Hey everyone!

It's my pleasure to announce the winners of the first Paradiddle Drum Cover Contest! All submitters won prizes, since we didn't hit 10 covers for the contest (hopefully next time!), and I'm especially excited to announce the top 3:

1) ElNeax: Periphery - Marigold
https://youtu.be/D8-fIp7gUrI
2) HowDoesOneEven: System of a Down - Toxicity
https://youtu.be/mKBsvz7B5eY
3) VRемя VR: Kino - Zvezda po imeny Solnche
https://youtu.be/FrkSNqh8sf4
Once again, a huge thank you to VRемя VR, ElNeax, jollygooduser, HowDoesOneEven and Red Varg for their submissions (all of the submissions can be seen here), and to anyone who voted on the covers! I hope you all record more songs/covers in Paradiddle in the future - thanks to you all we're able to really showcase how powerful Paradiddle can be.

I hope to organize another drum cover contest within a few months, once a bunch of new major features have been added to the app. If any of the cover submitters are reading this, I'll be in touch with you shortly about figuring out logistics for the prizes.

Thanks!

- Emre
emre@paradiddleapp.com
Join us on Discord!: https://discordapp.com/invite/wjHnTVr
Twitter: https://twitter.com/ParadidleVR
Paradiddle drum covers Youtube playlist (your cover could be on here too!)
Official Paradiddle website: http://paradiddleapp.com
FAQ: http://paradiddleapp.com/faq
Reddit: http://reddit.com/r/paradiddle

A hotfix for Paradiddle has just been released, that addresses a couple of issues that some of you have brought up recently. This is the default version of the app; if you run into issues, you can always go to the "early_version" branch on Steam and let me know what issues you're observing.

Fixed a bug where really fast hits would sometimes go through the thinner drums, especially the cymbals. You should now be able to go back to hitting those crashes as hard as you want!

Oculus users should now have an easier time bringing any windows on their desktop into Paradiddle through Oculus Dash! Up until now, Oculus Dash would bring you into a separate environment when you switched to it, but with the latest update you should notice that you no longer leave the Paradiddle environment.

Here's a little screenshot of me bringing my Spotify window into the app:


Bigger updates are all coming soon! I'm currently trying to finish up some work to get Paradiddle up on the Oculus Store, and also trying to record a new mixed-reality drum cover that I can use to showcase the app a bit more. You should expect to see some bigger features added in July!

- Emre
emre@paradiddleapp.com
Join us on Discord!: https://discordapp.com/invite/wjHnTVr
Twitter: https://twitter.com/ParadidleVR
Paradiddle drum covers Youtube playlist (your cover could be on here too!)
Official Paradiddle website: http://paradiddleapp.com
FAQ: http://paradiddleapp.com/faq
Reddit: http://reddit.com/r/paradiddle

Thank you to everyone who submitted a cover for the 1st Paradiddle Drum Cover Contest. It's always inspiring and encouraging to hear what you're all playing in VR!

Here are all of the submissions that were sent in for the contest:

• Zvezda po imeny Solnche by VRемя VR https://youtu.be/FrkSNqh8sf4
  
  
• Periphery - Marigold by ElNeax https://youtu.be/D8-fIp7gUrI
  
  
• Iron Maiden - The Trooper by jollygooduser https://youtu.be/R8K4joOuk68
  
  
• Foo Fighters - Best of You by HowDoesOneEven https://youtu.be/a2kYYpY1LNo
  
  
• Blonde Redhead - For the Damaged by Red Varg https://youtu.be/dwSzuKnFSpM
  
  
• System of a Down - Toxicity by HowDoesOneEven https://youtu.be/mKBsvz7B5eY

Even though I was originally intending voting to be only open to participants, I decided to open this up to anyone on the Paradiddle Discord (https://discordapp.com/invite/wjHnTVr) as well. I'll be posting the voting link on the announcements channel on Discord shortly, if you're not in there yet, you should consider joining! There's currently more than 40 of us on there, and it's a great place to ask questions about the app, get feedback, show off your songs etc.

More updates are still in progress, stay tuned for some exciting new features and announcements!

