Playing with Music: Ruby and Sonic Pi

Sonic Pi is a fantastic tool for playing music and learning to code. And it uses Ruby!!!

In this talk we'll have a quick overview of Sonic Pi's capabilities and explore how much it can benefit from the power and flexibility provided by Ruby.

And we'll try to play some music while we're at it!!

A Madrid.rb talk: https://www.madridrb.com/events/october-2022-playing-with-music-ruby-and-sonic-pi-715

Transcript

1. PLAYING WITH MUSIC: RUBY AND SONIC PI
   JOSEP EGEA
   jes@josepegea.com
   

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2. KICK OFF!!
   

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3. THANKS FOR COMING!!!
   Thanks to members of Madrid.rb
   Thanks to people from outside of Madrid!
   Thanks to our Sponsors! We
   ❤️ you!
   

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4. WHO'S JOSEP
   Software developer & Entrepreneur
   jes@josepegea.com
   https://www.josepegea.com
   https://github.com/josepegea
   

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5. BEFORE WE START …
   

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6. 🇺🇦 STOP THE WAR
   🇺🇦
   

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7. ABOUT TODAY
   

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8. I'M NOT A MUSICIAN!!
   But I do love music!!
   Specially, I love to play with music
   And I love to play with Ruby
   So Ruby and Music mixed must be super fun!!
   

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9. EXPECTED TAKEWAYS
   You get a new reason to love Ruby
   We have some fun
   

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10. WHY I WANT TO GIVE THIS TALK
    

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11. MUSIC AND CODING
    

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12. STEREOTYPE???
    Music lives in the right side of your brain. Coding lives in the left one
    

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13. LET'S PLAY A GAME!!
    

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14. MUSICIAN OR CODER??
    

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15. MUSICIAN OR CODER??
    

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16. MUSICIAN OR CODER??
    

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17. MUSICIAN OR CODER??
    

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18. MEET SONIC PI
    

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19. A RUBY REPL, FOR MUSIC!!!
    

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20. WITH MUCH TO LOVE ABOUT IT
    A completely self-sufficient music environment
    Open source
    Oriented to education
    It uses Ruby (and many other cool technologies!!!)
    

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21. AND SOME STRONG OPINIONS…
    😃
    

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22. SOME OF ITS FEATURES
    It can synthesize sounds
    It can work with samples
    It has convenient music helpers
    It can apply great effects
    It can manage timing and concurrence
    It can interact with other instruments
    

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23. SYNTHESIZING SOUNDS
    play :c
    
    sleep 1
    
    play :e
    
    sleep 1
    
    play :g
    
    sleep 1
    
    

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24. WORKING WITH SAMPLES
    sample :drum_bass_hard
    
    sleep 1
    
    sample :drum_snare_hard
    
    sleep 1
    
    

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25. MUSIC HELPERS
    s = scale :c, :major
    loop do
    
    play s.pick
    
    sleep 0.5
    
    end
    
    

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26. APPLYING EFFECTS
    use_bpm 120
    
    with_fx :reverb, room:1 do
    
    3.times do
    
    use_synth :blade
    
    use_synth_defaults amp: 1
    
    play :c
    
    sleep 1
    
    play :e
    
    sleep 1
    
    play :g
    
    sleep 2
    
    end
    
    end
    
    

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27. MANAGING CONCURRENCE
    in_thread do
    
    c = chord :c, :major
    
    loop do
    
    play c.pick
    
    sleep 0.5
    
    end
    
    end
    
    in_thread do
    
    loop do
    
    sample :drum_bass_hard
    
    sleep 1
    
    sample :drum_snare_hard
    
    sleep 1
    
    end
    
    end
    
    

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28. INTERACTING WITH OTHER INSTRUMENTS
    use_bpm 90
    
    in_thread do
    
    loop do
    
    use_real_time
    
    note, velocity = sync "/midi:lpk25:1/note_on"
    
    synth :piano, note: note, amp: velocity / 127.0
    
    end
    
    end
    
    in_thread do
    
    loop do
    
    sample :drum_bass_hard
    
    sleep 1
    
    sample :drum_snare_hard
    
    sleep 1
    
    end
    
    end
    
    

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29. MAKING IT MORE INTERESTING
    manual_beats = {
    
    48 => :drum_bass_hard,
    
    50 => :drum_snare_hard,
    
    52 => :drum_splash_hard
    
    }
    
    in_thread do
    
    loop do
    
    use_real_time
    
    note, velocity = sync "/midi:lpk25:1/note_on"
    
    if manual_beats[note]
    
    sample manual_beats[note]
    
    else
    
    synth :piano, note: note, amp: velocity / 127.0
    
    end
    
    end
    
    end
    
    

