RAMPCODE

Rampcode is a PD patch for livecoding with math and logical expressions, inspired by bytebeat but with a few more tools to mess with synthesis and rythm.

How does it work?

It has just one time ramp (phasor~) and all sound result is a function of that. It is basically waveshaping with math and logic (bitwise too, so you can do bytebeat 😉) plus a rythmical aspect, envelopes and random values.

Set up instructions

Download the files.
Open the rampcode.pd patch in PD (you need the in.pd in the same folder).
Add this line to the vimrc (you need pdsend from puredata-utils): autocmd BufWritePost *.gede silent exec "!pdsend 3005 < <afile>"
Run vim and write something like this ramp 1; code sin($v1*2) 1 1, 0;
Save the file as (whatever).gede

You should hear an annoying sinewave. Try dividing the sine to change the pitch like sin($v1/4) and play with different subdivissions and envelope curves as sin($v1/4) 8 2, sin($v1/4) 3 10, sin($v1/4) 4 1, etc. There is an optional fourth argument for paning: sin($v1/8) 8 1 0. Paning goes from -1 (full left) to 1 (full right). All code arguments but envelope curve can be expressions as in sin($v1/4) 8*($v1%t<t/2) 1 sin($v1/t).

$v1 is the actual value of the ramp, an increasing counter (8000 per cycle). t is a very useful constant = 8000. Then, you have all math (+ - * / % ...), bitwise (& | >> << ...) and non-bitwise (&& || > < ...) logical operators. Also, there is a random value $v2 that's generated (from 0 to 1) in every subdivission of the expression.

Messages

There are two kinds of messages that rampcode receives: ramp and code. Each type of msg is separated by a ; and each msg is separated by ,.

ramp sets the general speed and pitch in cycles per second (hz), think of a cycle as a pattern.

code create multiple signals from the main ramp.

Examples are your best friend

I think the best way to understand it is taking a look at the examples and mess with them. There are many topics and possibilities. Good luck! Don't hesitate to contact me to ask anything and show me your rampcodes ❤️

The Docker way

Execute as:

docker run --rm -it --name puredata \
    -v /tmp/.X11-unix:/tmp/.X11-unix:ro \
    --device /dev/snd \
    -e DISPLAY="unix$DISPLAY" \
    -e PULSE_SERVER=unix:${XDG_RUNTIME_DIR}/pulse/native \
    -v ${XDG_RUNTIME_DIR}/pulse/native:${XDG_RUNTIME_DIR}/pulse/native \
    --group-add=audio \
    -v /dev/shm:/dev/shm \
    --cap-add=SYS_ADMIN \
    $(find /dev/snd/ -type c | sed 's/^/--device /') \
    --security-opt seccomp=./docker/chrome.json \
    -v <rampcode-repo>:/repo \
    puredata/ubu12.04:v1 \
    bash

where rampcode-repo is the repository directory. Some of the above arguments might not be really necessary. Tested in Arch Linux (kernel v4.17).

jimsrc / rampcode