- Emre
emre@paradiddleapp.com
Join us on Discord!: https://discordapp.com/invite/wjHnTVr
Paradiddle drum covers Youtube playlist (your cover could be on here too!)
Official Paradiddle website: http://paradiddleapp.com
FAQ: http://paradiddleapp.com/faq
Reddit: http://reddit.com/r/paradiddle

Thank you so much for supporting Paradiddle! If you're enjoying your VR jam sessions and excited about upcoming features and improvements, I would really appreciate it if you wrote a review on Steam. It doesn't even have to be long - any review helps in proving that Paradiddle is trying to be the most flexible, responsive and user-friendly VR drumming app out there.

Hey everyone! I just wanted to make a brief announcement and let you know about some of the small changes that the latest update introduces. Also as a quick note, the beta branch has now been turned into the default branch. As always, if you run into any issues with this version of the app, definitely let me know on Steam or Discord, and feel free to switch to the “early_version” branch until the issue is addressed.

Thank you to everyone who has submitted a cover so far! I've officially extended the submission period by another two weeks, until noon / 12 PM PST on June 11th. This was done so that the people who wasted time dealing with some of the issues introduced with the new mixed reality integration can have a little more time. You can find the contest announcement and details here: https://steamcommunity.com/gid/103582791460348509/announcements/detail/1644254947159962958

The recent MR integration (Update Notes: https://steamcommunity.com/gid/103582791460348509/announcements/detail/3784591401488730337) is now part of the default branch, but just a heads-up that this feature is still in development. It’s currently at a state where it consistently works with one static external camera. Please make sure that if you’re not using the mixed reality integration, you rename or remove the externalcamera.cfg file from the directory where your Paradiddle executable sits, or otherwise you might run into performance issues. The app renders 2 more cameras on top of the VR view if the externalcamera.cfg file is found, so if you’re not doing any MR streaming/recording, there’s no need to have the app render those additional views.

Here’s what’s included in the latest small update, on top of the Mixed Reality changes.

Different MIDI Notes for Ride Cymbal Bell/Edge
Added MIDI notes for different hit zones on ride cymbals (bell and edge). You can adjust both of these notes in the drum options. Note that while the MIDI notes for the edges of the 17” and the 20” ride cymbals are different, currently the bell/center note is the same for both. This is because there doesn’t seem to be an agreed-upon second MIDI note for the 2nd ride cymbal bell, so you might want to adjust this note to your own liking by looking up the MIDI mapping of your audio software.

Small Visual Improvements
Updated the cymbal/hi-hat drum model and fixed a bug with the collision box, so your hits should ideally feel a bit more accurate now. Let me know if you run into any issues with your stick hits not registering with any of the cymbals or the hi-hat. Also made slight visual changes in the hover state of the drums in the menu.

Recording Improvements
Paradiddle recordings now save additional information, such as what hand hit the drum. Hi-hat hits now also properly save the open/closed state in recordings, so any hi-hat open/close actions should be properly reflected in future recordings . The handedness currently doesn’t do anything, but I’m hoping to start using this when playing back a recording in the future, by reflecting it in some of the visual cues that show you when to hit the drum.

Stay tuned for more updates!

Emre
emre@paradiddleapp.com
Join us on Discord!: https://discordapp.com/invite/wjHnTVr
Paradiddle drum covers Youtube playlist (your cover could be on here too!)
Official Paradiddle website: http://paradiddleapp.com
FAQ: http://paradiddleapp.com/faq
Reddit: http://reddit.com/r/paradiddle

I'm excited to announce that Paradiddle finally has mixed reality support! To use this feature, you'll have to be on the beta branch of the app. You can do this by right clicking Paradiddle in Steam, selecting Properties, and selecting "beta" under the Betas tab.

For any VR streamers/YouTubers out there, or anyone who'd like to better showcase their VR jamming skills, I'm hoping that this'll be a huge help. You can see an example of what this looks like in this video (note that this was a relatively quick test, and with a good enough lighting and green screen set up, you can spend some more time tweaking the parameters to get rid of any weird green screen artifacts you can see in the video): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hVUgO1jznpU MR support was added thanks to LIV, who are making it super easy for developers to add this functionality in their apps. They also have the LIV Client on Steam, which will let you easily composite the video and get the result in the YouTube video I posted above. You can find the instructions of this setup here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Uj2bbgmVPgs&feature=youtu.be I'd also highly recommend joining their Discord for additional support and guidance, the developers are super friendly, and they're on there to answer people's questions pretty much all the time. I'm also setting up a channel in the Paradiddle Discord to support anyone who's trying to get this running.


