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https://github.com/dnouri/midi2sc

Control SuperCollider Synths with MIDI
https://github.com/dnouri/midi2sc

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Control SuperCollider Synths with MIDI

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README 

        
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midi2sc

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Installation

============



You can install ``midi2sc`` with ``easy_install``::



  $ easy_install midi2sc



However, you also need to install pkaudio_ and its dependencies.



.. _pkaudio: http://trac2.assembla.com/pkaudio



You can use subversion to check out a known good version of pkaudio

from SVN like so::



  svn co http://subversion.assembla.com/svn/pkaudio/ -r13



Then, run ``python setup.py install`` inside the pkaudio directory to

install pkaudio.



Usage

=====



``midi2sc`` allows you to assign MIDI controllers to SuperCollider_

``SynthDefs``.



.. _SuperCollider: http://supercollider.sourceforge.net



Configuration

-------------



An example configuration::



  [SOSkick]

  midi_channel = 01

  001 = amp_mul=            AbsoluteControl(min=0.0, max=1.27, start_vel=100.0)

  106 = mod_freq=           IDC(min=2.0, max=20.0, steps=50, value=2.0)

  107 = mod_index=          IDC(min=2.0, max=20.0, steps=50, value=2.0)

  108 = beater_noise_level= IDC(min=2.0, max=20.0, steps=50, value=18.0)

  109 = decay=              IDC(min=0.05, max=1.0, steps=70, value=0.3)

  noteon_args = out=18



This configuration will create and assign 7 controls: one of type

``AbsoluteControl``, four of type ``IDC`` (IncDecControl).  The two

controls implicitly created are a ``NoteOnControl`` and a

``NoteOffControl``.



The ``001`` midi controller is usually the modulation wheel.  Here

it's bound to the ``amp_mul`` argument of an ``SOSkick`` SynthDef.

``min`` is the value sent to the SuperCollider Synth when the wheel is

at its lowest position, ``max`` the value at its highest position.



The ``106`` midi controller is bound to an endless encoder that sends

relative values between ``01 to 64`` for increment and ``127 to 065``

for decrement.  There's 50 ``steps`` between the ``min`` and ``max``

value.  And the value at which we start is ``2.0``.



SuperCollider

-------------



This is how a SynthDef could look like that uses the configuration

from before::



  SynthDef("SOSkick", {



    arg out = 0, freq = 50, mod_freq = 6.5, mod_index = 19.5,

    decay = 0.1, amp = 0.8, beater_noise_level = 0.001, amp_mul = 1.0;

    

    var x;

    // ...

    Out.ar(out, x);

  });



Make sure you have your SuperCollider server up and SynthDefs loaded

before you start ``midi2sc``.



Starting midi2sc

----------------



On the command-line, ``midi2sc`` is run like this::



  $ midi2sc



This assumes that you have a ``midi2sc.ini`` configuration file in the

current working directory.  You can also provide this filename as an

option on the command-line.  Refer to the built-in help for more

options::



  $ midi2sc --help



``midi2sc`` will ask you for a MIDI port to bind to, and then it'll

start a GUI that shows all sliders and finally drop you into an

interactive shell with access to variables like dictionary of control

``handlers`` and the ``save_presets`` and ``load_presets`` functions.

To save presets (values from all controllers) from a file on the

Python shell and then load them again later, you write::



  >>> save_presets('presets1.pickle', midi_in)

  >>> # ... time passes

  >>> load_presets('presets0.pickle', midi_in)



You can also load a new ``midi2sc.ini`` configuration::



  >>> handlers.update(configure.read('midi2sc2.ini'))



Screenshot

----------



.. image:: http://danielnouri.org/media/midi2sc-01.png

   :alt: midi2sc's GUI together with Seq24



Development Status

==================



``midi2sc`` is somewhat mature, and I use it.  At the same time it's a

big hack and probably not thread-safe.



Change Log

----------



0.1 - 2009-06-30

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  - First release.