Scratch

For example, this one sprite is performing 4 pitches at .5 beats each. The second sprite that would play simultaneously is performing 4 different pitches at .5 beats each, but after a few repetitions, they become out of sync despite their sharing a common bpm of 133.

Yeah I'm definitely sensing the difficulty here. I did come across one project here where the creator demonstrated his syncing ability using a J.S. Bach Invention (13 if I'm not mistaken). Wouldn't really work with my project due to the robust number of sprites, but it was what i found:

http://scratch.mit.edu/projects/diegofguillen/2515723

I'll try your wait theory next...Thanks!

Does flash keep it sync or is it both online and offline?

KrIsMa wrote:

Does flash keep it sync or is it both online and offline?

I've only tried in offline so far, but I've read that flash doesn't do anything to keep the loops in sync either.

Absolutely. You can find it here: http://www.watermans.org/sample.sb

Only the first five sprites are fully functional. The rest haven't been adjusted yet and are simply duplicates of sprite 2.

Thanks for checking it out!

http://scratch.mit.edu/projects/DigimathFixit/3026534

Please see if this does any better.  I used a variable called measure where I meant beat.
Also shaved some time of each beat because Scratch does not mind dropping messages and the scripts have to be idle when the message is sent.

I also removed some of your logic because I just wanted to show the beat technique.

ALso, I only did the first 5 scripts.

And Flash instruments don't sound the same as offline and I think the BPM is also off.

Slight update.  I replaced your item 6 with a longer melody (and my changes) and also synchronized the start of item 5 and 6 so they will be together (using another variable).

You'll need to download for this to work right.

Last edited by Digimath (2013-01-08 17:06:07)

NHAE wrote:

This seems to work rather well via flash, Digimath! I just downloaded and am currently having trouble getting any of the sounds to produce (except for sprite1, where the "if sprite1 clicked" block was detached). [...]

Is there a chance that you were trying to use it offline without first clicking the green flag?  It would have worked online without having to do that because the website does it for you and your version didn’t need the GF clicked to work offline, but that new little script in the Stage, that would get started with a click of the GF, is what sends out the beat broadcasts and nothing will play without it.

Digimath, that was indeed it. In my haze, I neglected to see the green flag block to activate the project itself. Your script seems to work great, though I haven't tested it with phrases longer or shorter than 2 beats. In the end, there will be a great deal of variation in each phrase (some 2 beats, some 1/2 a beat, some 4, 5, and even 10 beats, etc.).

chimoo5, I like this idea a lot! I tried it this morning and the simplicity of it is superb. This could be the solution I'm looking for (and one I came somewhat close to yesterday!). So far, the only concern I have is that, unlike Digimath's script, when you click each button, it does not begin right away. I did try it with a "when spriteX clicked" block instead of a green flag block, but to no avail. It also seemed as though the phrases were a little less locked in.

Thanks everyone for all of your hard work! I really want to get this project working as best as it can and you are all so extremely helpful!

By the way if you care about the latency from when the button is clicked to when sound is produce I experimented with changing wait 133/60 to 133/120. I'm not fully sure of the repercussion I tried it 180 and 240 and seems to not be as significant or sometimes buggy. Also to reduce redundancy of calculating it I would set up a variable (bps or beat) to contain the value of it.

when gf clicked
set [beat v] to ([133] / [120])
forever
set [sync v] to [0]
wait (beat) secs
set [sync v] to [1]
end

I put up the changes here to save you some time.

http://scratch.mit.edu/projects/chimoo5/3030259

I'll take it down once you are all set.

So I am trying to figure out what you mean. I think I understand but I haven't used sound much but I will explain what I understand.

I looked at your sprites and saw the following.

Sprite1 = 0.5 beats
Sprite2 = 1 beats
Sprite3 = 2 beats
Sprite4 = 2 beats
Sprite5 = 2 beats

I realize my bps didn't line up properly since Sprite1 would play 4 times more than Sprite5. So that means when Sprite5 is clicked it should chime in when Sprite1 should finishes its fourth beat. If that is the case then I changed the stage script with:

when gf clicked
forever
set [0.5 v] to (0)
rest for (0.5) beats
set [0.5 v] to (1)

when gf clicked
forever
set [1 v] to (0)
rest for (1) beats
set [1 v] to (1)

when gf clicked
forever
set [2 v] to (0)
rest for (2) beats
set [2 v] to (1)

wait until <(the appropriate beat vaule) = (1)>

That's pretty close to the idea that Digimath. I've uploaded my latest adjustments from last night to this project for you to check out. I used digimath's idea of broadcasting the beat from the stage, but I'm still having trouble getting any note over 1 beat (quarter note) to sound in full without repeating its attack. Meaning, if I had a phrase that was 4 beats, where 3 of those beats were to be held by one note, that one 3-beat note would continue to repeat itself for 3 beats. I may have solved the issue if you look at sprite14, but it's not quite right...

http://www.watermans.org/inctest.sb