BuboQuark/README.md

BuboQuark: Simple, hassle-free live coding

This repository is a collection of tools and methods that I use to make live coding easier on SuperCollider. My aim is to make that setup easy to install on my other computers. This repository is not bringing anything new or interesting. This is merely a default configuration for my SuperCollider install. It's just a bunch of scripts that I use to make my life easier and I am no expert. I rely heavily on JITLib and other Quarks that I find useful.

Installation

To install the BuboQuark, simply run the following command in your favorite SC editor:

Quarks.install("https://github.com/Bubobubobubobubo/BuboQuark")

Usage

This quark brings syntax shortcuts and minor improvements (highly personal matter) to make SuperCollider easier to handle on stage.

Boot method

There is a Boot() class that acts as a configuration file for my setup. This configuration file is rather classic:

• raises the conservative options of Server.default
• pushes everything into a ProxySpace
• set paths for samples and synthdefs
• install a StageLimiter not to blow up my speakers

Note: I put my configuration into ./config/livecoding/ and there should be a folder named samples/ and a file called Synthdefs.scd.

Simplified useful commands

• Panic(): shortcut for CmdPeriod.run.
• Boot(path): boot my config (hardcoded path or user specified path)
• Scope(): a scope that always stays on top!
• FScope(): a frequency scope that always stay on top!
• Gui(): a server GUI window that always stay on top!

Patterns

Patterns are powerful but writing them is long and can lead to a lot of typing errors. Moreover, they are often centered around list manipulation. BuboQuark defines a few helpers to transform a regular Array into various patterns:

[1, 2, 3, 4].pseq

Consider the source as a documentation.

Patterns

I don't like using keys because of the backslash (\), a symbol that is really hard to type on AZERTY keyboards. For that reason, I much prefer the [instrument: 'plaits', dur: 2] syntax. I added a .pat method to convert an array into a Pbind. There are optional arguments to specify the fadeTime and quant for that pattern. Demo:

(
  [
    instrument: 'sinfb',
    rel: Pbrown(0.1, 0.5, 0.125, inf),
    note: Place([Pxrand([0, 3, 7, 10], 12), 0, 3, 5, 0, 12, 0, 7, 5, [5, 10, 7].pwhite(1)], inf),
    octave: [Pxrand([5, 6, 4], 4)].pxrand(inf), dur: Pbjorklund2(6, 8, inf) / 2,
    legato: 0.1
  ].pat(~test).play;
)

NodeProxy

The NodeProxy roles are somewhat verbose. I have tried to make the syntax easier on the eye by creating the fx, wet and infx methods. Here is a demo of how I use it:

(
  // Adding a tiny bit of reverb on slot 10 with a wet of 0.2
  ~test.fx(10, 0.2, {
    arg in; GVerb.ar(in)
  });
)

~test.wet(10, 0.5) // bring the reverb up with the wet method