With all of that being said, the reason this is in beta is that the LIV SDK for Unreal Engine currently has a few limitations, and I've had to hack my way around them a bit to get around them until these get fixed. Here's what to remember and the hacks you need to do to get this properly working:

1. Currently only the 1st Vive Tracker in your system can be used as the external camera. If you don't have a Vive Tracker, don't worry, because LIV provides a virtual tracker for you that you can use as a static camera.
   
2. This point specifically is for people looking to use the LIV Virtual Tracker as their external camera. Before you calibrate your camera, launch the LIV Client, open the Compositor, and make sure your LIV Virtual Tracker is enabled. You can check this by going to the Camera Tab: Check Enabled under Virtual Camera, select Device: Static(Virtual), and Class: Tracker. The LIV Tracker icon in your SteamVR Dashboard should now light up green. Now close the compositor window but keep the LIV Client window open.
   
3. When you do your device calibration in LIV: vivr, make sure the tracker you select under "Camera Tracker" shows up as Connected and Tracking. So if you were using the LIV Virtual Tracker, you'd select the one that says "Generic Tracker - liv virtual camera". This is why we made sure that the virtual tracker was lighting up green in the SteamVR window in the previous step.
   
4. After you finish your calibration through LIV: vivr, the resulting externalcamera.cfg file you get will be set up for Unity. Here's how you get the one you need for Paradiddle: Open up the LIV Client, and under Camera, press Edit on the camera profile you had created. In the Calibration section on the Device tab that should have opened up, click Import -> From File and select the externalcamera.cfg you exported from LIV: vivr. Now click Export -> To File -> For Unreal and save this to C:\Program Files (x86)\Steam\steamapps\common\Paradiddle\Paradiddle\Binaries\Win64 (or the equivalent directory under wherever your Steam installation of Paradiddle sits). Now the app should run with the 4 quadrant view that you need to get the mixed reality output through LIV.

The steps involved with getting the Oculus mixed reality set up working are a little weird for now. This is mostly because the LIV MR integration is only supposed to work with SteamVR, but for the time being I was able to find a workaround with the Oculus SDK. In upcoming updates, I'll introduce actual SteamVR support for Oculus and make sure the steps are the same as Oculus as they are for Vive users.

1. The Oculus MR integration currently only supports the LIV virtual controller/tracker as an external camera. Before you calibrate your camera, launch the LIV Client, open the Compositor, and make sure your LIV Virtual Tracker is enabled. You can check this by going to the Camera Tab: Check Enabled under Virtual Camera, select Device: Static(Virtual), and Class: Tracker. The LIV Tracker icon in your SteamVR Dashboard should now light up green. Now close the compositor window but keep the LIV Client window open.
   
2. When you do your device calibration in LIV: vivr, make sure the tracker you select under "Camera Tracker" shows up as Connected and Tracking. So if you were using the LIV Virtual Tracker, you'd select the one that says "Generic Tracker - liv virtual camera". This is why we made sure that the virtual tracker was lighting up green in the SteamVR window in the previous step.
   
3. After you finish your calibration through LIV: vivr, the resulting externalcamera.cfg file you get will be set up for Unity. Here's how you get the one you need for Paradiddle: Open up the LIV Client, and under Camera, press Edit on the camera profile you had created. In the Calibration section on the Device tab that should have opened up, click Import -> From File and select the externalcamera.cfg you exported from LIV: vivr. Now click Export -> To File -> For Unreal and save this to C:\Program Files (x86)\Steam\steamapps\common\Paradiddle\Paradiddle\Binaries\Win64 (or the equivalent directory under wherever your Steam installation of Paradiddle sits). Don't launch the app yet, finish the rest of the steps or your camera will show up at the wrong spot.
   
4. IMPORTANT: Go through the previous calibration steps, without the virtual tracker/controller enabled this time. Export this file out of vivr, give it a different name (like externalcamera_heightonly.cfg), export it as an Unreal calibration file just like the previous step outlined (you don't have to save this one in your Steam Paradiddle directory). Now open this Unreal version of the file, take the value next to z= , and replace the z= value in the Unreal version of the externalcamera.cfg file you got in your first calibration, when the virtual tracker/controller was enabled.
   
