Introduction

BallSequencer is a sequencer VSTi based around the idea of MIDI messages being generated by balls moving around inside a rectangular area. Notes are triggered whenever a ball collides with the boundary of the rectangle. You can set parameters that will control the movement of each ball, in addition to possible note and velocity values.

Please donate

BallSequencer is now donationware. No limitations have been imposed on the free version, but a nag screen will appear every 30 minutes during use. By donating 6 euros or more, you support further development of this and other plugins, and you will of course be entitled to a version of the plugin without the nag-screen.

New features and improvements in version 1.5

- New CC mode: Balls can now send CC messages based on their position in the rectangle. Each ball can transmit two CC messages, one for each axis. In addition, max and min values to be transmitted for each CC can be set up in the CC setup section.
- Extended support for remote control via MIDI CC messages: Root notes and roomsize can now be assigned CCs.
- More flexible CC implementation allows mapping of one CC message to control several parameters.
- Added a randomizer for quickly changing note and velocity mappings.
- Added rendering of trails for balls. This makes it easier to identify the trajectory of each ball, and it looks cool as well :).
- Speed sliders can now be set to zero, allowing for horizontal or vertical movement.
- Single-clicking the notelength values now increments (left-click) or decrements (right click) by 250 ms.
- Added a button to mute all notes (while still keeping the balls in motion). Useful if you want to transmit CC messages only.

Fixes:

- Stopping playback would leave hanging notes. Fixed.
- Assigning midi cc's for vertical speed sliders were only possible on row 1. Fixed.
- Some other minor fixes and optimizations.

Getting started

For those of you using Cubase, I've made a little miniguide to get you up and going quickly. The basic process should be the same in other hosts as well though. Remember that BallSequencer does not generate any sound by itself, only MIDI messages, so it has to be routed to a sound-generating device.

To get started in Cubase, select BallSequencer from the VST Instruments list...

Then add a MIDI track and route it to whatever midi-port or sound generator you are interested in using. Remember to enable monitoring in order to hear BallSequencer's output!