Pedalboard: Chainable FX for norns

21echoes · 2021-09-24T20:59:10.916Z

+1 to what @zebra said – a preamp is going to give you a much less noisy sound. Pedalboard does have an Input Gain parameter that will give you sufficient gain without a preamp, but that is all digital gain after the analog->digital conversion, so it will sound much noisier than a proper preamp.

eigen · 2021-09-25T12:40:21.969Z

just to complete @zebra & @21echoes’ answers, you ideally want a preamp w/ a DI (aka “instrument”) input or a dedicated DI box before your (mic) preamp.

If you already have a mixer (mackie of other), generally the first few channels have a DI input.

one step above in term of quality (i.e. transparency) is to use a dedicated active DI boxes. those can be fairly expensive. radial is the most popular brand but you can find equally good countryman type 85 for quite cheap secondhand.

i’ve had very impressive results using norns/pedalboard as guitar effects, re-feeding norns output into a guitar amp. if you want to do this, you’d need a reamp box. i can’t recommend enough the palmer daccapo over the more expensive radial ones.

please note than none of the above are strictly necessary: you could indeed plug your guitar straight into norns’ input and norns’ output to your guitar amp. but you’d get a quieter, noisier & muddier sound due to the level/impedance mismatches.

tnelson · 2021-09-25T14:09:46.973Z

If your guitar amp has an effects loop between the preamp and power amp, wouldn’t that be the ideal location for Norns/Pedalboard in the path?

eigen · 2021-09-25T14:24:34.604Z

yes, that’s the most versatile spot. but that’d depend on the effect you’ll use in pedalboard.

you can treat the preamp section of your amp as basically a boost/dist pedal. generally you’d put gain effects at the beginning of your chain (then fuzz, modulation, delay & reverbs going after, generally in that order).

BUT i often like to be creative and but subtle flanger before everything else. likewise, delay or reverb before any dist can produce a nice effect (like on the Black Keys - Next Girl). you can also use pedalboard’s sustain pedal to drive your amp’s preamp differently (hotter longer notes).

generally, if using pedalboard only for dirt, i’d use it before the preamp as the later would put back the dynamics we generally associate w/ guitar tones. if using it for anything else, effect loop is the way to go.

Sundrugs · 2021-09-25T21:29:38.368Z

i’d use it before the preamp

I think it may boost also a noise created by Pedalboard’s effects like distortion or drive.

zbs · 2021-10-05T22:58:08.967Z

just here to say how wonderful this script is, and how wonderful it is to have clouds & friends in my norns. a beautiful pairing with an op-1!

here’s a calm piece of music with some loose loops on the op-1 tape, slowest speed, into clouds + compressor in pedalboard

<3

Pierre2mars · 2021-10-13T20:20:18.629Z

hi 21echoes,
I try to add a new pedal (a simple metronome that matches the norns clock). I started from an existing pedal (tuner), but I get the following error:

/home/we/dust/code/pedalboard/lib/ui/pedals/pedal.lua:418: attempt to call a nil value (field '?')
stack traceback:
/home/we/dust/code/pedalboard/lib/ui/pedals/pedal.lua:418: in method '_message_engine_for_param_change'
/home/we/dust/code/pedalboard/lib/ui/pedals/pedal.lua:405: in method '_set_value_from_param_value'
/home/we/dust/code/pedalboard/lib/ui/pedals/pedal.lua:66: in method '_complete_initialization'
/home/we/dust/code/pedalboard/lib/ui/pedals/metronome.lua:25: in method 'new'
/home/we/dust/code/pedalboard/lib/ui/board.lua:689: in method '_set_pedal_by_index'
/home/we/dust/code/pedalboard/lib/ui/board.lua:149: in field 'action'
/home/we/norns/lua/core/params/option.lua:52: in function 'core/params/option.bang'
/home/we/norns/lua/core/params/option.lua:37: in function 'core/params/option.set'

Seems like it doesn’t find the engine… I added my pedal in board.lua and Engine_Pedalboard.sc. Am I missing anything?

here are the file of my new pedal:

metronome.sc :

MetronPedal : Pedal {
  *id { ^\metronome; }

  *fxArguments { ^[\hz]; }

  *fxDef {^{|wet|
    // Pure sine waves can be rather grating. Keep it at an amplitude of 0.3
    SinOsc.ar(\hz.kr(440), mul: 0.3) ;
  }}
}

metronome.lua :