5. For instance, when I calibrated my camera with my virtual controller enabled and exported that as an Unreal file, the z= value I got was around -0.5. When I did the calibration and exported without my virtual camera enabled, the value I got was around 1.68. So I open up the initial externalcamera.cfg, and replace the -0.5 with 1.68. That's the externalcamera.cfg file that should be placed next to your Paradiddle executable. Now you can launch Paradiddle, and the app should run with the 4 quadrant view that you need to get the mixed reality output through LIV. Currently for this hacky Oculus workaround it won't matter whether your virtual controller/tracker is enabled or not as you run the app, but in future updates, you'll want to keep that enabled.

That's everything to keep in mind! Feel free to reach out to me on Discord or the Steam Forums if you're having trouble setting this up, or you can also talk to any of the LIV devs if you're having trouble getting this running using their software. As these limitations and issues are resolved, I'll make sure to update this post with the latest instructions on how to get everything running. Also, just a reminder that the 1st official Paradiddle VR Drum Cover Contest is accepting submissions until May 27th! If you'd like to share your VR drumming skills while winning some cool prizes, you should definitely consider sending in a drum cover.

Thanks!

Emre
emre@paradiddleapp.com
Official Paradiddle website: http://paradiddleapp.com
Paradiddle drum covers Youtube playlist (your cover could be on here too!)
FAQ: http://paradiddleapp.com/faq
Join us on Discord!: https://discordapp.com/invite/wjHnTVr
Reddit: http://reddit.com/r/paradiddle

Hey everyone!

Since the Early Access launch at the end of 2017, it has been extremely encouraging to see how you all use Paradiddle, and the app has already improved leaps and bounds in terms of functionality and stability thanks to all of your feedback. So what better way to show off and celebrate your VR drumming skills than a VR drum cover contest?

I’m incredibly excited to finally kick off the 1st official Paradiddle VR Drum Cover Contest! The Paradiddle community has been nothing but amazing and supportive up until now, and I wanted to organize this as a way to thank you all and share your skills with the rest of the world. All skill levels are more than welcome - even if you’re just getting started with VR drumming, you’re still encouraged to share your creation with the rest of the community. You’ll get to be part of something that’s never been done before, by taking part in the first ever VR drum cover contest in the world! Each and every submission will also go a long way in conveying how powerful VR can be as a transformative technology, and how Paradiddle is the most powerful, flexible and user-friendly VR drumming application out there. In addition to that, you’ll only be able to vote on your favorite submissions if you’ve submitted a drum cover yourself!



Participation is super simple.

1. Record yourself playing a drum cover of a song in Paradiddle.
   
2. Upload it to YouTube as a public video, mentioning the Paradiddle drum cover contest in the description.
   
3. Send an email to hello@paradiddleapp.com with (1) a link to your YouTube video, (2) your Steam name, and (3) any other info you’d like for us to know.

You’ll have until May 27th midnight (11:59 PM / 23:59) PST, to send in your submission. Also note that by sending in a submission, you’re agreeing that you’re okay with me putting up the videos on the Paradiddle website, or sharing them online to help promote the app. These cover videos help a lot in showing how powerful Paradiddle can be, and I just want to make sure I can show off the capabilities of the app with the rest of the VR community. If you’re a streamer or YouTuber, you might want to take a look at some of the previous Paradiddle drum covers - because VR drum covers are a new concept and so much fun to watch, it’s quite possible that you could end up getting lots of views on your covers.



Voting will be done in two stages, so that we can manage it easily in case there are too many submissions. The first round will be judged by a panel of people who have helped with the development and testing of Paradiddle in the past. This panel will limit the submissions to the top 10, at which point we’ll move to Round 2. In Round 2, anyone who had sent in a submission will be able to vote on their top 3. The results will then be announced at the end of that stage.

There is no strict criteria on voting, but the panel will be looking at the overall appeal of the video, which includes technical skill, as well as creativity and originality. Feel free to get creative and have fun with it if you'd like to! You can use the MIDI out from Paradiddle to play and process your own samples if you prefer. Peripherals such as USB or electronic drum pedals are also allowed. If you have a green screen, you are also more than welcome to make a mixed reality recording using the LIV mixed reality integration that’s going to be added to Paradiddle in about a week or so.



