rpls

[andrew]

rpls

varispeed multitap echo. 3 taps (1 recording, 2 playing) cycle through 3 buffers. alter the rate of each playback tap independently from the record tap to create sliced rhythmic & harmonic counterpoint from the input signal in real-time, free from tape head collisions & audible clicks.

a spiritual successor to alliterate.

patch notes: rpls (varispeed multitap echo for monome norns )

hardware

required

• norns (210927 or later)
• audio input

install

install from the maiden catalog

or

in the maiden REPL, type:

;install https://github.com/andr-ew/rpls/releases/download/latest/complete-source-code.zip

documentation

read here

thanks to:

• @fourhexagons for making selected public works vol. 5 ! the excellent use of (I assume) strymon magneto’s shift mode on that album inspired me to revisit the varispeed delay concept that I started on with alliterate, and make it click-free (by shifting(?) the playheads around separate buffers). not sure whether rpls uses the same effect as magneto, but I’m super happy with what I ended up with !
• ezra for softcut + norns core team for the clock system. really felt like I was pushing both systems to weird corners for this script, but they held up so well !
• @glia, @Jordskred + others for following me down the rabit hole with feedback / inspo in the early phases ~*~

[Brett_Gershon]

Hell (20 characters) yeah!

[edison]

well shit!
amazing demo…
i know what i’m doing tonight.

[Deru]

Looks so good. Thank you!

[glia]

@andrew

a spiritual successor to alliterate .

you know this is my favorite app maybe…ever? i’ve gotten an irrational amount of mileage from alliterate and ekphras tricks

speaking of ek, “steam grains” demo sounds exactly like when i modulate the POS param and record the output! i know it’s softcut magic at the heart of both so i shouldn’t be so shocked but it sounds wonderful

other things i’m keen to try:

• “locked groove” and “one osc” also sound reminiscent of existing gestures i like using but offer unique controls which i look forward to messing with
• playback direction flipping and upward octave cascades of “spiraling” and “cofp” BOTH seem immediately useful for creating new rhythms

[marcus_fischer]

Beautiful m!
Looking forward to trying it out

[corbetta]

Love the concept and implementation—its right up my alley at the intersection of pitch and rhythm .

Question—are rates limited to 6 as the largest factor? Would love to check if possible to expand to 7 or above for more juicy JI pitch/rhythm constructions…

[sixolet]

Wow. Just wow. What a plain and simple way of visually and conceptually explaining an audio processor that can get into wildly complex territory. I love it.

I also came here to say that if you want to play synths into rpls with just one norns and a midi controller, I recommend installing:

GitHub - sixolet/nbin: Basic Norns mod to input midi to nb.

and

GitHub - sixolet/emplaitress: leeloo dallas multiplaits

… and then make sure that engine is routed to softcut in the params. This is what I am doing right now and it works great!

[fellowfinch]

Got my warm green tea and I’m ready to dive in!
Thank you so much for sharing, Andrew!

[XHG]

@sixolet

… and then make sure that engine is routed to softcut in the params. This is what I am doing right now and it works great!

This sounds great - I couldn’t figure out how to make this work though. I installed and activated NB, NBIN and EMPLAITRESS and managed to play it via MIDI when NB was running but not when RPLS was active. Also how do you route the engine to soft cut?

Edit 1: got it running after installing and activating NB, NBIN, NBOUT and TG from here. After this, there are several new sections at the end of parameters where you chose midi in, engine and so on. Pretty straightforward.

Edit 2: Having an absolute blast with RPLS and EMPLAITRESS! Thanks so much for making these!

[glia]

is there a way to install all of nb in one go?

i wondered if w/syn modes could work with this so i’m glad you posted about it

[speakerdamage]

great demo!

I’ve been out of the norns loop for a while, what’s the synth script in the first part?

[glia]

i’m pretty sure its wrms

or awake if by first you meant this part

[andrew]

@glia

softcut magic

yep ! in both cases it should just be a bunch of soft cuts happening real fast (with rpls you get to hear it at multiple pitches). I’ve so underexplored ekphras that I have never tried the POS trick but I imagine it must do cool cool similar things

@marcus_fischer

Beautiful m!
Looking forward to trying it out

tysm for giving it a look marcus <3 I think if I follow the thread of this idea back before alliterate it might’ve all started with some old max thing I read about in dust breeding (which I read through diligently circa-2018 when I was first getting ino max).

regardless I definitely credit your music with introducing me to the whole general concept of “hear the thing, then here it slow / reverse / fast / etc” so thank you for that ! it’s definitely been a rewarding hole to keep on spelunking at.

@corbetta

intersection of pitch and rhythm

dumb

what if we kissed at the intersection of pitch and rhythm

@corbetta

rates limited to 6 as the largest factor

yep – there’s a limit because of performance. to the best of my limited understanding – the higher the rate, the more CPU that softcut uses. since rpls uses all 6 voices I expect it’ll break down at some point but I haven’t done much work to test what that limit is. could be 6, could be 8, could be 64, just needs testing!

@sixolet

Wow. Just wow. What a plain and simple way of visually and conceptually explaining an audio processor that can get into wildly complex territory. I love it.

thanks @sixolet ! more than other things I feel that rpls is a concept that landed in my brain more or less arbitrary – honored to be the one to get to share it with all of you.

@sixolet

I also came here to say that if you want to play synths into rpls with just one norns and a midi controller, I recommend installing:

this is great ! I’m behind on nb after my lines vacation but I know it’s genius. I was fumbling on how to maybe squeeze rpls into a mod or at least separate the softcut bits into a lib but I can rest well knowing that the smart other ppl have figured it out for me(/us)

@fellowfinch

green

@speakerdamage

I’ve been out of the norns loop for a while, what’s the synth script in the first part?

the one hooked up to 64 grid on norns shield in the intro is orgn ~

[Glitcher]

Just been running Flora into rpls and it sounds phenomenal. I’m blown away, thanks so much for sharing

[vinc]

Impressed by the white text in blue graphic at first sight, without reading what this script actually do.

[corbetta]

@andrew

yep – there’s a limit because of performance. to the best of my limited understanding – the higher the rate, the more CPU that softcut uses. since rpls uses all 6 voices I expect it’ll break down at some point but I haven’t done much work to test what that limit is. could be 6, could be 8, could be 64, just needs testing!

Kewl—I’m going to install it this week and futz around, may ping you about clues as to where in the code to mess with rate limits when I do…

[sixolet]

Here’s an interesting one — it turns out that if you make the feedback add up to > 1, at least in some configurations, a DC offset builds up, chokes out the signal, and the script goes silent.

At least, that’s my theory as to what is going on. Evidence for my theory: Listen to what happens when I hit “reset” after it’s gone silent with a nice three-way expanding feedback loop…

I really like this clip but I am not sure it is what was intended.

[fellowfinch]

Wow, lost myself for hours yesterday just randomly pushing material out of OP-1 into rpls. I really hope that something like orgnwrms would be possible to make with rpls as well, so I can use a sound source straight from the engine into rpls. orgnwrms remains one of my fav scripts because of that

[sixolet]

That is what I was explaining how to do above, with the pile of mods, if you have a midi controller.