTERNS:". I only discovered this while trying to grant permissions to the mic (which is not working on page 8 when selecting external). I wound up clicking "show in finder" on the qasarbeach item which took me to the package contents for the app. It was there that I discovered the text files for all the help. So, although you have a fair amount documented, it's inaccessible in the app.
I am having trouble with NPHONY. I've gotten it to work only a couple of times. Most of the time, when start with a single sound on channel 1, then go to page 3 and set nphony (to 4 for example), it shows the refs on the subsequent channels, and the source sample shows that it is mapped to channels 1234. But, it still only plays as a monophonic instrument. I'm not sure what I'm doing wrong.
Catalina 10.15.7. I'm also havng a few other issues with FX... weird audio on both delays and reverbs sounding like the high range of a flanger ... maybe a clocking issue? Also midi only works consistently if there is only one midi device. There are a few other things, but I think maybe they're quirks of the original system...
I'd be happy to document everything I've run into with screenshots and send you a PDF.
On a side note, there are some functions in the various screens that I don't understand and can't seem to find much documentation online. The help for QB seems to be for the 1.2x releases and don't quite match the current release. Page 7 is a good example. There are also some screens where I can't find any docs for QB or Fairlight CMI online, so I'm totally lost... For example, the Record and Zero functions on the Output page with the 6 slots. Are there any additional resources you can share on screens not documented in the help?
Thanks so much for your amazing work on this. I'm finding applications for it in it's current state, so I'll definitely be contributing some $. :)
do a quick test with alias for me. run it. press space to select default audio. and then press z to m. you will get the default sound - is this distorted, dropouts, etc?
Great Software, I have enjoyed it quite a bit. I must be missing something I can load all the sounding in the normal Fairlight way through Disk Control. But the SDMX SOUNDS Along with a plethora of others in the Disk Library show but I cant load them. I looked all over my HD and they just don't appear. Am I missing something completely simple. BTW I prefer this as a standalone box BTW. ALL Other "VERSIONS" OF this sound horrific once you try and make a plug in out of them. MIDI CLOCK/MTC TO LOCK IT would be cool. The reason these sound cool is that they are not sample accurate sequencers but clock based. Once you eliminate that. The magic is gone. Its been a while my original Fairlight was destroyed. LASTLY when I enter user and the settings etc. Does it actually SAVE IT? Doesn't seem like it. Thanks DMARXX
Hi there :) Ahhhh... I am now gathering that Mac 10.6.8 is totally off limits :p. Works on Catalina as expected but umm yep like anyone with a Roland PCRxxx it is not either :/ Is there a work around for 10.6.8?
Real out there q: any chance of an ARM linux build? Or maybe more generally: I want to build a standalone, dedicated machine that runs this software and has cmi inspired hardware around it (3D printed enclosure, midi controls, etc), and depending on the maximum spec requirements I was looking at a few x86 single board computers, but if I could run it on ARM that would greatly open up my options. I suppose more generally a RaspberryPi version would be welcome? Anyway thanks for this software, it kicks ass.
Hello tis is a message mostly for Adam. Look currently I have a MacBook Pro running dual screens on the left I have qasarbeach the right Logic audio.now today I came across a great audio driver app called sunflower.. this offers a stereo driver and a 64 channel driver.. in QB it picks up the drivers (both) then in logic I can choose the sunflower inputs and directly record the stereo mix of Page R to logic..however since QB sums its 16 audio into a stereo pair logic only picks up two channels?in the endeavour to make QB like a vst?? (not?) a faster solution might be to rewrite page (O)..and take out the stereo mix..thus making exporting the 16 Chanels via sunflower to logic so it can pickup the 16 Channels separately? the final request might be to write a MMTC midi time code slave so the logic audio DAW can start stop QB page R?..
so yea
1. remove the stereo mix on page (O)
2. create a midi control external clock.
if these two things were done this way we can all enjoy and run QB alongside and within our favourite daws opening a whole new world..this approach I think would be far less laborious than trying to create a QB VST instrument? in the end though if you Adam tried this you would essentially have to offer two versions of QB in the end..I hope you can try this a bit of a dream come true?
yea there’s another one as good just 16 Chanel out black? Something? So if you can open the 16 audio outs as Individuals AND be able to export /import midi data like apart from recording the audio out it would be nice to get the page r midi data into logic aswell but not soo important?and receive start stop then my single Mac and midi controller will run and control bot QB and logic at the same time.. no need for external sound cards or seperate computer? it would be brilliant ❤️👍👍😀
Hello, I am wanting to have this Quasar Beach on a stand alone computer...I then want to find the most elegant practical inexpensive piece of hardware that will allow me to assign the QB audio out channels ..then take them physically to my other DAW computers input channels..on my master daw I have 32 assignable recordable inputs...however using the QB as a stand alone im finding either I have to buy (superfluous Input or mixing devices) when actually all im wanting is Outputs maybe the 16 that QB has?? later Adam might be able to add MIDI clock slave to the QB in which case I can control it from my master DAW..this is not the case just yet.. anyway back to the original question does anyone have any ideas.. my current input protocols are USB3 and Thunderbolt thanks simon.
