Norns: tutorial

zebra · 2019-06-17T03:16:21.038Z

neauoire:

When disconnecting the grid, the .remove callback is fired twice.

ah, i remember something like that. thought it was fixed? can’t find the GH issue.

neauoire:

.connect() doesn’t throw any error if there’s no grid to connect to.

i think it should return nil?

neauoire · 2019-06-17T03:17:38.045Z

Even tho the grid is not connected, for .connect(), I get:

all	function: 0x31da28
name	monome 128 m1000454
refresh	function: 0x328018
add	function: 0x354590
rotation	function: 0x325eb0
cols	16
rows	8
remove	function: 0x3c2d48
led	function: 0x346688

zebra · 2019-06-17T03:20:19.254Z

ok, mea culpa, thanks for investigating.

i shouldn’t make any more statments without being able to verify them - which i can’t do, i’m travelling without a grid for several weeks.

neauoire · 2019-06-17T03:21:26.787Z

That’s alright Thank you so much for your time and energy to help me. I think I can find something that works somewhat-reliably with what you’ve showed me, and I will update as new tools become available.

markeats · 2019-06-17T07:26:13.214Z

You can check my_grid.device (after connecting) to see if a grid is still there.

neauoire · 2019-06-17T07:29:45.394Z

Yes, I ended up finding out.

I have updated the grid example with a check for a connected device.

grid.png900×416 504 Bytes

I have also updated all examples with a pretty splash screen!

splash.png900×416 403 Bytes

I am now working on an example that lets an application switch between available engines as explained here.

tehn · 2019-06-17T20:08:43.280Z

tiny heads up that util.clamp(min,max,input) is always available, no need to define it locally

okyeron · 2019-06-17T21:22:08.017Z

I was actually confused about this. Do you need to require "util" or not to use util.clamp etc.?

If not - then why are some libs like musicutil not available all the time?

tehn · 2019-06-17T21:48:04.784Z

util and tabutil are used a lot and so they are added globally by default: https://github.com/monome/norns/blob/master/lua/core/startup.lua#L4

neauoire · 2019-06-18T00:00:32.015Z

Since the tools seem to be shifting quite fast, I will try to make the tutorials as stand-alone as possible, I was thinking maybe a further tutorial, would be about including libraries.

mimetaur · 2019-06-18T11:43:35.135Z

I think these different interfaces are a result of two different ways of managing voices in SuperCollider. e.g. PolyPerc doesn’t have any kind of voice management, it just fires off a one-shot amplitude envelope when you use .hz() I had to watch Eli Fieldsteel’s SuperCollider tutorials on YouTube to get a handle on that.

I wonder if under the current model we might need engine-wrapping “middleware” in lua that checks what an engine responds to and fires off the appropriate method — and your script introspecting all these engines is a good first start.

neauoire · 2019-06-18T21:19:04.718Z

I could make a small tool that handles that if someone else want to implement engine switching

I’ve added a series of links to the tutorial:

Useful Links

Help Thread, support community.
Scripting Thread, libraries community.
Development Thread, tools community.
API docs, documentation.
Repository, source files.

neauoire · 2019-06-19T11:12:31.793Z

I have replaced the engine tutorial with a tutorial that explains how to include relative files.

Include

In Maiden, look at the tenth example file of this tutorial.

Navigate to the tenth example with code > tutorial > A_include.lua.
Run the script by clicking on the play button to the top right of the Maiden window.
Rotate the knobs to change the position values of the included file.

A_include.png?raw=true900×416

Including files with local view1 = include('lib/view1'), will first look in the directory of the current script. This allows using relative paths to use libraries local to the script. The returned value of the included script will be available in your main script file.

-- lib/target.lua
return {
  value = 5
}

-- main script
local target = include('lib/target')
print(target.value)

neauoire · 2019-06-21T12:07:37.482Z

Added a new tutorial that explains how to add and read parameters.

Parameters

In Maiden, look at the eleventh example file of this tutorial.

Navigate to the tenth example with code > tutorial > B_parameters.lua.
Run the script by clicking on the play button to the top right of the Maiden window.
Press the leftmost key, rotate the leftmost knobs to the right, to see and modify the available parameters.

