Building Blocks

Version 2.2: what's new?

Version 2.2 of Building Blocks, compared to 2.1, offers a new look of the Control Panel, a snapshot feature, a bunch of new modules and lots of small and not-so-small changes.

New to Building Blocks?
Then have a look at the program speficications first.

How to get it?

See the order page for instructions how to purchase Building Blocks 2.2.
You can also download a free demo.

Control Panel

The look of the Control Panel has completely been revised.
Controls are no longer part of a module; they are now separate modules. On the Control Panel they appear as transparant controls, which makes it possible to change the background of the Control Panel without affecting the controls themselves.
The new Selector module also appears transparent on the Control Panel, in the form of a labeled combobox.
Controls and Selectors can be organised in Frames. Frames no longer belong exclusively to a control, but can be created independently. Controls and selectors can be assigned to any frame, or to the Control Panel itself.

You can give the Control Panel a completely different look by loading another Controlset.
A controlset is a number of animated GIF images, with a configuration file that defines their properties.
On release BB 2.2 comes with two controlsets.

The background of the Control Panel can be gradient (left to right or top to bottom), an image (sizing itself to the dimensions of the Control Panel) or a tile pattern, with the tile being an image. The background settings are saved with the structure.

Snapshots

Another significant change of version 2.2 is the new snapshot feature.
Snapshots are for a structure what patches are for a synthesizer: all the properties are saved in a configuration that can be recalled with a single click.
You can save an unlimited number of snapshots, thus greatly enhancing the ways to use a structure for different purposes.

In addition., two new modules support the use of snapshots:

OnSnapshot is a module that gets triggered when a snapshot is selected (either manually or automatically by the SetSnaphot module).
You can use this module to reset other modules, or assign specific values to other modules, when a snapshot is selected.

The SetSnapshot module is the equivalent of the snapshot toolbar: you can use it to select a particular snapshot, for example every 10 seconds.

New modules

Version 2.2 comes with a lot of new modules. What follows is a list of all new modules, with a short description.

Category	Module	Description
MIDI In	Voice Detect	Gives information on the voices of a port/channel combination
MIDI Out	NRPN	(Non)Registered Parameter Number
Sequencers	4 Step, 8 Step, 16 Step	General purpose sequencers
Flow Control	Matrix4x4	Router with 4 ins and 4 outs
Flow Control	Router2	Two inputs. one output, with a control input to select which input should be routed to the output
Flow Control	4 Out, 8 Out, 16 Out	Routes an input to one of 4, 8 or 16 outputs
Controls	Control	Knob, slider, button, meter, lamp or 'value' to be used on the Control Panel
Controls	Selector	List selector to be used on the Control Panel
Other	All Notes Off	When triggered, silences all notes on all ports
Other	(MIDI) Filter	Filters out specified events
Other	Info	Gives system information: current tempo, current snapshot, etc.
Other	OnSnapshot	Gets triggered when a snapshot is selected
Other	OnStart	Gets triggered when play starts
Other	SetSnapshot	Selects a snapshot

Other changes

A number of modules, like the Sequencers and Frequency Divider, have a new property, Reset, that can be used to reset the module.
Macro's no longer open when you load a structure
Control Panel can be confiured to be on top when loading a structure
Errors in Sysex editor fixed
Error in Wave Editor fixed
Lists can now have user-defined values (e.g. 0 = 5, 1 = 18, 2 = -3, etc)
Unintended moving of modules fixed
..... and a lot of other small improvements/enhancements/bug fixes