HY-Plugins has released HY-RPE2 Free, a freeware grid sequencer in VST, VST3, and AU plugin formats. The full version of HY-RPE2 offers two sequencer engines (Grid and Euclidean) and it’s on a 30% OFF sale until October 30th, 2020.
If you’ve browsed the internet for free audio stuff, you’ve undoubtedly come across HY-Plugins.
See also: HY-Plugins Releases HY-Delay 4 FREE VST/AU PluginHyakken, audio tool creator exemplar, is a plugin developer from Japan who makes fantastic stuff. His paid plugins are excellent, and they always come with feature-rich free versions. He’s probably best known for HY-Filter3, HY-Delay4, and HY-POLY, but there’s a lot more.
HY-Plugins has been making plugins since at least 2015, which is also presumably when he last slept. How can you sleep and still manage to develop so many excellent audio tools?
Something else HY-Plugins is known for is the rather sizable collection of sequencers. HY-RPE2 is the developer’s fourth sequencer. And with one of them actually being a collection of six individual sequencers, this technically makes HY-RPE2 the ninth one overall.
And all of them are at least a hundred times more fun to use than the bland old piano roll in your digital audio workstation.
The free version of HY-RPE2 is a three-track grid sequencer that comes with most of its bigger brother’s features. Hyakken’s plugins tend to be denser than Osmium, but here goes.
HY-RPE2 Free
The steps are in the lower-left section of the interface, with each segment representing a bar. Each bar can have between one and eight steps. The play direction can be changed, randomized, and the pattern itself can be shifted left and right.
On the right side, next to each track, are the master chainer, snapshots, the midi trigger note, and the channel output.
Right above that is the chainer, where you “paint” the patterns you’ve created on a 32-step grid, much like you would on an old tracker-like program or something like or NI’s Maschine software.
Moving over to the left of that is what Hyakken calls a “step slider,” but I’m going to call it a matrix because that’s what it is. The matrix allows for individual control over velocity, gate, pitch, probability, timing shift, and step roll per step.
That’s quite a lot of sequencing bang for no buck.
HY-RPE2 Full
The paid version comes with eight total tracks and an additional sequencing mode based on Euclidean rhythms. But, much like Lovecraftian antagonists, do you really need Euclid?
Well, HY-RPE2 knocked me off my feet with how comprehensive its Euclidean engine is. I’m not going to go into too much detail because I’d need two additional articles, but I’ll just say that it comes with four independent, super in-depth LFOs with tons of waveforms and four macros.
All of this is wrapped up in a clean user interface that’s actually pretty well laid-out once you figure out what each of its 10,000 features does.
Oh, and because HY-Plugins is an avatar of supreme benevolence, the entirely new version 2.0 is free for all paid users of the first version. So, be sure to update your current installation of the plugin.
30% OFF Intro Offer
I have to say; as someone who’s been critical of the freeware sequencer market, this right here is the one to beat. The free version offers plenty, and there’s a $48 price tag for the full version.
An intro offer is also going for 30% OFF at ADSR and KVR until October 30th. The software is available in VST, VST3, and AU plugin formats on Windows and macOS. The version for Mac is 64-bit only.
More info: HY-RPE2 (12 MB installer, 32-bit & 64-bit VST2/VST3/AUv3/ plugin format for Windows & macOS)
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Last Updated on October 15, 2020 by Tomislav Zlatic.