Hello I love this fairlight app brilliant.. im happy to buy a cheap apple laptop and attach a 16/io audio card.. can I route the outputs of all Chanels to that card, then run into another 16'io card on another computer(master).. so essentially the quasar is stand alone ..the final question is it too difficult to implement a slave midi clock to the platform? so from my master daw I can run the quasar LOCKED as a slave in sync to the master AND import the 16 audio Chanels into my DAW this would truly be a dream come true? might it be that this has already been achieved? its just that looking at the 16 audio Chanels on the quasar beach it appears that they are stereo summed.. still if it all were possible id do this in a flash thanks simon..... might it be that this approach into integrating with DAWS is an easier method than turning the app into a VST?
QBIII Alias will have individual channel routings. QBII doesn't support that. Currently QB doesn't run via midi clock. but this is something I can look into :)
QB voices are true stereo and support both mono and stereo imports. mono sounds are not summed and are pannable (as are stereo sounds)
Thanks for your quick reply BTW hope your easter break is enjoyable? so QB111 has this been released as yet? I able to pickup a suitable MacBook for $150 enough to run just QB and im also able to pick up a audio interface that has 16 outs.$150..so for little money in this approach I do get a stand alone CMI for little money ... my master machine has an audio card with 16 in so I suppose the trick is to be able to run QB as a slave via midi clock? sounds like for you its a job to do but not out of the question..cheers simon
How do I show my found MIDI devices on page M? When I turn the MIDI system on, I see "Found Devices - Click to select", but I can't see the device. My device previously showed up as an audio output device (it is a Yamaha PSR-e463 which can send audio to its speakers over USB) so I am not sure why I can't see it in page M.
As I may have mentioned I am now on an MSI GE75 Raider with Intel Core i7 10750H CPU at 2.60 GHz, Nvidia GEForce RTX 2060 and integrated Intel graphics, with 16 GB of DDR 4 ram, and a solid state boot drive. I use Korg MIDI driver with my Korg Kronos music workstation.
I was still having the issue with MIDI not sounding notes when switching off any page but Page M. in v1.34.
Now version 1.35a does not pick up my MIDI device AT ALL.
I find the Help pages (Page 9) very helpful, but there are some issues in those pages. Page F doesn't display correctly (only 2 lines, which appear to be header/footer info, but in a slightly confused manner); Page 3 won't display at all; and Page R displays only as many pages as the previous displayed page (so I try to go to Page 7 immediately prior). These are not major issues since there is good documentation elsewhere, but just in case you weren't aware of this issues, I thought I'd speak up and let you know. Great system, I'm really enjoying it!
But currently I found a strange behavior on MacOS 11.6.
After starting QasarBeach, the memory consumption of this application seems to be increasing.
When I watched the activity monitor tool supplied by Apple, the start consumption value was around 80Mbytes and it started to increase at a rate of 1Mbyte per 10seconds.
I tried ver1.31 and ver1.32, and both versions were the same results.
If you have any solution for avoiding this phenomenon, please inform me.
currently that is normal behaviour, so I wouldn't be too concerned. there is an internal garbage collector that is doing stuff behind the scenes. But I'll look into this :)
I had great fun trying this for an hour last night and had some interesting sounds going. It crashed at that point, which is a lesson to save more frequently, but I was wondering if there is a way, or some plans, to make it work with other software. Ideally I would be able to export wave files of the tracks all at once and load them into a DAW to be able to add more instruments and effects. I guess if I was Kate Bush I would have had the CMI with individual outputs and multiple tracks of tape to use too.
Hi, Adam! I've recently updated QasarBeach, but when I go and turn it on, it won't open; says "QasarBeach has crashed unexpectedly". Only 2 apps have had this happen to me, and it was because apparently they were incompatible with my Mac. Does this mean that support for older Macs has been removed? (I use 10.9.4 for lots of reasons, mainly because we were told, in Full Sail, not to upgrade unless it's been made compatible with Pro Tools.) Thanks!
Hi Adam, feeling a bit nostalgic so I downloaded QasarBeach for a play. Well done mate! Exploration happening and waking up some old brain cells :-). I am so embarrassed here ... loading a "voice ".wav (see it everywhere) ... play it using the virtual keyboard, and for the life of me, I cannot get any type of audio/sound output of it on my Win 10 pro. What am I missing? Dooohhh ... Thanks and all the best.
go to PAGE 2 and then go to a folder with sounds in it.
These must be uncompressed
selecting a sound will load a preview of it and your should be able to play with the keyboard - this might need to be activated - check PAGE S settings :)
Hi again Adam, Thanks for your quick response! Well appreciated! Hmmm ... Seems all good. Issue is when I use/click on the "internal" virtual keyboard ... No sound. Page R ... with a quick "fill" works. I can hear it. I am also getting a Metronome audio output. I'm using my PC's internal High definition audio device. Screenshots .pdf here for you here: https://drive.google.com/file/d/18vjBqrbXFpAUIf4i77VHmqjovMhrSXsy/view?usp=shari...
Is this a 64bit app?
Might try all of this on my MacBook Pro ... My PC is mostly for Admin and Tech. My Mac is for music ... w/ Midi keyboard. > P.S. THANKS for your support! Sent you some well deserved $ ... Nice work, All the best, Joe
Adam, I've recently come into possession of two functioning Muse Receptor 2+ Pro units. Any idea if this fantastic bit of stuff will run on the Muse platform?
Hi thanks a lot for a great tool and all the hard work you put into this. Is there any way we can help with the linux midi? This project is IMO more ideal for linux machines/PI perhaps than it is for windows, just my opinion. I would be fine using wine, however I noticed that the midi also didn't work for me. Is there any version I should be using to get midi working on linux/wine? Thanks!
