Wetterberg

so we've committing to the karma~ external now, and since we're on a serious "snippet"-kick these days, I'm planning on doing a set of snippets with different ways of using karma~.

These are the first ones that came to mind:

Anybody have other weird ideas? I'd love to try a ton of stuff out.

Hey guys,
so we've committing to the karma~ external now, and since we're on a serious "snippet"-kick these days, I'm planning on doing a set of snippets with different ways of using karma~.

1) One shot recorder
2) Synced "bar looper", no frills
3) glitch effect, for temporary chops

Anybody have other weird ideas? I'd love to try a ton of stuff out.


ab-using-the-karma-external

Those all sound good. I'm looking forward to see how you end up handling the glitching.

Something interesting using the overdub taking advantage of the variable speed. Or an interesting way to use replace (overdub 0).

Those all sound good. I'm looking forward to see how you end up handling the glitching.
Something interesting using the overdub  taking advantage of the variable speed.  Or an interesting way to use replace (overdub 0).


I've had fun jumping around the waveform and recording the whole time. That makes little pockets of program material that's been... misfiled, like a shitty library, hehe.

Yes! I have this pattern sequencer thing that used to jump around a groove~. I was wondering how recording/overdubbing with that going will work out....

Wow, this is turning out to be an interesting project. I couldn't quite wrap my head around how it would sound to jump both while recording and playing back. Turns out, it sounds dope as hell.

I think I'll switch tactics and simply bash out different flavours of this. I'm liking it. It's like a mixture between beatslicing and actual music :P

Wow, this is turning out to be an interesting project. I couldn't quite wrap my head around how it would sound to jump both while recording and playing back. Turns out, it sounds dope as hell. 

I think I'll switch tactics and simply bash  out different flavours of this. I'm liking it. It's like a mixture between beatslicing and actual music :P


CAn't wait to hear/see it! I just got karma integrated in my bigger patch so I have hardware control over multiple instances of karma. If you're interested in seeing some stuff I could share here as well

Oh man, totally missed this post. Yeah definitely look forward to seeing some quirky applications of karma~.

I wanted to add more quirky applications to the final page of the helpfile, but decided to stick with bread and butter usages instead.

Evan I'd really love to see your hardware control over karma--I'm about to start making a M4L patch to control karma~ with a Softstep 2, but I suspect you've maybe already done this...? Please share your magic!

I just posted over in the other topic actually.

My hardware control is very Push focused, all the SS2 does is trigger recording, overdubbing, and stopping one key per karma instance. I'd be happy to share the patch, but I have to admit it's still a bit messy, as I've been fixing bugs, and playing with features. A lot of the patch is dedicated to observing the Push's button presses and doing all of the LED feedback, so I imagine it would be a bit bloated for your interests (unless you have a Push, and then you'd probably be really interested).

In any event, I plan on doing a quick video demonstration (the jams got so fun and weird I just want to record one of them), of the whole setup within the next couple days.

I just posted over in the other topic actually.
My hardware control is very Push focused, all the SS2 does is trigger recording, overdubbing, and stopping one key per karma instance. I'd be happy to share the patch, but I have to admit it's still a bit messy, as I've been fixing bugs, and playing with features. A lot of the patch is dedicated to observing the Push's button presses and doing all of the LED feedback, so I imagine it would be a bit bloated for your interests (unless you have a Push, and then you'd probably be really interested). 

In any event, I plan on doing a quick video demonstration (the jams got so fun and weird I just want to record one of them), of the whole setup within the next couple days.


:0! Yes! I responded on the other softstep-related thread that I have a Push and would love to see what you've made. I didn't think the push would be hack-able enough to give karma feedback object, this is great news. Can't wait to see you video and patch! Thank you!

I threw the devices you need up in a github repo: You need to drag a brain somewhere in a Live set, and drag the instance to where you want to capture audio. There's a readme that goes over basic operation in the device. There's also a video I made talking about the device before it had karma as the looping engine. A lot of the innards have changed since then (We have overdubbing! and all the cool varispeed stuff, and declicking!), but it shows you what the controls on the Push do.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tLH4wyZ5Q7A

EDIT: I should mention that you need to use CCs to map to the devices' record/ovr/play function with the SS.

Edit 2: I did a quick jam using Push and karma~ to make some loops and weird sounds with a bass 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fXB-t6-JIvA

I threw the devices you need up in a github repo: You need to drag a brain somewhere in a Live set, and drag the instance to where you want to capture audio. There's a readme that goes over basic operation in the device. There's also a video I made talking about the device before it had karma as the looping engine. A lot of the innards have changed since then (We have overdubbing! and all the cool varispeed stuff, and declicking!), but it shows you what the controls on the Push do. 

Repo: https://github.com/dataf1ow/Push_Karma
Video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tLH4wyZ5Q7A

Edit 2: I did a quick jam using Push and karma~ to make some loops and weird sounds with a bass https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fXB-t6-JIvA


Awesome!!! At 2:08, when you started "playing" the insides of the loop, a giant smile goofed on my face, that's exactly what I've been wanting to do with my push for ages! It's like the way you can mess with drum loops, but with live audio. PERFECT. Great that you can also record and loop your MIDI push inputs.

I'm going to put my comments over on your other thread (

https://cycling74.com/forums/i-made-a-looperchopper-for-the-push/),

 I have lots of comments that are more push-interface related. The implementation of karma~ is very well done, lots of potential here as an interface and a tactile jazzy improv live looping system.

I'm going to put my comments over on your other thread (https://cycling74.com/forums/i-made-a-looperchopper-for-the-push/), I have lots of comments that are more push-interface related. The implementation of karma~ is very well done, lots of potential here as an interface and a tactile jazzy improv live looping system.


