Greetings,
I am new to both sonic-pi and dance music. In the past, I did more electro-acoustic computer music. Nonetheless, I am intrigued by the idea of using the computer as a live instrument. Here’s my first attempt at live coding a bit of dance music. I am fairly happy with it up to about the ten-minute mark. The last five minutes don’t really make much sense as an ending.
Welcome matey.
You’ll find quite a few of us posting stuff on Soundcloud, and lots of code examples of ‘dance music’ in the
forums.
A lot of people seem to think only in terms of live coding. Whilst its a major part of the appeal of Sonic Pi…
just making a nice 4 minute track that people will want to dance to, is also a good thing to try out. Whether
you can then incorporate parts of that in your live code ‘set’ is up to you… think of them as ‘modules’
you can drop into place while you are ‘live’…
Regards,
Just_Eli…
Thanks for the comment! I’ll keep that in mind.
can you post the code you used overhere? and nice job done…
Sure thing. 
Please note: this was written prior to SP 3.10
The ‘quality’ of the TB303 changed in 3.10 due to
the synths being recompiled, so the '303 sounds different.
I’ve compensated a little, but it’s not perfect.
I think some of the other synths took a bit of a kicking too.
Eli…
#Elevation (Final Cut)
#by Eli...
#Please note: this was written prior to SP 3.10
# The 'quality' of the TB303 changed in 3.10 due to
# the synths being recompiled, so the '303 sounds different.
use_bpm 90
# Bass Clarinet
bass_rhythm = (ring 0.25, 0.75, 1, 0.75, 0.25, 0.5, 0.5).shuffle # makes 4 quarters or one bar on the whole
bass_line = (ring :a3, :g3,:d3, :r, :f3, :a3, :r, :g3,:a3, :r, :d3, :g3, :f3, :e3)
bass_room = (ring 100, 150, 200, 300)
bass_cycle = 32 # the complete bassline
bass_phrase = bass_cycle / 4 # One of the four patterns
bass_echo_phase = (ring 0.25, 0.5, 1, 2)
tracker = [0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0]
n = (ring :r, :r, :c2, :d3, :r, :f3, :r, :a1, :f2)
set_volume! 5
ripple = (ring, 0,1,)
ripple1 = (ring, 0,1,2)
define :start_loop do |i|
tracker[i] = 1
end
define :stop_loop do |i|
tracker[i] = 0
end
define :stop_all do
tracker[0] = 0
tracker[1] = 0
tracker[2] = 0
tracker[3] = 0
tracker[4] = 0
tracker[5] = 0
tracker[6] = 0
tracker[7] = 0
tracker[8] = 0
tracker[9] = 0
end
live_loop :beats do
sleep 4
end
live_loop :bar do
sleep 1
end
live_loop :kick do
if tracker[0]>0 then
sample :bd_ada
sleep 1
sample :bd_ada
sample :sn_dolf, sustain: 0, release: 0.08, hpf: 80
sleep 1
else
sleep 1
end
end
live_loop :bass do
if tracker[3]>0 then
if rand(1) > 0.75
n = (ring :r, :r, :c2, :d3, :r, :f3, :r, :a1, :f2)
else
n=n.shuffle
end
use_synth :fm
use_transpose +0
use_synth_defaults release: 0.125 + rrand(0, 0.2), amp: 0.5, pan: rrand(-0.5, 0.5)
play n.look, cutoff: rrand(30, 130)
