Best practice for alternating values

Creations & Ideas
1

Howdy, folks!

I learned a neat trick the other day for sound design. If you have a series of high hats or even kicks, you can alternate the velocity (or amp works) to give a subtle rolling effect.

Compare the sounds between

live_loop :cymbal do
    sample :drum_cymbal_closed, amp: amp_level
    sleep 0.25
end

and

live_loop :cymbal do
    amp_level = (ring 0.5, 1).tick
    sample :drum_cymbal_closed, amp: amp_level
    sleep 0.25
end

My main question here though is the structure of that live_loop with the ring.

Is that the way you would recommend structuring it?

Thanks!

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2

Welcome back @gregeporter!
Seems pretty reasonable to me :slight_smile:
You could even do away with the variable and just place the ring directly after the amp: opt - it all depends on personal preference and your particular use case really!

2 Likes
3

Thanks for the quick reply, @ethancrawford :slight_smile:

So like this?

live_loop :cymbal do
  sample :drum_cymbal_closed, amp: (ring 0.5, 1).tick
  sleep 0.25
end
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4

Yes, just like that :slight_smile:

5

Awesome, yeah, that’s really good to know.

If I added another ring to that value, are they evaluated left to right?

live_loop :ring_test do
  play 60, cutoff: (ring 30,60).tick, amp: (ring 0.5, 1).look
  sleep 0.25
end

So the cutoff would modify the entry for the ring, the amp would not.

1 Like
6

Correct. tick advances the counter, look merely reads the current value :+1:

2 Likes
7

Cool beans, thanks @ethancrawford !

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