B_parameters.png?raw=true900×416

New parameters can be added with params:add, and read with params:get.

-- Add
params:add{type = "number", id = "number", name = "Number", min = 1, max = 48, default = 4}
params:add{type = "option", id = "option", name = "Option", options = {'yes','no'}, default = 1}

-- Read
print(params:get("number"))

neauoire · 2019-06-23T12:03:20.956Z

Everyday I learn new things about Lua, and today I learnt how to utilize the :method() syntax and rebuilt the Include example to demonstrate how to use it.

Include

In Maiden, look at the tenth example file of this tutorial.

Navigate to the tenth example with code > tutorial > A_include.lua.
Run the script by clicking on the play button to the top right of the Maiden window.
Rotate the knobs to change the position values of the included file.
Press the key to select a different view.

A_include.png?raw=true900×416

Including files with local view = include('lib/view'), will first look in the directory of the current script. This allows using relative paths to use libraries local to the script. The returned value of the included script will be available in your main script file.

-- lib/target.lua
return {
  value = 5
}

-- main script
local target = include('lib/target')
print(target.value)

In lua, you can create new objects and methods as described the following snippet, notice how the self parameter is omitted when using the colon character before the method name.

obj = { c = 4 }

obj.add = function(self,a,b) 
  return a + b + self.c
end

obj:add(2,3) -- 9

neauoire · 2019-08-11T05:25:06.211Z

In Maiden, look at the softcut example file of this tutorial.

Navigate to the example and run the script.
Connect a sound source, into the 4th input(Input 1) from the left of the Norns.
Fade between the sound source and the recorded loop, by rotating the leftmost knob.
Change the offset of the recorded loop, by rotating the second knob.
Change the length of recorded loop, by rotating the rightmost knob.
Change the playback speed, by pressing the rightmost buttons.

C_softcut.png?raw=true900×416

Softcut is a recording tool built into the Norns, it makes it easy to record and play samples at various speed. Generally, the softcut methods will operate on a voice, softcut has a maximum of 6 voices, so the functions are always in the format of .method(voice_id,value). For example, here a few methods used in this example file:

softcut.fade_time(1,0.25), set the fade in/out length of the sample, of voice1, to 0.25.
softcut.rate(1,2), set the rate(speed), of the sample to play, at speed 200%, also -2 would play in reverse.
softcut.loop_start(2,0.5), set the offset of the sample, of voice2, to 0.5.
softcut.loop_end(3,4), set the limit of the sample, of voice3, to 4.

You can also explore each one with the Softcut Studies.

neauoire · 2019-08-11T07:14:06.709Z

The camera shutter was slightly too slow to capture the screen, but this is the softcut patch in operation, using a monotron as source source. I was intimidated with softcut for a while since but it’s actually pretty straightforward, you should give it a shot

Molotov · 2019-08-15T17:55:27.545Z

Thanks for these tutorials, very clear and concise!

So I’m trying these out for the first time and reached the fifth example (output) but getting no sound, plus repeating errors in matron:

stack traceback:
/home/we/dust/code/tutorial/5_output.lua:114: in field 'event'
/home/we/norns/lua/core/metro.lua:165: in function 
</home/we/norns/lua/core/metro.lua:162>
lua: /home/we/dust/code/tutorial/5_output.lua:114: attempt to 
call a nil value (field 'hz')
stack traceback:
/home/we/dust/code/tutorial/5_output.lua:114: in field 'event'
/home/we/norns/lua/core/metro.lua:165: in function 
</home/we/norns/lua/core/metro.lua:162>

Also sixth example (input) wont load either.
(I recently updated norns to 190801 if that makes a difference?)

Cheers

okyeron · 2019-08-15T19:18:51.419Z

Did you SYSTEM>RESET or otherwise reboot norns since installing the tutorials? It needs this to find the OutputTutorial engine used in the scripts.

Molotov · 2019-08-15T19:22:48.550Z

Ack, you’re right of course. Reset fixed it. THANKYOU!