Paradiddle News

[p]Hi all, it's been a while! [/p][p]We're excited to finally release this big update that's been in the works for the majority of 2025. Because of some of the infrastructural changes, we initially had it in beta for the past couple of months as we worked out the issues you reported. The 2 major new additions are modding support, and a new 2D/flat-screen mode on PC. The app has also gone through an engine upgrade to Unreal Engine 5, though you should ideally not notice much of a difference - in fact you might notice some of our performance optimizations. The engine upgrade will make it easier for us to keep updating the app with the latest XR platform features moving forward.[/p][p]We also have a new release of the PD Song Creator/Companion App with some feature and quality of life updates: https://github.com/emretanirgan/ParadiddleUtilities/releases/latest
[/p][p]As always, you can switch back to the earlier version of the app if you run into any issues. To roll back to the previous version, right click Paradiddle -> Betas -> Select "previous" on Steam, or click the "..." icon on the app in your app library, go to Settings -> Release Channels and select "Previous Version" on Quest.[/p][p][/p][h3]Modding Support[/h3][p]This has been a big task we've been working on for a while: we're excited to announce that mods are now supported both on Quest and Steam! You can drop them into [c]sdcard/Paradiddle/Mods[/c] on Quest, or Documents/Paradiddle/Mods on PC. [/p]

• [p]You can make custom environments, drums, hook into core app events such as notes being played in songs or drums being hit, make UIs for your mod that users can interact with. [/p]
• [p]You'll need the Paradiddle Mod Kit to make mods using Unreal Engine 5.4. You can find the mod kit and instructions here: https://github.com/kasapoli/ParadiddleWorkshop. Keep in mind that we're still updating the documentation and will be clarifying more details as we take your questions about the process.[/p]

[p]Here's a 'backrooms' inspired map that one of our community members, Moth, has been working on:[/p][p][/p][p]We're currently uploading some video content walking you through modding basics, and will be updating this post, as well as posting them on our Discord, as soon as they're up.[/p][p][/p][h3](Beta) 2D Mode[/h3][p][/p][p]This has been another major undertaking that's now in beta state: when you launch the app, you can now select the "Launch Paradiddle in 2D Mode" option to launch into flat screen mode.[/p]

• [p]You should be able to launch songs, play with any of the app or song settings, and change drum settings by clicking on a drum on your kit. Midi input automatically will be enabled on all your drums, so if you have an e-kit all you need to do is to select your drum kit under Options -> Midi.[/p]
• [p]You can also use keyboard controls to trigger the different drums in the standard set, and play the app like a rhythm game just with your keyboard.[/p]
• [p]We're still working through some positioning and usability issues in 2D mode, and trying to get a better sense of what you'd like to see improved or fixed first. Feel free to give us your feedback on the #suggestions and #bug-reports forum channels on our Discord![/p]
• [p]You can see an overview and list of known issues here that we're working through: https://discord.com/channels/354847842612936705/428143763068682242/1423560614508363776 [/p]

[p][/p][h3]DLC UX/UI Updates[/h3][p][/p][p]We've added new DLC specific song pages with info about our song packs, where you can now purchase the packs directly in the app on Quest. [/p]

• [p]The DLC songs will now display in their dedicated menu tabs after the download is finished. [/p]
• [p]We've also made DLC downloads more reliable overall on Quest, and added a % download progress bar in the dedicated DLC page.[/p]

[p][/p][h3]MIDI Input Over Network on Quest[/h3][p]The latest version of the companion app can send midi messages from your PC to your Quest. This should let you do things like connect your e-drum kit or other midi instrument to your PC, and send the midi messages to your Quest over the network without having to plug it in directly to your Quest.[/p][p][/p][h3]PD Song Creator + Companion App Updates[/h3][p][/p]

• [p]The latest release of the song creator now has a song display feature that can show you what your raw midi notes look like, and what the result of the conversion will look like.[/p]
• [p]You can now select a preview audio track for your converted song.[/p]
• [p]Made quality of life improvements to make it easier to catch conversion issues before they happen, such as showing the number of midi notes in your selected midi file and track, as well as how many notes will be present in the converted song file.[/p]
• [p]The companion app will now let you know if there's a newer version available.[/p]

[p]We're also considering making a web version of the song converter, so let us know if you'd find this useful or if you have any suggestions.[/p][p][/p][h3]Unreal Engine 5 Upgrade[/h3][p]The app now supports OpenXR by default, which should in theory make it easier to support different types of headsets and controllers on Steam. Let us know if you notice any different/broken behavior on your headsets that you hadn't notice before, and we'll take a look.[/p][p][/p][h3]Performance Optimizations [/h3][p]We've made several GPU & CPU optimizations across the board. Some of this work was offset by our upgrade to UE5, as certain cheaper to use engine features have been deprecated, however you should still see a net performance gain compared to the previous version of the app.[/p]

