your story of your father playing exciting things on his guitar and your reaction brings back my earliest memory of music, which may even be one reason for becoming a musician at all (and not a behavioral scientist as was also in my wishlist later on): i must have been four or five years old, when our parents stayed with us in a youth hostel and there was this group of young students - one of them had a guitar and liked to sit in the yard and play a little - i remember that i was utterly fascinated by those sounds coming directly out of this wooden box, unbelievable for me - so when i kept staring, he played some chords extra for me and they had exactly the same effect like you describe here, haha... later songs like "venus" by shocking blue or "my sweet lord" by george harrison became faves just because of their guitar intros! thanx for your little story, much appreciated - cheers from a german coffee junkie 🙋♂️
UVI Digital Synsations also have a great ARP but I cant get it to send MIDI data to other instruments. Do you happen to know if that's possible? (EDIT: found an old KVR thread which says it's not poasible, UVI Workstation is not sending out any Midi data. Too bad)
Once again you are the man! I thought pigments was already in a class of its own but you just unlocked a new realm for me to run free on. Thank you, your a scholar and a gentleman!! 💪🏼👍🏻👊🏻🎸🎹🎼💻🔊
@@VenusTheory hey brother, do I really need Output's Portal Plugin if I already have Pigments? Seems like the granular engine can get me relatively similar results as Portal.
Pigments has also random sample playback in its sampler engine, which can be used in with all other random generating stuff, so it even can create randomly modulated percussions. Pigments has lots of things that can inspire you in exciting ways.
I’ve had Pigments since it was first released and never knew it could do anything like this. Then again, I was using Reason as my DAW, which doesn’t support MIDI routing between VSTs. I use Cubase Pro 11 now, so I’m guessing (hoping) that these techniques will work in Cubase. I love Dune 3 as well, but I can see this being used on other instruments, too, such as pianos and other top layers that can add a touch of sparkle to a piece. Great tutorial, Cameron, as always, and we appreciate the hard work and time you invest in creating these videos, thank you 😊
I also moved from Reason to Cubase a few years ago. This type of stuff is super easy in Cubase, you can send the MIDI receive right on the instrument panel. I use this to sequence my hardware, receive MIDI from Reason Rack players, etc.
Haha well hey glad it showed you something new at least! This will work in Cubase as you can route MIDI stuff there to drive other instruments. Lots of fun to experiment with and add some spicy sauce to a track or get some ideas cooking!
Is there a tutorial on how this setup works in Cubase? I have researched but have not found anything similar for Cubase. Maybe I just searched the wrong way. What is the name of this technique? I would be very happy about a hint.
@@dyka890 here is how u do it in Cubase: Pigements is the Midi Generator ( like he showed all its possibilities) and for the simplicity i used the Steinberg Synth Retrologue to receive these Midi informations. Just tell this track to receive from Pigments. I made a screenshot for you, how to set this up.
Imagine if Arturia released just that part of Pigments, the arp/sequencer with the LFOs and random generators and such. That would be the ultimate arp/sequencer plugin and would actually be super cool to have.
Stepic is pretty similar the Pigments sequencer, and is insane. I actually use that with pigments instead of the built in now, just gives me more control and allows me to switch between presets while keeping the same sequence.
Thx a lot! Just bought that synth a few days ago and had no idea that it does so much stuff! Bought it only because it is a wavetable synth but as soon as I started diving deeper I was surprised very positively! Thx for your videos! Very inspiring!
Lovely video! It strikes me that so much electronic composition is largely focused on randomization and unpredictability, whereas composition for live musicians is often focused on trying to get a very precise and predictable result. Which is ironic, since that's totally playing to each paradigm's weaknesses, rather than their strengths...
Just discovered your channel through this video. Thanks for this video. Basing off this video alone, your content looks amazing! Subbed and will be paying attention. - Dowden
That is really cool. I used to use reasons players for this (the only thing I use from Reason these days to be fair) but def need to give this a go. Great vid as always mate!
I knew the pigments sequencer was really in depth but I had no idea it could out put midi. This would be a fun way to sequence in VCV rack. Ive wished the sequencer had like a accent mode where you could control a parameter like filter cutoff. Because the slide feature you could get close to 303 type stuff.
Using Martin Kurek's tip, I was FINALLY able to get three instances of Pigments to feed Dune 3. It's nice to be able to accomplish this trick, albeit as convoluted as it is. Makes me wonder if all this stuff is simpler in Falcon UVI, Wavestate Native or ANA2. I wish I knew which instrument Venus Theory was using in Dune 3, though.
