Please help me boil this down

Creations & Ideas
1

Having a little trouble because there 2 notes played with no pause,
and ‘sleep 0’ is not an option. The ‘release: 4, sustain: 4’ every 3 notes
doesn’t help either…

(I’ve never claimed to be a coder).

Eli…

with_fx :reverb, room: 0.8 do
  with_fx :lpf, cutoff: (range 75,65,5).mirror.tick do
    with_synth :piano do
      live_loop :piano0 do
        use_bpm 120
        sync :bar
        with_fx :level, amp: 0.5 do
          play :f5
          play :d4, release: 4, sustain: 4
          sleep 2
          play :a4
          sleep 2
          play :d5
          play :c4, release: 4, sustain: 4
          sleep 1
          play :c5
          sleep 3
          play :d5
          play :b3, release: 4, sustain: 4
          sleep 1
          play :a5
          sleep 3
          play :a4
          play :as3, release: 4, sustain: 4
          sleep 1
          play :g5
          sleep 3
        end
      end
    end
  end
end
2

Is your loop playing alone, with no sync, do what you want ?

3

Well I tried this, but perhaps because of the Sleep 0.001, some of the
notes dont sound quite the same…

use_bpm 120

notes = (ring :a4, :d4, :c4, :a5)
time = (ring 2.0,2.0,1.0,2.0,)

notes1=(ring :f5, :d4, :a4, :d5, :c4, :c5, :d5, :b3, :a5, :a4, :as3, :g5)
time1 =(ring 0.001,2,2,0.001,1,3,0.001,1,3,0.001,1,3)
mod =(ring 0,1,0,0,1,0,0,1,0,0,1,0,0)


with_fx :reverb, room: 0.8 do
  with_fx :lpf, cutoff: (range 75,65,5).mirror.tick do
    
    with_fx :level, amp: 0.5 do
      
      live_loop :piano2 do
        use_synth :piano
        if mod.tick == 1 then
          play notes1.look, release: 4, sustain: 4
        else
          play notes1.look, release: 1, sustain: 1
        end
        sleep time1.look
      end
      
    end
    
  end
end

If I can solve the difference in the sound of the notes, I can
sync a counter-point off it, which sounds nice, but the different
notes make a dissonance which is noticable…

live_loop :piano1 do
  sync :piano2
  if rand() >0.95
    notes = (ring :a4, :d4, :c4, :a5)
    time = (ring 2.0,2.0,1.0,2.0,)
  else
    notes = notes.shuffle
    time = time.shuffle
  end
  use_synth :piano
  6.times do
    play notes.tick, amp: 0.125, sustain: (time.look)-0.5
    sleep time.look
  end
end

Eli…

1 Like
4

When I ran your code on my 3.1 install I was seeing warnings in the log about the loop being behind whenever those 0.001 sleeps went through. It seems reasonable - at 120 BPM, that’s only 0.5 milliseconds for the scheduler to act.

It seems like your intent is to play some notes simultaneously so that’s what I set out to solve. I took advantage of play_chord being able to accept a list of one note, so we can convert your melody into a list of lists, with some notes paired together.

use_bpm 120

notes = (ring :a4, :d4, :c4, :a5)
time = (ring 2.0,2.0,1.0,2.0,)

notes1=(ring [:f5, :d4], [:a4], [:d5, :c4], [:c5], [:d5, :b3], [:a5], [:a4, :as3], [:g5])
time1 =(ring          2,     2,          1,     3,          1,     3,           1,     3)
mod =(ring 0,1,0,0,1,0,0,1,0,0,1,0,0)


with_fx :reverb, room: 0.8 do
  with_fx :lpf, cutoff: (range 75,65,5).mirror.tick do
    
    with_fx :level, amp: 0.5 do
      
      live_loop :piano2 do
        use_synth :piano
        if mod.tick == 1 then
          play_chord notes1.look, release: 4, sustain: 4
        else
          play_chord notes1.look, release: 1, sustain: 1
        end
        sleep time1.look
      end
      
    end
    
  end
end
1 Like
5

Quite a sad pattern, but also sweet. Love it.

6

Thank you very much matey. I dont use play_chord much… still so much to learn…

Eli…

7

Yes, it is rather… perfect for a piece of slow anime… or as the piano repeat in a lo-fi song perhaps.

