If one is using the original extracted 46 IMG .VC format Fairlight sample library with Qasarbeach should not the original loop points and control data be present in those files and is QB capable of using that data when asked to playback those samples?? Please correct my misconceptions of what that original sample data contains as I 'm getting this from forums and snippets about the original sample library of the IIx...
Also I am wondering how to get a clean sustained sound out the fairlight with the samples provided...
yes and no. the .vc format come in 2 varieties. 16k which is just the sample and 21k which is the sample plus the .co data with the loop pointsQB should read those. I'll check and get back to you :)
Ahh. Ok... So it seems I have been using .VC format samples that are 21K in length - these were gleaned from .IMG files of the original Fairlight disks... I also located a limited library of samples that have .CO control files along with the .VC formatted sample files. I have been attempting to get either of these formats to yield a clean "unloopified" output but have been unsuccessful as of yet. What I mean by "loopified" is to load up a sample of a continuous tone instrument like a piano or E.piano and be able to get the outputted audio to appear without loop glitches. The sound output even with the .CO control files are loop glitchy (albeit not as bad as without purposely loading the control data) . One thing significant about the samples that have their corresponding .CO files present, is the QB sampler will not load that data automatically. So in the effort to use the control data I have been loading the samples into voice slots twice - one time for the .VC file and another load to the same voice slot for the .CO data file. Not sure if that is how one is supposed load that data, but when using this method the .CO file does shows up on PAGE 7 with the name displayed in the ".CO field" of the interface.... Another item of note, when using the 21K .VC format files from the original Fairlight disks is there is no indication in the PAGE7 ".CO field" that control data is loaded, if that is even supposed to be an indicator..
I've checked out the files and heres the correct answer:
files come in 2 type 16k sample & 21k sample+harmonic data
the loop points are found in the corresponding .CO file - which you will need to load manually.
To do this. locate the .co file with the same filename. click the voice to load this info into (usually the same as the voice file) then click LOAD. that will load the loop points and any other data into page 7 ;)
any chance of getting an ARM-based version for Windows? Intel achitecture has an uncertain future and everything seems to be ARM-oriented now. It would be great to have also an ARM-based Linux version (many people, including me, want to build a stand-alone CMI clone with a ARM-based computer such as the RPI... check the MiniDexed project).
I think it's time to bury the old Windows PC and move towards other modern paradigms.
This is great. I was surprised that it works on my Mac, which is a 2012 Mac Mini running a patched copy of Big Sur - it crashes with Big Sur 11.6.2 (something about a graphics problem) but works fine with 11.6.8.
My question - I know you can do envelopes with the function page, but is there an equivalent of the Release step in an ADSR envelope? The Fairlight seems to stop sounds the moment you release a key, which makes a click noise. Is there a way to have a smooth key release?
As an edit to the above the "damping" control on Page 7 adds a release tail - it works well with a value of 20 and the damping loop turned off. The help files don't seem to mention it so perhaps it was a late addition.
yep - damping is the Fairlight version of Release. Another way is to use a function with the input as KEYTIM (key time). you can then use tracking to speed up/down how fast it tracks...
The article points out that the London College of Furniture owned a Fairlight CMI - Jim Grant was a senior lecturer there - which is something I would never have guessed. They apparently had a well-equipped music technology school on account of the historical links between piano-making and musicians. Sound on Sound has a photo of the very same Fairlight in 1989. I wonder what happened to it?
Alas the London College of Furniture doesn't exist any more. It seems to have been absorbed by the London Metropolitan Museum.
Hi, I am wondering if it is currently possible to control QasarBeach CMI via MIDI by Logic Pro. Currently, QB sees my MIDI controller but cannot see any Logic MIDI inputs or outputs, and viceversa. I thought there must be a way to setup a virtual MIDI device that QasarBeach CMI can see and respond to. I have another similar app which is actually an IOS app and not a VST or AU (Vogel CMI) which is visible to Logic without any intervention on my part, so I was not sure if I am missing something obvious. I'm not super experienced with Mac virtual routings, etc
Hi, I guess I don't understand why QB isn't accepting MIDI from Logic. I tried enabling the IAC MIDI driver which is supposed to allow Mac apps to transfer MIDI between each other, but I couldn't get it to work even though QB can see the driver and it can be assigned. I'm not sure what I'm missing. I am able to get QB audio to appear in Logic.
This is so amazing! I remember being fascinated about the Fairlight CMI back then ... and now I have several of these machines on my Macbook. I highly recommend to take some time, read the PDFs, watch some YT videos to dive into it. It's absolutely worth it!
I’ve been using quasarbeach on my pc a while ago, I noticed the newest version so I downloaded it. But somehow it doesn’t start up. I see the program icon in the dock but the program doesn’t show at all. Can I somehow reset all preferences or something to get it back and start from scratch?
