beatPattern

These are some functions to parse a string like 'x-x-(hc)-[xx:2]-' into a ring of samples, (nested) rings or (nested) arrays to create a nice beat. This is inspired by foxdot. You can also parse a String like '60 62 [65 65] r' into a ring to create a simple melodie.

How to install

1. (recommended but optional) Download the samples fom foxdot or create an own sample library. Therefor you have to design the folder structure like 'ownsounds/letter/lower_or_upper/soundfiles' e.g. /soundlibrary/a/lower/bd.wav

2. Open a Buffer in SonicPi and type

require 'path/to/beatPattern.rb' # hit run

How to use

Prepare the beat or melodie

setup a beat e.g.

beat = setBeat('x-[x:3x](-h[-:3-]h:2)',
sample_path: 'path/to/foxdot_snd/') #necessary if you want to use the foxdot samples

melodie = setMelodie('60 62 [r 65] (72 {62 74})')

you can store the path to the foxdot samples in a variable and use it e.g.

foxdot = 'path/to/foxdot_snd'
beat = setBeat('x-[x:3x](-h[-:3-]h:2)', sample_path: foxdot)

special functions for the pattern

( ) - choose alternating element every passing

[ ] - play elements inside the brackets in one count

{ } - choose a random element

or just play the element

play a the beat in SonicPi

create a live_loop and call the samplePattern function and hit run e.g.

live_loop :beat_loop do
  samplePattern(beat)
end

play a the melodie in SonicPi

create a live_loop and call the samplePattern function and hit run e.g.

live_loop :melodie_loop do
  samplePattern(melodie, mode: :notes) #require argument mode: :notes or :midis
end

Usefull to know

Important parameters for setBeat()

• first Parameter is a beatString --> it's required
• optional you can pass the path to your soundfiles with sample_path: 'path/to'file/'

Important parameters for setMelodie()

• just a string with numbers, [], (), {} or 'r' to rest

Important parameters for samplePattern

• first Parameter is a ring with sample_values (e.g. a parsed String) or notes--> it's required

Following paramters can also be set:

• mode: :notes, :samples or :midis | standard is :samples
• beat_duration: value | standard is 1.0/ring.length()
• position: value | standard is simple tick but you can use numbers or something like tick(:value)
• brak: 1 | standard is false => Brake "[m]ake a pattern sound a bit like a breakbeat. It does this by every other cycle, squashing the pattern to fit half a cycle, and offsetting it by a quarter of a cycle." (https://tidalcycles.org/functions.html, 11.10.2018)
• other arguments from sample or play like rate: or amp:

Because the first parameter is a ring you can:

• reverse a beat by e.g. beat.reverse
• shuffle a beat by e.g. beat.shuffle
• rotate a beat by e.g. beat.rotate(i) -> see ruby docs for rotate
• create a palindrome by e.g. beat.palindrome

Example

Its up to you. Copy the code into a sonic-pi buffer. Modify the path to the beat pattern and foxdot_snd and hit run. Try to use reverse, palindrome, shuffle and rotate the left or right hand.

require '/path/to/beatPattern.rb'

foxdot = '/path/to/foxdot_snd/'

#set the beat
beat = setBeat('x-{ok}[-x]', sample_path:foxdot)

#set the melodie
left_h = setMelodie ('60 65 [r 65] 72')
right_h = setMelodie('r ({57 50}{52 58})')

#play the beat
live_loop :beat do
  samplePattern(beat)
end

#play the melodies
live_loop :left_hand do
  with_synth :piano do
    samplePattern(left_h, mode: :notes, decay: 0.25, beat_duration: 0.5)
  end
end

live_loop :right_hand do
  with_synth :piano do
    samplePattern(right_h, mode: :notes, decay: 1, amp: 0.4)
  end
end

To-Do

• improve use of Soundlibrary (assignment) for SonicPi built-in sounds with regexp

--> this part of code in beatParser.rb

#use regexp to select included sonic-pi sounds
@sounds = {:a => /ambi/,
           :b => /bass_dnb|bass_hit|bass.+_hit/,
           :e => /elec/,
           :m => /mehackit_/,
           :p => /perc|cowbell/,
           :s => /snare|sn_/,
           :t => /tom/,
           :v => /vinyl/,
           :x => /bd_/,
           :B => /bass_drop|bass_hard_c|bass_thick|bass_voxy_c|bass_woodsy/,
           :G => /guit/,
           :H => /glitch/,
           :L => /loop/,
           :M => /misc/,
           :T => /tabla/,
           :X => /drum_bass|drum_heavy_kick/,
           :hyphen => /drum_cymbal/,
           :whitespace => 'silent'}