
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
s
tart and e
nd 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
s
tart and e
nd 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
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