Unify Change Log

 

v1.9.1 (released 21 October 2022)

The main goal of this release is to support the latest "Apple Silicon" (ARM) processors on Apple's latest Macintosh machines, but as always, there are several useful additions and updates.

• Apple Silicon support
  • Unify itself is now a "universal binary" on MacOS, and will run in native mode on Apple Silicon.
  • It can load both universal and Intel-only plug-ins, so all your existing plug-ins should still work.
  • The bundled third-party plug-ins should work identically as before, with the exception of the Digits phase-distortion synth, which had to be rebuilt more extensively with a new GUI; see below.
  • For full details, see Unify on Apple Silicon Macs in the Unify manual.
• General changes
  • MIDI channel handling in Transport MIDI logic has been improved.
  • MIDI-based transport triggering should now work better with multiple MIDI keyboards sending on different channels.
  • SHIFT-click ops-button (concentric circles icon) on any plug-in box is a shortcut to "Paste plug-in state".
• New Settings defaults
  • Show patch count now defaults to ON.
  • Show CPU meters now defaults to ON.
  • Force follow-host now defaults to ON.
  • Warn about changes now defaults to OFF.
  • Note if you have ever set these manually, you'll have explicit settings in your Unify.settings file, so you may not see these updated defaults.
• "Unify Standard" plug-in subsets now stored in system folder
  • The three XML files which define the "Unify Standard" plug-in add/swap menus are now stored next to the Unify app.
  • Older copies of these files stored under the main Presets folder in the main Unify data folder will now be ignored.
  • This change allows us to keep these subset definitions updated via our installers, rather than in .guru files.
• Embedded Unify
  • New "MOVE to embedded Unify" option on operations menu for INST layers provides a shortcut to push the layer down into a new embedded Unify instance.
  • This is essentially the opposite of the existing "Replace with INST1 from embedded Unify" function.
  • Should be very useful when working with CC Rider, MIDIBox, and other MIDI effects, which benefit from having the controlled layers "one level down" in an embedded Unify instance.
• Enhanced "follow host" functionality
  • Previous versions provided only a checkbox for "follow host". There is now a menu with three choices:
    • Don't Follow: Same as before with "follow host" NOT checked.
    • When Running: Same as before with "follow host" checked.
    • Always: Unify will follow the host's song-position even when the host transport is not running, i.e., not in Play or Record mode. This is necessary for a few rare plug-ins.
  • Existing patches should load exactly as before, with the follow-host mode set to either "Don't Follow" or "When Running". The new "Always" option may be chosen for saving new patches, if required.
  • "When Running" mode is the default, even for the Unify stand-alone app, which has no host to follow. This is because you will often use the stand-alone to create new patches, which nearly always need to be saved to follow the host when running. You can, however, explicitly choose a different mode before saving.
  • The new "follow host" pop-up menu is shown in dimmed text in the Unify stand-alone app, to reflect the fact that there is no host to follow, but the menu is still available to control how new patches are saved.
  • The reference BPM readout has been repositioned over the main BPM control, to make room for the larger "follow host" popup.
• Linked Parameters
  • New "Dup.Layer+1" menu item works like "Duplicate" but with the layer-number increased automatically by 1.
  • Any modulation of linked parameters (e.g. by CC Rider) is temporarily suspended while dragging control points in response curves.
  • "Variation" now appears below "master" at the bottom of parameter-select menus.
• Digits GUI extensively rebuilt
  • Yellow color replaced by grey.
  • Button-like controls which used to work like pop-up menus now cycle through choices using mouse button. (Left-click for next, right-click for previous item.) You can also use mouse wheel.
  • A simple patch browser has been added. Click on the current patch name button at bottom to open it.
• Guru Sampler
  • Error messages will now be shown, if specific samples cannot be found/loaded.
  • There were some bugs in the way looping samples were played, resulting in occasional small glitches. These have now been eliminated.
  • Pitch-bend range maximum increased from 36 to 48 semitones (for closer compatibility with MPE keyboards).
  • New lock icon to the right of sample +/- buttons when lit up green (click to toggle), "paste plug-in state" will affect all parameters except the current sample selection (the four pop-up menus in the GUI).
  • In SFZ files, the sense of the "tune=" parameter has been reversed, because it was incorrect all along.
  • If you have created any SFZ files, you will need to reverse the sign of any "tune=" tags you have used.
  • For example, "tune=12" should become "tune=-12" and vice versa.
• New "CC Mapper" built-in plug-in
  • CC Mapper is logically similar to ModMate, but more powerful.
  • For full details, see CC Mapper in the Unify manual.
• New "CC Rider" built-in plug-in
  • CC Rider is a new built-in MIDI effect which is basically a MIDI CC LFO.
  • The user interface is very similar to that of Pump House, but the output is a stream of MIDI CC data.
  • For full details, see CC Rider in the Unify manual.
• MIDI Monitor
  • New "aftertouch" checkbox allows to show/disable both Poly-Aftertouch and Channel Pressure events.
• TriggerBox
  • "Show/Hide Details" button has been removed; details are always shown.
  • Gating mode defaults to "always", so default preset is now effectively a MIDI pass-thru.
• PolyBox
  • Two new MPE-related items added to modes menu:
    • MPE Synth helps when using a non-MPE keyboard to control MPE synths.
    • MPE Kbd helps when using an MPE keyboard (e.g. Roli Seaboard) to control a stack of non-MPE synths.
    • Note these are highly experimental and may not be included in the next full Unify release.
• OSC commands can now be sent to embedded Unify instances
  • Use "unify" instead of "plugin", and follow with appropriate OSC command path.
  • E.g., /inst/1/unify/master/mixLevel sends /master/mixLevel to embedded Unify on layer INST1.
• MIDI Controller Files
  • Entering "suppress" (without quotes) in place of an OSC command path will suppress the selected MIDI message entirely.
• Bug fixes and other small changes
  • Patch name sorting should now be fully case-insensitive.
  • Fixed bug where effect version of a plug-in might load instead of instrument version (e.g. SerumFX instead of Serum).
  • Fixed bug where MIDIBox would occasionally skip the first note of a looped sequence.
  • Fixed bug where "updating" a patch loaded via MIDI bank/program-change or OSC message would update the wrong database record.
  • Multiple MIDI note messages for the same note-number, but sent on separate MIDI channels, should now work as expected.
  • PolyBox: Fixed bug where setting 1st MIDI channel to 2 or more could cause stuck notes.
  • MIDI Controller Files: midi/cc paths were broken before, now work as described in Unify manual.
  • Plug-in Ops menu: Ctrl+Shift-click is now a shortcut for "copy plug-in state".
  • This works together with the earlier addition of Shift-click as a shortcut to "paste plug-in state".
  • Restrictor: fix bug where wet/dry mix control didn't work correctly at all.
  • MIDI Bank Files: patch and file names may now be quoted, to clarify presence of embedded spaces.
  • Arturia's renamed OP-Xa V should now load automatically in patches where OB-Xa V was originally used.
  • CC/macro knob assignments can now be saved/restored inside embedded Unify instances.

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