I also have a sort-of music box I’d love to find a use for… it’s no ’ elfen lied’ but it works.

Mind, it would be a lot shorter if I took out my framework, but then I wouldn’t have the control I
want… always a compromise… just play it, see what you think. Worry less about my Franken-code. :slight_smile:

Eli…

# Title: Music Box
# Artist: Paul 'Just Eli...' Whitfield
# Date: 17/06/2019
#
# Sonic Pi v3.1
# Eli's Framework v1.0

use_bpm 60

tracker = [0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0]
volume =  [0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0]

strings = (ring :c,:c3,:c,:c2,:c1,:c )
strings1 = (ring :r, :r, :c,:c3,:c,:c2,:c1,:c )

chords = [(chord :C, :minor7), (chord :Ab, :major7), (chord :Eb, :major7), (chord :Bb, "7")].ring
c = chords[0]

# Start a loop.
define :start_loop do |i|
  tracker[i] = 1
end

# Stop a loop.
define :stop_loop do |i|
  tracker[i] = 0
end

# Reduce loop's volume
define :decrease_volume do |i, n |
  if volume[i] - n > 0 then
    volume[i] = volume[i] - n
  end
end

# Increase loop's volume
define :increase_volume do |i, n |
  if volume[i] + n < 10 then
    volume[i] = volume[i] + n
  end
end

# Violin
with_fx :flanger do
  with_fx :echo do
    
    live_loop :background_strings do
      sync :piano_tinkle
      if tracker[0] > 0 then
        
        
        use_synth_defaults amp: volume[0]*0.25, attack: 0.5, sustain: 1, release: 1
        use_synth :blade
        use_transpose 12
        play strings.tick
        
        sleep 0.75
      else
        sleep 0.1
      end
      
      # Violin 1
      live_loop :background_strings1 do
        sync :piano_tinkle
        if tracker[1] > 0 then
          use_synth_defaults amp: volume[1]*0.25, attack: 0.5, sustain: 1, release: 1
          use_synth :blade
          use_transpose 36
          play strings1.tick
          sleep 0.75
        else
          sleep 0.1
        end
      end
    end
    
  end
end

# Music Box

with_fx :flanger do
  with_fx :reverb do
    
    live_loop :piano_tinkle do
      r = [0.5, 0.6, 0.7, 0.6].choose
      if tracker[2] > 0 then
        use_synth :sine
        
        use_octave +2
        3.times do
          play c[0], release: 0.1, amp: volume[2]*0.5, decay: 0.0125+r, sustain: r/2# play the first note of the chord
          sleep 1
        end
        play c[2], release: 0.1, amp: volume[2]*0.5, decay: 0.0125+r, sustain: r/2 # play the third note of the chord
        sleep 0.5
        play c[1], release: 0.1, amp: volume[2]*0.5, decay: 0.0125+r, sustain: r/2 # # play the second note of the chord
        sleep 0.5
        c = chords.tick
      end
      sleep 0.1
    end
    
    # Music Box 1
    live_loop :piano_highlight do
      if tracker[3] > 0 then
        sync :piano_tinkle
        use_synth :sine
        use_octave +2
        r = [0.25, 0.25, 0.5, 1].choose
        with_transpose 0 do
          #   play c.choose, attack: 0, decay: 1, sustain: 2, amp: volume[3]
          play c.choose, release: 0.1, amp: volume[3]*0.5, decay: 0.0125+r, sustain: r/2
          sleep 2
        end
        
      else
        sleep 0.1
      end
    end
    
  end
end

# Drums
live_loop :light_drums do
  sync :piano_tinkle
  if tracker[4] > 0 then
    1. times do
      with_fx :reverb, room:1, damp: 0.7 do
        sample :drum_tom_lo_hard, rate: 1, pitch_dis: 0.001, amp: volume[4]*0.25
        sleep 0.75
        sample :drum_tom_lo_hard, rate: 0.5, pitch_dis: 0.001, amp: volume[4]*0.25
        sleep 2
      end
      sleep 0.75
    end
  else
    sleep 0.1
  end
end

