A live loop sampler, sequencer and effects box for the PS Vita.

Operating instructions · read before use

1What it is

Sixteen pads hold WAV loops. Six play at once, on six layers, locked to one beat clock. A layer's position is the clock modulo its loop length, so layers never drift. Effects run per layer or on everything. A slice sequencer re-arranges any loop on the grid. Every move you make can be recorded as a take and played back, on the beat, from the kit file.

2Requirements

• A PS Vita or PS TV with HENkaku/h-encore and VitaShell.
• Unsafe homebrew enabled in HENkaku settings. Without it the app runs, but MIDI stays off (the lamp reads NO DRIVER).
• For MIDI: a PSP-MIDI adapter on the USB port. Optional.

3Install

1. Copy the zip's vitaminb.vpk to the Vita and install it with VitaShell.
2. Copy the zip's VITAMINB folder to ux0:data, so loops sit at ux0:data/VITAMINB/loops/*.wav. Your own WAVs go in the same folder; subfolders show as banks.
3. Launch. First boot scans the loops.

Three packages exist: full (the 200 breaks plus the cartridge banks), lite (24 loops), and demo (six finished kits with their recorded performances: load one on KITS, press START).

4Load a pad

1. SAMPLE: browse the loops, tap one.
2. In the modal, set BEATS, 1–64. The metronome clicks it back at the project tempo; x2 doubles a half-length source.
3. Set the mode: LOOP (placed by the clock's phase: a break lands on the right bar), ONE-SHOT (plays once, over the layers), or PHRASE (starts from its head when it enters, loops its own length).
4. LOAD. The pad bakes at the project tempo.

The pad count is 4, 8 or 16: tap it on PLAY or SAMPLE. The project tempo lives on CONFIG (60–200 BPM); changing it re-bakes every pad. The PLAY tempo vari-speeds around it, 40–240.

5Play

• START runs the transport. Pads latch; a momentary pad (set on EDIT) plays only while held.
• A latched pad lands on the armed layer. The layer row under the pads shows each layer's pad and loop position; tap a layer to arm it. MUTE and X act on the armed layer.
• MIX has the full strips: level, mute, clear, wide, and FX ON, which layers the effects act on (ALL, or one).
• BEAT and BAR quantise pad flips to the clock; PHRASE pads flip on their own wrap.

6The pattern

PATT is a grid: six layers by steps, a pad per cell, - for none. Tap a cell for the next pad, drag vertically to dial one directly, hold to clear. Tap a step's head to select it: LENGTH (AUTO, or 4–64 beats) and REPEATS (×1–×4) sit in the strip below. A step lasts its length times its repeats; shorter pads loop inside it, a longer pad carries across consecutive steps that hold it. Every layer changes on the exact beat.

7Effects

Three banks of XY pads on FX; the PLAY page mirrors any one of them.

bank	pads	axes
CLASSIC	CUT/RES, ENV, CRUSH/TREM, SWEEP	the per-layer chain: filter cutoff and resonance; envelope decay and filter-follow; bit crush and tremolo; a filter LFO
SPACE	DELAY, REVERB, PITCH, FLANGER	delay time (1/16 to a beat, clocked) and feedback; room size and send; semitones (−12…+12) and mix; sweep length and depth
GRAIN	FREEZE, SCRATCH, RESO, SHAPER	grain length (2–200 ms) and pitch; scratch position and speed (always sprung); comb note (C1–C7) and feedback; transient attack and body

• Each pad's pill sets its mode: LIVE (applies and stays where you leave it), SET (stores values for the buttons only), HOLD (applies under the finger, lets go on lift).
• The X beside each pill resets that one effect to defaults: a delay's tail cut, a frozen room thawed. RESET FX clears everything at once.
• DUCK latches a sidechain pump on the FX ON layers: a dip on every beat, no detector needed.
• The face buttons fire effects assigned on CONFIG (stutter, tape stop, filter, reverse and the rest). triangle+square is tape wow. The d-pad re-arranges the loop's sections while held.

8Chop

CHOP is a sixteenth-step slice sequencer on its own page. Each loop divides into 8 or 16 slices; each of the sixteen cells names the slice the FX ON layers jump to on that sixteenth. A rest (-) puts them back on the beat. Tap a cell to cycle it. CLEAR, RAMP (slices in order), DROP (backwards) and RANDOM fill the grid. Repeated cells on one slice make a roll. Cells can be changed while it plays. The same loop becomes a new arrangement, live.

9Takes

A take records the performance as events on the beat clock, into the kit: pads, buttons, XY moves, sliders, chop cells, pattern edits.

• REC (on PLAY under the XY box, or on AUTO) arms the recorder. Recording starts on the next bar line (or with START), and stops on the bar line after REC again, or with the transport.
• The new take loops from where it stopped and is armed: it starts with the transport from then on. Load the kit, press START, and the performance plays as recorded. Your fingers always win over a playing take.
• AUTO edits them: a grid of lanes by sixteenths, nudge, retype, insert, delete, SNAP to the grid, trim by bars, name, duplicate. Takes save with the kit.

10MIDI

• Plug a PSP-MIDI adapter into the USB port. The lamp in the top strip shows the link (grey no driver, dim no adapter, amber port lost, green linked); CONFIG spells it out.
• CLOCK SYNC on CONFIG: IN 1:1, IN /2, IN /4, IN ×2, OUT, or OFF. ALIGN snaps the downbeat. As master it sends clock with Start and Stop.
• Notes play pads (36… momentary, 48… latch for pads 1–8; 20…/28… for 9–16). CC 23 picks the layer pad notes address, CC 24 the FX target.
• If the link drops (sleep, cable), hold SELECT or tap the lamp to re-present the device. Hold SELECT first, then re-plug.

11Files

ux0:data/VITAMINB/loops/	your WAVs; folders are banks
kits.dat	the kits, in the DS format; a breaks-ds card's kits load here and back
kits2.dat	the Vita sidecar: pads 9–16, beats, modes, pattern, levels
takes_NN.dat	each kit slot's takes
set2.dat	the device settings, themes included

12Controls

touch	everything on screen; two fingers on two XY pads, chords of pads
circle cross triangle square L R	the assigned effects (CONFIG)
triangle+square	tape wow
d-pad	re-arrange on PLAY; moves the focus ring on every other page (circle presses, held it nudges values)
START	transport
SELECT held	MIDI reconnect
START+SELECT+L+R held	quit