ChipWave Studio 0.2.9.0: The New Rack

The new Rack

0.2.9.0 gives every track's sound a new home: the Rack. Click a track and its instrument and effects sit under the Timeline in one sideways row, the instrument first and then its effects in order. Each card has side tabs for bypass, remove and collapse, the device you pick is highlighted, and Delete or Ctrl+D work on it with undo. The lower panel gets one Notes | Rack switch instead of three tabs, and Browser › Instruments now lists just the instruments. Every song saves, plays and renders exactly as before. Help > Check for updates offers this version.

Download

• Windows: ChipWave-0.2.9.0-setup-x64.exe (installer) or the portable ChipWave-0.2.9.0-windows-x64.zip. The installer isn't code-signed, so SmartScreen may warn: click "More info", then "Run anyway".
• macOS (universal, unsigned: Control-click > Open): ChipWave-0.2.9.0-macos-universal.dmg (or the .zip) runs on Apple Silicon and Intel Macs with macOS 11 or later. It isn't notarised, so the first time, Control-click the app and choose Open, or run xattr -dr com.apple.quarantine /Applications/ChipWave.app. See MACOS.md.
• SHA256SUMS.txt lists the checksums of all eight files.

New: the Rack

• One row for the whole sound. Click a track and the Rack opens under the Timeline: the instrument, then its effects in the order the sound goes through them, then a + zone for more. A long row scrolls sideways.
• Side tabs on every card: ⏻ bypass, ✕ remove and ‹ collapse to a slim name strip. The instrument can only collapse: to change it, right-click › Replace instrument….
• Pick a device and it lights up. Click a card and it is outlined (violet for ChipWave's own instruments). Delete removes it and Ctrl+D duplicates it, and Ctrl+Z brings it back. These keys only act on the Rack after you click it, so Delete on the Timeline still deletes clips.
• Starter knobs: each instrument card shows a few chosen knobs and Volume, so the important ones are right there. Advanced › opens the full instrument editor.
• Drum Kit pad picker: a Drum Kit's card shows the knobs of the pad you pick.
• Racks in place: a layered rack shows its layers inside its card, each with Open › to edit it.
• Drag from the Browser onto the row, its + zone or a Timeline track. Drag a card's title to move it.
• Save rack… keeps the whole row in My Racks, ready for any song.
• The tree from 0.2.7.0 is still there as the chain editor, for Splits, layer settings and moving a device into another chain: right-click an effect › Open in the chain editor, and ‹ Back to Rack returns. Its Cards and Fold tree buttons are gone.

New: Notes | Rack

• The lower panel's three tabs (Piano roll, Devices and Instrument) are now one switch: Notes | Rack. Ctrl+7 shows the Rack. With the Tracker on, Order list and Automation sit on the Notes side.

Changed: Browser › Instruments

• Instruments only: the list shows ChipWave's own instruments and your plugin instruments. Their presets are on the Rack card: its preset field and right-click › Presets ›. A location you pick (This song, Library, Favourites, a folder) still shows everything in it.

Fixed: checks and tests

• The Windows (MSVC) check build links again, two security advisories in the update checker's secure-connection crates are fixed by newer versions, and two tests that could fail on a busy machine are steady now. The release builds were not affected.

Songs are saved exactly as in 0.2.8.0; the song format didn't change.

Before release, these checks were run on the merged code: the automated test suite (1025 tests passed, 18 slow ones skipped, plus 3 more in a second suite), including the 11 racks acceptance tests and 5 Rack tests; rustfmt; clippy for the Linux and Windows targets; an icon check; and a render check. The render check confirmed that the demo songs, the older-version fixture songs and the generator presets render bit-identically to 0.2.8.0, and StringWave's Velvet Ensemble preset renders the same as in 0.2.8.0, from the Tracker and the Timeline.

Full details are in the CHANGELOG.

Known limits

• Splits and layer settings are edited in the chain editor, not on the Rack row.
• The racks limits from 0.2.7.0 still apply: plugin instruments can't be layers, live MIDI and the note preview only play the first layer, and there are no plugin effects or automation inside a Split.
• The Mac build was tested on CI only (build, smoke test, dmg check), not on a real Mac. This Windows installer was built and checked on Linux, not run on Windows before release. Please report anything odd in an issue.

Credits

• The Rack by Del (postmanpat).
• StringWave by Del (postmanpat), MIT.
• Oceans 11 is a chiptune arrangement of music by Martin Galway, whose Commodore 64 soundtracks for Ocean Software inspired a generation of chiptune musicians. Thank you, Martin.
• Still building on CLAP (free-audio, MIT) via clap-sys, the vst3 crate, Symphonia, egui (Emil Ernerfeldt), cpal, sfxr by DrPetter (Chip FX), Pink Trombone by Neil Thapen, the Inter, Barlow and Geist Mono fonts, and all the other Rust crate authors.

The full list is in Help > About, the README and THIRD_PARTY_LICENSES.txt.

▶ Watch the promo: https://youtu.be/ygVueHcGakw · more demos and promos on YouTube

Created by Del (postmanpat). Like it? Buy me a coffee or PayPal.

Early version, so expect rough edges. GPL-3.0.