• [p]Decreased default CPU usage by about 20-30% in all scenes of the app.[/p]
• [p]Enabled dynamic resolution on Quest. This might give you better resolution than before in some cases, and will also help with temporary frame rate dips, especially in more complex songs.[/p]

[p][/p][h3]Other Fixes[/h3]

• [p]Fixed a bug where you couldn't grab and move the note highway in the Galaxy map. [/p]
• [p]Fixed a bug where the midi learn buttons on drums were listening to any midi event, rather than filtering by midi 'note on' events.[/p]
• [p]Fixed the recenter button not working on PC and brought it back to the toolbar under the menu.[/p]
• [p]Fixed an issue where some custom song album art would appear with wrong colors, or with a color tint.[/p]

[p][/p][h3]Known Issues[/h3][p]If you play the new version, and switch back to the prev_version branch on Steam, there is a chance the older version won't be able to properly recognize your save file due to the engine upgrade. If you run into any unexpected behavior, you can try deleting your Saved folder under C:/User//AppData/Local/Paradiddle/Saved. [/p][p][/p][p]-Emre[/p][p][email protected][/p][p]Join us on Discord!: https://discord.gg/paradiddle[/p][p]Official Paradiddle website: http://paradiddleapp.com[/p][p]FAQ: http://paradiddleapp.com/faq[/p][p][/p]

We released a patch today that fixes a few issues that have been brought up since the December updates:

• Fixed custom songs crashing due to special characters in the file/folder name.
  
• Improved how really long (over an hour) audio files are handled when loading an audio file from the file menu. This issue didn't impact songs on the note highway, but only the ones loaded from the file menu. Any app freezes or crashes caused by this issue should now be fixed.
  
• (Quest hand tracking branch only) Fixed recentering messing up the hand ray position and orientation.
  
• (Quest hand tracking branch only) Fixed the menu getting stuck to the hand when closing the app and relaunching it with hand tracking on.
  

Enjoy!
- Emre

Happy Holidays everyone! As some of you may have already seen, we launched a new song pack and a regular update for Paradiddle last week, so here's a more detailed look at what's new.

We're beyond excited to announce the launch of the Avenged Sevenfold Song Pack for Paradiddle on Meta Quest and Steam! Known for blending metalcore, hard rock, and progressive elements with their powerful melodies and intricate guitar work, the legendary Avenged Sevenfold arrives to Paradiddle as its 2nd song pack, following the King Gizzard song pack we had earlier this year.

Take a tour through Avenged Sevenfold's discography with 6 songs in multiple difficulty levels, and a variety of exclusive content: a new environment, 2 new drum skins and a new pair of sticks. Lose yourself in the cosmos and dive into the band's ever-evolving sound as your surroundings react differently to each of the 6 songs.

[previewyoutube][/previewyoutube]
Full song list:

• Cosmic (7:31)
  
• Hail to the King (5:06)
  
• Shepherd of Fire (5:24)
  
• A Little Piece of Heaven (8:01)
  
• Nightmare (6:14)
  
• Bat Country (5:12)

[h3]A new environment - Cosmic:[/h3]


[h3]1 new pair of sticks
[/h3]

[h3]2 new drum skins[/h3]

[h3]🎶 (Beta Release) Notation Updates: Sheet music view for highway songs:
[/h3]
You can now play any song by following drum notation instead of seeing the highway! You can activate the notation view from the song settings, in the Highway Layout section.

The system includes options such as separating hand and feet hits, or separating drum and cymbal hits. You can have the note colors match your drum colors to enhance readability or disable it for more realism.

Since we don’t have the actual sheet music for any given song, the system does its best to figure out what the notation representation should look like. If you have any suggestions on improvements or can point us to examples in songs where a given section doesn’t seem to make sense, that’d be a huge help for us in improving this system.

[h3]🥽 (Quest-Only) New E-Kit Toggle and MR Drum Improvements:[/h3]

We have completely reworked the MR drum mode where you can connect your electronic and/or acoustic kits to play Paradiddle.

• Instead of individual MR toggles for each drum, there's now a global "E-Kit" toggle you can find in the menu toolbar.
  
• MR drums are now compatible with lessons.
  
• We also have a new drum substitution system for MR kits: if a song uses a drum your real kit doesn't have, the app will do its best to substitute it with one that's close enough (so a missing Floor Tom might be mapped to your existing Tom 2, for instance).
  

We're still looking for ways to improve our MR drum system, so please let us know if you're running into any frustrations with setup.

