VCV Plugins by RobRichards
Here you'll find unofficial VCV Rack V2 MIDI controller plugins for various Chase Bliss Audio effects pedals.
Current supported interfaces:
- Thermae
- Dark World
- Warped Vinyl
- M O O D
- Generation Loss
- Blooper (Firmware v3.2)
- Preamp MKII
- CXM 1978
- Habit
NOTE: In order to use these modules, you will need:
- One of the physical Chase Bliss Audio Pedals listed above.
- A MIDI-to-TRS converter (e.g. 'Chase Bliss Audio Midibox' or a 'Disaster Area Designs Midibox'). (not needed for Preamp MKII)
- A means to connect the MIDI-to-TRS converter to your computer via a MIDI Interface (e.g. MOTU Express XT) or special Midi to USB cable.
- A computer with VCV Rack installed.
Enjoy.
I've verified that these modules work properly with:
- macOS Monterey 12.5.1 with VCVRack 2.1.2 using a Disaster Area Designs Midibox and a MOTU Express XT MIDI Interface
Y.M.M.V. with Windows and Linux, but I'm fairly certain they should work as well.
Since these are not distributable on the VCV plug-in library (yet), you'll have to compile from source and install locally into your Rack Installation.
To do this, first set up your development environment for your platform using this guide: https://vcvrack.com/manual/Building.html#setting-up-your-development-environment.
Note: you do not need to compile Rack.
You will then need to download the most recent version of the Rack SDK 2.0.6 (mac/windows/linux) and unzip it to some directory (e.g. ~/Downloads/Rack-SDK).
Finally, clone this git repo, change directories into it, and run the following to compile and install the plugin in your Rack installation.
- For example, on macOS:
RACK_DIR=~/Downloads/Rack-SDK make install
Then launch Rack.
- Dynamic modulation of all knobs & faders using CV inputs [0-5V range] (All)
- 3-way programmable switches (All)
- Stomp switch controls (All)
- Expression CV Input (All)
- Bypass high and low gate triggers (All Channels -> Dark World, M O O D, HABIT) (AUX -> Generation Loss)
- Clock SYNC inputs (Thermae, Warped Vinyl, Blooper, & HABIT)
- Tap Tempo switch (Thermae, Warped Vinyl, & HABIT)
- Tap Tempo high gate trigger (Thermae, Warped Vinyl, & HABIT)
- "Slow-down" mode toggle (Thermae)
- "Self-oscillation/Hold" mode via momentary toggle (Thermae)
- Midi Note tempo divisions (Warped Vinyl)
- Modifier (A & B) Toggles (Blooper)
- Start/Stop/Record/Overdub/Modifier CV gate triggers (Blooper)
- Loop Selection (Up/Down) (Blooper)
- Ramping: Enable/Disable, CV, and knob control (Blooper)
- One-Shot Record On/Off toggle (Blooper)
- Remote control of motorized faders (Preamp MKII & CXM 1978)
- Preset cycling (Preamp MK2 & CXM 1978)
- Scan Hold, Loop Hold, Memory Reset (HABIT)
These plugins support a voltage range of 0-5V. When connecting an LFO to the CV ports, you will want to adjust the offset and scale of the LFO to fall into this range to avoid plateauing your wave forms (min or max). For example, if using the Bogaudio LFO this means setting the offset to 2.5V and the scale to 50%.
As a precaution, the high and low gate triggers for pedal bypass are not implemented on pedals that contain bypass relay switches. This is primarily to prevent wear & tear that could physically damage the pedal. Therefore, the MIDI controllers for Thermae, Warped Vinyl, and Generation Loss do not have this implemented.
- M O O D - I suspect it does not respond correctly to Midi Message CC15=127 (Mix knob fully-CW). Instead of having a completely wet mix, it appears to be identical to sending CC15=126, where a small bit of the dry signal is still audible.
- Preamp MKII & CXM 1978 - The 'Jump' arcade button does not respond to CC22=1 nor CC22=2. It only appears to respond to CC22=3, which instead of sending the state of the arcade button to "5 (Blue Light)", it actually toggles between the three options. This is contrary to the specification in the Midi Implementation Manual.
Chase Bliss Pedals do not respond well to the Running Status feature in the Midi protocol. To overcome this, every midi message that is sent to a CBA device is followed with dummy midi message to invalid the Running Status optimization feature. Although this means that double the amount of messages are being sent to the devices, it ensures that no messages are dropped by the devices.
The license for this software is GPL Version 3.
The products and logos for M O O D, Dark World, Thermae, Warped Vinyl Hifi, Generation Loss, Blooper, and Preamp MKII are registered trademarks of Chase Bliss Audio (www.chaseblissaudio.com). This software is free and distributed under the GNU GPLv3 license. It is not associated with the Chase Bliss Audio brand.