rove

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rove v0.2:

what is it?
    rove is a sample-cutter in the spirit of (and blatantly imitating) mlr.
    it is written in C and designed primarily to run on the linux platform,
    though, due to similarities between the platforms, it has been compiled
    and run successfully on mac os X.

    please keep in mind that rove is alpha-quality software at best!
    there's still much to be done to make it useful even in a basic setting,
    and it's a far cry from being production-worthy.  i can't guarantee that
    it will work for you, though i've yet to have a problem.

    rove has, thus far, been tested on a 32-bit linux system, a 64-bit linux
    system, and a mac os x system.    after installing the dependencies,
    it required no modification to function correctly.

    so, basically, i can't guarantee it'll work for you.  but it probably will.
    if it doesn't, holler at me.

how do i install it?
    the dependency list is short, but, depending on your architecture,
    installation may prove to be a bit different than what you're used to.

    regardless of the platform, you'll need:
        - libmonome
        - JACK (http://www.jackaudio.org/)
        - libsndfile

    and, optionally:
        - libsamplerate

    the libmonome code is hosted at http://github.com/monome/libmonome, and you
    should build a recent git checkout to make sure you have the OSC protocol.

    if you're on linux, you might already have the latter three installed. if not,
    use your system's package manager to install both the main packages and the
    "-dev" packages for them.

    if you're a mac user, this may be a bit trickier.  you can grab JACK from
    http://jackosx.com/ and libsndfile from http://mega-nerd.com/libsndfile/.
    read the README and INSTALL files that come along with those projects.

    you'll need libsamplerate if you want to be able to change the playback speed
    of loops.  libsamplerate can be downloaded from http://www.mega-nerd.com/SRC/.

    if you're familiar with maintaining software on os X, please get in contact
    with me!  i'd love to be able to distribute a proper package of rove,
    but i haven't the faintest idea where to start.
    additionally, i don't have any mac computers on which i can test.

okay, i've got that stuff installed, now what?
    run the following from the top-level directory (i.e. the one you got from git):

        $ ./waf configure
        $ ./waf

    then, you can install it to your system-wide bin directory if you want:

        $ sudo ./waf install

    or just run it from where it built:

        $ ./build/src/rove

how do i use it?
    currently, rove has no GUI of any sort.  all of the configuration is done
    through text files in a fairly standard-looking configuration file format
    that's basically a windows INI file.  a session file looks like this:

        [session]           # comments start with a pound symbol and span a line!
        bpm      = 87.68    # beats per minute
        quantize = .25      # fraction of a quarter note to quantize to
        groups   = 2        # number of groups
        pattern1 = 8        # pattern 1 length (in beats)
        pattern2 = 8        # pattern 2 length
        columns  = 12       # columns to span

        [file]
        path    = drums.wav # path to the loop relative to the session file
        rows    = 2         # number of rows to span across
        group   = 1         # group to which the file is assigned
        columns = 14        # columns to span (overrides session columns)
        speed   = 0.5       # playback speed

        [file]              # loops are mapped on the monome from top to bottom
        path    = piano.wav # in order of where they appear in the session file
        group   = 2

        [file]
        path    = piano.wav # "path" and "group" are required parameters
        group   = 2         # but "reverse" and "rows" are optional
        reverse             # and are assumed to be "false" and "1" respectively

    the row spanning lets you spread a loop out across several rows for added precision.
    after you've created your session file, run rove with "rove <sessionfile.rv>".

    there is also an additional, global configuration file.  this file looks similar to
    the session file but has different expected sections and variables.  here is an
    example file, with the variables set to their defaults.
    all variables here are optional.

        [monome]
        columns     = 8

        [osc]
        prefix      = /rove
        host-port   = 8080
        listen-port = 8000

    save your configuration file as ".rove.conf" in your home directory and rove will
    load it at startup!

what do i press?
           +-----------+ - - - - - +-----------+-----------+-----------+-----------+
      left |   group   |  many of  | pattern 1 | pattern 2 |   prev    |   next    | right
      side |    mute   |   those   | rec / tog | rec / tog |  session  |  session  | side
           +-----------+ - - - - - +-----------+-----------+-----------+-----------+

    at the moment, it's designed to mimic mlr.  the top row is the control row, with the
    first [number of groups in session] buttons turning off their respective group.
    activate a group by pressing a button associated with one of the loops, which means
    anything below the first row starting with the second.

    the two buttons after the group controls are pattern recorders, and these act a bit
    differently.  pressing the button without anything recorded waits until you cut
    somewhere in a loop to start recording, then will record a pattern as long as you've
    specified in your config file. you can press it again any time before the end of the
    specified length to play the pattern you've created. or, if the pattern length is 0,
    it will record until you press the record button again.

    pressing that button again turns the pattern off, resuming normal playback
    immediately. turning off recorded patterns deletes them, so that you can record
    again by pressing the pattern button and playing another sequence.

    the two buttons after the pattern recorders are session controls. rove can load
    more than one session. pressing these buttons moves forward and backward through the
    loaded sessions. this is good for seamless set changes, so that you can advance from
    song to song without having to stop and restart rove.

    you can load multiple sessions from the command line:

    $ rove session1.rv session2.rv

    you can also place multiple sessions in a single session file:

    $ rove big_setlist.rv

    a multi-session file looks just like a single session, except that you can add
    several sequential blocks:

    [session]
    ...
    [file]
    ...
    [file]
    ...

    [session]
    ...
    [file]
    ...

    and so on. rove loads sessions in order, from the top down.

    when performing with multiple sessions, bpm is determined by the currently loaded
    session. you can leave a group playing from one session, advance to the next session,
    and the old session's group will still play at the old bpm. once you press the group
    mute button for that old session, then that sample ends and is cleared, making the
    group available for the current session, at the current session's bpm.

    at the moment, this is pretty much the extent of rove's functionality.
    don't worry, more is coming soon!

how do i get in contact with you?
    my email address is [email protected], and i'd love to hear from you.  questions,
    comments, encouragement, anything.  it's a great feeling hearing from people.

    please don't mind the messiness of the code or the general lack of polish presently.
    i figure that getting software into peoples' hands is the best way to find rough edges
    that i would otherwise miss, and it's the best way to get alternate perspectives
    on how an interface feels.

    thanks so much.
    -w