Orca - Livecoding Tool

nonmateria · 2021-06-07T17:36:21.880Z

Oneven:

Are there any plans to implement micro tuning? Would be nice to use other tuning systems than 12 tet.

I think the best way to handle microtuning in orca is by using the OSC operator instead of MIDI and then managing the tuning on the synth-side.

I’ve coded my own (a bit esoteric) sampler to use with ORCA, that actually manages its own microtunings:

Codeberg.org

folderkit

ORCΛ Esosampler Companion

DaBroni · 2021-06-09T18:24:44.277Z

Hello!
I’ve finally managed to output some MIDI from my Raspberry through a good ol’ 5-pin Din cable.

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What’s bothering me though is that there doesn’t seem to be any clock messages coming out of the Pi. I’ve checked on Pocket MIDI on my desktop; I only see notes on/off.
I’m using the latest Orca-c version and ttymidi to send the messages on the Pi’s UART. I guess the problem comes from either of these.
If anyone could help me, that would be great!

tentakill · 2021-06-09T18:37:22.891Z

I’ve been experimenting with Orca for a couple months now and I’m really enjoying it. Until recently my main computing device was a MS Surface 3 tablet from 2015. It got the job done for sending MIDI to external gear, but if I tried to using something like Pilot on my tablet I could really only use one voice at a time. I also noticed that if I started to build anything mildly complex (MIDI only, but with lots of R, U, and Z operators sending notes to multiple instruments) the clock would fluctuate noticeably. I assume this is just the tablet being underpowered and not an issue with Orca itself. So, I recently picked up a new M1 MacBook Air. Seeing as the desktop version of Orca for Mac OS won’t run on Big Sur, is there a better option than using the web version of Orca? Would it be possible for me to compile Orca-C locally and run it in a Terminal window?

neauoire · 2021-06-10T15:02:36.781Z

@DaBroni What’s bothering me though is that there doesn’t seem to be any clock messages coming out of the Pi. I’ve checked on Pocket MIDI on my desktop; I only see notes on/off.

Sorry, I don’t think orca-c sends midi clock messages.

@tentakill Seeing as the desktop version of Orca for Mac OS won’t run on Big Sur, is there a better option than using the web version of Orca?

You could use orca-toy(which is what i use), or orca-c in the terminal. Both are extremely light, Pilot is very heavy, maybe you could use another synth than Pilot and still use the old Orca browser version if you’re already familiar with it.

DaBroni · 2021-06-10T16:06:21.232Z

neauoire:

Sorry, I don’t think orca-c sends midi clock messages.

Well, I was thinking it could since there seems to be an option for it in the menu.

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Any chance to see this feature added in the future?

tentakill · 2021-06-10T16:22:18.696Z

neauoire:

Pilot is very heavy, maybe you could use another synth than Pilot and still use the old Orca browser version if you’re already familiar with it.

Honestly, I didn’t expect that old tablet to do a great job running Pilot. I mentioned it mostly as an example of the device’s lack of processing power. Now that I have my new daily driver I’m going to strip down that Surface and just use it to run Orca and a couple MIDI patch editors. Once it has less garbage running on it, I imagine it will be fine for testing ideas in Orca, as I will primarily just be controlling external hardware.

I’ll have to try to get orca-toy up and running on the M1 MBA this weekend and see how that goes. Not that I’m hurting for CPU power or memory on that machine, but Chrome seems to be a real memory hog, which is why I’m looking for an option that’s not in the browser.

nonmateria · 2021-06-10T18:16:48.950Z

neauoire:

Sorry, I don’t think orca-c sends midi clock messages.

actually orca-c has midi clock out, and it’s happening here:

github.com

hundredrabbits/Orca-c/blob/master/tui_main.c#L1318


      
            if (spins > 0) {
              fprintf(stderr, "%d spins in %f us with timeout %d\n", (int)spins,
                      stm_us(stm_since(spin_start)), spin_track_timeout);
            }
          #endif
            if (!crossed_deadline)
              return;
            if (a->midi_bclock) {
              send_midi_byte(oosc_dev, midi_mode, 0xF8); // MIDI beat clock
              Usz sixths = a->midi_bclock_sixths;
              a->midi_bclock_sixths = (U8)((sixths + 1) % 6);
              if (sixths != 0)
                return;
            }
            apply_time_to_sustained_notes(oosc_dev, midi_mode, secs_span,
                                          &a->susnote_list, &a->time_to_next_note_off);
            clear_and_run_vm(a->field.buffer, a->mbuf_r.buffer, a->field.height,
                             a->field.width, a->tick_num, &a->oevent_list,
                             a->random_seed);
            ++a->tick_num;
            a->needs_remarking = true;

but i’m having strange behavior too, the ‘0xF8’ midi message is not being sent, but if i change that line to ‘0xFA’ (that’s for midi clock start ) it works, continuosly sending midi clock start messages

i still don’t know if it’s a bug of orca-c or something else on alsa or some obscure setting of portmidi

@DaBroni you’re using Pocket MIDI on what system? i’m just monitoring with amidi -p hw:1,0 -d at the moment

DaBroni · 2021-06-10T19:17:31.868Z

nonmateria:

you’re using Pocket MIDI on what system?

