Norns: help

[RamnFassn]

Could be a script problem? What scripts are you trying?

I don’t think so. I’m running Awake in the latest OS update.

Also when you say “sync” do you mean clock sync? If so which way?

Yes, I’m just trying to sync the Digitakt to the same clock as Norns, so that I can improvise with both instruments without losing the sync between them.

Does the Digitakt show up in SYSTEM>DEVICES>MIDI on norns when you plug it in with a usb cable? If so, what “slot” is it in?

No, it only shows up the OP-1.

[tehn]

No, it only shows up the OP-1.

does the digitakt have USB-MIDI? elektron’s site says it’s an USB audio device. have you plugged it into a computer and have it show up as a midi device?

if so, there’s a bug we’re working on with USB multi-enumerations not picking up all of the MIDI ports.

short-term workaround (if the digitakt does indeed to USB midi) is to use the DIN midi ports with a USB-MIDI dongle.

[RamnFassn]

does the digitakt have USB-MIDI? elektron’s site says it’s an USB audio device. have you plugged it into a computer and have it show up as a midi device?

Yes. I can confirm that, I’ve recorded a few songs using the digitakt synced to Ableton Live.

if so, there’s a bug we’re working on with USB multi-enumerations not picking up all of the MIDI ports.

short-term workaround (if the digitakt does indeed to USB midi) is to use the DIN midi ports with a USB-MIDI dongle.

I see, so the workaround would be to use something like this, right?

[Justmat]

I’ve used this one to sync norns to DIN midi devices.

[mattlowery]

Forgive me if this is the wrong thread. Is anyone aware of a script for Norns that can do er-301 esque slicing of audio files? Looking to playback slices in a rhythmic but random fashion. Thanks!

Edit for clarity; check out the 11:00 mark of this video. Being able to do this on Norns night save me a lot of money.
https://vimeo.com/189484225

[kasselvania]

I don’t know that piece of tech, but if you want rhythmic sample playback with randomness, TAKT or ORCA might be something you’d be interested in…

[lijnenspel]

it’s currently not possible to run two scripts at once

I wonder if this is planned for the future? I’m currently writing two scripts which I want to use together and I’m thinking whats the best way to keep them working separate, yet share some state and ui (on grid). Happy to help testing/coming up with a solution if it’s currently being worked on

[mattlowery]

I’ll check those scripts out today. Also, edited my post above to give a bit of clarity via a video example.

[kasselvania]

Okay, so, both Takt and Orca could achieve similar sound properties of this.

While Takt currently uses the ack engine, Orca uses the Timber engine, which appears on the surface to handle samples in much like the way this computer you showed me.

With Takt, when placing a sample on the sequencer timeline, you choose the position of where in the sample you start from. There currently isn’t a way to randomize the location of that position each hit. Instead, you can line up a few on the time line and there is a grid input that will ‘randomize position for track’ meaning next time you run through the sequence, all entry points will have been randomized. Pretty cool. But if you don’t press randomize again, they’ll be in the same place on the next sequence cycle. You can randomize probability of your trigger firing, so, you could build some stuff where sometimes it fires and sometimes it doesn’t, but it might not be your best go.

Orca has sort of a different thing going. You can load a whole bunch of samples, including one like this guy has loaded, you will place it with a ‘ symbol, choosing the sample, the octave and the pitch. Then, there is a variable for ‘in-pos’ this is where in the sample your trigger begins. You can set up a semi-random variable for the in point to create this jumping entry point you showed. I’m might look very different on the surface, but it’ll be the ASCII version of what you’re looking at right here.

If you’d like a little more explanation of ORCA if you like, just shoot me a PM if you need a hand.

[SwainVoorman]

If you’d like a little more explanation of ORCA if you like, just shoot me a PM if you need a hand.

Helpful overview! What’s a recommended guide/tutorial for beginning to learn Orca? As I understand, the software has been updated over time so i’m having a hard time determining what the best or most up to date resource might be.

[kasselvania]

The Allieway music vid still works really well. There are slight changes took how the inputs are laid out, but the general concepts are the Same. Also, a good truck to know with the Norns version is if you press tab, it will open up a small indicator on the bottom which will define whatever parameter you’re highlighting. This will help you define and account for the difference that have builtup over time.

If you have any questions, we can answer them on the Norns orca thread.

[zebra]

it’s currently not possible to run two scripts at once

I wonder if this is planned for the future?

no. as i understand it, this isn’t regarded as a limitation, it’s a basic principle of the system. “the script” is where user-defined functionality is defined, and it gets a clean slate on launch.

if anything, future work will make script sandboxing more complete.

i’m currently writing two scripts which I want to use together and I’m thinking whats the best way to keep them working separate, yet share some state and ui

use a modular architecture.

main.lua

local ui_state = { ... }
local bl_state = { ... }
local mod_a = include('lib/module_a')
local mod_b = include('lib/module_b')

mod_a.init(ui_state, bl_state)
mod_b.init(ui_state, bl_state)
...

lib/module_a.lua

This = {}

local ui_state = nil
local bl_state = nil

This.init = function(ui, bl)
    ui_state, bl_state = ui, bl
    --- do stuff...
   
return This

(you can also provide arguments to loadfile directly, but IMO the syntax is hard to follow and it’s better to be explicit about what is happening.)

there’s nothing really stopping you from making a script that launches other scripts, but: 1) engine assignment won’t work, 2) there could be name collisions if any of the scripts declare globals), 3) if the point is to share state then you need to do that explicitly anyways.

[andrew]

I’m working on a modular-architecture-type-thing !

[lijnenspel]

Thanks for the thorough answer! This will get me started!

[CharlieGilb]

I hope this is the right place to put this. If not, sorry about that!

I am experiencing the issues with distorted sound coming out of both softcut as well as the tape playback. Monitor sound is fine.

I first experienced it when I was getting slight distortion on the playback of live loops played in MLR. After that I recorded a few .wav files using a basic sample script, and their playback is all clipped and distorted. Not sure if anything was ever discovered with this issue, but I have done a reset as well as a few power-cycles and the problem is persisting.

[Jonny]

Have you updated to the latest version of the Norns software?

[CharlieGilb]

Yes, I am on the most recent version.

[swhic]

yes it’s a known problem, possibly something with the sound card chip. In
my case reboot solves the problem for a while. Need to say that problem started in one of the last 2 updates.
…

[CharlieGilb]

I seem to be able to consistently duplicate it the really bad clipping, as it seems to be when the audio coming in is too hot. What’s strange is the distortion you expect to hear (and can when it’s going through the monitor) is not nearly as bad as when you play it back. It basically just goes from slight clipping to instant extreme aliasing and distortion with just a tiny change in volume.

[speakerdamage]

I’ve had this issue too. have to be very careful with incoming levels if recording to tape.