ArcB QUICK GUIDE ================ START HERE ---------- 1. Connect ArcB to the computer-facing USB port. 2. Open the app, select Connect device and choose the ArcB serial port. 3. Connect your MIDI instrument to ArcB's host port. 4. Open Mappings, choose Page 1 and open CV1. 5. Move CV1 and check that its Position meter responds. 6. Choose a MIDI CC, NRPN or other destination. 7. Select Apply without saving and test the result. 8. Save to a Scene slot only when you want the setup to survive power-off. Apply without saving changes the live setup but does not overwrite a Scene. This is the safest way to experiment. THE SIX WORKSPACES ------------------ Mappings Route CV movement and events to MIDI, NRPN and internal controls. Preset Bank Inspect and load complete ARC*C, Peak, BigSky, Space and H9 templates. Scene Morph Blend between two complete setups. Stage Engine Turn CV events into four tracks of notes, gates and rhythmic patterns. Loops & Clock Record CV gestures and choose how each loop follows tempo. System Health Check CV inputs, MIDI traffic, storage, USB and performance counters. Changing workspace does not stop playback or discard your draft. PRESET BANK ----------- The browser Preset Bank contains fifteen starting systems grouped by target: - Five ARC*C architectures - Four Novation Peak NRPN templates - Two original Strymon BigSky CC templates - Two Eventide Space CC templates - Two Eventide H9 CC templates Select a card to see every CV lane, motion source, MIDI destination and message number used by the Peak, BigSky, Space and H9 maps. Load draft changes only the browser; Try on device changes live RAM and does not overwrite any of the five Scene slots. Peak templates use the instrument's native NRPN map on MIDI channel 1. The Space templates need a one-time receive-map setup shown on each card because Space leaves all RCV CTL destinations unassigned by default. The Strymon templates target the original BigSky fixed MIDI CC map, not BigSky MX or other Strymon pedals. H9 templates address the ten algorithm-relative KB0-KB9 controls; confirm the C22-C31 receive assignments shown on each card. CV MAPPING ---------- ArcB has 16 physical CV inputs across three pages. This creates 48 independent CV processing lanes. Every lane has its own settings, routes, event outputs and gesture recording buffer. To make a basic mapping: 1. Choose a page and open a CV lane. 2. Start with Position as the source. 3. Choose a destination and MIDI channel. 4. Set the output range. 5. Add smoothing, a curve or inversion only if needed. 6. Apply and test before adding another route. Each lane can control four continuous destinations and two event destinations. This allows one CV gesture to change several parameters at once. Useful motion sources: - Position: the current CV level. - Velocity: how quickly the CV is moving. - Acceleration: how sharply its speed changes. - Activity: the overall amount of movement. - Direction: whether the CV is rising or falling. Position is the best starting point. Add the other ArcMotion sources gradually. LEARN A CC OR NRPN ------------------ 1. Open the continuous route you want to assign. 2. Select Listen. 3. Turn one control on the connected MIDI instrument. 4. ArcB fills in the detected CC or complete NRPN and its MIDI channel. 5. Apply the draft when you are ready. Learn stops after one control. Notes, clock and SysEx are ignored. ArcB does not sweep through values or write exploratory data to the instrument. TARGETS AND DESTINATIONS ------------------------ Generic MIDI Shows ordinary MIDI CC and NRPN numbers. ARC*C Shows verified ARC*C parameters by name. Only destinations supported by the current target firmware are included. User device profile Uses parameter names and ranges from an imported JSON profile. Multiple targets Shows ARC*C and the imported device profile together. Some destinations are continuous; others are switches, zones or one-shot actions. ArcB automatically uses the correct value type. One-shot actions are sent once and are never streamed continuously from CV. If several routes control the same destination, use the merge setting to define their relationship. Replace gives conventional mapping. Add, Subtract, Multiply, Minimum, Maximum, Bipolar and Sample & Hold allow several sources to form one final output without fighting each other. CV EVENTS --------- Event extraction converts CV movement into triggers. A lane can respond to: - Threshold crossings - Entering or leaving a voltage window - Movement and direction changes - Peaks For a clean first trigger, enable Threshold Rise only. Place the threshold above the