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TUTORIAL.md

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Tutorial

If this is your first time trying out Orca, watch this introduction video.

MIDI

If you are on Windows, use something like loopMidi to help routing midi signal across applications.

MIDI CC

Easy Binding

To bind the Midi CC operator(^) to a knob, have Midi Mapping active, and bang the ^00 operator, or select it and press shift+enter. It will assign the value of channel 0 to this knob.

UDP

Select UDP Port

In console, type terminal.io.udp.select(49160) to select the 49160 UDP port.

Control Orca via UDP

You can send UDP to Orca on port 49161.

  • p, will start playing.
  • s, will stop playing.
  • r, will run the current frame.
  • g, will return the current frame.
  • b123, will set the bpm to 123.
  • f456, will set the frame to 456.
  • wA12:34, will write A, at 12,34.

OSC

Select OSC Port

In console, type terminal.io.osc.select(49162) to select the 49162 osc port.

SonicPi

To send OSC messages to SonicPi, select port 4559. SonicPi listens to the address defined in sync, to send to the live_loop, bang the OSC node =, like =a. Have a look at sonicpi.orca to see it in action.

live_loop :drum do
  use_real_time
  sync "/osc/a"
  sample :bd_haus, rate: 1
end

Dotgrid

To send UDP messages to Dotgrid, select port 49160. To draw lines on Dotgrid, you need to bang the UDP node ; with different commands. Have a look at dotgrid.orca to see it in action.

  • ;0, clear layer #1.
  • ;0l1234, add a line from 1,2 to 3,4.
  • ;, redraw.

Here's a list of supported operations.

;0         // Clear Layer 1
;0l1234    // Add Line from 1,2 to 3,4
;0c1234    // Add Clockwise Arc from 1,2 to 3,4
;0r1234    // Add Reverse Arc from 1,2 to 3,4
;          // Redraw

Ableton Live

To send Midi notes to Ableton Live instruments, bang the Midi node :, like :03C to send to Channel 1, Octave 3, Note C. Have a look at midi.orca to see it in action.

  • Launch Ableton Live.
  • Create a new midi instrument track.
  • macOS: Setup the IAC bus. Using virtual MIDI buses
  • Select IAC Driver(Bus 1)(OSX), or LoopMidi(Windows), in the instrument's inputs dropdown.
  • Activate the In toggle.

The midi instrument should begin receiving midi notes as soon as the Orca window is in focus.

Pilot

Pilot is a minimalist synth software designed to work via UDP, and to quickly get started with Orca. Remember that Pilot uses UDP instead of MIDI. Have a look at pilot.orca to see how it should be used.

Patterns

Here's a collection of recurring patterns in the design of Orca machines.

J Funnel

Move two horizontal values next to each other.

.1Y12.
...JJ.
..A12.
..3...

X Stack

Move two vertical values next to each other.

.21X1..
.10X2..
...A21.
...3...

Y Projector

A very simple projector using a yumper.

..D4..
.H*...
.Ey.E.
......

U Loop

A rotating effector.

...U..
.U....
....U.
..U...

Capacitor

Banging the lowercase i charges it, discharges a bang each n-1 times, n is 9 in the example.

3O.....
..Y.i09
..F01..
.......

One Shot Counter

Banging the lowercase x triggers it, count ranges from the right x input to the last right F input.

24x0...
14O....
.F88...
.*Y*h..
....I0z

Families

Families Glyphs
Directions N S E W Z
Math A F I M R
Writers G P X
Readers Q T O
Jumpers J Y
Timers C D
Variables K V
Misc B H L U
Special * # ; : =