sampswap
swap samples within loops to make new loops.
this script is forked from makebreakbeat. makebreakbeat worked by building the audio one piece at a time while sampswap copies and pastes to edit audio in-place. sampswap first repeats the original audio and then copies random regions, adds effects to that copy, and then pastes the effected copy to a random position along the loop (editing the file in-place essentially).
this script works best with loops (see notes below for reasons why). it can be used to generate material (especially ābreakbeatā type things) but since it automatically tempolocks and syncs up to four tracks it can be nicely performed.
some may also find this script might be a framework to borrow from or extend (which I happily encourage!). in addition to the normal norns engine, it has a ānon-realtimeā engine which effectively can be used to resample audio processed by any SuperCollider SynthDef. also there is a embedded lua library that wraps sox for easily creating effects+splices (more info about this on my blog). sox splicing works easily because sox can join with crossfades using wave similarity to find best locations. basically sox+scnrt = daw in a primordial form. this script is not trying to reinvent the daw, though. if anything I want this script to be a ārawā (ārandom audio workstationā) where all the operations are random and you only can define their probabilities.
demo:
Requirements
- norns
Documentation
- E1 selects a track
- E2 selects a parameter
- E3 modifies parameter
- K2 generates track
- K3 toggles playing
see the parameters menu for all the parameters. most of the parameters are available on the front UI for quick navigation.
rundown of the screen
the title bar. this shows the current track loaded, and the current index of the generated track (in parentheses).
right below the title bar on the left is āXqn Yā where X is the guessed number of quarter notes in the beat and Y is the guessed bpm. you can change the guessed bpm in the parameters menu.
the third line on the left shows also āXqn Yā but here it is showing that it will generate X beats at tempo Y.
the fourth line that says āoff: Xā shows X beats from the down be to sync the current track.
the fifth line that says ārepitch/stretch/noneā is indicating how the re-tempoing will occur. repitch will simply speed it up/down. stretch will perform a timestretch. none will do nothing.
the seven bars specify the probabilities for adding any of the specified effects to the generated track (except the last bar
which controls amplitude in realtime).
each effect is applied in order and can affect effects further down. basically all the editing happens āin placeā in the file, so you end up with something along these lines:
happy to answer questions and if time permits I can make a little tutorial video.
notes
- track bpms are āguessedā assuming they are loops of even number beats. if you are not using loops then do not expect the input bpm to be correct (and probably the syncing wonāt work).
- input tracks are trimmed before processing, so if your loop has purposeful silence at the end, it probably not be guessed correctly for the right bpm.
- if your track name contains ābpmXā then it will skip guessing the beat and assume the source bpm is X
- this script generates beats slowly. to get around this I suggest generating short beats (16 beats) continuously (beats continue to play when generating).
- when the script starts it needs another 3 seconds to start the non-realtime server so K2 will not function until then (in case you see K2 not doing anything).
Install
install with
;install https://github.com/schollz/sampswap
once you start the script for the first time it will install sox, and sendosc (~8 MB total).
Also what is expected to happen if a file name has a space in it? I donāt think spaces are escaped, I the working directory is left with directories referring to truncated file names.
What does work is giving me amazing Amen-derivate breakbeats at the official 174 bpm and layers swooshing synths. Wicked!
