colugomusic

Blockhead v0.47.0 alpha

Update Notes

Removed: All CLAP plugin support has been removed (temporarily.) This was added too early in development and was causing too many headaches and roadblocks at both the technical and design levels. 3rd-party plugin support will return some day in some other form.

Removed: "Convert to meta block" and "Convert to tempo guide" menu options were removed. (Replaced with the new generic block conversion feature detailed below...

Spooky Development Update

Boo. This is a post to try to keep everyone up to date with exactly what I am doing at the moment since it has been a while since the last build. As a reminder I post occasional development updates in the form of youtube videos so if you want to listen to me awkwardly struggle to construct a complete sentence then you can do so here:

www.youtube.com/@colugo5172/videos

Script Blocks 2025-10-31 15:48:36 +0000 UTC View Post

Blockhead v0.46.4 alpha

Update Notes

Update: When project files are saved the sample data is now always stored in 32-bit float wavpack format. The previous behavior was to store the samples with the same bit-depth as the existing sample header, in integer wavpack format, unless the sample data exceeds 0db in which case it was elevated to 32-bit floats. I honestly can't remember what corner case I was trying address with that behavior but changing it to always store 32-bit floa...

Blockhead v0.46.3 alpha

Edit: Known issue in this build - project saving is completely broken in this build (sorry, unfortunately it is some deployment issue as the bug does not occur in my debugging build.) So skip this version if you actually want to save your work!

In addition to the changes listed below, this release is also a quick test to make sure everything is still working right after making some large-ish changes to my development environment:

• I did a fresh install from ...

  2025-09-02 15:44:01 +0000 UTC View Post

Blockhead v0.46.2 alpha

Update Notes

Bugfix: Crash when a macro is dragged off a lane.
Bugfix: Crash when hotswitching block type.
Bugfix: Possible crash if a baking operation fails for some reason.
Bugfix: Choke envelopes are not preserved when hotswitching block type.
Bugfix: "Hide dot files" option only filters out files and ignores folders.

Links

Manual (WIP): 2025-08-21 15:40:18 +0000 UTC View Post

Blockhead v0.46.1 alpha

Update Notes

Bugfix: Crash when creating a manipulator.
Bugfix: Crash when opening a project which contains a manipulator.
Bugfix: Whoops!

Links

Manual (WIP): https://docs.google.com/document/d/1y6je_g2oNnxClL1eXV20dcQpoyZEkek5LTxQPyEFT0w
Known Issues: 2025-08-20 06:32:28 +0000 UTC View Post

Blockhead v0.46.0 alpha

Update Notes
Quick video explaining the new snapping options: www.youtube.com/watch?v=ACKStcZevpY

Feature: Enhanced snapping options (Cursor, envelope points, and warp markers)

Right-click on the Snap button on the right-hand sidebar to open additional snapping settings.

Toggle cursor snapping on and off with Ctrl+P (Command+P on macOS...

Blockhead v0.45.0 alpha

Update Notes

Here is a video where I demonstrate the new things: www.youtube.com/watch?v=fOr3WYR8mlo

Note: Old project files will be incompatible with this version, sorry!

Feature: History panel lets you jump back and forth to and from any point in history.

• History is not currently saved to project files, so it...

  2025-08-06 17:23:29 +0000 UTC View Post

What have I been doing for the past month?

I am writing this just because it has been about a month since my last development update (either in the form of youtube video or social media post). I have been extremely busy but unfortunately there is not exactly much I can show off right now and say "look at this cool thing I added" or anything like that. So as a warning there is probably not going to be anything particularly exciting here unless you have some deep interest in application development and persistent data structures.

...

Blockhead v0.44.1 alpha

Update Notes

• Update: Added "Enable smooth transitions for newly created blocks" option to the project settings panel.

• Update: The block creation buttons that previously appeared on the borders of a brushed block area have now been moved to under the search box.

• Update: Added new block creation search terms to QuickFind: "macro", "manipulator", "meta", "receive", "send", "start", "te...

  2025-02-26 15:46:54 +0000 UTC View Post

Blockhead v0.44.0 alpha

Update Notes

Update: The UI for creating new workspace blocks has completely changed and is described to the best of my ability in this video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rI3r57Gj_O4
Update: An error screen should now be displayed if libblockhead fails to load for some reason and will give some platform specific information about why it may h...

Blockhead v0.43.3 alpha

Update Notes

Update: Added the "--no-maximize" command-line argument which will prevent Blockhead from automatically maximizing the window on startup.
Bugfix: Possible crash if a track is added or deleted while playback is active.
Bugfix: Audio engine is constantly in a "transition" state (resulting in higher CPU usage and possible audio artifacts.)
Bugfix: Linux version will only work if the u...

Blockhead v0.43.2 (macOS only)

This build should be functionally identical to v0.43.0 except it should resolve the crashing at startup on macOS. Thanks to Murat for helping me resolve the issue!

Blockhead v0.43.0 alpha

EDIT: macOS users please download this build instead: https://www.patreon.com/posts/blockhead-v0-43-118528127

Update Notes

Information for macOS users

•  The required minimum macOS version is now 13.3, sorry! Please blame Apple for making backwards compatibility so difficult.

• I have no idea right now how ...

  2024-12-22 14:21:13 +0000 UTC View Post

AMA answers

Here is a video of me in a field answering questions left on the previous post:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fGvO3YN2yyw

Spooky scary update

As mentioned in the previous update, development has been a bit slow this month as a result of:

• Trouble getting to sleep due to noisy neighbours.

• Time spent looking for somewhere else to live.

• Time spent preparing for the move.

Despite all this, I'm quite happy with the state of the plugin sandboxing system so far, and it's probably around 75% done now....

