Coffeeshopped
After… a lot of years… it's here! Patch Base 4 for Mac is now available. It's more polished, more stable, and has a couple of new features as well. It's been a long and winding road to get here, with some detours along the way that I'll write about another time. But for today, let's get into what's new.
MIDI Controller Support
The big headline feature for the new version of Patch Base is MIDI Controller support. And by that I mean: you can now map knobs and faders from your external MIDI controllers onto the on-screen controls of Patch Base. This feature is by far the most-requested for several years now, so I'm happy to finally deliver.
It works the way you would (hopefully) expect: first, in Preferences, you put checks next to the MIDI interfaces you want to use an external controllers.
Then, in every editor, there's a “Learn” mode you can activate.
When that's on, just click an on-screen control, then twiddle a knob on your fader, and voila, they're connected. You can do this to as many different editors as you want, and they can each be individually turned on or off, regardless of what windows are open. This way you can tweak your synths via hardware even when the editor window isn't open. I'm looking forward to hearing what people think of this approach! Hopefully it's a big help.
Light Mode
Patch Base has always been a de facto “Dark Mode” app. But, I realize that's not for everyone. So now Patch Base has the light mode / dark mode settings that you would expect from a Mac desktop app. You can set the app to automatically track the mode that your computer is in, or set Patch Base permanently to either Light or Dark mode.
External Keyboard Support
The other main feature this version adds is an easy way to use an external MIDI keyboard to play your synths while editing them in Patch Base. It's always been possible for you to set up an external MIDI keyboard outside of Patch Base (e.g. through your DAW), but it's been a confusing hassle for a lot of people. Now, you just tell Patch Base which keyboard(s) you want to use to play notes on, and Patch Base will route the MIDI from that keyboard to whichever patch editor window is currently active. Patch Base handles making sure the notes are sent on the correct MIDI Channel for whichever synth you're editing at the moment. It's pretty handy.
New Pricing
Patch Base 4 is priced a little differently from the past. If you're a new customer, you purchase the Starter Bundle, which includes the price of the platform (Patch Base 4) and includes your first editor (whichever you choose). After that, any other editors you purchase are a lower per-editor price. So, after your first purchase, individual editors cost are about 40% cheaper than they used to be. This is possible in part because I've moved to an in-house licensing system instead of the 3rd party platform I've used in the past. It allows me to be more flexible with how I run things, and hopefully makes communication easier too (no more chatbots telling you they'll contact me or whatever… your emails just go straight to me).
The All Access subscription, which gives you access to all editors for a single subscription price, is still available, and still the same price. No changes there, other than if you're an existing All Access customer, you'll need to log in and complete a short process to “migrate” your subscription from the old payment processor to the new in-house system. As part of the process, you'll get a little extra free time as well.
And for customers who have purchased editors in the past: Patch Base 4 is the first time I'm offering a paid upgrade. To upgrade to Patch Base 4, there is a one-time upgrade cost, which is the same price for everyone, and moves all of your editors (regardless of how many you've bought) up to the new platform. Anyone who bought any editors since last May or so will get the Patch Base 4 upgrade for free. Just log in, click a button, and you'll be set.
If you run into any issues with any of it, or have questions, just let me know!
What About iPad?
I'm working on Patch Base 4 for iPad right now. It was just a little too much for me to have it ready at the same time as the Mac version. It's still a one-person show over here at Coffeeshopped. But, it's on the way.
Can I Still Get the Old Patch Base?
Yes! The download for the old version is at the bottom of the Patch Base home page. You're welcome to stay on the old version and download it for as long as you like.
What About New Editors??!?
Yes! They are coming very, very soon. And my intention is to be making a lot of them. Please stay tuned. And also, make sure you're signed up for the newsletter!