Here are the prizes that will be given out to the top submissions!

Top 3:

Choose 1 between:

• 2 Vive Trackers (which users will soon be able to use as pedal replacements, or to track any real-life pedal in Paradiddle)
  
• Addictive Drums 2 + 2 USB Pedals
  
• BFD3 + 2 USB Pedals
  
• DDrum DDTi Trigger Interface + Yamaha KU100 Electronic Kick Drum Pedal (velocity sensitive electronic drum pedal that can be used in Paradiddle through MIDI input)

Rest of the Top 10 (Place 4th through 10th):

Choose 1 between:

• 2 USB Pedals
  
• GetGood Drums

Can I submit more than one cover?
Multiple submissions are permitted as long as they’re different songs, and each submission will be judged separately. But you’ll only be able to vote once, even if you submit multiple covers.

Are there any examples of covers played with Paradiddle?
Feel free to take a look at this YouTube playlist for inspiration on some of the songs that have been played in Paradiddle.

I’m more than happy to answer any other questions, and I’ll make sure to update the FAQ as more questions come in. Also, if you join us on Discord (https://discordapp.com/invite/wjHnTVr), I’m sure the community would love to see your drum cover submissions on there as well!

Thanks!

Emre
emre@paradiddleapp.com
Official Paradiddle website: http://paradiddleapp.com
Paradiddle drum covers Youtube playlist (your cover could be on here too!)
FAQ: http://paradiddleapp.com/faq
Join us on Discord!: https://discordapp.com/invite/wjHnTVr
Reddit: http://reddit.com/r/paradiddle

Thank you so much for supporting Paradiddle! If you're enjoying your VR jam sessions and excited about upcoming features and improvements, I would really appreciate it if you wrote a review on Steam. It doesn't even have to be long - any review helps in proving that Paradiddle is trying to be the most flexible, responsive and user-friendly VR drumming app out there.

Hey everyone! The latest Paradiddle update introduces fixes to some major bugs that have been reported to me over the past few weeks, along with a few new features. To anyone who has reached out to me about these bugs, thank you so much for letting me know, and also for your patience. This is exactly why Paradiddle started out on Early Access, and I really appreciate your feedback and help in improving the quality and stability of the app!


Different MIDI Notes When Hi-Hat Is Open/Closed
I believe this was a widely anticipated addition and I’m happy to say it’s finally here! The hi-hat now has two MIDI notes associated with it, one sent when it’s open, and the other when it’s closed. You can modify either note in the drum options menu, under the MIDI tab. Just as a reminder, the left trigger will control the hi-hat opening/closing by default, and you can remap this under the Controls menu. You can set a button to either open the hi-hat, in which case the default hi-hat position will be closed, or to close the hi-hat, in which case the default hi-hat position will be open.

In addition to this, I’m also working on adding MIDI notes for different zones on certain drums (such as the cymbal edge vs the center/ride), and this will most likely be included in the next update.

Audio File Loading & Playback
It’s now possible to load your local audio files into Paradiddle, and control playback within the app! For those of you who are trying to drum along to a specific song, this should hopefully ease the pain of having to switch out of the app to a separate audio software or YouTube. You can load any audio file located under the Paradiddle\Saved\AudioFiles\ directory in your Paradiddle installation folder (for instance C:\Program Files (x86)\Steam\steamapps\common\Paradiddle\Paradiddle\Saved\AudioFiles) by pulling up the Options tab in the app, and clicking on “Load Audio File”. I’ve added a few sample files in there to give everyone an idea of what playback looks like, but it’s likely that these samples might change in the future. The playback UI is pretty straightforward: you can freely play/pause, turn on/off looping, change the volume and also move the timestamp to pick where in the song you want to go. All common audio formats should work, but feel free to let me know if you run into any issues, and I’ll look into it.

Recording Playback Improvements
The recording playback UI now has a couple of new features that make it much more useful. Users are now able to change the volume of the recording, and mute it if they’d like to. Muting the recording won’t hide the expanding rings on the drums that tell the user when to hit the drum, so you can still follow along to the visual cues to practice how to play the recording. In addition to this, there is also a “Hide” button that will hide the visibility of all drums that belong to that recording. This was done to give users some more power in tidying up their space, in the case that they have multiple recordings in the scene.

