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Nextmidi Divisimate 2

The Arpeggiator in Basic mode: step lengths can be freely shortened or lengthened to tie across as many steps as required. When activated, the link icons create a brief overlap from one step to the next, enabling legato transitions to be triggered in those instruments that support them.The Arpeggiator in Basic mode: step lengths can be freely shortened or lengthened to tie across as many steps as required. When activated, the link icons create a brief overlap from one step to the next, enabling legato transitions to be triggered in those instruments that support them.

Divisimate 2 brings a host of improvements and new features to Nextmidi’s orchestration software.

Up until four years ago, composers dreamed of being able to play chords on the keyboard and have each note of those chords go to completely different instruments, all in real time. The ability to instantly audition different instrument combinations and voicings this way would save so much donkey work, rather than splitting out a ‘sketch’ part to separate tracks, or recording one instrument at a time just to see if an arrangement worked. In 2020, the impossible dream came true with the arrival of Nextmidi’s Divisimate. Put simply, Divisimate intercepts MIDI data from your keyboard, splitting simultaneous notes into individual data streams, then sends them to your DAW where they can be routed to whatever instruments you please via 32 virtual MIDI ports. Divisimate evolved considerably since its v1.0 release, reaching v1.4 (see the ‘Previously, On v1...’ box); our 2020 review further explains Divisimate’s essential principles, which remain pertinent four years on: www.soundonsound.com/reviews/nextmidi-divisimate.

Divisimate 2 is a major update, bringing new features and many ‘quality of life’ improvements, requiring a complete rebuild of the core program (see the ‘Version 2 Installation Notes’ box). The first change of note is that Divisimate 2 now works as either a standalone app or a VST3/AU/AAX plug‑in within your DAW. We’ll get on to the plug‑in implementation later. The most significant feature additions from both creative and tailored control perspectives are the Arpeggiator and the Transformer — two new modifier plug‑ins to complement the Transposer, Trigger and Repeater.

Arpeggiator

The Arpeggiator could be considered as an evolution of the Repeater plug‑in, and whilst it can perform the same function, the Repeater is a simple tool by comparison. The Repeater has been retained to ensure backwards compatibility with any Divisimate 1 presets that used it. The Arpeggiator provides two modes of operation: Basic and Expert. Basic mode offers all the standard features of your typical arpeggiator; note order, note values ranging from 64th to half dotted, swing, single/double/triple repeats and octaves. Up to three sequencer pages each offering up to 24 steps in length provide a possible total of 72 steps — more than enough for creating interesting, evolving patterns. Step velocities can be drawn individually or with a sweep of the mouse across the page, and each step’s duration can be shortened or lengthened to tie across as many steps as desired. Even monophonic legato instruments are catered for — small link icons connecting each step can be activated to smoothly connect specific steps; adjusting the Legato Delay setting compensates for the time it takes for legato transitions to play out, so those steps always fall bang on the grid. The pattern’s overall velocity range is affected either by key velocity or any MIDI controller; this can be continuously biased towards either the steps’ programmed velocities or keys/CC with the slider at top right. On the far left are slots relating to four additional lanes to which any MIDI CC can be assigned; curves of any shape drawn in these lanes follow the pattern, adding dynamic animation — whether it’s vibrato, breath control or filter cutoff — or whatever else your instrument responds to. Pattern Reset ensures that however many or few notes are played, it always resets to the correct starting point when the pattern cycles around.

In Expert mode, the Arpeggiator becomes a phrase generator. Polyphonic patterns and phrases can be constructed using multiple voice lanes — especially creative when each lane is assigned to a different instrument. Note also the freely drawn CC1 controller curve adding dynamic movement to the pattern.In Expert mode, the Arpeggiator becomes a phrase generator. Polyphonic patterns and phrases can be constructed using multiple voice lanes — especially creative when each lane is assigned to a different instrument. Note also the freely drawn CC1 controller curve adding dynamic movement to the pattern.