sleep 0.25
tick
else
sleep 1
end
end
with_fx :reverb do
live_loop :bass1 do
if tracker[3]>0 then
if one_in(4) then
sleep 4
else
sync :bar
use_synth :tb303
#Please note: this was written prior to SP 3.10
# The 'quality' of the TB303 changed in 3.10 due to
# the synths being recompiled, so the '303 sounds different.
use_synth_defaults cutoff: 55, release: 0.15, attack: 0.05, decay: 0.05,
sustain_level: 0.3, cutoff_sustain_level: 0.7, sustain: 0.1, res: 0.6, amp: 0.1
4.times do
play (ring, :c2, :c2, :as1, :f2, :ds2).tick + 0.5, wave: ripple.look+1
play (ring, :c2, :c2, :as1, :f2, :ds2).look + 0.5, wave: ripple1.look
sleep (ring, 0.75, 0.75, 0.75, 0.75, 1).look
end
end
ripple.tick
if one_in 2 then
ripple1.tick
sleep 1
end
else
sleep 1
end
end
end
with_fx :rhpf, res: 0.85, cutoff: 118, amp: 0.7 do
live_loop :hats do
if tracker[1]>0 then
use_synth_defaults sustain_level: 0.5
synth :chipnoise, sustain: 0, release: 0.09, freq_band: 15, amp: 0.1
sleep 0.25
if rand(1) < 0.75 then
synth :chipnoise, sustain: 0, release: 0.09, freq_band: 15, amp: 0.05
sleep 0.125
else
sleep 0.125
end
sleep 0.125
else
sleep 1
end
end
end
live_loop :rim do
if tracker[2]>0 then
with_fx :distortion do
sleep 0.5
use_sample_defaults amp: 0.2
sample :elec_blip, sustain: 0.006, cutoff:110, rate: 0.8
sleep 0.25
sample :elec_blip, sustain: 0.005, cutoff:110, rate: 0.8 if one_in(5)
sleep 0.25
end
else
sleep 1
end
end
live_loop :xylophone do
if tracker[5]>0 then
use_synth :sine
use_synth_defaults coef: 0.1, detune: 0.1
nlen = [1,2,3].choose
cho = (chord_degree, [:i, :iii, :vi, :v].ring.tick, :f3, :minor, 4)
if rand() > 0.7 then
sync :beats
3.times do
play scale([:f3, :f4].choose, :minor).choose, amp: 0.25, release: nlen / 2.0
sleep nlen / 4.0
end
else
sync :bar
play chord_invert( cho, [-1, 0, 1].choose), amp: 0.6, release: nlen
sleep nlen
end
else
sleep 0.1
end
end
live_loop :background do
if tracker[4]>0 then
sync :bar
use_synth :fm
use_synth_defaults amp: 0.25, attack: 0.0, release: 2
play (chord [:c4, :eb, :g4].choose, :M7)
sleep 2
play (chord :d4, :M7)
sleep 2
else
sleep 0.1
end
end
vol = (knit 0.75, 3, 0.125, 2, 0.25, 4, 0.35, 3).pick
vol_master = 1
live_loop :voice0 do
if tracker[6]>0 then
use_synth :piano
sync :bar
bass_line = (chord :a3, :m7, num_octaves: 2)
sleep 0.25
if spread([2,4].choose,16).tick
play bass_line.look, amp: vol.look * vol_master
end
else
sleep 0.1
end
end
live_loop :voice1 do
if tracker[6]>0 then
use_synth :pluck
voice1_line = (chord :c3, :M, num_octaves: 2)
sync :bar
spreader = rrand_i(3,8)
1.times do
if spread([2,spreader].choose,16).tick
play voice1_line.look, attack: 0.001, amp: vol.look * vol_master
end
sleep 0.25
end
else
sleep 0.1
end
end
live_loop :voice2 do
if tracker[6]>0 then
use_synth :piano
voice2_line = (chord :d3, :M, num_octaves: 2)
repeater = [2,3,4].choose
spreader = rrand_i(3,16)
sync :bar
repeater.times do
if spread([2,spreader].choose,16).tick
play voice2_line.look, amp: vol.look * vol_master
end
sleep 0.25
end
else
sleep 0.1
end
end
random_add = 1024
live_loop :clarinet do
if tracker[7]>0 then
use_synth :fm
use_synth_defaults divisor: 0.5, depth: 4.0, attack: 0.05, sustain: 0, release: [bass_rhythm.look, 0.125].choose,
amp: 0.5
random = rand(1)
if random > 0.6
bass_line = (ring :f3, :a3, :r)
end
if random > 0.8
bass_line = (ring :g3,:a3)
end
if random > 0.9
bass_line = (ring :a3, :g3,:d3, :r)
end
if random < 0.6
bass_line = (ring :d3, :g3, :f3, :e3)
end
with_fx :reverb, room: 0.75 do
#with_fx :echo, phase: bass_echo_phase.look, decay: 6 do
play bass_line.look,release: [bass_rhythm.look, 0.125].choose
tick
end
sleep bass_rhythm.look
else
sleep 0.1
end
end
kick=0
hats=1
rim=2
bass=3
background=4
xylophone =5
voice=6
clarinet=7
# the real fun starts here... this is what decides
# which instruments are playing,
live_loop :loopy do
start_loop kick
sleep 2
start_loop hats
sleep 4
start_loop rim
sleep 4
start_loop bass
sleep 8
start_loop background
sleep 32
stop_loop background
sleep 8
start_loop voice
sleep 48
stop_loop voice
sleep 8
start_loop background
sleep 32
stop_loop background
sleep 8
start_loop xylophone
sleep 32
stop_loop xylophone
sleep 8
start_loop background
sleep 8
start_loop clarinet
sleep 48
stop_loop clarinet
sleep 8
stop_loop background
sleep 8
start_loop voice
sleep 48
stop_loop voice
sleep 8
start_loop background
sleep 48
stop_loop background
sleep 8
start_loop xylophone
sleep 32
stop_loop xylophone
sleep 12
stop_all
sample :bd_ada
sleep 8
stop
endApologies, in v3.1.0 the :tb303 synth is totally broken. This will be fixed in the next release
Awww…
Sam, when it’s fixed, it’s fixed. The intention was to explain the difference from the track
up on SoundCloud… not to have a dig a you, silly.
And whoops! I think Tonny was actually asking for Barefoot’s code… not mine.
Must learn to pay closer attention. That or stop posting at 4 am…
Eli…