#__________________________________________________________________________________________________
#Code ends here...
#__________________________________________________________________________________________________

background_strings=0
background_strings1=1
piano_tinkle=2
piano_highlight=3
light_drums=4

start_loop background_strings
increase_volume background_strings,1
sleep 8
start_loop background_strings1
increase_volume background_strings1,1
sleep 8
start_loop piano_highlight
increase_volume piano_highlight,0.5
sleep 4
increase_volume piano_highlight ,0.5
sleep 4
start_loop light_drums
increase_volume light_drums,1
sleep 4
increase_volume light_drums,1
sleep 4
increase_volume light_drums,1
sleep 4
increase_volume light_drums,1
sleep 4
start_loop 2
increase_volume piano_tinkle,0.5
decrease_volume piano_highlight,0.5
sleep 4
increase_volume piano_tinkle,0.5
sleep 8
decrease_volume light_drums,1
sleep 4
decrease_volume light_drums,1
sleep 4
decrease_volume light_drums,1
decrease_volume piano_highlight,0.5
sleep 4
decrease_volume light_drums,1
decrease_volume piano_highlight,0.5
sleep 32
decrease_volume light_drums,1
decrease_volume piano_highlight,0.5
sleep 4
decrease_volume light_drums,1
decrease_volume piano_highlight,0.5
decrease_volume piano_tinkle,0.5
sleep 4
stop_loop 4
decrease_volume piano_highlight,0.5
decrease_volume piano_tinkle,0.5
sleep 4
decrease_volume piano_highlight,0.5
sleep 4
stop_loop piano_highlight
decrease_volume background_strings1,1
sleep 12
stop_loop piano_tinkle
decrease_volume background_strings1,1
sleep 8
stop_loop background_strings1
sleep 4
stop_loop background_strings
1 Like
8

Eli, it a nice piece, it make me think about a end-scene, or a OST for a final boss fight for a RPG game (like final fantasy VII). What I find really impressive (and I want to understand it) it’s the control code you did for this piece. I’m looking for understend the |i| after the define function, and the tracker list at the beginning. Maybe it something like defining a pattern sequence, it would be really usefull.

9

Hi Mattia,

It’s fairly straight forward really… (though Sam has
warned me that passing variables this way may not be
consistant, and that using set/get would be better)

tracker is an array used to decide if a live_loop
is outputting a sound or is simply waiting…

tracker = [ 0,1,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0]

A live_loop checks the state of tracker before it plays
anything…

live_loop :beeper do
  if tracker[1] > 0 then
     play 62
     sleep 0.5
  else
     sleep 0.5
  end

So, if we want loop :beeper to play a sound, we set
the value of tracker[1] = 1, using the define :start_loop.

# Start a loop.
define :start_loop do |i|
  tracker[i] = 1
end

|i| is the value we have passed to :start_loop, which it uses
to set tracker[i] equal to one.

At the end of the code you will see a… ‘script’ for the song.

start_loop 1
sleep 8
start_loop 8
sleep 4
stop_loop 1

By giving the name of the loop a number equal to it’s tracker[number] we
can start and stop loops by name, which makes the 'script a little clearer…

beeper = 0

start_loop beeper
sleep 8
stop_loop beeper

And thats pretty much it…

volume = [ 0,1,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0] does the same for a loops volume, using the
define:

# Increase loop's volume
define :increase_volume do |i, n |
  if volume[i] + n < 10 then
    volume[i] = volume[i] + n
  end
end

So…

live_loop :beeper do
  if tracker[1] > 0 then
     play 62, amp: volume[1]
     sleep 0.5
  else
     sleep 0.5
  end

and the script might become:

beeper = 0

start_loop beeper
# Increase the volume of loop beeper by 0.5
increase_volume beeper, 0.5
sleep 8
stop_loop beeper

You can use this for lots of other things… controlling
the amount of echo in a loop,or whatever you want to tailor
it to.

Hope that helps clarify things a little.

Eli…

2 Likes
10

@Eli thank you so much, now it’s super clear. I had try something, just a while a go, and I published the code in “creations & Ideas”. With that composition (Multidimensional Repetitions) I had understand the use of |i|, for give a integer to a definition and use, for example, as the n of n.times do … end. In the next days I will try to code something with this array method, that seems really good to keep a clear form and a deep control.
So thank you again for your precious help! :relaxed:

1 Like