I'm interested in Logic also. Haven't found any possibility yet. Also, using Pigments standalone, there's no MIDI OUT configurable, I guess Pigments doesn't send MIDI when running standalone.
Wow, this is some insanely cool tech. I'm tempted to pick up Pigments now but it seems like it can go on sale for as much as 50% off, which is such a good deal you almost have to wait for a sale. Last year their summer sale was in July - fingers crossed it is this year too!
It is rather simple engine in comparison, but DS Thorn (both paid and free versions) also sends midi out, been using it as my main arp/seq for some time now. Might switch to pigments now... thanks!
Maybe it's just me, but Eruption STILL sounds dope! :P Very happy to hear that you have a cool dad, and actually recognized it. Now you've got me thinking about Pigments....and Dune.....and do I really need more plugins? :D
Very cool. Didn’t know. Q: Can you take this one step before Pigments? That is…say I have this wonderful patch I’ve made on Zebra2 and I want it to be my sound source. Can I play notes from the Zebra engine, live, output that audio into Pigments, either before the Pig filters section OR directly into Pig AS sort of the very beginning of Pig Engine chain, then mess with this source in Pigments, then follow this same SEQing chain and OUT to DUNE as you’ve shown here ? I am guessing that such a thing could be done with soft-or-hardware modular, you think? Thanks Mark
Any thoughts on how Pigments stacks up to it's "workhorse" counterparts (Serum, Massive, Phase Plant, etc)? I know a lot comes down to individual preference, just wondering if u have any general input on the matter. Great vids too, very helpful!
Thanks Cameron! although i became insane trying to figure this trick through Logic...comments below saved the day...Dune and Pigment are awesome in their own ways...Cheers!
In case someone else comes across this, the problem is Logic only supports AU, and AU doesn't support MIDI output from plugins (well, the new AUv3 does, but almost no plugins are using it yet). You have to use the VST2 or VST3 version of Pigments to do this trick, which means using another DAW.
i was going to call you a soyboy, but this is actually really cool I've been looking for a way to do more advanced sequencing, and I didn't realize that it was possible to use a sequencer in a VST instrument to control other instruments, this is great
Wooow. That's so cool. Dude, I am a metal drummer, but now discovered the vst drumming and midi. And being a physicist I love that frequency, envelope things. So, did I get it right,that this thing can do the same as Output Signal! I wanna create some pulses so Play along and final get am nice intro... Since I can get Pigments for 100$ at plugin boutique... I should get it.
I too LOVE Generative plugin tools,and I am stoked that you do too! Have you had a chance to play with the Generative ORB Producer plugins by HEXACHORD? It would super neat if you did a review on Hexachord!!
I am curious why you are feeding these in to Dune 3? Couldn't they just play to the main mix bus the same way? Also.. why not feed to another instance of Pigment to use its fx/eq/etc? Not sure I see what Dune 3 is adding here
The point being to demonstrate this lesser-known feature of Pigments in case you wanted to use it's sequencer features to control something like a piano plugin.
@@VenusTheory Thanks. I looked into Stochas and it looks like fun, but I really like how the Pigment sequencer creates and generates midi and just by turning a few knobs/faders. I guess I need to have a talk with the "head of finance" and convince her that Pigments is a must have ;-)
can you import midi onto a track and then use that midi to trigger the arp in pigments or is it only possible to trigger the arp in realtime like you are doing in the video via your realtime chord triggering?
Hi. I tried this brilliant setup in Ableton. But for some reason i'm not able to set Pigments as a midi-out and get another track feeded by its midi-Data. I set "Pigments" as Input, but below there are only the 2 options "pre-FX" and "Post-FX" available. Anyone any idea?
You need to make sure you’re using a vst instance of pigments. You won’t get that second menu option with an au instance. If you ever work out how to get 2 pigments seq triggering a single instance of a different synth/instrument let us know how you did it, cos I’m scratching my head here.
Ableton users: Ableton won't let you send midi out of track with an instrument (Pigments) loaded. You need to set up an empty midi track for each instance of Pigments then select "Pigments" under "Midi From" and "Your synth" under "Midi Out". Make sure the empty midi tracks are armed. This works fine with the sequencers. I can't figure it out with the appreciator as the track with the triggered synth needs to be armed. Let me know if you find a workaround.