--- MetronPedal
-- @classmod MetronPedal

local ControlSpec = require "controlspec"
local UI = require "ui"
local Pedal = include("lib/ui/pedals/pedal")
local Controlspecs = include("lib/ui/util/controlspecs")

local MetronPedal = Pedal:new()
-- Must match this pedal's .sc file's *id
MetronPedal.id = "metronome"
-- Measure this value by uncommenting the `...context.server.peakCPU...` line at the end of Engine_Pedalboard.alloc
-- Measure with only this pedal on the board, playing in some audio,
-- collect a few samples, and subtract 8 from the max value you see (and round up!)
MetronPedal.peak_cpu = 1

function MetronPedal:new(bypass_by_default)
  local i = Pedal:new(bypass_by_default)
  setmetatable(i, self)
  self.__index = self

  i.sections = {
    i:_default_section(),
  }
  i:_complete_initialization()
  return i
end

function MetronPedal:name(short)
  return short and "MET" or "Metron"
end

function MetronPedal.params()
  local id_prefix = MetronPedal.id
  return {
    Pedal._default_params(id_prefix)
  }
end
return MetronPedal

best regards,

Pierre

zbs · 2021-10-14T13:23:56.865Z

You can make code blocks like this:

```code here```

Would make it easier to read your post

Pierre2mars · 2021-10-14T15:29:48.299Z

thanks, it is much better now!

21echoes · 2021-10-14T19:07:30.037Z

Hey Pierre! Would love to help out Can you link me to a GitHub link or something else so I can try out your code on my machine and dig in more? Also let’s take this to DM to minimize the noise on the thread I’ll summarize what we find out in DM back here in the thread for others to learn from

CathMart · 2021-11-06T21:10:20.885Z

Can someone please point me to some information on connecting and using a iPad with TouchOSC to the Pedalboard script, please.
I can get the iPad to “see” Norns but that’s about it.? It loads the IP address, but the Norns does not seem to “see” the iPad. I have looked but I cant find any info about connecting a OSC to the norns, other than it is possible.
Specifically - is the iPad /OSC going to appear in the Devices? If not where? There is no CC number, so its “learning” for each parameter, I suppose.
Is TouchOSC the app to use? Is the 16n a better option, I am specifically talking about the Pedalboard script.

21echoes · 2021-11-07T16:02:43.340Z

Apologies, I don’t have an iPad so I’ve never dug in to the TouchOSC integration with norns. From seeing it discussed elsewhere on lines, I think you need to make a custom layout for a specific norns app? In which case someone would have to make one for Pedalboard. I could be way off base here, though.

I believe most 16n builds have midi out, so that should just plug n play, and you can use norns’s built-in midi “map” functionality. (I don’t have a 16n either, so apologies I can’t confirm)

Agraham1987 · 2022-02-01T16:38:03.143Z

Hey,
Sorry for the very very basic question -
How do I save my current pedal board chain?

P.S I LOVE THIS SCRIPT

21echoes · 2022-02-01T19:37:37.053Z

Thanks so much! Everything uses the norns parameter system, so you can just save the PSET as usual:

K1 to open the system menu, E1 to scroll all the way to the right, E2 to highlight PSET >, K3 to select PSET >, E3 to scroll to an empty slot (indicated by a -), K3 to select the slot, name the pset and select OK, and you’re done! Load any previously saved pset by using E2 to select “LOAD” instead of “SAVE” within the PSET > menu (and K3 to execute the LOAD operation)

Agraham1987 · 2022-02-01T20:48:40.485Z

Thanks for coming back to me!
I’m on a Norns Shield - can’t seem to find the PSET option in system menu?

21echoes · 2022-02-01T21:00:25.108Z

Both factory norns and norns shield run the same software, so this isn’t a shield vs not-shield issue. Are you sure you launched Pedalboard, then hit K1 to open the system menu, then used E1 to scroll all the way to the right? (scrolling all the way to the left shows the LEVELS page. then one to the right of that is the TAPE page. then one to the right of that is the HOME page with the script selector/settings. then finally all the way to the right is the script PARAMS page, which is where you’ll find PSET. see https://monome.org/docs/norns/norns-first.pdf)

Agraham1987 · 2022-02-01T21:05:12.820Z

Thanks for your patience…I’ve found it and am saving presets like a lunatic. Once again, I love this script!

keston · 2022-09-09T19:52:01.774Z

+1 Are there any plans to make the tremolo stereo? I’d love to get that Rhodes Suitcase sound happening with my Mark I

21echoes · 2022-09-13T22:46:12.391Z

I haven’t had much time for norns development recently, but I’d love to review any PRs that try to add that! It should be very simple:

add a new “stereo phase” param to the Tremolo pedal
- this will require a new section header that matches its position in the params list
add a matching argument to the SuperCollider Tremolo definition, and pass its value in to the phase parameter of the amplitude modulator
- you’ll want to pass it in to all four sub-channels, and it reads like they sadly all accept different ranges to represent 360° (these are all built in to SuperCollider, so no idea why it was designed this way). Just use LinLin to map whatever your input range is to each different oscillator’s range):

All in all should only be about 14 lines

Nuno_Zimas · 2023-01-06T14:59:39.451Z

I’ve tried to save a pedal board using the default Pset menu, but the next time I initiated the script and then tried to load the saved preset, nothing happened. I am still asked to create a pedal board from scratch. Isn’t there a way to save pedalboards?