Thanks! I can give you any info you need. Maybe I'm missing some lib, I installed lib-portmidi0. I'm having a usb midi device plugged in before opening Qb, in terminal the output is:
processCommand: midi on midi on SendCommandAction: midi | on midi<>on<><> on..midi Midi scanning:1 Midi scanning:-1
Recently downloaded this, I love it! I've run into an issue with MIDI though - when I release a note after having triggered a new one, the sound will cut as if the 'note off' has been sent by the new note that was triggered. Interestingly this only happens with my MIDI keyboard. With keyboard emulation using my computer keyboard, this problem doesn't exist. I'd really appreciate some help, thanks!
Thanks for the quick response! I'm on PC. Enabling polyphony does alleviate the problem, however this bug is making it hard to play mono voices. Let's say I just wanted to play a C then a D. I'll usually release C a few milliseconds after keying D, resulting in the note being cut off even though I'm still holding the D key down, resulting in a blip of sound. I have to make sure either the C key is fully released before pressing D, or hold down C for as long as I want the D to sound. Here's a video that will hopefully clarify. Thanks again! https://imgur.com/VnZ4FOu
I downloaded the 1.29g release weeks ago and everything was working really nicely until last night. The audio is now choppy on all loaded samples and Page R playback to the point of being unusable. I've rebooted the PC, disconnected and reconnected all audio and MIDI devices, but nothing has fixed. Any ideas? I was thinking of trying to download an earlier version of QB, but cannot find one. If there's a fix for this, I'd really appreciate. I did donate, and have been absolutely loving using this wonderful old school system, especially given how much the Fairlight informed so many of my favourite albums in the 80s.
my advice (with windows system) is to get it all working and then try to keep in that state. You can always pop over to the facebook page and question the users to see if they have better suggestions ;)
yep, you can record and variation of voice you can think of - the added FX (reverb and echo) will also be recorded. You could do multiple versions and bounce to different spare tracks for other purposes too ;)
I am demoing the new 1.29g release, and the nphony seems to have been fixed- functioning properly, as reloading instruments I had saved seemed to go to monophony and get stuck there in 1.28. However there still seems to be an issue with using the Karma (arp) sequencing function on my Kronos as controller. I can use it to create sequences in QasarBeach, but I can't shut it off no matter what, and end up having to close QasarBeach to get it to disconnect. If I set it to MIDI in the Midi Control page, it gets sound but only in monophony, and then the nphony page doesn't work. I m using an HP Pavilion dv7 Notebook PC. Any thoughts?
1. Open QB, goto PAGE M (midi) and deselect everything then quit. the settings are saved on exit, so you have cleared them now
2. open QB goto PAGE M and select your midi stuff, with autostart and Midi on - so it will restart correctly. then quit. you now have new midi settings :)
3. QB does have an 'all notes off' command: PST or PSTOP. so when your Karma goes nuts. goto the command line enter PST and it should stop!
Let me know how you get on with this please - if it all works or doesn't :)
Nice work on this. I had some curiosity questions. For Linux do you use directly Alsa API or an higher API like openal (which would make it more portable) ? Thanks.
Why did you remove the nphony? This makes the program virtually unusable for me. Are you planning on putting it back, or have you 'hidden' it in another location. I have looked around for it but was unable to find it.
I was thinking about this. A fairlight IIx, in theory should be fairly easily emulated by a Raspberry PI and given that Qasarbeach essentially recreates the Fairlight IIx's behaviour, it should be certainly possible.
installed V1.26 on 2 different PC's, one exclusively reserved for Qasarbeach only, no other apps or programs installed. On both, Midi Keyboard doesn't seem to work anymore and can't switch between voices in Page R. Probably my bad, but wanted to share it anyway.
Hi, thanks for this amazing tool! Any chance of the Linux version catching up to the Windows and Mac ones when 1.26 is released properly? It's two releases behind at the moment.
I would like to thank you for bringing the Fairlight CMI experience to those of us who can only afford to keep the utilities going, the rent paid, and our families fed. Truly, I am grateful.
I've been lusting for a real CMI IIx, but was discouraged by its current selling price, which can be likened to an older home or a brand new car with a very basic feature package. I have tried a demo of Arturia's CMI software, but even then, having multiple workstations would require multiple licenses, let alone the excessive resource usage on even the most powerful computers; it really bogged down my quad-core laptop, to the point where it was literally unusable. On the iPhone and iPad, there are a couple CMI apps that are available for $10 and $50, but for years they've been riddled with bugs that the developer has yet to fix.
I'm very happy to have found QasarBeach; I'm surprised I haven't found it sooner.
I have copied the files to the desktop on my HP Laptop, which is a few years old, and has a dual-core processor, running Windows 10 64-bit. The program opens fine, and all the functions appear to work, but when trying to save a sample made in the program to cv format, it mysteriously crashes the software. Also, I note that there is no 'quit' button. The Fairlight CMI had an OFF button, I'm assuming. Any plans to update w/ bug-fixes soon? I will attempt to run this again and see if I can save samples to other formats. This was a sample with loop points and polyphony enabled.
I was able to save a looped sample in cv format, this time, so not sure what the issue was. Went out of the program and back in to check the cv file was still there, which it was. But the cv file apparently does not save polyphony and panning information. Is there going to be a fix for this in the future? Also one thing that would be VERY useful, is an 'undo' button for those of us who are a bit less technically gifted at programming code. My knowledge is pretty much limited to programming voices on hardware synths, particularly FM synthesis.
