Tidal Cycles, MIDI, Reason & Mac OS
As much for my reference and anyone else, but if you’re using Tidal Cycles and have thought to yourself that you would like to control individual instruments from different channels using TC, then read on. This is likely to be a similar approach for other DAWs but I understand Reason can be a bit picky about MIDI so I can’t make any guarantees. That said, if you can MIDI sending you’re probably half way there and if you’re reading this because this is relevant to your interests then you’re likely to be able to work it out because you’re awesome.
It goes without saying that this is an adaptation of the original docs.
1. Setup MIDI
Settings > Audio MIDI Setup
From here, select the IAC Driver (I will assume you have it, if you don’t then this is a different set of issues!) and make sure you’ve got sufficient busses for the work you’ll want to do. If you’re using this method then you’ll end up with 1 bus = 1 keyboard in Reason.
2. Setup Supercollider
If you’re reading this then I will assume that you’ve got as far as having a working install. If not, I’ll refer you back to the docs and you should come back when you’ve got it making a noise. Once you’re there, we will a) initialise MIDI and b) assign a bus to a variable (or it might be a constant) that you can then address in TC.
Into the REPL window on the left, execute the following command.
MIDIClient.init;
~midiOut1 = MIDIOut.newByName("IAC Driver", "Bus 1");
~midiOut2= MIDIOut.newByName("IAC Driver", "Bus 2");
~dirt.soundLibrary.addMIDI(\rsn1, ~midiOut1);
~dirt.soundLibrary.addMIDI(\rsn2, ~midiOut2);You can probably get the gist, but we start with the initialisation, followed by mapping the relevant IAC driver (the naming you will get when you evaluate the first line), and then you add a name into the soundLibrary that TC can reference. Rinse and repeat for every bus you want to reference. Once this is working, be sure to either save it with Supercollider or make a note somewhere.
3. Sending some signals
From TC, evaluate something like:
d1 $ n "0 2 4 7" # s "rsn1"
d2 $ n "7 4 2 0" # s "rsn2"This will give you different outputs so that you can see what goes where.
4. Configure Reason
Open up the settings panel.
Click the ‘Add Manually’ and add a new controller using these settings. Change name to something memorable and point the midi input to the relevant bus (e.g ‘1’ for rsn1 in this case).
This may not be the correct method but it seems to do something OK for me. For each controller you add, set it so that there is no master keyboard (in this sort of configuration we’re mapping 1:1 from TC - if you’re also running a master keyboard like sort of musician then you’re going to have to just fiddle).
Finally, add an instrument and then lock your relevant keyboard you’ve just created by right clicking and selecting the keyboard.
And that should, in theory, be that. Bon chance!
I need to at least try to pretend to keep up…
Part 3 in a near-infinite set of me discovering things that are really cool and for some reason I have only just noticed.
Today, I am mostly awed by the Pinecil.
I ordered some soldering bits for the Project (posts passim) and as it has been A Number Of Years since I last bought a soldering iron, many reviews recommended the Pinecil v2. I skimmed through them a bit, I will admit, went away and ordered one and it turned up along with the leaded solder that I thought was extinct (although in deference to modern attitudes I won’t deliberately inhale the vapour!).
The box was a bit plain, but the logo vaguely familiar.
The Pine64 Logo - a stylised pine cone, in black and white
The quick start guide was a small card, but it had links to Github, and talked about firmware.
“Hang on a minute…”
Turns out that things have moved on a hell of a way since my clunky yellow Maplin special I used to build audio cables! A hell of a long way, it seems. Colour LCD display, bluetooth, hackable firmware, USB C (and thus battery power-able) for not very much money at all.
Inevitably, there is a raft of 3D printable accessories (I see a case in the near future) and, at some point, I will try out some soldering! The most pressing use (once the bits arrive) is to add some inserts to The Case.
Speakers
Without wanting to bore you about my living situation, I found myself with the need to purchase some Hi Fi equipment. I went with a Fosi Audio v3 amp and a Fosi Audio P3 pre-amp and a pair of Elac Debut B6.2 bookshelf speakers (spoiler, they’re too big for a bookshelf).
They have sounded pretty good to me, and I have a reasonable history with audio so I think they’re very much there or thereabouts.
However, on the RSS feed came up a post from Tim Bray’s blog about his adventures in purchasing new speakers in which he described his test music. Oooh, I though, I should have a listen and see how it stacks up.
I started with his recommendation of Identikit by Radiohead, noting the artificality (is that a word?) of the sound stage. I fired it up this evening, on the above, and I had a bit of a religious moment. The soundstage was perfect. The drums were bang in the centre, and all the jiggery pokery was flying around where it should be.
Long story short I have somehow, almost by accident and without any opportunity to audition, put together a banging little setup. I was quite happy with it, but I hadn’t really put it to the test with any form of critical listening so I am quite chuffed for someone else’s test piece to really shine.
Printed the case, thusly:
It’s come out pretty well. I can see why the designer went with the 30 key keyboard - it looks like it would be in proportion with the case style, so I think I’ll probably go with it. May need a Vial cheat sheet to deal with the layers!
Notes
As alluded to in previous posts, I am a Terrible Notetaker. I have fired up Logseq as that seems to (notwithstanding the possibility that it’s moving to a DB backend vs flat files) fit me a bit better - the block/pages idea seems to work well, and the iOS app is excellent, but the proof will be in the pudding.
If I find myself with a week’s worth of blank daily journals, then we know it hasn’t taken! The real check will be whether it stands up to work once I’m back, I have deliberately not been thinking about any of that while off.
Maker goals
First, some form of apology. I’ve read that the best way to improve is by writing, so you’re now a test audience for what may resemble a bit of a stream of consciousness - I’m going to try and get some words down regardless, and this may soon resemble a dumpster fire but I will promise to try and keep some relevance in here somewhere.
Further to my various posts re the microjournal, I’ve been pricing things up and it is likely to come in at about GBP150, plus/minus some tool investments - it is high time I got myself a soldering iron and it turns out that things have come on some way since I was doing sound for a living! Also it turns out that you can still get leaded solder, which I didn’t think was a thing any more, but apparently I was wrong.
I have been considering the V2 original. Not a folder, but in what the designer describes as an accountancy calculator. I think it looks pretty good.
So the plan. First things first, I will get the case printed. Once that’s in hand, I can see exactly what I’m working with and whether adding something bigger than the 30 key planck ortho is a sensible idea or not. I’m wondering whether the rPi zero is right, or whether I want to go all in with an actual rPi but, like the keyboard, until I see what space I have to actually work with, it is a tricky one to say.