Patterns, Events, Streams - Week 8 Fall 2023 MUS 499C - Intro to SuperCollider 

Something like this? s.boot; ( SynthDef(\a, { arg fhi = 1000; var sig, fenv, env; fenv = Env([fhi, 20], [0.1], [-2]).kr; env = Env.perc(0.001, 0.2).kr(2); sig = Saw.ar([80, 81]); sig = LPF.ar(sig, fenv, 0.3) * env; Out.ar(\out.ir(0), sig); }).add ) ( p = Pbind( \instrument, \a, \dur, 0.25, \fhi, Pexprand(100, 20000) ).play )

Sure, though it depends on exactly how long of a file we're talking about, and also on the design of the SynthDef being used, maybe a few other factors to consider. Are you running into a specific issue?

@@elifieldsteel Thanks! I have a 16-second audio file. (It's exactly 16 seconds because the chords are playing at 120bpm, which works great for SC's internal clock.) I'd like to loop the file with Pbind, using TempoClock (e.g., .play(t, quant: 4)). Would the \dur key be factored in? If so, how can I include it? Or, is there a more intuitive way to use audio files like drum loops for performance? Thanks always for the help.

There are different ways to loop/sync sound files. Patterns would not be my first choice. I'd probably consider using BufRd/Phasor, which seems more idiomatic. If you want to use patterns, you'll set \dur to a beat value that corresponds to the duration of the buffer you want to loop, and use a SynthDef that plays a buffer once with doneAction:2. Since your buffer is 16 seconds long, this value would be 16 * t.tempo (assuming you're not doing any playback rate changes). b = Buffer.read(s, "path/to/16sec/buffer.wav"); ( SynthDef(\oneshot, { var sig, buf = \buf.ir(0); sig = PlayBuf.ar(1, buf, BufRateScale.ir(buf), doneAction:2); Out.ar(0, sig ! 2); }).add; ) t = TempoClock(120/60).permanent_(true); ( Pbind( \instrument, \oneshot, \buf, b, \dur, 16 * t.tempo, ).play(t, quant: 4); )

@@elifieldsteel Thanks, Eli! It works! I think "t.tempo" is the ticket. I've explored the BufRd/Phasor method that you provided in your videos. I like it better, but is there a way to incorporate TempoClock with it? From what I understand, TempoClock is an Event specific thing. But it'd be great to start and stop the loops at specific beat multiples, and I can only see this working with something like Pbind. Thanks always for your helpful answers.

Yes! An important observation is that one of these Pbinds is generating \phrase type events, instead of the more typical ote type events. I'm not extensively familiar with this variant, but I think it's essentially a way of having one Pbind recursively embed another Pbind (including itself) within its own context. The relevant help file is here: doc.sccode.org/Tutorials/JITLib/recursive_phrasing.html and it has lots of examples.

😊thanks a lot ! @@elifieldsteel