bytezen · June 25, 2019 16:57 · Jun 25, 2019
diff --git a/part2-ncgs-bass.rb b/part2-ncgs-bass.rb
@@ -0,0 +1,129 @@
+##| part2-ncgs-bass.rb
+##| The bass will set the rhythm and get
+##| folks nodding their heads
+
+##| make sure your tempo is the same as
+##| whatever you chose for your drums
+
+use_bpm 60
+
+
+##| 1) Playing notes
+##| There is another way to play sounds with
+##| Sonic Pi: the play command.
+##| Play around with the command and see if
+##| you can figure out how it works.
+##| -----------------------------------------
+
+play 60
+
+##| 2) Choosing sounds
+##| Sonic Pi comes with different synthesizers
+##| These synths generate tones that sound VERY
+##| different. Explore some of the different
+##| synth sounds by moving the folling line of
+##| code to line 9
+##| -----------------------------------------
+
+use_synth :beep #beep is the default
+
+##| 3) Note Length
+##| We can use the sleep command that we used
+##| in the drum section to create different
+##| note durations. We are using a convention
+##| 1 beat = 1 quarter note.
+##| So if we 'sleep 1' then we are playing a quarter
+##| Sleeping for half of a beat or, sleep 0.5, is
+##| sleeping for half of a quarter note. This would be an
+##| eigth note. Half of that, sleep 0.25, would a sixteenth note
+##| and so on
+##| -----------------------------------------
+
+comment do
+  play 57
+  sleep 1
+  play 59
+  sleep 0.5
+  play 60
+  sleep 0.125
+  play 60
+  sleep 0.125
+  play 60
+  sleep 0.125
+  play 60
+  sleep 0.125
+  play 67
+  sleep 0.5
+  play 64
+  sleep 0.5
+  play 60
+  sleep 1
+end
+
+
+##| 4) Building a Bass Line
+##| Now we are going to put some notes together to create a simple bass line
+##| For the bass line we need notes and a duration to play the notes
+##| to make it easier to groove I am going to introduce some concepts
+##| that will make it much easier for you to experiment with ideas
+##| -----------------------------------------
+
+##| Notes:
+##| Let's make a list of the notes that we want to play. Then we will use
+##| Sonic Pi's metronome to step through the list and play the corresponding
+##| note at that position in the list. Below is the list from the example above:
+
+bass_line = ring 57, 59, 60, 60, 60, 60, 67, 64, 60
+
+##| Easy. It's just the numbers that we used separated by a comma
+##| Now do the same things for the durations
+durations = ring 1, 0.5, 0.125, 0.125, 0.125, 0.125, 0.5, 0.5, 1
+
+##| Question: Can you guess the total duration? Were you right? What is the total? Can you
+##| explain why?
+
+
+##| Before moving on, let's make another change. Let's use short hand note names
+##| instead of those numbers. Remember 1 = quarter note, 0.5 = eight, etc. Here is the
+##| shorthand that we will use:
+##|   qt = quarter
+##|   et = eight
+##|   st = sixteenth
+##|   ts = thirty-second
+##| Substituting our code into the durations the list now reads:
+qt = 1
+et = 0.5
+st = 0.25
+ts = 0.125
+durations = ring qt, et, ts, ts, ts, ts, et, et, qt
+
+##| You can think of this as we are telling the bass player, 'Play a
+##| quarter note, an eight note, then rattle off 4 32nds, and then bring
+##| it on home with a couple of eights and a quarter...ya dig?'
+
+##| Great. Now how do we use this? Run the following code and I will step through it
+##| during the workshop. You can also look up the commands in the help by clicking on the
+##| term and then pressing [control + i]. If you do that then you will see the term and its
+##| definition appear in the window below the Buffer.
+
+uncomment do
+  live_loop :bass_line do
+    # make the metronome tick once;
+    # use its value to find the note in the bass_line
+    play bass_line[ tick ]
+
+    # LOOK at the metronome value and use its value
+    # use its value to find the duration to sleep in the durations list
+    sleep durations[ look ]
+  end
+end
+
+
+##| 4) Compose a bass line
+##| Use your chosen synth, notes, and sleep patterns
+##| to create a bass line.
+##| For starters try to keep the bass line to
+##| 4 bars (total of sleep time = ??)
+##| -----------------------------------------
+
+