[h3]🤏 (Quest-Only) Hand Tracking UI Branch[/h3]

On Quest, you can now switch to the "Hand Tracking" release channel to enable hand tracking for UI interactions. This is mostly useful for those of you using the app with a real drum kit, as you now won't have to constantly switch between your real sticks and controllers. We didn't want this to be on a separate release channel, however had to go with this approach to minimize accidental controller -> hand switching for players using virtual drums as there's no way for apps to turn hand tracking on/off as they're running. The controls are similar to standard hand tracking controls you'd see on Quest: you can click by pinching, and bring up the menu by doing the system gesture (look at your palm, touch your index finger and thumb) on your left hand.

[h3]Feedback, reviews and artist suggestions appreciated!
[/h3]Please let us know if you have any feedback on the new song pack and updates, either good or bad. Do you have any suggestions for artists we should collab with? Let us know!

If you're able to leave a review on the either the app or song pack, that would also be greatly appreciated. We want to make sure we can get the word out about the song packs to as many people as possible!

Enjoy, and thanks for your continued support throughout 2024!

- Emre
[email protected]

Join us on Discord!: https://discord.gg/paradiddle

Official Paradiddle website: http://paradiddleapp.com

FAQ: http://paradiddleapp.com/faq

Hey everyone! While we’re actively working on offering more features inside Paradiddle such as a more improved notation system and a 2-D mode, we’ve also been working on adding different types of content to the app that we hope the community will enjoy.

We’ll be launching several artist pack DLCs throughout 2024 that bundle songs from some of our favorite artists with exclusive visuals (typically environments, drum skins and sticks) inspired by the band’s sound and style. I'm super excited to announce our first one: Known for their prolific output and genre-defying sound, the Australian psychedelic rock band King Gizzard and the Lizard Wizard is the first artist to arrive to Paradiddle in a song pack! The pack is now available for purchase on Steam and the Quest Store (in the add-ons section of the store page).

We hope that you'll enjoy the long and awesome 5 new songs in our newest Gecko Ruins environment, and show off your new drum and stick skins to your friends in multiplayer. We’re excited to watch the leaderboard spots get heated as these new songs surely test your drumming endurance!

[previewyoutube][/previewyoutube]
[h3]5 songs adding up to over 50 minutes of music:[/h3]
Here's the full song list, and a Spotify playlist:

• Ice V (10:16)
  
• The Dripping Tap (18:17)
  
• Gila Monster (4:36)
  
• Iron Lung (9:05)
  
• The River (10:10)

[h3]New environment - Gecko Ruins:[/h3]

[h3]A new psychedelic drum skin:[/h3]

[h3]2 new sticks:[/h3]

[h3]Feedback, reviews and artist suggestions appreciated!
[/h3]
Please let us know if you have any feedback on the new content - good or bad. This is our first song pack and we already have a few more in the works, so any feedback will help us make sure the upcoming song packs are as good as they can be. Do you have any suggestions for artists we should collab with? Let us know!

If you're able to leave a review on the DLC's Steam page or the main app on Quest, that would also be greatly appreciated. We want to make sure we can get the word out about the DLC to as many people as possible!

[h3]DLC Patch Soon[/h3]
The song pack is currently in a stable state, but we are working on a patch right now where we'll fix some impossible, incorrect or missing notes in a few songs that we noticed. You've probably noticed that The Dripping Tap currently only has Expert, and a 2 of the songs are missing the Easy difficulty. On this upcoming patch we'll add the remaining difficulties for all songs so that all 5 songs have Easy, Medium, Hard and Expert difficulties. We'll also be making some visual adjustments to the new map and UI based on the feedback we've received.

Enjoy!
- Emre
[email protected]

Join us on Discord!: https://discord.gg/paradiddle

Official Paradiddle website: http://paradiddleapp.com

FAQ: http://paradiddleapp.com/faq

Hey everyone! Hope everyone's been enjoying the latest update with custom songs in multiplayer and our recently added loopable song checkpoints. We just pushed a quick hotfix to address a few issues that popped up since our May update last week. Now that things are a bit more stable with this update, we've also closed the beta branch and moved everything new to be the default/live version.

Here's what's fixed:

• Fixed the app crashing when loading any recording from File -> Load Recording.
  
• Fixed a long-standing bug with the Right Grip button that prevented it from being used for the kick/hi-hat if a song was open.
  
• Fixed non-hi-hat e-drum pads not registering as successful hits on the note highway, even though they're detected in the app.
  
• Fixed a slider bug where the +/- buttons could be used to get to slider values beyond the minimum and maximum defined.
  
• Fixed the song speed being adjusted to 100x the value that was set, if it was set using the +/- buttons.
  
• Fixed the song speed slider not resetting properly across songs.
  

Thanks for catching these and reporting them on the Discord, we were able to get them fixed quickly thanks to your help.

Happy drumming,
Emre