If Basic mode seems like a pretty capable arpeggiator, things go up several gears of complexity in Expert mode. Each voice of an Orchestration (up to eight) is represented in its own pattern lane; a lane can only play one note at a time, and its steps are activated (ie. notes will sound on that lane) by clicking on the crosshair at each step. Steps are coloured white by default and play at a single pitch, determined by the chord played and the current divisi mode. Clicking and dragging up or down on a step will transpose it by up to +/‑1 octaves; however, the transposition is not by semitones, but by scale degrees, as determined by the Global Scale. So if we’re in D major, and an untransposed step plays a D, transposing it up by one plays an E, up by two plays an F#, and so on. Since multiple lanes can play simultaneous notes, it’s possible to craft polyphonic arpeggios or entire musical phrases that lock to the musical scale as you move around — no illegal notes! Furthermore, if Follow Low is selected in the Global Scale editor, you can change key as you play, and the pattern will follow suit. The creative possibilities of Expert mode are huge, from simple arpeggios or musical phrases where all voice lanes are routed to a single instrument, to multi‑part polyphonic patterns that dance between, say, all the instruments of a woodwind section. That capability alone is impressive, but here’s the biggie — every port can host its own completely independent Arpeggiator, doing its own thing. With multiple Arpeggiators routed to different instruments, we have something that is highly reminiscent of Sonuscore’s Engine that powers The Orchestra, Elysion and The Score, but with the potential number of Arpeggiators being limited only by the number of ports. Tempting as it may be to pile on the Arpeggiators, the mounting complexities could well fry your brain, if not bring your system to its knees!

As well as providing a selection of preset scales, the Global Scale Editor allows for custom scales: the Follow Low option enables the player to change key on the fly.As well as providing a selection of preset scales, the Global Scale Editor allows for custom scales: the Follow Low option enables the player to change key on the fly.

The Transformer

Most DAWs have some kind of logical editor that transforms one type of MIDI event into another, for example changing CC7 into CC11, altering all your G sharps to G naturals, or applying changes to a particular note range. The new Transformer plug‑in performs all these types of task in real time — and like the Arpeggiator, separate instances of the Transformer can be applied to individual ports. Typical applications would be to restrict the range of an incoming CC in order to avoid an instrument’s upper or lower dynamics, or to focus on a particular CC range, whilst still having the full range of movement on the mod wheel, knob or fader. Transformer provides up to eight slots for defining the conditions; these might operate on the MIDI serially depending on the task. For example, to make any incoming notes play a cymbal whenever the velocity reaches 127, the first condition would force all incoming notes to play one specific note (the cymbal); the following condition would be to block all note velocities below 127. Source event types that can be transformed are note range, note, CC, Program Change, channel pressure and pitch bend; destination event types include the same choice as the source types, plus the blocking of specific events and/or their ranges, and the option to quantise incoming notes to the Global Scale. Such a vast array of permutations makes this plug‑in a real problem solver — if you can think of an application, you can most likely achieve it with the Transformer.

Here, the Transformer confines minimum key velocity to 40, transforms aftertouch to CC12, while notes C‑1 and C#‑1 send CC23 messages to toggle between two fixed values.Here, the Transformer confines minimum key velocity to 40, transforms aftertouch to CC12, while notes C‑1 and C#‑1 send CC23 messages to toggle between two fixed values.

Any Port In A Storm

The original Divisimate’s 32 virtual ports would seem more than enough to cope with most situations. Making the not unreasonable assumption that the demographic of Divisimate users largely comprises those working with orchestral templates, many of them will be film and games score composers. So what if you need to include numerous synths and other esoteric instruments in your orchestral score template, but you’re running out of ports? The solution is to give every port the option of multitimbral capability, where each MIDI channel is sent to its own discreet sub‑port — that’s a massive total of 512 ports at your disposal. Not only does this satisfy the most megalomaniacal user, but it makes life tidier for those who like to keep groups of similar instruments (eg. all strings, all woodwinds or all percussion) each in their own instance of a plug‑in such as Kontakt. It also keeps the UI cleaner as the contents of multitimbral ports are treated like folders that can be collapsed to a single line when not the focus of attention. In a similar vein, section headers can be inserted anywhere on the Orchestrator matrix, which in turn can be collapsed for neatness. I’m sure no‑one is foolhardy enough to attempt playing 512 instruments at once, each with their attendant Arpeggiator, but you never know...