(it's .VC not CV). cmd+z will undo one step on most pages. polyphony is not part of a voice. a voice is a single voice. polyphony is many voices. save them as an instrument .IN. :)
My bad- I just started using the program and am not familiar with all the formats, or it could be that my old fat fingers don't type well on this little keyboard. VC not CV, got it. Thank you for making the distinction between an instrument and a single voice, that is very helpful. I will try that today and see if it works for me. There is an odd thing that the program does which is replicable, and that is when I go to add the voices to the slots 1-8, or A-H, it only brings the dialog up the first time I go into the screen. If I go out of the screen and back in to add more voices, I can't get the dialog to come up again. It says 'add', but no 1-8, A-H at the bottom of the screen. When I try to add another voice without that 1-8, A-H, it doesn't work. I end up having to quit the program and restart it to get that dialog back. Just letting you know. Thanks again!
I tried to install it on Windows10 64bit, but I can't install it even if I run qasarbeach.exe with administrator privileges. How do I install it on Windows 10?
Windows 10 is 64bit. No software blocks the operation of Open GL. I stopped the antivirus software and tried to install it, but the result was the same.
Open GL is Ver.4.3.0 because of GPU. We cannot support newer versions. Is it related to Open GL Ver.? Since the GPU has a built-in CPU, it cannot be replaced with a GPU because it is a tablet.
It shouldn't have to 'install' anything, as it runs out of the folder that the files are in- I have no problem running it on my laptop with Windows 10 64-bit, however trying to save a sample causes the software to crash.
I've kept you waiting for a long time. It is a report because it started normally. Since the user name was Kanji, I changed it to English and tried to start it, but the status did not change and it failed to start. After a while, I deleted all unused users to solve the SSD capacity shortage, so when I started it today, both v1.25 and v1.26 started normally and are working.
← Return to tool
Comments
Log in with itch.io to leave a comment.
Hey ! Amazing work. I have very choppy and laggy audio on windows 10, with a RME soundcard. Any clues ?
Thanks !
I can see what can be done for you ;)
ok thanks ! I've tested it on another device (microsoft surface) and it works well.
Hey, I'm having an issue with MIDI. I assigned my midi as a keyboard and when i press the keys it reflects down at the bottom, but when i leave that menu I cant play samples with the midi anymore, only with the computer keyboard. I tried turning off virtual keyboard but nothing is different. Im using Windows 10, an alesis VI 61 midi and 1.36 QasarBeach
can you post a video of this?
FYI - I've discovered that there is a fair amount more in your help files than can actually be displayed in the QB Help. For example, looking at the help for Page R, I can on "scroll" down about 1/3 of way... it stops at "DISPLAY USED PATTERNS:". I only discovered this while trying to grant permissions to the mic (which is not working on page 8 when selecting external). I wound up clicking "show in finder" on the qasarbeach item which took me to the package contents for the app. It was there that I discovered the text files for all the help. So, although you have a fair amount documented, it's inaccessible in the app.
Hope this helps :)
I am having trouble with NPHONY. I've gotten it to work only a couple of times. Most of the time, when start with a single sound on channel 1, then go to page 3 and set nphony (to 4 for example), it shows the refs on the subsequent channels, and the source sample shows that it is mapped to channels 1234. But, it still only plays as a monophonic instrument. I'm not sure what I'm doing wrong.
I'm running 1.35b
I'll check it out for you - what os are you using?
Catalina 10.15.7. I'm also havng a few other issues with FX... weird audio on both delays and reverbs sounding like the high range of a flanger ... maybe a clocking issue? Also midi only works consistently if there is only one midi device. There are a few other things, but I think maybe they're quirks of the original system...
I'd be happy to document everything I've run into with screenshots and send you a PDF.
On a side note, there are some functions in the various screens that I don't understand and can't seem to find much documentation online. The help for QB seems to be for the 1.2x releases and don't quite match the current release. Page 7 is a good example. There are also some screens where I can't find any docs for QB or Fairlight CMI online, so I'm totally lost... For example, the Record and Zero functions on the Output page with the 6 slots. Are there any additional resources you can share on screens not documented in the help?
Thanks so much for your amazing work on this. I'm finding applications for it in it's current state, so I'll definitely be contributing some $. :)
catalina does seem to have some issue.
Re the info on newer pages, etc. I'll see what I can do about documenting them :)
On which OS and machine specs does it perform best?
I also downloaded Alias... the audio output is very glitchy/distorted. Maybe related to the issue with FX on QB?
FYI These are my machine specs:
Model Name: MacBook Pro
Model Identifier: MacBookPro11,5
Processor Name: Quad-Core Intel Core i7
Processor Speed: 2.5 GHz
Number of Processors: 1
Total Number of Cores: 4
L2 Cache (per Core): 256 KB
L3 Cache: 6 MB
Hyper-Threading Technology: Enabled
Memory: 16 GB
do a quick test with alias for me. run it. press space to select default audio. and then press z to m. you will get the default sound - is this distorted, dropouts, etc?