I'm still unable to get it to work in Ableton. Tried both your method, as well as selecting the "MIDI from" on the synth I want to receive the MIDI info from Pigments, as Pigments and setting the monitor to In. All I get is the first MIDI note that I play with Pigments in the second Synth. It doesn't actually play the sequence. Any tips or workarounds on that? @venustheory?
I have pigments midi from all channels, did what op said to do (turn the sound engines off pigments) then my audio to is set to my audio interface Then on my other track next to it, I have another vst // the midi comes from pigments (monitor is set to off in both) then on that track the audio is set to the same track on the audio interface
Arturia is one of those companies that inspire with their hard- and software. Would love to see how they brainstorm for finding and developing new ideas.
So I talked to a great customer support agent at Arturia named Baptiste and he helped me figure out how to do this in Ableton: 1. Insert a Midi track with Pigments on it and enable the sequencer. "Midi from" All ins, All channels. 2. Insert another empty midi track with the "Midi from" set to Pigments (in both the first and second slot) and the "Midi to" set to whichever instrument you want to trigger and track in (two slots). 3. The instrument you want to triggers midi settings should be "Midi from" All ins, All channels (two slots) 4. Set "monitor" to Auto on all 3 tracks. Arm all 3 tracks. 5. If you do not want any sound from the Pigments instrument you can either 1. turn off the sound engines in pigments (saves some CPU), or 2. deactivate the track in Live (but make sure its still armed)
Nope. Tried it. Not sure what I’m doing wrong but can’t have 2 different instances of pigments seq routed into a single different synth using your method.
Could you put " "Midi from" All ins, All channels" into a complete sentence so I can understand what you mean? I do not yet see a way to generate and send MIDI from the Pigments sequencer. What am I missing?
I finally got this working in Ableton - to have 3 instances of Pigments Sequencer / Arp feeding 1 other Instrument you need 6 midi tracks - 3 with Pigments and 3 to route the Midi from Pigments to your Instruments (Using the Midi From and Midi To slots) as set out above. The trick to getting it to work was I had to arm all 6 Midi Tracks.
I really liked the idea in this video. However I tried to set it up in Ableton and I did not get it to work. If I hold the tone C on my keyboard Pigment on Track1 will create the sequence, but the second track will not receive the midi output from Pigment. Track2 is set up to receive MIDI from track1 but it receives the same static MIDI note C going into Track1. Can this technique be used in Ableton? If yes any suggestions on how one can route the MIDI output from Pigment to track 2 in Ableton?
in ableton you just take the lane of the instrument you want tu play with the pigments sequencer and you change the input from All Ins to e.g. Pigments. Then the midi information from pigments go to your other vst instrument. also be sure to choose Pigments as the Input (not Pre FX or Post FX) for your second instrument. hope this helps!
@@thenamelessastronaut thanks for the advise. I might be missing something here but I guess Ableton is not designed to be used in this way. Since one have to specify on the receving track that midi should come from the "Pigment" track, it will not be possible to configure midi from several Pigment tracks, as far as I am aware. Unless there is a workaround (?)
VERY interesting & inspiring! I have Arturia's V Collection 8 & a ton of other VSTs that are retro-focused, so I have never felt the need to consider Pigments. However, the more I learn about Pigments, the more tempted I have become. Thanks for sharing a vid that highlights the sequencer/arp & export data functions in Pigments!
It's actually a really ridiculous synth - I slept on it at first, but once I started really exploring it (and with all the new updates) it's always surprised me how deep it is!
how the hell can you get so much fat microphone volume, as you don't have it near your mouth? that's incredibly loud!!! when I'm setting my voice over, I use the best plugins and mixing setting possible but I'm very far of getting such loudness and clear voice. Congrats... what's your micro, and where do you put it? thanks in advance for your lights bro ;-)
Main trick is that he routes three instances of Pigments’ arpeggiators to one synth, of course it may be any synth on earth, use Pigments, nothing stops you)
@@generalawareness101 it feed 3 separate midi input to one synth, you may not understand the goal of that, but there is no need to be that offensive against this great channel....
Thanks you, great video. question: i have been diving in the Pigments manual and looking on forums and youtube how to get the arp/seq notes into another soft synth in Logic X. Cant seem to find the right way. Any tips or video that explains how to so this in Logic?