• Fixed a major bug that made the Controls tab pretty much completely unusable. You should now be able to remap your controls freely, and have your changes take effect as expected.
  
• Fixed a major bug with MIDI Device saving/loading that stopped both MIDI input/output from working upon repeated use of the app. If you were resorting to creating a new MIDI port to get around this issue, you should no longer have to do that.
  
• Fixed an Oculus-only bug where loaded drums changed position based on where the user was when they started the app. No matter where you are when you start the app, saved/loaded drums should now always appear in the same exact spot.
  
• The mute state of drums are now properly saved in drum sets and recordings.
  
• Turning MIDI out off on a drum will now automatically unmute it if it was muted.

As I mentioned in the last Paradiddle announcement, I’m still hard at work on several new and exciting features. These include Mixed Reality recording/streaming support, preliminary Vive tracker support, Steam Workshop integration, and more. The Paradiddle VR drum cover contest will also be announced as soon as MR recording/streaming supported is added.

As always, feel free to let me know or post on the Steam Discussion Forums if you have any other comments or questions. And thanks again for supporting Paradiddle! If you're on Discord, you might want to join the Paradiddle Discord group as well. I'm always active on there, and others in the group are also always willing to help out with questions. Stay tuned for more updates, happy jamming!

Emre
emre@paradiddleapp.com
Official Paradiddle website: http://paradiddleapp.com
Paradiddle drum covers Youtube playlist (your cover could be on here too!)
FAQ: http://paradiddleapp.com/faq
Join us on Discord!: https://discordapp.com/invite/wjHnTVr
Reddit: http://reddit.com/r/paradiddle

Hi everyone!

It’s been a little while since the last update for Paradiddle went online, so I just wanted to give you a sneak peek on what’s coming soon for the app.


Mixed Reality Recording Support
MR recording support will be functional very soon, thanks to LIV. If you’re wondering what this will get you, it’ll allow you to record videos similar to the R U Mine cover I recorded a while ago. LIV allows for a lot more tuning with your recording settings, and offers live streaming of MR content as well. I can’t wait to add this in the next update because I think MR videos are a truly fantastic way to showcase VR content, and especially Paradiddle.

Steam Workshop Integration
Users will soon be able to share their recordings and drum sets over Steam Workshop! Up until now, someone would have to send another user their saved recording or drum set, and the other person would have to make sure to place it in the right directory for it to show up in the app. The Workshop integration will get rid of all of this hassle, and more importantly, serve as a central location where users will be able to browse across recordings and drum sets the community has made. I’m incredibly excited to have this go online and see what sorts of recordings people end up sharing. There might also be other types of content that get Workshop support for Paradiddle in the future, but I’ll keep you updated as that becomes more clear. Special thanks to Mankiller_2 on Steam for suggesting this feature!

Vive Tracker Support
Preliminary support for Vive Trackers will be added soon, to be used as hi-hat or kick pedal replacements. Users will be able to place them either on a real pedal, or simply on their feet. Again, I think this is another very exciting feature that allows people with Vive Trackers to get a lot more out of their hardware. It’s still very early but I’ve also started experimenting with using these to track drum sticks or similarly shaped objects. There’s still a lot of prototyping to be done, but I’m excited to see how that works out as well.

Local Audio File Loading & Playback
Users will soon be able to load audio files they have on their computer, and control it within the app through an interface similar to the recording playback interface. This will be useful for cases such as loading a song and playing along to it within the app, without having to switch over to Spotify/YouTube/etc. This feature will eventually be expanded to allow for the usage of audio samples as drum samples, so that users can create their custom drums in Paradiddle that make use of audio files on their system.

On top of these new features, various bug fixes and usability improvements will also be included in the next update.


The Paradiddle VR Drum Cover Contest
Start practicing with your favorite songs, because I’ll soon be announcing the details for the first Paradiddle VR Drum Cover Contest! Everyone will have 2-3 weeks to record a VR drum cover video and share it on YouTube, to compete for a whole bunch of prizes. These will include various drum pedal peripherals, drum sound packs, software licenses and more. The top drum covers will also be showcased and shared on pretty much every channel that Paradiddle has online.

XRLibraries
I’m delighted to let everyone know that Paradiddle will be made available in over 100 public libraries across California through the XRLibraries initiative. XRLibraries is attempting to make VR and AR technologies more accessible throughout the U.S., and I’m really excited to include Paradiddle in their curated software catalog. I’ll share more updates on this as it happens.

