stereo varispeed looper / delay / timeline-smoosher

this version of cranes builds on the “one buffer, two voices” approach of its predecessor in pursuit of a more flexible on-the-fly-sampling instrument. though the paper crane (initial record) allows original behavior, the pair of birds (overwrite) allows the artist to specify a buffer – in combination with the 1/10th second adjustable loop points, this brings new performative options to the table.

Requirements

• norns
• (128 vari-bright grid optional, but v fun)

Documentation

start

connect norns to a stereo signal + head over to the parameters

• when the buffer is completely cleared (at startup and after KEY 3 + KEY 1 are held), cranes will record incoming audio at 1x speed into both voices and will immediately play back at the rates specified in the params page.
• left input will write to voice 1, right input will write to voice 2.
• for the most immediate fun, set speed voice 1 to 0.5 and speed voice 2 to -1

record + loop

tap KEY 2 to record into the buffers as you make some sounds

• to loop, tap KEY 2 again. this sets the loop points (s1/e1 and s2/e2) to the length of the recording.
• with the recommend settings, you should hear your material played at half-speed on the left and reversed on the right.
• with the recommended settings, you should see the one / two counters counting in the same direction and at the same speed as your audio.

adjust loop points

hold KEY 1 until you see s1 and e1 change to s2 and e2. this switches which voice you want to control with the buttons and encoders

• use ENC 2 and ENC 3 to adjust the start and end points of the selected voice’s loop points, with 0.1s resolution. you should see the counter for the voice lock to the new start and end points.

overdub

tap KEY 2 to toggle overdub / overwrite for the selected voice. you will see some friendly birds flying alongside your loop when overdub / overwrite is engaged.

• nb: to retain continuous audio, overdub / overwrite write to the selected voice at the rate specified in the params page.
• use ENC 1 to crawl the spectrum of overdub / overwrite. over: 0 is full overdub, adding incoming audio to the pre-existing audio in the selected voice. over: 1 is full overwrite, replacing pre-existing audio in the selected buffer with incoming audio.

fun things

• adjust start and end points past the existing audio and write into a new section of the selected voice, then slowly re-introduce the prior section.
• tap KEY 3 to perform a speed bump on voice 1. hold KEY 3 to produce a more dramatic change. KEY 3’s influence is selectable in the params, under KEY3. ~~ is a small pitch deviation, 0.5 is half-speed, etc.
• hold KEY3 + KEY 1 to completely erase all audio content.
  • if you hit KEY 2 again after this, you’ll get back to the paper crane.

grid

plug in a grid and re-boot cranes

use the following legend:

• speed + direction: -4x to 4x, 0 in the middle (unlit) functions as ‘pause’
• sync playhead to other: sync the voice’s playhead to the location of the other’s
• re-size loop to other: dynamically adjusts the voice’s current loop points to the other’s
• reset playhead to start: trigger voice to playback from currently defined start point
• create snapshot: collect speed + direction, playhead position, start and end points and assign it to a button on the far left (similar to less concepts)
• erase all: erase all of the voice’s snapshots (similar to less concepts)
• snapshot recall: recall a saved snapshot’s parameters
• start point adjustment + end point adjustment: add or subtract time from the voice’s start and end points, in 0.01 second or 0.1 second increments
• window adjustment: adjust voice’s loop window by 0.01 second increments or by the distance between the start and end points {.grid-list}