Hello everyone! I’m working on a sample slicing program that allows me to use my midi keyboard to add slices to a sample at points I choose using my keyboard’s control dials, and play back the slices using my keyboard’s pads. Everything works so far, but I need some kind of way to have a sample that starts playing cut off previously playing samples. Is there something similar to choke groups in Sonic Pi? If not, is there a way to stop all currently playing sounds/samples?
1 Like
Could you explain a little more about choke groups? What kind of code would you like to be able to write and what should it do?
For choking hi-hats, I use this method:
use_bpm 130
define :sample_choke_group do |group,samp,args={}|
player = get group
if player != nil
control player, amp_slide: 0.01, amp: 0
end
use_sample_defaults args
player = sample samp
set group, player
end
live_loop :drums do
at [0, 1.5, 2] do
sample :bd_haus
end
at [ 1, 3 ] do
sample :sn_dolf, pan: 0.5
end
7.times do
sample_choke_group( :hat_group,
:drum_cymbal_closed,
pan: -0.5 )
sleep 0.5
end
sample_choke_group( :hat_group,
:drum_cymbal_hard,
pan: -0.5, amp: 0.5 )
sleep 0.5
end
It doesn’t actually stop the sample playing, just sets its volume to zero. This isn’t a problem for me running code on a Mac where the sample will finish quite soon, but may be a problem for longer samples if a large number of silent sample players end up working at once on a less powerful computer such as a Raspberry Pi.
EDIT: I tried the following. It still works, and might be stopping the choked synth player. Not sure if it’s saving computer power:
use_bpm 130
define :sample_choke_group do |group,samp,args={}|
player = get group
print player
if player != nil
control player, amp_slide: 0.01, amp: 0
at 0.01 do
control player, on: false
end
end
use_sample_defaults args
player = sample samp
set group, player
end
live_loop :drums do
at [0, 1.5, 2] do
sample :bd_haus
end
at [ 1, 3 ] do
sample :sn_dolf, pan: 0.5
end
7.times do
sample_choke_group( :hat_group,
:drum_cymbal_closed,
pan: -0.5 )
sleep 0.5
end
sample_choke_group( :hat_group,
:drum_cymbal_hard,
pan: -0.5, amp: 0.5 )
sleep 0.5
end
can you use kill to do this?
eg
k=sample :ambi_glass_hum
sleep 1
kill k #cuts it short after 1 beat
1 Like
Oh, I hadn’t used kill. I suppose I shouldn’t answer questions just yet 
New version:
use_bpm 127
define :sample_choke_group do |group,samp,args={}|
player = get group
if player != nil
kill player
end
use_sample_defaults args
player = sample samp
set group, player
return player
end
vars = (ring false, false, false, true)
live_loop :drums do
tick
at [0, 1.5, 2] do
sample :bd_haus
end
at [ 1, 3 ] do
sample :sn_dolf, pan: 0.5
end
if vars.look
at 3.5 do
sample :sn_dolf, pan: 0.5
end
end
7.times do
sample_choke_group( :hat_group,
:drum_cymbal_closed,
pan: -0.5 )
sleep 0.5
end
sample_choke_group( :hat_group,
:drum_cymbal_hard,
pan: -0.5, amp: 0.5 )
sleep 0.5
end
Simply killing the player seems to work fine. No clicks. I don’t know if it will click on other sounds.
provided you have a reference to the sound it should work with play as well eg
k = play :c4, sustain: 50, release: 1
sleep 1
kill k
However I think this will give a bit of a click, so you could try:
k=play :c4,sustain: 50,release: 1
sleep 1
control k,amp: 0,amp_slide: 0.1
sleep 0.1
kill k
Choke groups are groups of samples that cut each other off if one is played while another is already playing. I would like to write code that allows the sample slices in my program to cut each other off in this way, so that I don’t get multiple slices playing on top of each other if I want to switch to another slice before the one I’m currently playing finishes.
Thank you! This is exactly what I was looking for.