Hey–sorry but I'm afraid I have another problem with this. Whenever I use the Page R Sequencer, and try adding musical notes to the sequencer, nothing happens. Am I doing something wrong?
Ah! I now think I understand! I need to have 'MIDI keyboard' switched on, and type in a note on my keyboard.That does the trick! By the way, do you know where can I find more .vc samples (more of the original ones used by the fairlight?)
I have just downloaded QasarBeach. I am using a 16" M1 Max Macbook, and am using MacOS Monterey Version 12.4.
I really admire the work that went into the emulation here–everything I am looking at looks EXACTLY like the real thing, as far as I can tell. I really would like to compose music on this...but there's one little problem. No sound whatsoever is coming out of it.
I think the Page R sequencer seems straightforward enough. But, I do not know how to get any sound to come out of it...Do I have to manually supply my own sound files for it to play back?
Also–I am someone who regularly uses Logic Pro X. Is there any way I can integrate this plugin with my DAW? It would be a great help for composing music!
Okay, so once I've opened Page 2, which sounds do I load? Does this software automatically come with the classic Fairlight 8-Bit samples, or do I have to manually download each one and upload each one to the Page R sequencer instead?
Hi AdamStrange! Thank you so much for the advice! I think I must have missed the cookbook and all the other files the first time I downloaded the app! Thank you!
hi, would this be hard for a teen to install? aswell as can this run on windows 8.1 on an intel celeron cpu? and does this program have the ARR1(SARARR) patch? thanks from helen
Hello Adam simon Australia.. I Have a real question? how much money would I have to donate to encourage you to go back to the quasar beach app and open the audio outputs to be selectable individually for the likes of the sunflower 64 channel drive? or alternatively any multi channel sound card? also inclusive of this request midi clock sync so I can lock it to to a daw like Logic? this is a serious question and if I can fund this project I will.. now currently as is I do love it but for the stereo out.. midi clock is not such a big deal.. however I have the UVI dark light which is nice but nothing compared to your emulation..its not really a series 2x at all.. but still a nice piece of software.. I also have the Arturia cmi..this is nice but again no watch and most disappointing is the pattern sequencer only offer 8 patterns!! I hear of running the cmi software in MAME but haven't tried ..still though I do love all that yours offers..so yea How much? maybe everyone here can chip in to realise this request? take care simon
Oh another request for the sake of authenticity in page R the velocity value in quasar is 1-127 as well as duration.. now in the original vel was 1-8 and duration 1 - 48? I think.. now look you might not understand or recognise there was a very real reason for this by design and application of pattern creation.. might this also be addressed and afforded?I understand midi protocols being 1 - 127/8? however this would be a great reversal of design or possibly make it a default option? .. my personal experience programming the real cmi 11x I utilised with great effect and control using these limited parameters.. short of calculation the divisions of said values into 128? but in truth it actually does serve a very real purpose.. just asking cheers simon
Are there any forums where users can compare notes or share tips? I have been trying to get the Linux version running, and I can get some sounds with the virtual keyboard, but it does not find my MIDI interface, so I can't use with my MIDI keyboard, and when I have JACK running it starts two JACK ports and automatically connects to system out, but I never get any audio through the JACK connection. I also see terminal messages indicating that it was attempting to start at 44.1k even when JACK was already running at 48K (tried with jack running at 44.1k and 48k, did not get any sound out even when running at 44.1k).
I would love to try this out, it looks like a lot of fun, but playing a few notes from my computer keyboard isn't going to work, I need to find out how to get MIDI working (and preferably JACK output so I can send the output to my DAW).
Disappointing. I guess that means Scottux's plan to make a stand alone system running on RPi4 is a no-go then. I rarely use Windows, so hope you change your mind about giving up.
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
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When I run the software, I get a "Wonkey Runtime Error" "SIGNAL: Memory access violation GC state=IDLE"
what os and specs please :
OS: Windows 10 Home Edition
CPU: i5-3570k
RAM: 32GB
Video: 2x Radeon RTX 480
Storage -
OS SSD: 256GB
Program M.2: 1024GB
Awesome piece of software! but I get something similar with the latest version. I'm on Windows 11.
Wonkey Runtime Error
Failed to compile shader:O(24) : error C0105: Syntax error in
0(24) : error C0105: Syntax error in *if
there are manuals and other help files - look for the cookbooks ;)
If one is using the original extracted 46 IMG .VC format Fairlight sample library with Qasarbeach should not the original loop points and control data be present
in those files and is QB capable of using that data when asked to playback those samples?? Please correct my misconceptions of what that original sample data contains as I 'm getting this from forums and snippets about the original sample library of the IIx...
Also I am wondering how to get a clean sustained sound out the fairlight with the samples provided...
