Random on BPM Sync biased toward end (Arena)

Sadler · Post by **Sadler** » Mon Nov 28, 2011 23:42

Playing any clip of any length that is set up with BPM sync and put into random mode for that "instant break or remix", creeps forwards along the clip until it rattles around in the final few beats.

Longer clips take longer to get to the end but they do eventually.

It is most obvious in one of my clips which has a square travelling horizontally left to right then top to bottom. Three of these clips played together in random mode end up very friendly in the bottom corner of the frame.

Arena B1, Core i5, Win 7, mobility radeon hd 5470.

VJair · Post by **VJair** » Mon Nov 28, 2011 23:57

might be better to test beta 2?

Sadler · Post by **Sadler** » Tue Nov 29, 2011 23:05

Absolutely correct. Tried Avenue and Arena B2 with similar results.

Joris · Post by **Joris** » Thu Dec 01, 2011 17:53

Interestingly enough, in all our tests, it drifts to the front of the clip. Either way, this is the nature of the beast. A random walk behaviour will drift in a certain direction after any amount of time. Would looping the clip when it reaches the end be a solution for you?

Sadler · Post by **Sadler** » Fri Dec 02, 2011 10:36

I did try all the playback modes including looping the clip. But since BMP Sync random mode plays whole beats I've never seen it actually get to the end to loop (it least it never has looped). In any case, looping wouldn't be satisfactory in the long run since I want my flashing squares all over the frame and instead they all move together down to the bottom right and looping would just cause them to repeat that.

Interesting that your's walks that way - perhaps there's a random seed that dictates the direction? I don't mind that a random walk drifts in any direction over time but when it consistently goes from start to end in 60 beats it is very obvious.

I hear that Apple had to frig the random behaviour on their iPods to make it feel more random because users were complaining about the genuinely random algorithm.

Joris · Post by **Joris** » Tue Dec 20, 2011 13:14

Random on computers not actually being random remains one of the more interesting things to me since I first came across it while programming Basic back in the eighties

Anyway, it's on our radar and we'll take a look at how we can make it more random. Or less random

Random on BPM Sync biased toward end (Arena)

Random on BPM Sync biased toward end (Arena)

Re: Random on BPM Sync biased toward end (Arena)

Re: Random on BPM Sync biased toward end (Arena)

Re: Random on BPM Sync biased toward end (Arena)

Re: Random on BPM Sync biased toward end (Arena)

Re: Random on BPM Sync biased toward end (Arena)