That’s all for now, thank you so much for your ongoing support, and stay tuned for all these updates! As always, feel free to let me know, post on the Steam Discussion Forums, or on Discord if you have any other comments or questions.

Emre
emre@paradiddleapp.com
Official Paradiddle website: http://paradiddleapp.com
Paradiddle drum covers Youtube playlist (your cover could be on here too!)
FAQ: http://paradiddleapp.com/faq
Join us on Discord!: https://discordapp.com/invite/wjHnTVr
Reddit: http://reddit.com/r/paradiddle

Hi everyone!

It’s been a little while since the last update for Paradiddle went online, so I just wanted to give you a sneak peek on what’s coming soon for the app.


Mixed Reality Recording Support
MR recording support will be functional very soon, thanks to LIV. If you’re wondering what this will get you, it’ll allow you to record videos similar to the R U Mine cover I recorded a while ago. LIV allows for a lot more tuning with your recording settings, and offers live streaming of MR content as well. I can’t wait to add this in the next update because I think MR videos are a truly fantastic way to showcase VR content, and especially Paradiddle.

Steam Workshop Integration
Users will soon be able to share their recordings and drum sets over Steam Workshop! Up until now, someone would have to send another user their saved recording or drum set, and the other person would have to make sure to place it in the right directory for it to show up in the app. The Workshop integration will get rid of all of this hassle, and more importantly, serve as a central location where users will be able to browse across recordings and drum sets the community has made. I’m incredibly excited to have this go online and see what sorts of recordings people end up sharing. There might also be other types of content that get Workshop support for Paradiddle in the future, but I’ll keep you updated as that becomes more clear. Special thanks to Mankiller_2 on Steam for suggesting this feature!

Vive Tracker Support
Preliminary support for Vive Trackers will be added soon, to be used as hi-hat or kick pedal replacements. Users will be able to place them either on a real pedal, or simply on their feet. Again, I think this is another very exciting feature that allows people with Vive Trackers to get a lot more out of their hardware. It’s still very early but I’ve also started experimenting with using these to track drum sticks or similarly shaped objects. There’s still a lot of prototyping to be done, but I’m excited to see how that works out as well.

Local Audio File Loading & Playback
Users will soon be able to load audio files they have on their computer, and control it within the app through an interface similar to the recording playback interface. This will be useful for cases such as loading a song and playing along to it within the app, without having to switch over to Spotify/YouTube/etc. This feature will eventually be expanded to allow for the usage of audio samples as drum samples, so that users can create their custom drums in Paradiddle that make use of audio files on their system.

On top of these new features, various bug fixes and usability improvements will also be included in the next update.


The Paradiddle VR Drum Cover Contest
Start practicing with your favorite songs, because I’ll soon be announcing the details for the first Paradiddle VR Drum Cover Contest! Everyone will have 2-3 weeks to record a VR drum cover video and share it on YouTube, to compete for a whole bunch of prizes. These will include various drum pedal peripherals, drum sound packs, software licenses and more. The top drum covers will also be showcased and shared on pretty much every channel that Paradiddle has online.

XRLibraries
I’m delighted to let everyone know that Paradiddle will be made available in over 100 public libraries across California through the XRLibraries initiative. XRLibraries is attempting to make VR and AR technologies more accessible throughout the U.S., and I’m really excited to include Paradiddle in their curated software catalog. I’ll share more updates on this as it happens.

That’s all for now, thank you so much for your ongoing support, and stay tuned for all these updates! As always, feel free to let me know, post on the Steam Discussion Forums, or on Discord if you have any other comments or questions.

Emre
emre@paradiddleapp.com
Official Paradiddle website: http://paradiddleapp.com
Paradiddle drum covers Youtube playlist (your cover could be on here too!)
FAQ: http://paradiddleapp.com/faq
Join us on Discord!: https://discordapp.com/invite/wjHnTVr
Reddit: http://reddit.com/r/paradiddle

Thank you so much for supporting Paradiddle! If you're enjoying your VR jam sessions and excited about upcoming features and improvements, I would really appreciate it if you wrote a review on Steam. It doesn't even have to be long - any review helps in proving that Paradiddle is trying to be the most flexible, responsive and user-friendly VR drumming app out there.