Here is a Max for Live device I've been working on for a long time, some of you have seen an earlier version. I call it "TimeMachine", it's a live-looping granular synth:

--karma~ is the varispeed recording/overdubbing engine

--time stretching/polyphonic pitch shifting with Granulator II engine

--ability to freeze and sustain playback, reverse, dynamically change loop/grain size

--quantize record/playback to Live's transport, also quantize the size of the loops/grains

This is an updated version, the insides are cleaned up and labeled, and all the parameters are annotated. There is a "?" button on the TimeMachine device. Place the TimeMachine in a MIDI track, and the corrosponding Karma~ audio input in an audio track, and you're off! Let me know what you think. I'm currently making a version controlled by SoftStep2.

https://drive.google.com/folderview?id=0ByPM2Ng_Ez3FfnBFYWdrRFJSUUl3cVh6b3RuZ1dCZ1F6RndnUEdZdXhrVDdYWWh2M2FQemc&usp=sharing

Here is a Max for Live device I've been working on for a long time, some of you have seen an earlier version. I call it "TimeMachine", it's a live-looping granular synth:
--karma~ is the varispeed recording/overdubbing engine
--time stretching/polyphonic pitch shifting with Granulator II engine
--granular synthesis effects
--ability to freeze and sustain playback, reverse, dynamically change loop/grain size
--quantize record/playback to Live's transport, also quantize the size of the loops/grains

This is an updated version, the insides are cleaned up and labeled, and all the parameters are annotated. There is a "?" button on the TimeMachine device. Place the TimeMachine in a MIDI track, and the corrosponding Karma~ audio input in an audio track, and you're off! Let me know what you think. I'm currently making a version controlled by SoftStep2. 

https://drive.google.com/folderview?id=0ByPM2Ng_Ez3FfnBFYWdrRFJSUUl3cVh6b3RuZ1dCZ1F6RndnUEdZdXhrVDdYWWh2M2FQemc&usp=sharing


Hey all---I spent a lot more time on my karma~ granular synth looper. It's now much better organized and much more efficient, and has a number of added features. I'd be really grateful if y'all could try it out and provide some feedback. I'm making music for it now and will do a proper release with a video tutorial in December.

I renamed it MicroMegas (it allows one to control the relationship between "micro" granular loops and "macro" buffer loops).

It's really optimized for the SoftStep pedal. All the important parameters can be controlled from there. I made a version for those without a Softstep.

https://github.com/jarenofcalifornia/MicroMegas

I renamed it MicroMegas (it allows one to control the relationship between "micro" granular loops and "macro" buffer loops).
It's really optimized for the SoftStep pedal. All the important parameters can be controlled from there. I made a version for those without a Softstep.

The black-on-white looks much cleaner than the typical grey look, so that makes it pop a lot more. I'll have a play with these, but looking good!

(noticed a typo in the github readme (Robert Constanzo))

Thanks! I spend an inordinate amount of time trying to get the GUI aesthetics right, but I'm glad it looks good! And though the white background does look clean in the context of the forum's white background, it unfortunately looks a bit awkward against Ableton's grey. So it's only white in editing mode :)

I fixed the spelling of your name, thanks for the heads up.

The Softstep is essential. As I've mentioned before, I've been wanting to make it so each individual sensor (one on each of the four key corners) can control a parameter. I implemented this, and I find that with bare feet and a little practice, it's very ideal. Using the big toes to control stuff is really fun too, it feels really natural and gets one in touch with a normally neglected part of ones body.

Edit: I did some final bug fixes and added a doc detailing what what the Softstep keys do. As of this post it seems quite ready for action.

So far, I am quite impressed with what can be done with this! Haven't hooked my SS up yet, but I will later today. Already generating some nice sounds for apiece I am working on. Hope you don't mind ;)

So far, I am quite impressed with what can be done with this! Haven't hooked my SS up yet, but I will later today.  Already generating some nice sounds for apiece I am working on. Hope you don't mind ;)


Trying to use the SS version, getting jk,stepid, and jk.stecore 'No Object' warnings. I can't remember if the device was frozen when I opened it, but that would explain the missing objects.

Any documentation for how the SS functions with the device?

Trying to use the SS version, getting jk,stepid, and jk.stecore 'No Object' warnings. I can't remember if the device was frozen when I opened it, but that would explain the missing objects.
Any documentation for how the SS functions with the device?


Hmm that's interesting. A couple hours after my first github post, I updated all the files, maybe my first upload was unfrozen. I just downloaded it now, and it's frozen and functional. I bet if you download it again it'll work. Detailed SoftStep Instructions and the parameter layout were also put there. I know you're a Softstep maestro so I'm hoping you'll especially get something out of it.

Maybe this has been addressed somewhere before, so forgive the potential redundancy (and my likely naiveté), but is it possible to record a loop while overdubbing it and playing the same buffer back at different points in the loop? I'm trying to figure out a way to do some realtime granular delay with karma~, but I'm a fairly primitive user when it comes to building anything beyond the more common, simple variety of effects, and I'm particularly inexperienced with granulators beyond my experiences with the Live Monolake Granulator; I've never even really tooled around with any of the granular externals...

Since karma~'s playhead is tied to it's record head, you can't do it with a single karma~ object.

BUT, you can create two karma~ objects that refer to the same buffer and record/overdub/whatever into one while playing back with another.

Thank you. I feel terrible for not considering that.

Combined with the YouTube video I saw the other day, I'm set.

Thank you. I feel terrible for not considering that.
Combined with the YouTube video I saw the other day, I'm set.
Much appreciated!


(ab-)using the karma~ external.