Performance Settings

In Divisimate 1, a Performance consisted of five pages, each page containing 20 presets — a total of 100 presets. In Divisimate 2 you can now define the number of pages as anything from one to 20 — potentially up to 400 presets per Performance. A new Global Keyswitch Area can be optionally engaged (highlighted in green on the UI’s keyboard), removing the need to dedicate the Low range to keyswitch duties and repeatedly having to route the Low range to each instrument port; the Global Keyswitch key range is also customisable. You can choose to customise Divisimate’s Humanisation settings for a particular Performance, or have it follow the plug‑in’s Global setting. It would be useful to have this option available on a per‑preset basis — maybe it might be considered for a future update? The way presets change while playing has also received a facelift. Normally, if a preset is changed while notes are sounding, the new orchestration won’t come into effect until all notes (or the sustain pedal) have been released. Now there are three new transition modes: Merge, Overlap and Retrigger. So as not to turn this review into a major novel, it’s recommended to watch Nextmidi’s walkthough video which illustrates these modes’ differences far more concisely than I can here. www.youtube.com/watch?v=-xkenDWQlHg Naturally, all these Performance settings are included with the Performance when it is saved.

In this Orchestration, the string sections are sent to port 1, which is multitimbral, serving MIDI channels 1 to 5. The woodwind and brass each occupy a port of their own, whilst the piano is assigned to the Melody range. Each instrument group has a section header — these can be collapsed to a single line for a neater UI. Note the Global Keyswitch Area on the keyboard, shown in green.In this Orchestration, the string sections are sent to port 1, which is multitimbral, serving MIDI channels 1 to 5. The woodwind and brass each occupy a port of their own, whilst the piano is assigned to the Melody range. Each instrument group has a section header — these can be collapsed to a single line for a neater UI. Note the Global Keyswitch Area on the keyboard, shown in green.

It’s also worth mentioning that Nextmidi offer some very useful Performance templates for free, on their website. These include DAW project templates for Cubase/Nuendo, Studio One, Reaper, Logic Pro 10.7, Digital Performer and Ableton Live, as well as the Divisimate Performance templates. Current offerings are Synchron Prime for the Vienna Symphonic Library (Legacy and new v2 versions), SWAM Big Band and SWAM Orchestra. For other à la carte libraries there’s Universal Orchestra (a full orchestral layout), and the eminently inspirational Universal Voicings.

Multipads

This powerful feature provides another way to integrate preset changes into a performance. Any preset slot can be designated as a Multipad, which itself hosts nine preset slots to which you assign existing presets from the preset manager. In the Multipad editor are two bars representing X (horizontal) and Y (vertical) planes. Logically enough, the X plane changes presets horizontally, the Y plane changes them vertically. Both planes respond to several event types: velocity, CC, key range (either highest‑note or lowest‑note priority) and pitch bend. The point at which presets change is governed by adjusting the white boundary markers in the bars. This is an excellent system for making dynamic orchestration changes whilst playing, without having to organise Program Change messages to do the same job. As long you assign otherwise unused CCs to control the Multipad, the CC messages you normally use for dynamics are not compromised. Nextmidi’s Multipad tutorial video demonstrates practical examples of creative ways in which Multipads can be used: www.youtube.com/watch?v=qA5iDRbfCy8.

When you need to integrate preset changes into your playing, the highly versatile Multipads can do this using a variety of conditions such as key velocity and CC controls — all without the need for Program Change messages.When you need to integrate preset changes into your playing, the highly versatile Multipads can do this using a variety of conditions such as key velocity and CC controls — all without the need for Program Change messages.