On Windows 10. I usually monitor what’s going out of the Pi with ttymidi, but since it didn’t display any clock messages, I wanted to see if it was either not showing them or not sending them at all. And, well, it doesn’t send them at all.

Edit : I just checked ttymidi’s doc and apparently, it doesn’t handle clock messages. Any alternatives?

neauoire · 2021-06-10T21:54:14.979Z

Oh okay, i don’t have any device that takes midi clock stuff so I never really bothered looking into that sort of things, thanks for correction

nonmateria · 2021-06-12T13:45:53.021Z

DaBroni:

Edit : I just checked ttymidi’s doc and apparently, it doesn’t handle clock messages. Any alternatives?

sorry, i still have to do any experiments with midi on a raspberry, but i’ll try to test orca-c midi clock output to some midi hardware as soon as i meet a friend with an available device

DaBroni · 2021-06-12T14:08:05.110Z

Well, I checked ttymidi.c’s code and it shoudn’t be that hard to add clock handling. I haven’t type a single line of code for at least 10 years though. I’ll ask a friend too.

RMBLRX · 2021-06-13T09:53:03.116Z

I’ve been using ORCA-C as my clock source on Bitwig (over virtual MIDI) and to the NerdSEQ (either directly through the outboard MIDI interface or indirectly through Bitwig to the interface). Not on a Pi, but on Linux and over Alsa. Seems to work as expected.

neauoire · 2021-06-16T15:44:12.872Z

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Devlog

I’ve been pretty quiet on here and I wanted to give a little update. A few weeks ago, I realized that I felt a bit suffocated by C programming and I needed to try something else.

So I’ve designed a little computer created especially to be easily implemented and emulated, and use it as a target for all the tools I make. You can learn more about the path that lead me here.

Uxn emulators are already available for all desktop platforms(win/osx/linux/plan9) and various handhelds(NDS/GBA) and even the web browser. This version will be instantly available for all these various platforms and will include a little uxn sound synth operator.

I should have a demo soon, the goal is to use this upcoming version for Flash Crash, who knows, maybe one day Uxn might even work on the Norns.

nonverbalpoetry · 2021-06-16T17:03:02.726Z

This is incredible and confusing at the same time, but it makes me desperately what to learn how to make it exist on my computer

neauoire · 2021-06-16T17:28:59.402Z

Think of it like running SNES games on a modern computer, you install an emulator that can understand the game(.rom)'s machine code. The Uxn emulator is that same sort of program, it understands the Uxn machine code and draws pixels, plays sounds as if it’s a real device.

Maybe this blog post might help you understand this paradigm better

To run Uxn on your computer to need to have SDL2 installed(you probably already do).

Installation

git clone https://git.sr.ht/~rabbits/uxn
./build.sh # to start

nonverbalpoetry · 2021-06-16T17:35:35.455Z

Awesome thank you!! As a fellow boat dweller and audio + visual artist who doesn’t own a computer less than 11 years old, this is a literal dream!

neauoire · 2021-06-16T17:43:50.881Z

Oh cool! Are you on mastodon by any chance?

nonverbalpoetry · 2021-06-16T18:03:44.451Z

I’m not, but I just googled it and I’m very into it, so I might be very soon!

Edit:
@neauoire they had me at ‘We only list communities that are committed to active moderation against racism, sexism and transphobia.’ Fen (@nonverbalpoetry@queer.party) - Queer Party!

atomboyd · 2021-06-16T19:55:57.325Z

Yes, but can I play Paradise on it?

Seriously though, thanks for continuing to create and share. We don’t deserve you two.

eis · 2021-06-17T06:37:58.604Z

Hey, this question has probably been asked a million times, so sorry to ask it again. I want to use ORCA on my PocketCHIP and sequence my hardware which is connected to the Computer using Bitwig (on Windows Sorry). So I would need my PocketCHIP to act as some kind of client to Bitwig. Is this possible? Thanks!