Hi everybody,
this is Leo from Bologna, Italy. I am a music teacher, musicologist, and guitar jazz player.
I discover Sonic.pi talking with some collogue of mine and last year I attended a Sam Aaron workshop in Bologna. (it was great: thanks Sam!)
I’m a completely newbie in coding, so these are my first explorations in writing lines of code.
I would like to thank you, everyone here, for your great support: in_thread website is a great resource tool and this community is fantastic!
Even if I am not at all a skilled user, this year I started a sonic.pi class in my school (11-13 years old students). Students are very enthusiastic about this software (eve if now we are working on-line because schools are closed during lockdown).
As a starting gift, I am bringing here a little piece: a short arrangement of Charles Mingus’s Freedom. If you don’t know this recording, here is a youtube link.
My aim was to render the subtle time fluctuations of the handclaps and percussion in Mingus’s ensemble: many people reaching the beat slightly out of synchro.
I am sure that I could code it in a much more efficient way, but, at least, it sounds good enough to my ears! 
Good listening!
Leo
#Coded by Leo Izzo
#An attempt to render the collective rhythmic
#effect of Charles Mingus's "Freedom"
live_loop :beat do #live_loop for rhythmic syncing
cue :bar
sleep 8
end
live_loop :drums do
sample :bd_808
sleep 1
sample :drum_snare_soft
sleep 1
end
# rhythmic ensemble: 7 finger-snaps and one snare hit together on the 8th beat
# with subtile time-fluctuations
with_fx :reverb, mix: 0.7, room: 0.9, amp: 1 do
live_loop :sn1 do
sync :bar
sleep 6
sleep rrand(0.97, 1.2)
sample :perc_snap, amp: rrand(0.5, 1), rate: 0.8, pan: 0.5
end
live_loop :sn2 do
sync :bar
sleep 6
sleep rrand(0.97, 1.2)
sample :perc_snap, amp: rrand(0.5, 1), rate: 1, pan: 0.2
end
live_loop :sn3 do
sync :bar
sleep 6
sleep rrand(0.99, 1.1)
sample :perc_snap, amp: rrand(0.5, 1), rate: 1.2, pan: 0
end
live_loop :sn4 do
sync :bar
sleep 6
sleep rrand(0.97, 1.2)
sample :perc_snap2, amp: rrand(0.5, 1), rate: 0.8, pan: -0.5
end
live_loop :sn5 do
sync :bar
sleep 6
sleep rrand(0.97, 1.2)
sample :perc_snap2, amp: rrand(0.5, 1), rate: 1, pan: -0.2
end
live_loop :sn6 do
sync :bar
sleep 6
sleep rrand(0.99, 1.1)
sample :perc_snap2, amp: rrand(0.5, 1), rate: 1.2, pan: 0
end
live_loop :snare do
sync :bar
sleep 6
sleep rrand(0.99, 1.1)
sample :drum_snare_hard, amp: rrand(0.5, 1), rate: 1.2, pan: 0
end
end
8.times do #bass intro
use_octave 2
giro = [:Bb1, :Bb1, :C2, :C2, :Db2, :Db2, :C2, :C2].ring
use_synth :hoover
play giro.tick, amp: 0.4
sleep 1
end
live_loop :bass do
24.times do
use_octave 2
giro = [:Bb1, :Bb1, :C2, :C2, :Db2, :Db2, :C2, :C2].ring
use_synth :hoover
play giro.tick, amp: 0.4
sleep 1
end
8.times do
giro2 = [:Gb2, :Gb2, :F2, :F2, :Bb1, :Bb1, :Bb1, :Bb1].ring
play giro2.tick, amp: 0.4
sleep 1
end
end
live_loop :melody do
use_octave 1
12.times do
mel = [:Bb4, :Bb4, :Ab4, :F4, :Ab4, :Bb4].ring
dur = [0.6, 2.4, 0.6, 0.4, 0.6, 3.4].ring
rel = [0.5, 2.3, 0.5, 0.3, 0.5, 3.3].ring
use_synth :dsaw
use_octave 0
play mel.tick, attack: 0.2, release: rel.look, amp: 0.5
use_octave -1
play mel.look, attack: 0.2, release: rel.look, amp: 0.3
sleep dur.look
end
12.times do
mel2 = [:Bb4, :Bb4, :Ab, :F4,
:Ab4, :Bb4, :Bb3, :Db4,
:E4, :Eb4, :Db4,
:Bb3].ring
dur2 = [0.6, 2.4, 0.6, 0.4,
0.6, 2.4, 0.6, 0.4,
0.6, 2.4, 1,
4].ring
rel2 = [0.5, 2.3, 0.5, 0.3,
0.5, 2.3, 0.5, 0.3,
0.6, 2.3, 1.0,
3.0].ring
use_synth :dsaw
use_octave 0
play mel2.tick, attack: 0.2, release: rel2.look, amp: 0.5
use_octave -1
play mel2.look, attack: 0.2, release: rel2.look, amp: 0.3
sleep dur2.look
end
end
- I think you have done the slightly desynchronised percussion well!
)