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30. OR EVEN MORE …
    live_audio :guitar, input: 1, amp: 1
    
    with_fx :lpf, cutoff: 115 do
    
    with_fx :distortion, distort: 0.99 do
    
    live_audio :guitar, input: 1, amp: 1
    
    end
    
    end
    
    

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31. HOW SONIC PI IS USED
    

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32. TEACHING
    

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33. DJ PERFORMANCES
    Sam Aaron live coding an ambient electro set w/ Sonic Pi
    Sam Aaron live coding an ambient electro set w/ Sonic Pi
    

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34. WHAT CAN WE ADD HERE?
    Something that's not techno/DJ oriented
    Some more emphasis on Ruby
    

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35. LET'S PLAY A SONG
    

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36. LET'S START WITH A RIFF
    song_tick = 0.125
    
    riff_notes = [:g5, :a5, :fs6, :a5, :g5, :a5, :d6, :a5].ring
    
    riff_note_duration = song_tick * 2
    
    riff_idx = 0
    
    use_synth :supersaw
    
    live_loop :riff do
    
    note = riff_notes[riff_idx]
    
    play note
    
    sleep riff_note_duration
    
    riff_idx += 1
    
    end
    
    

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37. LET'S ADD SOME DRUMS
    live_loop :drums_1 do
    
    sample :drum_bass_hard
    
    sleep song_tick * 4
    
    end
    
    live_loop :drums_2 do
    
    sleep song_tick * 4
    
    sample :drum_snare_hard
    
    sleep song_tick * 4
    
    end
    
    

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38. A BASS LINE…
    chord_values = [:D2, :C2, :G1, :D2].ring
    
    chords = chord_values.map { |c| chord(c, :major) }.ring
    
    bass_idx = 0
    
    live_loop :bass do
    
    use_synth :bass_foundation
    
    chord_notes = chords[bass_idx / 16]
    
    play chord_notes.pick
    
    sleep song_tick * 2
    
    bass_idx += 1
    
    end
    
    

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39. MAYBE SOME STRINGS
    string_chord_values = [:D4, :C4, :G3, :D4].ring
    
    string_chords = string_chord_values
    
    .map { |c| chord(c, :major) }.ring
    
    strings_idx = 0
    
    live_loop :strings do
    
    use_synth :zawa
    
    chord_notes = string_chords[strings_idx]
    
    play chord_notes, amp: 2, range: 10, phase: 2,
    
    attack: 1, sustain: song_tick * 30
    
    sleep song_tick * 32
    
    strings_idx += 1
    
    end
    
    

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40. ISN'T IT A BIT MANUAL?
    

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41. WHAT IF WE WANT A MORE COMPLEX RHYTHM?
    def make_bool_ring(pattern)
    
    pattern.chars
    
    .reject { |c| c == '|' }
    
    .map { |c| c == '*' }
    
    .ring
    
    end
    
    alias mbr make_bool_ring
    
    def sample_pattern_live_loop(*args, **kwargs)
    
    sample_patterns = kwargs.delete(:sample_patterns)
    
    sample_tick = kwargs.delete(:sample_tick)
    
    sample_idx = 0
    
    live_loop(*args, **kwargs) do
    
    sample_patterns.each do |sample_key, pattern|
    
    sample sample_key if pattern[sample_idx]
    
    end
    
    sleep sample_tick
    
    sample_idx += 1
    
    end
    
    end
    
    drum_patterns = {
    
    

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42. AND HOW DO WE COMBINE OUR PIECES?
    DEFAULT_TIME_PARTS = {
    
    half_pulse: 2,
    
    pulse: 2,
    
    bar: 4,
    
    chord: 2,
    
    verse: 4
    
    }
    
    class SongController < Object
    
    attr_accessor :time_parts, :song_parts, :tick_name, :tick_time
    
    def initialize(time_parts: DEFAULT_TIME_PARTS, song_parts:, tic
    @time_parts = time_parts
    
    @song_parts = song_parts
    
    @tick_name = tick_name
    
    @tick_time = tick_time
    
    @total_ticks = time_parts.values.reduce(1, &:*)
    
    end
    
    def run(start_part = 0)
    @idx = start_part * @total_ticks
    
    $sonic_pi.live_loop @tick_name, delay: 1 do
    
    $sonic_pi.cue @tick_name
    
    

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43. LET'S STITCH IT TOGETHER
    

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44. RECAP
    

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45. TAKEAWAY
    If you like Ruby and you like Music you have to try Sonic Pi
    

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46. DID I DO MY JOB?
    Are you more in love with Ruby?
    Did you have fun?
    

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47. REFERENCES
    Sonic Pi
    Ruby Fragments used in this talk
    https://sonic-pi.net/
    https://github.com/josepegea/sonic_pi_talk
    

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48. BIG THANKS!!
    And thank you for the music!!
    |
    jes@josepegea.com www.josepegea.com
    

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