The third Paradiddle update is out! This one has a lot of usability fixes and improvements, as well as a few new minor features. Edit: This update was introduced as a beta at first, just like last time, but is now the new default version of the app.

This update builds on some of the features introduced by the previous update, so you might want to read the previous update notes as well if you haven’t done so. Here's what's new in this update:

• Tutorial Skipping: It’s now possible to skip the tutorial! Simply press and hold both of your triggers, and you should see a bar that fills up above the tutorial sign. The tutorial signs and the starting snare drum will go away once the bar fills up.
  
• Global Volume Slider: Added a global volume slider under the Audio tab under Options.
  
• Master Kick Drum System: Introduced a system where there is now a ‘master kick drum’ in every scene. Pressing your trigger (or whichever button you’ve mapped your Trigger Kick action to) will play the sound through that drum. This essentially lets users tweak the sound that plays when they use their trigger; there was no way to do this in previous versions. If there is no kick drum in the scene, pressing your trigger will still play a kick sound, but it’ll just use default drum settings. The master kick drum is the first kick drum that was placed in your environment, if you delete it it’ll be appointed to the next kick drum. You can see it by placing multiple kick drums in the scene, and pressing the trigger to observe which drum is actually triggered.
  
• More Advanced Graphics Settings: Pressing the Graphics button under Options will now pop up a new and more capable Graphics menu. It’s possible to turn on/off certain effects in the app through these new controls, such as the drum hit particle effects, the floating environment particles, and stick trails. If you’re having performance issues with Paradiddle, it’s recommended to play with these to see if you can get a combination that helps. Turning off the drum hit particle effects and lowering the resolution should help with low frame rate in pretty much every situation. If you’d like to see additional or more granular options in here, feel free to let me know!
  
• Fixed a bug where the drum stick trails would disappear on a random drum stick, and wouldn’t re-appear throughout the rest of the play session.
  
• The flying particles in the environment are now hidden if they get too close to the user. No more being freaked out by colorful orbs jumping in front of you while you’re playing!
  
• Fixed a bug where Vive controller buttons weren’t being properly highlighted during the tutorial. The highlights show what button you should press during the different steps of the tutorial.
  
• Fixed a MIDI bug where MIDI notes played by the drums never stopped playing. All MIDI notes triggered by the drums now end after about 2 seconds. I might revisit this to make it configurable by the user somehow, or have a special toggle that’ll let you keep playing the MIDI note you triggered as long as you keep your drum stick inside the drum. Let me know if you have any other ideas on this.
  
• Fixed a MIDI bug where using the trigger to play a MIDI note through the bass drum played both the in-game kick drum sample, and the MIDI note at the same time. The in-game drum audio is now muted automatically when you enable MIDI out on that drum. You can still unmute the drum audio to have the in-app sound play on top of the MIDI note.
  
• Audio output and driver settings, as well as MIDI in/out device settings are now saved and loaded automatically. If the system can’t detect your last used MIDI in/out device when launching, it’ll default to no device.
  
• Made some improvements to how the drum options are positioned on top of the different drums. In addition, scaling a drum will no longer scale your drum options UI up or down.
  
• Separated the in-app audio settings and MIDI settings into their own tabs in the drum options menu. More settings will be added on here in the future!

Those are all the changes introduced by this update! I’d just like to reiterate that I listen to every suggestion or comment that comes my way, and I still have a long list of improvements and new features in front of me. I’m also going to make an exciting new announcement soon, so stay tuned for that!

As always, feel free to let me know or post on the Steam Discussion Forums if you have any other comments or questions. And thanks again for supporting Paradiddle! The user base has already grown a lot and the app has improved considerably since the beginning of Early Access, and this definitely wouldn’t have happened without all your suggestions and help. If you're on Discord, you might want to join the Paradiddle Discord group as well. I'm always active on there, and others in the group are also always willing to help out with questions.

Emre
emre@paradiddleapp.com
Official Paradiddle website: http://paradiddleapp.com
Paradiddle drum covers Youtube playlist (your cover could be on here too!)
FAQ: http://paradiddleapp.com/faq
Join us on Discord!: https://discordapp.com/invite/wjHnTVr
Reddit: http://reddit.com/r/paradiddle