Thanks for the inspiration. Working on this now in Ableton. I have only ever been able to transfer midi between two tracks though. Anyone know if you can and how to do this 3>1 midi routing in LIVE?
You create 3 Pigments tracks and now you add to every Pigments track an empty MIDI track. These empty MIDI tracks have a "MIDI From" and a "MIDI TO" option. Now You can route easily with these 3 empty MIDI tracks the 3 Pigments tracks to a separate synth track. Have fun.
I've been trying to do this with Pigments and Ableton for a while now, you don't appear to be able to push two copies of pigments midi data into one midi track running another VST or an external instrument. Tried it with a multi rack and VST3, the midi data doesn't merge. It works no problem with seperate tracks but that isn't what @ VenusTheory was doing. Cool idea though, can somebody sus it in Ableton ???
@@loflux I tested this with Ableton live 11 (Windows) and 3 Pigments VST3 tracks. Add to every Pigments track an empty MIDI track. With only these empty MIDI tracks, You route with the options "MIDI From" and a "MIDI TO" to the track with the synth You wish to control. And don't 't forget to set the option to MIDI IN. in these 3 routing tracks And as well it is important, your controlled synth has a polyphonic patch. You don't need to config Pigments and the synth track. I have no problems with this setup and the MIDI data merge. Hope this helps.
Pigments is the gift that keeps giving! Had no idea about this, thanks for sharing! You made me love Pigments even more which i didnt think was possible :)
Super cool! I didn't realize you could use the sequencer of one synth to power another. The idea of stringing 3 together for polyphony is such a great idea. Thanks, Cameron!
This is a cool feature and I am a Dune fan, but since I have Pigments and Analog Lab(the sonic pallet is already HUGE.) I don't have Dune 3 and considering what I already have to work with, I don't care to drop $200 on Dune 3.
Yo Cam, have you had success with this in Ableton? I tried all I could think of and it only plays the first note on the snth I'm sending the MIDI info to from Pigments, it doesn't play the actual sequence :(
What a great sequencer - and by accident I just bought Pigments today - then RU-vid suggested your video. Thanks by the why for your gorgeous toy Noctua!
Very cool vid. QUESTION - Isn't pigments a synth that plays as a VST? I'm not understanding why you would route it into another synth? I use Logic - if I created a stack with three instances of pigments, wouldn't I get the same outcome as what you are doing routing this into Dune? If I'm not understanding, I don't see in Logic how to do the routing you did in your DAW - there's not output to another plugin that I see. Hope you can clarify - again such cool sounds, would love to use this approach. Thanks.
I agree…was thinking they should extract the arp/seq as a MIDI effect plugin. Ideally it would still have all the modulation sources and routing as well.
Ok i was trying to recreate this in Ableton but when I put Pigments in a MIDI Track I only get Audio out and Midi Out, so I can't send the MIDI to my Channel of chosen Synth (Omnisphere). Can somebody help me pls
Greetings, I found this tutorial interesting and have tried unsuccessfully to trigger Omnisphere from Pigments sequencer within Digital Performer 11. I have tried the VST version over the AU in case that was the issue. In any case, I can get Pigments published in DP as a MIDI source but it does not seem to output any MIDI Data. Turning off the synth engines in Pigments have no effect. The DP MIDI monitor shows no activity from Pigments output at all. Is it my DAW or is there something I am missing here? I have also tried Pigments in standalone mode but again, there is no MIDI output provision in the MIDI Setup. Any help would be appreciated.
4:43 Increasing the randomness-amount on the dice-icon does not have an immediate effect. It just defines the range in which new random values can take place. Actually _setting_ new random values is done with the "Regen" and "Apply"-buttons in the "Randomize"-section to the left. Setting the "Auto Regen" to 1/16 makes the synth busy without a real benefit, since the values are regenerated multiple times before the sequencer even arrives at the particular step. Activating PolyRhythm doesn't have any effect on your sequence. You can use "Divide" without activating PolyRhythm. What activating PolyRhythm actually does is it allows you to change the length of each sequence-line individually. But you didn't use that feature.
I've being doing this for quite a while with Pigments. Besides choosing a scale to work in, you can also define your own scale. So you can make a scale of 3 or 4 notes only that would be useful for a bass track, etc. The possibilities are near endless... just experiment and have fun.
Does anyone know how to record the midi out that he mentions, using FL Studio? When I record, it records the input keys for pigments, but not the generated midi output. EDIT: You use the Burn to Midi function right clicking on the rack item.