Thanks in advance
yes and no. the .vc format come in 2 varieties. 16k which is just the sample and 21k which is the sample plus the .co data with the loop pointsQB should read those. I'll check and get back to you :)
Ahh. Ok... So it seems I have been using .VC format samples that are 21K in length - these were gleaned from .IMG files of the original Fairlight disks... I also located a limited library of samples that have .CO control files along with the .VC formatted sample files. I have been attempting to get either of these formats to yield a clean "unloopified" output but have been unsuccessful as of yet. What I mean by "loopified" is to load up a sample of a continuous tone instrument like a piano or E.piano and be able to get the outputted audio to appear without loop glitches. The sound output even with the .CO control files are loop glitchy (albeit not as bad as without purposely loading the control data) . One thing significant about the samples that have their corresponding .CO files present, is the QB sampler will not load that data automatically. So in the effort to use the control data I have been loading the samples into voice slots twice - one time for the .VC file and another load to the same voice slot for the .CO data file. Not sure if that is how one is supposed load that data, but when using this method the .CO file does shows up on PAGE 7 with the name displayed in the ".CO field" of the interface.... Another item of note, when using the 21K .VC format files from the original Fairlight disks is there is no indication in the PAGE7 ".CO field" that control data is loaded, if that is even supposed to be an indicator..
I've checked out the files and heres the correct answer:
files come in 2 type 16k sample & 21k sample+harmonic data
the loop points are found in the corresponding .CO file - which you will need to load manually.
To do this. locate the .co file with the same filename. click the voice to load this info into (usually the same as the voice file) then click LOAD. that will load the loop points and any other data into page 7 ;)
Hi,
any chance of getting an ARM-based version for Windows? Intel achitecture has an uncertain future and everything seems to be ARM-oriented now. It would be great to have also an ARM-based Linux version (many people, including me, want to build a stand-alone CMI clone with a ARM-based computer such as the RPI... check the MiniDexed project).
I think it's time to bury the old Windows PC and move towards other modern paradigms.
This is great. I was surprised that it works on my Mac, which is a 2012 Mac Mini running a patched copy of Big Sur - it crashes with Big Sur 11.6.2 (something about a graphics problem) but works fine with 11.6.8.
My question - I know you can do envelopes with the function page, but is there an equivalent of the Release step in an ADSR envelope? The Fairlight seems to stop sounds the moment you release a key, which makes a click noise. Is there a way to have a smooth key release?
As an edit to the above the "damping" control on Page 7 adds a release tail - it works well with a value of 20 and the damping loop turned off. The help files don't seem to mention it so perhaps it was a late addition.
yep - damping is the Fairlight version of Release. Another way is to use a function with the input as KEYTIM (key time). you can then use tracking to speed up/down how fast it tracks...
I realise now it's mentioned in part four of "The Fairlight Explained" by Jim Grant, from back in 1984:
https://www.muzines.co.uk/articles/the-fairlight-explained/7947
The article points out that the London College of Furniture owned a Fairlight CMI - Jim Grant was a senior lecturer there - which is something I would never have guessed. They apparently had a well-equipped music technology school on account of the historical links between piano-making and musicians. Sound on Sound has a photo of the very same Fairlight in 1989. I wonder what happened to it?
Alas the London College of Furniture doesn't exist any more. It seems to have been absorbed by the London Metropolitan Museum.
I might have met him when I tried to get on one of their courses at that time - Electronic musical instruments..
Hi, I am wondering if it is currently possible to control QasarBeach CMI via MIDI by Logic Pro. Currently, QB sees my MIDI controller but cannot see any Logic MIDI inputs or outputs, and viceversa. I thought there must be a way to setup a virtual MIDI device that QasarBeach CMI can see and respond to. I have another similar app which is actually an IOS app and not a VST or AU (Vogel CMI) which is visible to Logic without any intervention on my part, so I was not sure if I am missing something obvious. I'm not super experienced with Mac virtual routings, etc
Thanks for your consideration
Midi with QB is a bit primitive. it only receives midi. There are 3 modes:
1. accepts midi from any channel. into the current voice (or voices if polyphony if being used)
2. accept sys ex
3. accepts 16 mono channels and routes them to each of the first 16 voices
Hi, I guess I don't understand why QB isn't accepting MIDI from Logic. I tried enabling the IAC MIDI driver which is supposed to allow Mac apps to transfer MIDI between each other, but I couldn't get it to work even though QB can see the driver and it can be assigned. I'm not sure what I'm missing. I am able to get QB audio to appear in Logic.
Thanks
This is so amazing! I remember being fascinated about the Fairlight CMI back then ... and now I have several of these machines on my Macbook. I highly recommend to take some time, read the PDFs, watch some YT videos to dive into it. It's absolutely worth it!
Hi Adam,
I’ve been using quasarbeach on my pc a while ago, I noticed the newest version so I downloaded it. But somehow it doesn’t start up. I see the program icon in the dock but the program doesn’t show at all. Can I somehow reset all preferences or something to get it back and start from scratch?
