#411

it looks like it’s non-varibright, which I would not recommend in 2020 for a new user.

3 Likes
#417

I’m getting an MPC One and I was wondering if there was anyone who has ever tried to plug in their Grids to an MPC as a controller? Without Norns… Would that even work? The MPC recognizes controllers via its USB port?

#418

No, you need specialized software support to host grid and arc. They use a custom serial protocol which is implemented by e.g. libmonome (used by norns, and by serialosc which allows communicating with grids/arcs via OSC and is typically used as a host on PCs). Other implementations of the serial protocol include the one found in libavr32 which is used by Ansible, Teletype, the trilogy modules, and Aleph. Furthermore grid and arc have basically no “logic” of their own, they rely on apps running on the host to define their functionality – so even if you could establish communication at the device level you would need more code to tell the devices what lights to show and how to react to user input.

4 Likes
#419

Thanks for the info! Really appreciate the help…

#420

I am trying to figuring out

  • how much overlap exist between the two
  • can Teletype “replace” the ER-101
  • will the different type of workflows impact the musical process

My problem: I don’t know what I don’t know
as I am starting out and have no clue about any specific direction (yet) and just go by an arbitrary decision to get certain modules based on copying a setup of an artist I like (Caterina Barbieri) and take it from there.

I just got a norns and will get a grid once back in stock.
My focus is on the integration of Live/M4L, norns+grid, modular and live coding.

Any thoughts/suggestions would be great.

1 Like
Teletype workflow, basics, and questions
#421

question was over the ER-101

2 Likes
#422

Awesome!
Any link?
Thanks!

#423

There is a massive difference in the control surface of both modules. If you are comfortable with a keyboard then Teletype can comfortably replicate most of the ER-101 functionality, but getting to that point will require an intensive amount of coding. The Teletype interface cannot be made “friendly” with variable names, labels, etc, so you had better be intimately familiar with your scripts to effect changes while in use. I envision most of those live changes would happen on the Pattern view, which unfortunately cannot hold as much data as the ER-101 patterns.

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#424

I haven’t owned an ER-101, but thought about it at one point. The ER-101 with expander has CV recording as another input method, besides the laborious method of step by step entry. The Teletype doesn’t have that, but does have a more algorithmic/experimental environment for constructing ideas.

#425

Sure it does! Haven’t tested this but I think it should work to record 64 values. EDIT: it works great :joy: EDITEDIT: tweaked a line so the playback starts from the beginning

Script 1 (arm record while high, disarm and reset sequence on falling edge):

IF ! STATE 1: X 0; P.I P.L
IF ! STATE 1: BREAK
IF X: BREAK
P.I 0; P.L 0; X 1
P.MAP: 0

Script 2 (advance clock):

IF && X STATE 1: $ 4
IF ! OR X STATE 1: $ 3

Script 3 (playback):

CV 1 P.NEXT

Script 4 (record):

J IN; P.PUSH J; CV 1 J

Init script:

$.POL 1 3; X 0
6 Likes
#426

I am not worried at all about coding in general, but I think I need to learn more how that impacts my interaction with my modular setup and if I want to address that with a keyboard during my interaction. I am not sure how that would fit together with live coding in SuperCollider as an additional layer. But anyway its great to know that it can replicate a lot of the ER-101 functionality. I guess it comes down to how one wants to picture their workflow: button pusher vs keyboard clacker :slight_smile:

#427

I assume the challenge is to know what you exactly want out of a given event or series of events in order to construct ideas with the Teletype and then mold that into the Teletype via code. On the other hand, the ER-101 may let you mess more around by pushing and turning and hopefully something comes through. Need to think what that would look like in both cases.

#428

IMO, the most unique/best thing about the ER-101 is that it is extremely precise.
It is (without the 102) pretty linear. It runs through sequence and can loop them. You have a lot of flexibility around pitch (or cv), timing, and duration and you can dial in very specific relationships. You’re actually not that likely to get something you like by just turning and pushing (compared to something like Rene). It’s easy to fall off your grid and get a really sloppy mess (this is also its strength). If you have a specific idea in your mind, you can realize it very precisely and make super precise adjustments.

Caterina Barberi gets a lot of mileage out of it by making phased loops and adding to them piece-by-piece in ingenuous ways. (at least that’s what I think she’s doing). With the 102 things get a lot more interactive but you still need to do some prep-work before you get to the interaction part.