October Update

I am writing this quick post just because it has been a while since the last one. Usually the individual things that I work on are small enough that there will be either an alpha build or a blog post every few weeks or so but all I have been working on for the past month is the sandboxing system that I described back in August and there is not much to report yet.

This is a really complicated thin...

Blockhead v0.42.2 alpha

Update Notes

Update: No longer show a parameters button if the CLAP plugin has no parameters or is in an unloaded state.
Update: Added some extra error-checking to try to help debug some more difficult to track crashes.
Bugfix: Several "seemingly random" crashes when various UI elements are being mouse hovered (block resizer handles, choke envelope fade-in/fade-out grabbers)
Bugfix: Possible cr...

Plugin Sandboxing

I have spent the past few days doing a bunch of research into plugin sandboxing. This is where plugins are run in a separate process from the DAW. The main advantage of doing that is that is so that if a plugin crashes or otherwise misbehaves, it doesn't take the entire DAW down with it. Instead, the sandbox process crashes, then the DAW can detect the situation and let the user know what happened and allow them to restart the sandbox if they want.

In Blockhead's case there are a couple...

Blockhead v0.42.1 alpha

Update Notes

Bugfix: CLAP plugins do not load on macOS.
Bugfix: "Smooth Transitions" option can't be re-enabled after disabling it, and shows the incorrect value in the context menu.
Bugfix: Flickering glitch sometimes occurs when blocks are created (notably after a slice operation.)
Bugfix: Adding an input buffer after changing audio device settings can lead to a broken buffer being created. 2024-08-26 10:22:14 +0000 UTC View Post

Blockhead v0.42.0 alpha

INFORMATION FOR LINUX USERS

You now need at least glibc 2.38 to run Blockhead. This is a bit higher than what you needed before (2.31). There is no good technical reason for this change. I just fucked up. For extended details on the fuck-up see below. If you are using Ubuntu 24.04 then it will work because that's what I use to build on. For other distributions you will need to check your package manager to see which version of glibc you have, but if it's too low then yo...

Textual update

Just wanted to say thank you to everyone, all the people who have stuck with me for the past 4 years, those who have come and gone, and to all the new subscribers recently. There has been quite a large influx of new people joining over the past few weeks which I think is due to a combination of the Youtube video by soundlearn and also an article on the Sonicstate website.

When I get a sudden increase...

Blockhead v0.41.1 alpha

Update Notes

Update: Some old PNG icons replaced with SVG versions:

• Amp parameter icon by jacob

• Pan parameter icon by fotisandstuff

• Pitch parameter icon by yankscally

• Sample offset parameter, and harmonics editor icons by Jishan524

• Speed/Reverse/Loop parameter icons by me

Bugfix: Possible crash when deleting a carnival sampler node.

2024-07-04 17:17:58 +0000 UTC View Post

Blockhead v0.41.0 alpha

Update Notes

Note: The existing carnival synthesis node is referred to in-code as a 'Clod' and while this terminology doesn't appear anywhere in the interface yet, I will use it in these update notes to make things easier.
Update: New Berk carnival synth node. When you click on an empty area you now have a 50% chance to get a Berk instead of a Clod. I will add a way to hotswitch a node between the different synth engines later.
2024-07-03 12:39:21 +0000 UTC View Post

Blockhead v0.40.1 alpha

Update Notes

Update: Added "Stereo Width" slider button to the sidebar when Carnival is open.
Bugfix: Possible crash (most likely on macOS) when doing anything in Carnival.
Bugfix: Possible hang or crash if the loopback buffer is open when Blockhead is shut down.
Bugfix: Some workspace UI elements such as lane and block resizers still show up when the cursor hovers over them while Carnival is o...

Blockhead v0.40.0 alpha

Update Notes:

Feature: "Carnival" noise generator (next to the Input button at the bottom of the Blockhead window.)

This is a very early iteration of Blockhead's noise generator system. "Carnival" is a code name but I didn't manage to think of a better name yet. The sound and mechanics of this system will likely change a lot in the future.

The point of this system is to be a fun and explorative way of generating audio source material to chop...

Blockhead v0.39.0 alpha

Here is a video of me trying to explain the new keyboard shortcuts

www.youtube.com/watch?v=Igi8naCJbv8

Update Notes:

Note: On macOS the 'Command' key is used instead of 'Ctrl' in all the default key bindings mentioned below.

Feature: "Remember block" function. I could instead call this "copy and paste" but that is a lit...

Blockhead v0.38.3 alpha

Update Notes

Bugfix: Possible crash when slicing a block while the envelope editor is open for certain parameters.
Bugfix: Crash when creating a macro from existing blocks, in certain corner cases (most notably when the selection contains a connected send/receive pair.)
Bugfix: Creah when opening/closing the input panel after a project with a custom input buffer is loaded.
Bugfix: Project f...

Blockhead v0.38.2 alpha

Update Notes

Bugfix: Crash when hovering over the saturator "Amp" parameter button.
Bugfix: Crash when manipulator block is moved after removing one of its parameter targets.
Bugfix: Possible crash if the blockhead window loses focus while it is in the process of starting up.
Bugfix: "Step size" sliders don't work properly.
Bugfix: Buttons still being mouse-input blocked by ...

Blockhead v0.38.1 alpha

Update Notes

Bugfix: Corrupted project files being generated in various corner cases. There may be more of these to find but I fixed many of them.
Bugfix: Crash when trying to manipulate a slider parameter.
Bugfix: Deactivating a parameter or removing a manipulator doesn't auto-close the editor if it was open, leading to crash situations later.
Bugfix: Parameter/manipulator buttons can be press...