Cantor: 8-track synchronised looper

EDIT (2023): Over three years has passed since i first shared this here and a lot have happened! There's now 30+ built in effects, 3 custom synth engines, a drum machine, and lots of other new features. The basic looping and synchronisation system has also been revamped to just "round" loop sizes instead of quantising the recording points, and to include "retrospective looping" where you can instantly catch sound from a running buffer.

Video showing the current (2023) state of the project

Website

Latest version

Still a lot i need to get done! Updating the documentation is probably my highest priority right now. Happy to hear any feedback, questions or suggestions from other Max users here!

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Hi everyone!

I'd like to share with you a project Ive been working on for the last 4 months. Cantor is an 8-track polyrhythmic looper with a whole bunch of juicy features, that i plan to release as a freeware standalone to unlock the full music potential in all the poor bastards out there who can't afford an RC-505 but happen to have a computer.

My goal is to create a real alternative to professional hardware loopers that is:
- Free
- Powerful
- Requires no technical know-how to set up.

OBS! This is an early beta, so be ready to run in to some bugs.

[edit: updated to v. 0.52]

>>> DOWNLOAD <<<
(includes a readme.txt with instructions)

---- FEATURES ----

+++ 8 tracks, that can run independent or synchronised to any of the other tracks.
+++ All sync - settings specified with fractions for full polyrhythmic freedom!
+++ Speed up or slow down to +/- 1000 and beyond, and come back down still in perfect sync.
+++ Independent speed control for each track, all relative to the master speed.
+++ Paste in a blank loop of any specified division / length to not have to rely on punch-in/out timing.
+++ Dynamically change which track leads to change between rhythms during your performance.
+++ Unlimited undo/redo for each track!
+++ Instant divide and instant multiply at any time, with no upper limit to the loop size.
+++ Scratch your loops live like vinyls! Correct and change the alignment as if you had 8 dj decks.
+++ Powerful effect processing system. Customise a chain of 4 effects for the input and 4 effects for the output, each chosen from a growing palette of built in effects.
+++ Two separate send channels to choose which tracks go through the output effects. Lowpass some tracks, highpass some, and leave some untouched.
+++ New "dynamic feedback" function that ducks your loops relative to the incoming sound and lets you layer on forever without overloading your tracks.
+++ Customisable visual feedback

+++ A lot more planned for the future.

--- WHERE ITS AT ---

So this is my first time sharing this, so there will for sure be some bugs in there. I will set up a proper bug tracing system on github at some point, but i don't know how that works yet, so for now It would be of amazing help just to hear how its running in general. Mainly:
- Does it start?
- Does it crash?
- Are all the basic functions working?
- What settings do you need for a lag-free sound?

I also have some questions about how/where to place credits and licences for externals and code used in the project. If anyone has a good article or thread on that topic that would be great!

Some know issues to have patience with for now:
- moving & resizing window is wonky.
- remembering settings, filepaths and such when closing app not working properly.
- On startup, its sending some midi to the built in synth, resulting in some unexpected bleeps.. and i really cant figure out how to fix this.
- Graphics seem to be eating a lot of CPU. If your computer gets tired, making the window smaller can lighten the load. (looking for better solutions to this)

Edit: Moved the instructions into a readme file included in the download