If you have facility with coding (or thinking in that way), teletype might be easier to “sketch” with, try out ideas, see if they result in something musical, adjust, etc. (But, that’s not me, and I don’t have a teletype so take my words with major grains of salt).

1 Like
#429

Very helpful description!
Thank you.

#430

Maybe a little more food for thought. The ER-101 is a sequencer. It says so right on the panel. I’ve never had one, but I feel good about saying it’s probably an excellent sequencer.

I’m not sure I’d quite exactly call Teletype a sequencer. monome calls it an “algorithmic ecosystem.” It can definitely fill the function of a sequencer if you script it to do that. And I think that’s probably a very popular way to use it. But you could also create scenes in which it’s musical function has nothing to do with sequencing.

If you’re looking to replace one with the other, I don’t think you’re comparing apples to apples. So my best guess is that the different workflows probably would have an impact on musical results. Certainly very different things happen for me when I’m working with Teletype than when I’m working with, say, Eloquencer.

4 Likes
#431

I haven’t thought about that. So in essence I need to think about Teletype more as an empty box similiar to norns conceptually, which waits to be fed with something (code) and then it becomes something.

Can I use norns + grid along with ansible (I guess) and make that a sequencer for my modular setup?

#432

Grid with an ansible is a great sequencer. But it is even further from the ER-101 than the teletype is.

#433

I think that’s a good way to think about it.

Grid + ansible (no norns required) has 3 sequencers for modular: kria, meadowphysics, poly earthsea. These ansible apps, unlike teletype, are not blank canvases that need your code injected. What they do and how they work is well defined. They have pre-defined features targeted at creating interesting sequences.

Interestingly, Teletype has ops that can control these ansible apps over the ii bus. So there is some ability to inject your own custom behaviors to the apps using teletype.

#434

Got you! I have norns anyway and I will get grid once back in stock.

My main concern was which of the three modules (Teletype, Crow, Ansible) might be beneficial in that setup norns+grid+modular (in 2 flavors: with or without ER-101). If I understand you right, the ansible + grid are great with modular. The other question I had was would norns+grid+ansible/or crow interact in a similar fashion with a modular system as teletype would?
Sorry, its a bit confusing, and I am trying to make the best possible decision before going into the doing phase where my learning curve can begin :slight_smile:

#435

You can do one or more of the following:

  • connect grid to norns, connect norns to crow, and use this as a very powerful Lua scripting environment for application development that is integrated with your modular. Your grid interactions are scripted in your norns script, and your norns script can also communicate with crow to control CV in the modular or respond to CV events raised by crow. crow can also communicate with I2C follower modules which may include Ansible, Just Friends, W/, Telex expanders, etc. crow can be an I2C follower as well and accept commands from other crows, or eventually from Teletype or perhaps Ansible.
  • connect grid to Ansible and use Ansible’s grid apps (Kria, Meadowphysics, Earthsea) for sequencing. These are each quite mature and deep grid apps but they are relatively “opinionated” – they may not give you exactly the kind of sequencing you’re after, whereas with scripting environments you can define the behavior you want with code. Ansible’s firmware is open source (like all monome stuff) and can be modified or rewritten entirely (in C) if you want different functionality out of this setup, some other apps exist (Orca’s Heart, Chrono Sage) that can run on Ansible and give different sequencer experiences. In this case norns is not directly involved, though norns can communicate with crow which can communicate with Ansible. Ansible can be an I2C follower or leader.
  • connect a grid to Teletype and use Teletype’s grid ops to develop your own applications using the grid as a control surface. Teletype’s I/O and scripting language offer a fairly different way of thinking from Lua and crow’s model for interacting with the modular. Scripting space and processing power is somewhat more limited, the integration between Teletype and the modular works differently – notably the main way to edit Teletype scripts is directly on the module without a PC involved. Again norns is not directly involved here. There are plans to have some communication possibilities between crow and Teletype but this is not implemented yet. Teletype can be an I2C leader, controlling other devices from scripts such as Ansible, Just Friends, or the Telex expanders.

For integrating Norns with your modular I would say that crow is probably the best option at this time, especially if you are already comfortable scripting on Norns using Lua. You can then use a grid to expand the control possibilities of your scripts and develop exactly the sequencer you want, using crow as a powerful CV interface.

4 Likes