Great Software, I have enjoyed it quite a bit. I must be missing something I can load all the sounding in the normal Fairlight way through Disk Control. But the SDMX SOUNDS Along with a plethora of others in the Disk Library show but I cant load them. I looked all over my HD and they just don't appear. Am I missing something completely simple. BTW I prefer this as a standalone box BTW. ALL Other "VERSIONS" OF this sound horrific once you try and make a plug in out of them. MIDI CLOCK/MTC TO LOCK IT would be cool. The reason these sound cool is that they are not sample accurate sequencers but clock based. Once you eliminate that. The magic is gone. Its been a while my original Fairlight was destroyed. LASTLY when I enter user and the settings etc. Does it actually SAVE IT? Doesn't seem like it. Thanks DMARXX
what are SDMX SOUNDS? give me a list of the file extensions and I can see what is going on for you? :)
Hi there :) Ahhhh... I am now gathering that Mac 10.6.8 is totally off limits :p. Works on Catalina as expected but umm yep like anyone with a Roland PCRxxx it is not either :/ Is there a work around for 10.6.8?
I wouldn't have thought so - it was developed on the latest macos :(
Real out there q: any chance of an ARM linux build? Or maybe more generally: I want to build a standalone, dedicated machine that runs this software and has cmi inspired hardware around it (3D printed enclosure, midi controls, etc), and depending on the maximum spec requirements I was looking at a few x86 single board computers, but if I could run it on ARM that would greatly open up my options. I suppose more generally a RaspberryPi version would be welcome? Anyway thanks for this software, it kicks ass.
Exactly my thought/my idea!
See latest response to my question about linux, seems the developer has given up on the linux version because of problems getting MIDI working.
Hello tis is a message mostly for Adam. Look currently I have a MacBook Pro running dual screens on the left I have qasarbeach the right Logic audio.now today I came across a great audio driver app called sunflower.. this offers a stereo driver and a 64 channel driver.. in QB it picks up the drivers (both) then in logic I can choose the sunflower inputs and directly record the stereo mix of Page R to logic..however since QB sums its 16 audio into a stereo pair logic only picks up two channels?in the endeavour to make QB like a vst?? (not?) a faster solution might be to rewrite page (O)..and take out the stereo mix..thus making exporting the 16 Chanels via sunflower to logic so it can pickup the 16 Channels separately? the final request might be to write a MMTC midi time code slave so the logic audio DAW can start stop QB page R?..
so yea
1. remove the stereo mix on page (O)
2. create a midi control external clock.
if these two things were done this way we can all enjoy and run QB alongside and within our favourite daws opening a whole new world..this approach I think would be far less laborious than trying to create a QB VST instrument? in the end though if you Adam tried this you would essentially have to offer two versions of QB in the end..I hope you can try this a bit of a dream come true?
cheers simon Australia.
thumbs up for soundflower ;) Yep. I'm looking into having multiple channel outputs in the future
yea there’s another one as good just 16 Chanel out black? Something? So if you can open the 16 audio outs as Individuals AND be able to export /import midi data like apart from recording the audio out it would be nice to get the page r midi data into logic aswell but not soo important?and receive start stop then my single Mac and midi controller will run and control bot QB and logic at the same time.. no need for external sound cards or seperate computer? it would be brilliant ❤️👍👍😀
Any plans on making this open source?
Hello, I am wanting to have this Quasar Beach on a stand alone computer...I then want to find the most elegant practical inexpensive piece of hardware that will allow me to assign the QB audio out channels ..then take them physically to my other DAW computers input channels..on my master daw I have 32 assignable recordable inputs...however using the QB as a stand alone im finding either I have to buy (superfluous Input or mixing devices) when actually all im wanting is Outputs maybe the 16 that QB has?? later Adam might be able to add MIDI clock slave to the QB in which case I can control it from my master DAW..this is not the case just yet.. anyway back to the original question does anyone have any ideas.. my current input protocols are USB3 and Thunderbolt thanks simon.
Hello I love this fairlight app brilliant.. im happy to buy a cheap apple laptop and attach a 16/io audio card.. can I route the outputs of all Chanels to that card, then run into another 16'io card on another computer(master).. so essentially the quasar is stand alone ..the final question is it too difficult to implement a slave midi clock to the platform? so from my master daw I can run the quasar LOCKED as a slave in sync to the master AND import the 16 audio Chanels into my DAW this would truly be a dream come true? might it be that this has already been achieved? its just that looking at the 16 audio Chanels on the quasar beach it appears that they are stereo summed.. still if it all were possible id do this in a flash thanks simon..... might it be that this approach into integrating with DAWS is an easier method than turning the app into a VST?
QBIII Alias will have individual channel routings. QBII doesn't support that. Currently QB doesn't run via midi clock. but this is something I can look into :)
QB voices are true stereo and support both mono and stereo imports. mono sounds are not summed and are pannable (as are stereo sounds)
Lastly QB will only be standalone.
Thanks for your quick reply BTW hope your easter break is enjoyable? so QB111 has this been released as yet? I able to pickup a suitable MacBook for $150 enough to run just QB and im also able to pick up a audio interface that has 16 outs.$150..so for little money in this approach I do get a stand alone CMI for little money ... my master machine has an audio card with 16 in so I suppose the trick is to be able to run QB as a slave via midi clock? sounds like for you its a job to do but not out of the question..cheers simon
QBIII (Alias) is in development.
How do I show my found MIDI devices on page M? When I turn the MIDI system on, I see "Found Devices - Click to select", but I can't see the device. My device previously showed up as an audio output device (it is a Yamaha PSR-e463 which can send audio to its speakers over USB) so I am not sure why I can't see it in page M.
What QB version are you using?
