sc - renoise

SuperCollider and Renoise extensions that allow integration of the two tools.

Status

Currently only a single part of the SC extension exists. The class does two things currently:

• Maps SynthDef's to Renoise instruments such that they can be sequenced/played/recorded in the manner of any other Renoise instrument.

• Provides quick access to all of Renoise's OSC commands

Although this code is functional you should note that this is work in progress and is likely to change significantly.

It's only been tested on Linux with Jack installed.

Setting Up

SuperCollider

• This class requires the JACK Quark to be present. See Using Quarks in the Help if you aren't sure how to install this.

• Copy Renoise.sc in to your SC Extension's folder. You can find its location by executing the following in SC:

  Platform.userExtensionDir; 
  

• SC now needs to be restarted

Renoise

• Renoise needs to be set up to use Jack Audio in it's Audio Preferences with at least 4 (preferably more) input channel's.

• OSC communication needs to be turned on in Renoise.

Use

Preparing SuperCollider

Boot the server and connect MIDI inputs to SC:

s.boot;
MIDIIn.connectAll;

Using the Renoise class in SuperCollider

Create a Renoise object:

r = Renoise();

or if you've tweaked the OSC settings in Renoise:

r = Renoise("127.0.0.1", 3333);

Creating a Renoise Instrument for a SynthDef

Define a SynthDef in the usual manner:

(
SynthDef(\sound, { |out = 0, gate = 1, freq = 440, amp = 0.5|
	var sig, env;

	env = EnvGen.kr(Env.adsr(0.01, 0.9, 0.3, 1), gate, doneAction: 2);

	sig = Pulse.ar(freq) * amp * env;

	Out.ar(out, sig);	
}).add
)

Then create a Renoise instrument and have it wired up to the SynthDef like so:

r.createSynthDefInstrument(\sound)

Switch over to Renoise and trigger the SynthDef by playing the keyboard. This can now be sequenced/played/recorded like any other Renoise instrument.

How the SynthDef mapping worked

\sound Synths are now being triggered by MIDI notes coming from Renoise, with it's parameters mapped as follows:

• MIDI note -> freq
• MIDI velocity -> amp
• MIDI note on/off -> gate

The out argument of the SynthDef was automatically set an appropriate SC output which is routed into Renoise via a Line Input device.

The .createSynthDefInstrument() method is clever/presumptuous enough to detect if a SynthDef should be played monophonicly or polyphonicly and also deals with mono/stereo SynthDefs sensibly.

If the SynthDef passed in does free itself it will be set up such thatmultiple Synths are created and can be played polyphonicly.

A single Synth will be created if the SynthDef passed in doesn't free itself (has no doneAction) and it's parameters changed each time a note comes in. i.e. it is played in a monophonic fashion.

Manipulating Renoise

Now set up Renoise's bpm and start and stop it playing:

r.bpm = 128;
r.start;

Mute and unmute a track:

r.muteTrack(3);
r.unmuteTrack(3);

Change a device parameter's value:

// set track: 1, device: 4, parameter: 3 to 0.5
r.setDeviceParameter(1, 4, 3, 0.5);

Play Renoise Instruments:

// play instrument 1 on track 1 with note 64, velocity 111
r.noteOn(1, 1, 64, 111)
// turn off note
r.noteOff(1, 1, 64)

All of Renoise's OSC commands have convenience methods similar to those above. You'll need to refer to the "Standard renoise OSC messages" section of Renoise.sc to find them for now, they won't be documented properly for a few days yet.

Contact Details

It'd be much appreciated if you could log questions, bugs and feature requests here: https://github.com/triss/sc-renoise/issues

I'll also respond to queries on sc-users or to mails sent directly to me at tristan.strange@gmail.com

Cheers,

Tristan