bloom

[infinitedigits]

bloom

a loving reimaginging of the “bloom” app, adapted for norns and SuperCollider.

bloom

this script aims to replicate the “bloom” app by Brian Eno and Peter Chilvers that was released in 2008. the major functionality persists: clicking on the grid / screen will create circles and sounds that grow and disappear. multiple touches will create sequences that also eventually fade away. the sounds belong to scales with alien names like “ambrette”, “benzoin”, “bergamot”, “labdanum”, “neroli”, “orris”, “tolu”, “vetiver”, and “ylang” - all which were painstakingly captured from the original app (PARAMS > scale). also, like the app, the norns script has an “evolve when idle” function (PARAMS > evolve when idle), and toggles for randomization (PARAMS > randomize).

there are major differences between the “bloom” app and the “bloom” norns script. its difficult to obtain 100% the same sounds of the app so I did my best with my synthesis knowledge to create a similar sounds with SuperCollider. the sounds I have are a bell-like feedback sine sound which can be mixed with a kalimba sample (swapping between acoustic and synthetic) (PARAMS > blend). the drone notes are taken from the scale, as in the app, but the switching between drones is not precisely the same.

another change is the introduction of “lanes” (PARAMS > lanes). this essentially splits the grid into multiple lanes where each lane is a separate sequencer. by default there is one lane, but you can have one lane for each row on your grid.

requirements

• norns (version 231114+) or supercollider
• grid optional
• crow optional
• midi optional

documentation

to get started - just click K3 to generate a random pattern. on the grid you can select specific notes.

• E1: change scale
• E2: change delay
• E3: change blend
• K2: clear pattern
• K3: generate pattern

in the parameters there are also options for outputs (midi, crow), sound design parameters, and parameters for generating/randomizing/evolving as per the original app.

don’t forget to turn up your norns reverb

supercollider

without a norns, you can also run bloom with SuperCollider + a grid. just open ignore/runWithGrid.scd and follow the instructions and run.

thanks

thanks to Brian Eno and Peter Chilvers for the idea!! also massive thanks to @instantjuggler for supporting me in creating this and constantly inspiring! also thanks to @tlubke and @catfact for the overhaul of the screen. this is my first script utilizing the refresh() which was fantastic for implementing the screen redraw without a clock. also big thanks to @skein and @modularbeat for helping me work out the bugs!!!

install

you can install through maiden:

;install https://github.com/schollz/bloom

[kasselvania]

I love this iPhone app, and having something similar on Norns is exciting! Is there a chance that midi might be implemented in the future?

[instantjuggler]

there’s so much to this app! there’s already midi and crow!

@infinitedigits

in the parameters there are also options for outputs (midi, crow), sound design parameters, and parameters for generating/randomizing/evolving as per the original app.

[radioedit]

Oh wonderful! I always loved the original app, and I’m excited to have a reinterpretation on Norns. Hope this makes it into the Maiden library / norns.community repository soon too

[secretstates]

Amazing work @infinitedigits, excited to try this tonight.

[mei]

@infinitedigits

the sounds belong to scales with alien names like “ambrette”, “benzoin”, “bergamot”, “labdanum”, “neroli”, “orris”, “tolu”, “vetiver”, and “ylang”

huge news for perfume fans

[diriglow]

Thank you @infinitedigits, your work continues to make this such an awesome community to be a part of! Can confirm it does work with midigrid.

[smonthms]

God damn what brilliant work. Thank you @infinitedigits

[rebuspop]

lovely work and soothing sounds for this time of life.

I am getting this error however, should mods be turned off, it did manage to bork after about 8mins, froze out, did have the Roland S1 piggybacking on the midi at the time, and didn’t see any error message pop up in Maiden aside from this as it launched:

Summary

!!!

!!! ERROR: parameter ID collision: delay

! please contact the script maintainer - this will cause a load failure in future updates

! BEWARE! clobbering a script or mod param

calling: nbout post init

[infinitedigits]

thanks all for the kind comments it was a real fun script to work through. there is a great deal of complexity in the original vision, though it has such a simple design.

@radioedit

makes it into the Maiden library /

should be there now!

@rebuspop

parameter ID collision: delay

thanks for noting this! I just fixed it now

@rebuspop

it did manage to bork after about 8mins, froze out,

not good!! I’m not sure what happened there…I’m curious whether it sputtered back to life eventually? or just bricked everything and needed a power cycle? I’ve run it for hours without issues but it could be a random sequence that was just too many notes? or too fast? I’ve already got a note to put in a note limiter because there is currently no limit to how many notes to play and if you smash the grid it might bug out a bit !

@diriglow

make this such an awesome community

you all make this community awesome, I’m so glad to be apart of it.

@mei

news for perfume fans

[rebuspop]

I was mashing maybe a bit too much and had increased it to 4 lanes, it was a hard power cycle while the S1 moaned, caught out by the last notes sent. Ressurected it, and went back to 2 lanes and cautious mashing, so far lovely, will be more restrained.

@infinitedigits

not good!! I’m not sure what happened there…I’m curious whether it sputtered back to life eventually? or just bricked everything and needed a power cycle? I’ve run it for hours without issues but it could be a random sequence that was just too many notes? or too fast? I’ve already got a note to put in a note limiter because there is currently no limit to how many notes to play and if you smash the grid it might bug out a bit !

[kasselvania]

A few notes, I believe the script does not play nice with a grid zero, and it also does not like when I swap grids.

Not a huge deal, but seemingly some kind of bug.

[Tonybologna]

holy hell this is amazing out the box , no grid needed . but really makes me want to sit down and solder my teensy one

[infinitedigits]

@rebuspop

I was mashing maybe a bit too much

lol mashing is always encouraged! I’ll have a look at optimizations.

@kasselvania

believe the script does not play nice with a grid zero

what in particular happened? did the circles become ellipses? I don’t have a zero to test, but @modularbeat tested it with various combinations (one including a zero) and it looked to work perfectly well. any maiden errors would be helpful to if you can share!

@Tonybologna

holy hell this is amazing out the box

and with PARAMS > evolve when idle and almost nothing is needed

[kasselvania]

Interesting. It just didn’t draw and circles or lighting for me and in one instance froze my Norns. I’ll try again kater

[latenitecali]

Another fun one to play with, thanks for making. This one actually got my kid off the ipad to come explore =]

[lukesignalsounds]

Had a writing session the other day where I was shown the Bloom app and thought it was an incredibly lovely way to create ideas with the obvious downside being the sounds are not for commercial use as they’re Eno copyrighted. Then this comes up! Many many thank yous for the hard work and can’t wait to give this a try! @infinitedigits

[danbond]

This is great! Is it possible to add mx.samples into this? I can never work out what edits to do

[KHAGE]

One more great script from infinitedigits… thanks !

Is it compatible with 64 Grid ?

[thnsn]

I had a good time playing with Bloom on my zero last night. Circles were ellipses. Not a huge bother.