Whichever version that's included in qasarbeach135a.zip.
there is a 135b release that deals with midi. Issues
Ahh, I see.
will there be a updated linux version to update it past 1.29g to 135 like the windows and mac os versions?
As I may have mentioned I am now on an MSI GE75 Raider with Intel Core i7 10750H CPU at 2.60 GHz, Nvidia GEForce RTX 2060 and integrated Intel graphics, with 16 GB of DDR 4 ram, and a solid state boot drive. I use Korg MIDI driver with my Korg Kronos music workstation.
I was still having the issue with MIDI not sounding notes when switching off any page but Page M. in v1.34.
Now version 1.35a does not pick up my MIDI device AT ALL.
Any solution for this??
currently no. but I am looking into new midi code
I find the Help pages (Page 9) very helpful, but there are some issues in those pages. Page F doesn't display correctly (only 2 lines, which appear to be header/footer info, but in a slightly confused manner); Page 3 won't display at all; and Page R displays only as many pages as the previous displayed page (so I try to go to Page 7 immediately prior). These are not major issues since there is good documentation elsewhere, but just in case you weren't aware of this issues, I thought I'd speak up and let you know. Great system, I'm really enjoying it!
thanks for this - I'll get it sorted ;)
My usb midi keyboard is defined on page Z (along with the usb sound card), but it is not on page M. What could be the problem?
on PAGE M, turn on the midi system first ;)
hehehe - There's lots to say... ;)
How can I select what audio interface to use? I haven't found any Audio setup menu (only for MIDI devices but not audio interfaces).
Is ASIO supported?
Thank you.
currently there is no way to select this. but a new audio core is being worked on which will allow it :)
All audio devices show up , but selecting them doesn't seam to work .
OSX in V135
how are you selecting them?
Checked and confirmed - I'll get a fix out today for you - thanks for this info. It's really appreciated :)
V1.35a upped with fix :)
awesome I’ll check it later today and post back
Selecting works now . Audio seams distorted , but hey its a start
Hi Adam,
I think QasarBeach is a wonderful application!
But currently I found a strange behavior on MacOS 11.6.
After starting QasarBeach, the memory consumption of this application seems to be increasing.
When I watched the activity monitor tool supplied by Apple, the start consumption value was around 80Mbytes and it started to increase at a rate of 1Mbyte per 10seconds.
I tried ver1.31 and ver1.32, and both versions were the same results.
If you have any solution for avoiding this phenomenon, please inform me.
Best regards,
miumiyu
currently that is normal behaviour, so I wouldn't be too concerned. there is an internal garbage collector that is doing stuff behind the scenes. But I'll look into this :)
I've taken a look and made some change to hopefully sort this out. can you report your findings back to me please? V1.32b macos build
Hi Adam,
Thank you for your reply and quick reponse against for my inquiry.
I tried v1.32b, and I was able to confirm that it was fixed.
Activity monitor tool indicates around 90Mbyte constantly for QasarBeach.
Of course, QasarBeach works fine. :-)
Thank you for your support!
no problem. it's great to be given a task and be able to track, and fix it soo quickly for you :)
I found this by 'accident' and want to use it. But what is the minimum requirements for Windows. I can't find it. Or did i miss it?
it should run on low end systems fine :)
I had great fun trying this for an hour last night and had some interesting sounds going. It crashed at that point, which is a lesson to save more frequently, but I was wondering if there is a way, or some plans, to make it work with other software. Ideally I would be able to export wave files of the tracks all at once and load them into a DAW to be able to add more instruments and effects. I guess if I was Kate Bush I would have had the CMI with individual outputs and multiple tracks of tape to use too.
Check out PAGE 8 - sound sampling. You can sample the internal playing voices to a single voice and then save that as a wav ;)
Hi, Adam! I've recently updated QasarBeach, but when I go and turn it on, it won't open; says "QasarBeach has crashed unexpectedly". Only 2 apps have had this happen to me, and it was because apparently they were incompatible with my Mac. Does this mean that support for older Macs has been removed? (I use 10.9.4 for lots of reasons, mainly because we were told, in Full Sail, not to upgrade unless it's been made compatible with Pro Tools.) Thanks!
FRANCO FERRER-SAN MIGUEL
Hi Adam, feeling a bit nostalgic so I downloaded QasarBeach for a play. Well done mate! Exploration happening and waking up some old brain cells :-). I am so embarrassed here ... loading a "voice ".wav (see it everywhere) ... play it using the virtual keyboard, and for the life of me, I cannot get any type of audio/sound output of it on my Win 10 pro. What am I missing? Dooohhh ... Thanks and all the best.
go to PAGE 2 and then go to a folder with sounds in it.
These must be uncompressed
selecting a sound will load a preview of it and your should be able to play with the keyboard - this might need to be activated - check PAGE S settings :)
Hi again Adam, Thanks for your quick response! Well appreciated! Hmmm ... Seems all good. Issue is when I use/click on the "internal" virtual keyboard ... No sound. Page R ... with a quick "fill" works. I can hear it. I am also getting a Metronome audio output. I'm using my PC's internal High definition audio device. Screenshots .pdf here for you here: https://drive.google.com/file/d/18vjBqrbXFpAUIf4i77VHmqjovMhrSXsy/view?usp=shari...
Is this a 64bit app?