resting level and below the played level. Add hysteresis or release time if noise causes repeated triggers. Events can send notes, CC states, program changes, transport commands or advance one of the four Stage Engine tracks. GESTURE LOOPS ------------- All 48 CV lanes have a dedicated gesture looper. Each lane can record up to 327.68 seconds. A loop may be played, stopped, overdubbed, reversed, trimmed, rate-shifted or set to ping-pong without changing the original recording. Each loop chooses its own clock mode: - Tempo: follows BPM, transport and musical phase. - Free: keeps its recorded duration and ignores tempo and transport. - Start Sync: begins on a musical boundary, then runs freely. Tempo, Free and Start Sync loops can run together. Changing a loop's clock mode or sync setting does not delete its recording. Stopping or deleting a loop releases notes owned by that loop. It does not panic unrelated tracks or instruments. RANDOM MOTION ------------- Random Motion creates a playable CV gesture without requiring an external CV source or a manual recording. From the app: 1. Open Loops & clock. 2. Choose a CV lane and open Capture. 3. Select Generate motion. Select Reroll motion for another pattern. 4. If the lane contains a hand recording, confirm before replacing it. The app button and hardware gesture use the same generator. Both change only the selected CV buffer; MIDI/NRPN mappings, transforms and playback settings remain untouched. From the hardware: 1. Select the page containing the lane you want to generate. 2. Hold Tempo and tap the lane's CV button. There is no timing window and no need to wait before tapping. 3. Keep Tempo held and tap more CV buttons if you want several generated lanes. 4. Release Tempo when finished. The Status LED pulses quickly after Tempo has been held for about 250 ms as a visual reminder that the Random Motion chord is available. Each lane's CV LED then follows its generated value just as it follows live or recorded CV. The default gesture is an eight-second seamless loop. It moves smoothly within 20-80% of the CV range and chooses a new target every 80-3000 ms. Timing is weighted toward useful 201-1000 ms gestures, with occasional 80-200 ms flickers and 1001-3000 ms sweeps. The values glide between targets rather than producing abrupt white-noise steps. Every generation and reroll receives a newly mixed seed from ArcB's hardware random-number generator, 400 MHz button timing, all 16 CV inputs, clock position and a reroll counter. Even the first gesture after restarting is therefore different rather than replaying a fixed pseudo-random pattern. The generated gesture uses the lane's existing playback settings. A Tempo lane follows BPM and transport, a Free lane keeps its eight-second duration, and a Start Sync lane waits for its selected boundary before running freely. Tap Tempo + the same CV button again to reroll a generated lane. ArcB protects a gesture recorded by hand: keep its CV button held for 700 ms while holding Tempo to confirm replacement. Random Motion is refused while that lane is recording, overdubbing, owned by a playing global loop or while preset storage is busy. Once a CV button is used, the Tempo press is consumed. Releasing Tempo will not also toggle transport, reset the clock, change tap tempo or save a Scene. Generated waveforms are ordinary lane buffers and are stored with CV presets. GLOBAL PAGE LOOPS ----------------- Each page has one 18-second global looper. It captures the active CV results, MIDI CC, NRPN, pitch bend, pressure, notes and event actions heard during the marked window. The global looper claims only lanes that moved or produced an event. Quiet lanes remain available for live use and their individual loops keep running. To record a global page loop: 1. Hold Shift and press Page / Global Loop to mark the start. 2. Keep Shift held. 3. Release and press Page / Global Loop again to mark the end. 4. Playback begins immediately. Repeat Shift + Page / Global Loop while it is playing to delete that page's global loop. The captured lanes then return to their previous states. The page LED blinks while its global loop is playing, including when another page is selected. Global page loops are free-time recordings and are not tempo-stretched. STAGE ENGINE ------------ The Stage Engine is a four-track, eight-stage event sequencer. It does not run by itself: an accepted CV event advances its assigned track once. No event means no movement and no new note. For a first sequence: 1. Enable the Stage Engine and Track 1. 2. Leave Linear order and the default major scale selected. 