BuboQuark/docs/player.md

Player/Pbind shortcuts

JITLib allows you to update musical patterns on the fly and to quantize that change to a logical time division in the future. If you want to play some pattern-based live coded music, this is the technique you will be using a lot both for drums, melodies, etc. Take a look at the following example that could be taken from the JITLib tutorial:

Long SuperCollider Pattern Example

// This is a very simple synthesizer
(
SynthDef(\test, {
  var sig = SinOsc.ar(\freq.kr(440));
  var env = EnvGen.ar(Env.perc, doneAction:2);
  var synth = sig * env * \amp.kr(1);
  Out.ar(\out.kr(0), Pan2.ar(synth));
}).add;

// We use it to create a pattern
~melody = Pbind(
  \instrument, \test,
  \note, Pseq([0, 2, 4, 5, 7, 9, 11, 12], inf),
  \dur, 0.25,
  \legato, 0.1
);
// Fade-in over four beats
~melody.play(fadeTime: 4);
)

// We clear that melody after 2 beats (fade-out)
~melody.clear(fadeTime: 2);

This is doing the job but many people, including me, find it a bit verbose. I have added a few shortcuts to make it easier to edit patterns on the fly. Here is the same example now using the convenience and hacks brought by BuboQuark. I am skipping the synth definition since we already added it to the server:

["pattern", i: 'test',
 note:, [0, 2, 4, 5, ...].pseq,
 dur: 1/4, leg: 0.1].pat.play;

This is just saving you a few keystrokes but will save you thousands in the long run. There is multiple techniques used here to shorten the pattern. I will now explain them one by one.

Pattern declaration

BuboQuark is adding multiple methods to facilitate the creation of Pbinds:

• .pat(quant=4, fade=0.05): create a Pbind from an array. The first element of the list is always the name of the NodeProxy you want to use.

  • quant: pattern quantization (clock)
  • fade: fading time between evaluations

• .p: simple conversion from an array to a Pbind. This is useful when you want to use the NodeProxy roles like \set and \xset. It doesn't do more than that.

It replaces the verbose Pbind(\key, value) used by SuperCollider with an Array based syntax that is more concise to read and write: [key: value].

Blending with the base syntax

BuboQuark does not break the compatibility with the base syntax. You can still control your NodeProxies using the regular syntax. For example, if you want to change the \amp of the previous example, you can do it like this:

// Playing a kick drum using the abbreviated syntax
(
["drumming", instrument: "s", 
 sp: "kick", nb: 0,
 amp: 0.2
].pat.play;
)

~drumming.xset(\amp, 0.5); // Changing the amp to 0.5

~drumming.stop(fadeTime: 4); // Stopping the pattern

~drumming.clear;

NodeProxy is still the base object used here. I am just bringing syntax sugar and varnish. There is no incompatibility with the rest of the language.