Might try all of this on my MacBook Pro ... My PC is mostly for Admin and Tech. My Mac is for music ... w/ Midi keyboard. > P.S. THANKS for your support! Sent you some well deserved $ ... Nice work, All the best, Joe
QB is much happier on macos... what version macos are you running?
Macbook Pro / Catalina / IOS 10.15 :-)
you should have no problems 😀
Adam, I've recently come into possession of two functioning Muse Receptor 2+ Pro units. Any idea if this fantastic bit of stuff will run on the Muse platform?
hmmm. It's not something I've come across before. QB is general so give it a go and let me know how you get on?
Excellent job! Has been the external source sampling issue already fixed in 1.31? Thank you.
currently it's the same as previous. but a new version is coming ;)
Great news! Thank you for the good work.
How do you install the 119 update files?
the current version is 1.29. you just download the one for your os (marked with 129g). there is no install ;)
Hi thanks a lot for a great tool and all the hard work you put into this.
Is there any way we can help with the linux midi? This project is IMO more ideal for linux machines/PI perhaps than it is for windows, just my opinion. I would be fine using wine, however I noticed that the midi also didn't work for me.
Is there any version I should be using to get midi working on linux/wine? Thanks!
linux midi are known, but not yet properly addressed. the base system being used is PortMidi. Exactly what is not functioning ?
I am not getting any results from the midi scanning. Thanks!
thanks for that. I'll see what can be done ;)
Thanks! I can give you any info you need. Maybe I'm missing some lib, I installed lib-portmidi0. I'm having a usb midi device plugged in before opening Qb, in terminal the output is:
Recently downloaded this, I love it! I've run into an issue with MIDI though - when I release a note after having triggered a new one, the sound will cut as if the 'note off' has been sent by the new note that was triggered. Interestingly this only happens with my MIDI keyboard. With keyboard emulation using my computer keyboard, this problem doesn't exist. I'd really appreciate some help, thanks!
mac, pc, linux?
Be aware that you are actually dealing with 16 mono voices. so you will get clipping of sounds.
To use multiple sound = polyphony, you need to
1. pick and sound and get it right (PAGE 7)
2. use PAGE 3 VOICE to allocate the voice to multiple channels
3. Use PAGE 3 KEYBOARD to remap midi inputs
:)
Thanks for the quick response! I'm on PC. Enabling polyphony does alleviate the problem, however this bug is making it hard to play mono voices. Let's say I just wanted to play a C then a D. I'll usually release C a few milliseconds after keying D, resulting in the note being cut off even though I'm still holding the D key down, resulting in a blip of sound. I have to make sure either the C key is fully released before pressing D, or hold down C for as long as I want the D to sound. Here's a video that will hopefully clarify. Thanks again! https://imgur.com/VnZ4FOu
PAGE 2 is just for previewing sounds from disk - it uses a slightly different sound setup. does the issue occur when you are NOT on PAGE 2?
Sorry, I was on Page 2 for brevity's sake. Yes, it occurs when the sound is loaded into a voice and played from Page R or anywhere else.
no problem I'll go into the code and see what can be done for you :)
I downloaded the 1.29g release weeks ago and everything was working really nicely until last night. The audio is now choppy on all loaded samples and Page R playback to the point of being unusable. I've rebooted the PC, disconnected and reconnected all audio and MIDI devices, but nothing has fixed. Any ideas? I was thinking of trying to download an earlier version of QB, but cannot find one.
If there's a fix for this, I'd really appreciate. I did donate, and have been absolutely loving using this wonderful old school system, especially given how much the Fairlight informed so many of my favourite albums in the 80s.
Have you installed any updates to windows, or changed anything on the system?
Not knowingly, but then everything does auto updates these days eh. Should I try rolling back to a restore point?
my advice (with windows system) is to get it all working and then try to keep in that state. You can always pop over to the facebook page and question the users to see if they have better suggestions ;)
Okay so, I made a song that sounds great (to me at least). I wanna bounce my song down to a .wav file. Is that possible?
If not, I'll just record to tape.
yep. PAGE 8 - sound sampling. you record from the INTERNAL.copy the result to a voice and then PAGE 2 save wa
ah..... so hypothetically, I could record my song on voices then use the other 8 voices to track out each instrument individually .... Thanks
yep, you can record and variation of voice you can think of - the added FX (reverb and echo) will also be recorded. You could do multiple versions and bounce to different spare tracks for other purposes too ;)
Hi,
I can't sample properly from the external audio input. Recorded audio sounds choppy.
Playback of loaded samples or internally recorded sound works perfectly, though.
I am demoing the new 1.29g release, and the nphony seems to have been fixed- functioning properly, as reloading instruments I had saved seemed to go to monophony and get stuck there in 1.28. However there still seems to be an issue with using the Karma (arp) sequencing function on my Kronos as controller. I can use it to create sequences in QasarBeach, but I can't shut it off no matter what, and end up having to close QasarBeach to get it to disconnect. If I set it to MIDI in the Midi Control page, it gets sound but only in monophony, and then the nphony page doesn't work. I m using an HP Pavilion dv7 Notebook PC. Any thoughts?
hmmm that's an interesting one.
ok. lets try this:
1. Open QB, goto PAGE M (midi) and deselect everything then quit. the settings are saved on exit, so you have cleared them now
2. open QB goto PAGE M and select your midi stuff, with autostart and Midi on - so it will restart correctly. then quit. you now have new midi settings :)
3. QB does have an 'all notes off' command: PST or PSTOP. so when your Karma goes nuts. goto the command line enter PST and it should stop!