3. In Mappings, send one lane's Event destination to Stage Engine / Track 1. 4. Enable Threshold Rise for that lane. 5. Move the CV across the threshold to step through the notes. Once this works, explore track length, offset, transpose, octave, swing, ratchets, probability, accumulator and alternative play orders. All four tracks share the eight-stage pattern but can interpret it differently. A custom 12-note scale can be created and stored with the Scene. CV can also modulate broad Stage controls such as transpose, octave, velocity, gate length, swing, division, sequence length, stage offset and play order. These controls change future events without resetting the current position. Randomise creates a new Stage setup. Clear & disable stops the engine and releases its owned notes. ARC*C CREATIVE TOOLS -------------------- Constellation Uses one CV route to move matching parameters across four ARC*C voices. Start with Together, then try mirrored, alternating or spreading patterns. Terrain Lab Edits four 8x8 sequencer surfaces for gate length, ratchets and pitch displacement. Paint directly or use gradients, spirals, rotation, mirroring, blur and other shape tools. Probability remains unavailable until supported by the target note generator. Dice destinations Randomises the active ARC*C CV and event destinations while avoiding destructive preset and reset actions. Clear ARC*C Disables ARC*C destinations while leaving ordinary MIDI and Stage clocks untouched. Apply or save the result when ready. SCENES, SAVING AND ERASE ------------------------ ArcB has five Scene slots. A complete Scene can contain: - CV mappings and transforms - MIDI, NRPN and event routes - Stage Engine settings and custom scale - Individual gesture recordings - Global page loops and captured MIDI events - Loop clock, trim and playback settings Finish any active recording or overdub before saving. Wait for the save progress to complete before disconnecting power. Erase selected slot removes both its configuration and recordings. Select it once to arm, then confirm within six seconds. Erasing the active Scene clears it immediately and releases its notes; you do not need to cycle to another slot. Scene Morph blends numeric settings smoothly between two Scenes. Discrete choices switch near the centre with hysteresis. Stored gesture waveforms are not crossfaded. HARDWARE CONTROLS ----------------- - Slot: select the next Scene. - Shift + Slot: select the second Scene used for morphing. - Tempo tap: start or stop transport. - Tempo hold: reset loop phase at the next bar. - Shift + Tempo taps: tap tempo. - Shift + Tempo hold: save the complete active Scene. - Tempo + CV button: tap a CV button while holding Tempo to create and play an eight-second smooth Random Motion loop. No waiting is required; the Status LED's fast pulse is an optional reminder that the chord is available. Additional CV buttons can be tapped while Tempo remains held. - A generated lane can be rerolled with the same tap. To replace a gesture you recorded yourself, keep its CV button held for 700 ms while holding Tempo. - Shift + Page / Global Loop: mark or delete a global page loop. - Shift + CV button tap: play or stop that lane's gesture loop. - Shift + CV button double tap: arm or cancel a loop action. - Shift + CV button hold: overdub until release at the next boundary. - Page LEDs: selected page and global-loop playback. - Slot LEDs: selected Scene. - Status LED: beat, waiting, Shift, morph and fault feedback. IF SOMETHING IS WRONG --------------------- - No CV movement: open System Health and confirm the raw CV input changes. - No MIDI output: check the destination channel, route enable and MIDI cable. - Repeated events: increase hysteresis or release time and reduce event masks. - Held note: stop the owning loop or track, then use MIDI Panic if necessary. - Timing feels wrong: check whether that loop is Tempo, Free or Start Sync. - Old warnings: compare counters before and after a test; a historical count is less important than a counter that is still increasing. The App to board stress test in System Health checks USB, CV, MIDI, loops, storage and timing without saving over a Scene. Follow each on-screen step and inspect any phase marked WARN or FAIL. GOOD HABITS ----------- - Build one working route before adding complexity. - Apply without saving while experimenting. - Keep one known-good Scene untouched. - Use smoothing for noisy CV, not to hide an incorrect input range. - Use Tempo for tight phrases, Free for evolving gestures and Start Sync for a free-length gesture that should enter cleanly. - Check System Health before and after demanding tests.