Keep It In The DAW

As an alternative to the standalone app, Divisimate can now work within your DAW as a plug‑in; VST3, AU and AAX formats are supported. Note that you can’t use the plug‑in and the standalone simultaneously — only one instance of Divisimate can be run at a time. Whether you choose the standalone or plug‑in depends on your preferred workflow and the task at hand. The plug‑in allows for the automation of Divisimate parameters, and is well suited to recording and editing a complete performance on a single MIDI track, but less so for complex arrangements with independent movement and counterpoint between different sections of the orchestra. The standalone offers a more flexible approach for working in shorter segments and recording overdubs as you can target specific instruments on their own MIDI tracks. Different DAWs will have their own take on how to set up and use the plug‑in; in my case the VST3 plug‑in runs inside Cakewalk, inserted as an instrument with its associated MIDI track. It also requires additional MIDI tracks, one for each instrument, all listening to Divisimate, and routed to the appropriate ports. Once you’ve recorded a performance and edited it to your liking, you can then record the results to those individual MIDI tracks for further forensic per‑instrument editing.

I’d venture to say that Divisimate could change the way you compose, arrange and orchestrate forever.

Conclusion

It would be futile attempting to exemplify every use case scenario, due to the literally endless possible routings, assignments, plug‑in modifier settings and many other under‑the‑hood options that affect how Divisimate 2 behaves. Although it can be deep and complex, it’s not difficult to grasp the basics — and having spent time getting to know it well, I’d venture to say that Divisimate could change the way you compose, arrange and orchestrate forever. It’s hard to imagine what else Nextmidi could do to develop it further, but whatever that may be, it’s likely to be exciting — if not surprising.

Version 2 Installation notes

If upgrading from Divisimate 1, Divisimate 2 should install alongside it... but only, it seems, as long as you are on v1.4. That update introduced the Nextmidi Hub port management system, which replaced the previous method where Divisimate created and managed its own ports. Perhaps because of this change, installing v2 caused my installation of v1.39 to be unilaterally removed. No matter, there’s nothing that v1 did that v2 doesn’t do, and then some. To make the transition painless, upon running v2 for the first time, it asks if you want to import all your v1 performances and presets. That would be a yes, and you can carry on using Divisimate just as before.

Previously, On v1...

When reviewed in 2020, Divisimate was at v1.1; the final revision was v1.4, by which time it had evolved with new features. Here are some of the highlights:

  • The Transposer received a major overhaul: Low, Medium or High ranges can be excluded from transposition; especially useful if using the Low range to perform keyswitches. Notes can be transposed locked to a Global Scale — when active, all notes are transposed by scale degrees, so intervals such as major and minor thirds always follow the scale and key. A number of preset scales are provided, with the ability to create custom scales. The ‘Follow Low’ option enables a scale’s key to be changed on the fly by playing root notes in the Low zone when it is active.
  • Three Divisi modes: Top Down and Bottom Up determine the order in which chord notes are analysed; Fill mode deals with situations where fewer notes are played than the selected number of voices by distributing those notes evenly across all active ports.
  • Further enhancements: include DAW tempo sync added to the Repeater modifier plug‑in, improved Performance Manager, polyphonic aftertouch and MPE support. Version 1.4 also introduced the Nextmidi Hub, a port management tool that runs in the background, accessible from the system tray. Nextmidi Hub solved a Mac issue where ports would disappear on closing Divisimate — it also laid the foundations for future port management developments as found in Divisimate 2.

Supporting Cast

Seasoned users will welcome other refinements: preset attributes can be imported from one preset to another, or across all presets of an entire Performance; multiple routing nodes can be selected and moved, copied or deleted together; Global Scale and Tempo settings are unique to each preset, but can also be locked to ignore preset changes.

And lastly, the Nextmidi Hub gains a Merger Port, enabling Divisimate to receive the input from multiple sources, for example a keyboard and a breath controller.

Pros

  • The unique Arpeggiator.
  • Real‑time transforming of MIDI events.
  • Dynamic preset changing via the Multipads.
  • 512 outputs possible via multitimbral ports.

Cons

  • Apart from the time spent getting to know it, absolutely none.

Summary

Not so much an update as a complete rebirth, Divisimate 2 brings a wealth of creative inspiration to composing for multiple instruments, not to mention making the process of arranging and orchestrating a delightful and satisfying voyage of discovery.

Information

$298.80 including VAT.

www.divisimate.com