Let me know how you get on with this please - if it all works or doesn't :)
Nice work on this. I had some curiosity questions. For Linux do you use directly Alsa API or an higher API like openal (which would make it more portable) ? Thanks.
QB on Linux is a bit borked with the Midi not functioning - hence it is not up to date with the MacOS and Win version.
Internally it uses OpenAL and SDL2 with a custom sound-core sitting on top. The code base itself is virtually the same across all platforms ;)
Why did you remove the nphony? This makes the program virtually unusable for me. Are you planning on putting it back, or have you 'hidden' it in another location. I have looked around for it but was unable to find it.
Page 3, Voice
it was changed as this is where the IIx keeps it
Thank you, found it!
any chance a raspberry pi version will appear? (thanks in advance)
I was thinking about this. A fairlight IIx, in theory should be fairly easily emulated by a Raspberry PI and given that Qasarbeach essentially recreates the Fairlight IIx's behaviour, it should be certainly possible.
Hi Adam,
installed V1.26 on 2 different PC's, one exclusively reserved for Qasarbeach only, no other apps or programs installed. On both, Midi Keyboard doesn't seem to work anymore and can't switch between voices in Page R. Probably my bad, but wanted to share it anyway.
check the new PAGE O: Output mix and reset the faders - they are the new live master volume. Let me know if this works for you :)
Thanx, got it working. :)
Hi, thanks for this amazing tool! Any chance of the Linux version catching up to the Windows and Mac ones when 1.26 is released properly? It's two releases behind at the moment.
It's being worked on :)
❣
I would like to thank you for bringing the Fairlight CMI experience to those of us who can only afford to keep the utilities going, the rent paid, and our families fed. Truly, I am grateful.
I've been lusting for a real CMI IIx, but was discouraged by its current selling price, which can be likened to an older home or a brand new car with a very basic feature package. I have tried a demo of Arturia's CMI software, but even then, having multiple workstations would require multiple licenses, let alone the excessive resource usage on even the most powerful computers; it really bogged down my quad-core laptop, to the point where it was literally unusable. On the iPhone and iPad, there are a couple CMI apps that are available for $10 and $50, but for years they've been riddled with bugs that the developer has yet to fix.
I'm very happy to have found QasarBeach; I'm surprised I haven't found it sooner.
thank you for the kind words. there is a facebook page where you can find others to provide more support and help :)
I have copied the files to the desktop on my HP Laptop, which is a few years old, and has a dual-core processor, running Windows 10 64-bit. The program opens fine, and all the functions appear to work, but when trying to save a sample made in the program to cv format, it mysteriously crashes the software. Also, I note that there is no 'quit' button. The Fairlight CMI had an OFF button, I'm assuming. Any plans to update w/ bug-fixes soon? I will attempt to run this again and see if I can save samples to other formats. This was a sample with loop points and polyphony enabled.
Re quit - just close the window :)
Please keep me informed if you can replicate a crash
I was able to save a looped sample in cv format, this time, so not sure what the issue was. Went out of the program and back in to check the cv file was still there, which it was. But the cv file apparently does not save polyphony and panning information. Is there going to be a fix for this in the future? Also one thing that would be VERY useful, is an 'undo' button for those of us who are a bit less technically gifted at programming code. My knowledge is pretty much limited to programming voices on hardware synths, particularly FM synthesis.
(it's .VC not CV). cmd+z will undo one step on most pages. polyphony is not part of a voice. a voice is a single voice. polyphony is many voices. save them as an instrument .IN. :)
My bad- I just started using the program and am not familiar with all the formats, or it could be that my old fat fingers don't type well on this little keyboard. VC not CV, got it. Thank you for making the distinction between an instrument and a single voice, that is very helpful. I will try that today and see if it works for me. There is an odd thing that the program does which is replicable, and that is when I go to add the voices to the slots 1-8, or A-H, it only brings the dialog up the first time I go into the screen. If I go out of the screen and back in to add more voices, I can't get the dialog to come up again. It says 'add', but no 1-8, A-H at the bottom of the screen. When I try to add another voice without that 1-8, A-H, it doesn't work. I end up having to quit the program and restart it to get that dialog back. Just letting you know. Thanks again!
I tried to install it on Windows10 64bit, but I can't install it even if I run qasarbeach.exe with administrator privileges. How do I install it on Windows 10?
it should run with no issues. The Facebook community may be able to help with this
Is it possible to say that the installation is completed with this operation?
In what folder is the program QasarBeach written, assuming the installation is complete?
QB is 64 bit, and requires openGL. Do you have security software that might be blocking it?
Windows 10 is 64bit. No software blocks the operation of Open GL. I stopped the antivirus software and tried to install it, but the result was the same.
Open GL is Ver.4.3.0 because of GPU. We cannot support newer versions. Is it related to Open GL Ver.?
Since the GPU has a built-in CPU, it cannot be replaced with a GPU because it is a tablet.
It shouldn't have to 'install' anything, as it runs out of the folder that the files are in- I have no problem running it on my laptop with Windows 10 64-bit, however trying to save a sample causes the software to crash.
I've kept you waiting for a long time.
It is a report because it started normally.
Since the user name was Kanji, I changed it to English and tried to start it, but the status did not change and it failed to start.
After a while, I deleted all unused users to solve the SSD capacity shortage, so when I started it today, both v1.25 and v1.26 started normally and are working.