Thank you!
just download v1.36 and use that version
Thanks for your quick response!
I couldn't find version 1.36, but 1.37 has the same behaviour unfortunately
is the pc 32 or 64bit? which os?
the PC is 64 bit and running OS 10
mmm. interesting. I'll get back to you on this - QB is compiled on a windows 10 machine..
known error ;)
Hey–sorry but I'm afraid I have another problem with this.
Whenever I use the Page R Sequencer, and try adding musical notes to the sequencer, nothing happens. Am I doing something wrong?
No problem. Make sure that 'RECORD' is highlighted :)
Ah! I now think I understand! I need to have 'MIDI keyboard' switched on, and type in a note on my keyboard.That does the trick! By the way, do you know where can I find more .vc samples (more of the original ones used by the fairlight?)
Hi Adam Strange,
I have just downloaded QasarBeach. I am using a 16" M1 Max Macbook, and am using MacOS Monterey Version 12.4.
I really admire the work that went into the emulation here–everything I am looking at looks EXACTLY like the real thing, as far as I can tell.
I really would like to compose music on this...but there's one little problem. No sound whatsoever is coming out of it.
I think the Page R sequencer seems straightforward enough. But, I do not know how to get any sound to come out of it...Do I have to manually supply my own sound files for it to play back?
Also–I am someone who regularly uses Logic Pro X. Is there any way I can integrate this plugin with my DAW? It would be a great help for composing music!
you need to use PAGE 2 to load sounds first.
it's not a plugin so wont directly integrate into a daw. but you can use MIDI to control the 16 voices. 1 channel per voice
Hi Adam!
Okay, so once I've opened Page 2, which sounds do I load? Does this software automatically come with the classic Fairlight 8-Bit samples, or do I have to manually download each one and upload each one to the Page R sequencer instead?
have you downloaded the cookbook and the guides - there is a whole lod of information and demo files including all the sounds :)
Hi AdamStrange! Thank you so much for the advice! I think I must have missed the cookbook and all the other files the first time I downloaded the app! Thank you!
hi, would this be hard for a teen to install?
aswell as can this run on windows 8.1 on an intel celeron cpu?
and does this program have the ARR1(SARARR) patch?
thanks from helen
Hello Adam simon Australia.. I Have a real question? how much money would I have to donate to encourage you to go back to the quasar beach app and open the audio outputs to be selectable individually for the likes of the sunflower 64 channel drive? or alternatively any multi channel sound card? also inclusive of this request midi clock sync so I can lock it to to a daw like Logic? this is a serious question and if I can fund this project I will.. now currently as is I do love it but for the stereo out.. midi clock is not such a big deal.. however I have the UVI dark light which is nice but nothing compared to your emulation..its not really a series 2x at all.. but still a nice piece of software.. I also have the Arturia cmi..this is nice but again no watch and most disappointing is the pattern sequencer only offer 8 patterns!! I hear of running the cmi software in MAME but haven't tried ..still though I do love all that yours offers..so yea How much? maybe everyone here can chip in to realise this request? take care simon
i'm looking into this. ;)
ETA??? like know nothing of your skills or what this takes is it a mammoth monumentous task?
Oh another request for the sake of authenticity in page R the velocity value in quasar is 1-127 as well as duration.. now in the original vel was 1-8 and duration 1 - 48? I think.. now look you might not understand or recognise there was a very real reason for this by design and application of pattern creation.. might this also be addressed and afforded?I understand midi protocols being 1 - 127/8? however this would be a great reversal of design or possibly make it a default option? .. my personal experience programming the real cmi 11x I utilised with great effect and control using these limited parameters.. short of calculation the divisions of said values into 128? but in truth it actually does serve a very real purpose.. just asking cheers simon
this looks insane!!!!.
how do you make the ui of this tool.
everything is custom written from scratch
Are there any forums where users can compare notes or share tips? I have been trying to get the Linux version running, and I can get some sounds with the virtual keyboard, but it does not find my MIDI interface, so I can't use with my MIDI keyboard, and when I have JACK running it starts two JACK ports and automatically connects to system out, but I never get any audio through the JACK connection. I also see terminal messages indicating that it was attempting to start at 44.1k even when JACK was already running at 48K (tried with jack running at 44.1k and 48k, did not get any sound out even when running at 44.1k).
I would love to try this out, it looks like a lot of fun, but playing a few notes from my computer keyboard isn't going to work, I need to find out how to get MIDI working (and preferably JACK output so I can send the output to my DAW).
the linux development was not moved further because of the midi issues
Disappointing. I guess that means Scottux's plan to make a stand alone system running on RPi4 is a no-go then. I rarely use Windows, so hope you change your mind about giving up.
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 😀