RNBO (Max) TRAINING

RNBO is a graphical programming environment within Max. Once you’ve built your synthesizer or you audio/MIDI effect in RNBO, it only takes a few clicks to export the code to other environments.
You can then export your RNBO patch :

• as a Max external: a “classic” Max object, usable like any other object inside Max.
• in VST/AU format for use in any DAW as a plug-in (to create your own effects and synthesizers).
• in C++ for interfacing it with other systems (JUCE, Metasounds for Unreal, etc.)
• for web (javascript, p5.js – to add sound to your web page, create an artwork on the web, etc.).
• for Raspberry Pi to run your patch directly on this nano-computer (create your own hardware digital effects pedals, design interactive audiovisual installations, etc.).

Once your patch has been exported to another environment, you no longer need to open it in RNBO to use it. Your system is now completely autonomous.

We’ve chosen to focus this RNBO training on exporting to Raspberry Pi, and thus enter the vast field of physical computing and all its potential for artistic creation and development of personalized interfaces. The RNBO + Raspberry Pi combination enables you to connect the physical world and the digital world, for example, to build :

• a synthesizer controllable by various sensors (movement, light, etc.)
• an effects pedal controlled by potentiometers and buttons.
• a MIDI sequencer with visual feedback via LEDs.
• a “complex instrument” consisting of a synthesizer and a chain of effects that can be controlled and modified via a web interface or OSC messages (via TouchOSC, for example).

…

With this RNBO training course, you will first learn how to comprehend this environment, and in particular its differences from Max, so that you can make the most of its potential. We’ll then see how to communicate within RNBO, and take a closer look at its specific features (audio threads, lists, polyphony, audio file management, delay and preset management, etc.).

Once we know how to communicate with RNBO, we can start building more complex patches: designing synthesizers, a sample recorder and player, a granular synthesizer, audio effects (reverb, chorus, delay, distortion, …), MIDI sequencers or MIDI effects (random, chord generator, delay, arpeggiator, …).

We’ll then be able to export these patches to the various environments described above, and see how to interact with each of them, with a specific, in-depth focus on Raspberry Pi. We’ll give an introduction to this environment (Linux, ssh, services, OSCQuery Runner), see how to install the C’74 image and use a Pi Sound as an audio and MIDI interface. From now on, you’ll be able to export your patches to your Raspberry Pi and establish bidirectional communication with it via Max, RNBO, OSC, MIDI or a Web interface. Finally, we’ll look at how to make your RNBO patch communicate with the physical world (buttons, sensors, potentiometers, etc.) via the Raspberry Pi’s gpio using Python.

Using a unique approach that only artists who are users and experts of this unique framework can have, we’ll design and implement with you the training action that best suits your needs.

And if you’re new to Max, this course can be taken in addition to our Max-specific training. This combination is the ideal way to discover and become virtually autonomous with Max, and to learn more about exporting patches to other environments.

PREREQUISITES

This course requires a certain knowledge of the Max language, in particular :

• the distinction between messages and signals (Max and MSP)
• data types (float, int, symbol, list and bang)
• the notion of messages priority (right/left, hot/cold entries)
• the concept of list
• graphical interface objects (number, button, toggle, slider, dial, etc.)
• the concepts of sub-patching & abstraction (including the bpatcher object)

The following knowledge of MSP will also be used :

• digital sound in Max (analog/digital conversion, signals, Audio Status window, etc.)
• notions of signal generation and processing (filtering, delay, effects, etc.)
• sampling and replay of samples (reading from disk, buffers, wavetable, etc.)

In concrete terms, a general knowledge of the following objects is expected:

• adc~, dac~
• snapshot~ (conversion of signals into numbers) and sig~ (conversion of numbers into signals)
• Signal generators: cycle~, rect~, saw~, phasor~, …
• Signal operations: +~, -~, *~, /~, …
• Signal routing: selector~, gate~, …
• Graphical interface: scope~, plot~, gain~, live.gain~, meter~, …
• Reading/writing audio samples: buffer~, wave~, waveform~, groove~, play~, sfplay~, info~, …

To get the most out of this RNBO course, you need a general knowledge of most of the elements mentioned above.

If this is not the case, a training program combining our course on the Max environment and this in-depth study of RNBO is perfectly feasible and even recommended!

TERMS & HOW TO

Our Ableton Live trainings can be done as One-To-One and Group modes.

You can choose Remote or Face-to-Face Training.

We can propose you the best flexibility by providing all possible combinations: you can start remotely, and come here to end your training, or, we could design a full week for your group, Face-to-Face here in France and get for each one of you some individual one-to-one 3 hours remotely after that…

DURATION

All courses durations can be modulated, but we used to propose you these 3 packages :

• TOTAL (5 days)
• ACCELERATED (3 days)
• REMOTE CAPSULES (3 hours slots)

During our first discussion, we decide together which mode fits your needs.

TOTAL mode gives you the solid/full/total autonomy with Ableton Live.
ACCELERATED MODE provides you everything you need to use Ableton Live without too much time constraint.
REMOTE CAPSULES is the most flexible mode which provides the best way to learn all along weeks and month, slower.

Depending on your needs, we can provide longer Ableton Live training sessions.

FUNDINGS

If you are working for a company in France, for a french institution, you can probably get your Ableton Live training funded.

Contact us for this to get more specific informations.

OVERALL OBJECTIVES

• Master RNBO in Max
• Create Max externals with RNBO
• Export RNBO patches to VST/AU
• Run your patches on a Raspberry Pi
• Use your Raspberry Pi as a synthesizer
• Create RNBO multi-effects pedals on a Raspberry Pi
• Create MIDI sequencers on a Raspberry Pi
• Design a sound installation with Raspberry Pi
• Analyze a signal with RNBO on a Raspberry Pi

PROGRAM

• Analog and digital sound
• Review of MIDI and MPE standards
• Fundamentals of Ableton Live
• Time and frequency approach to sound (partials and harmonics)
• Sound synthesis components (generators, envelopes, filters)
• External modulation of sound parameters (lfo, external envelopes)
• Modulation of parameters through playing (key, velocity, aftertouch and MPE)
• Concept of voice  (monophony, polyphony, paraphony)
• Additive/subtractive synthesis with Analog
• Notions of glide, detune, priority, unison and vibrato
• Case study of external modulation via LFO
• Additive/subtractive synthesis with Drift
• Practical case of parameter modulation through playing
• Introduction to signal processing (e.g. filtering)
• Recording and automation
• FM synthesis with Operator
• An example of AM synthesis
• Sampling & sample playback with Sampler and Simpler
• Creating a customized sound kit with Drum Rack
• Granular synthesis with Granulator III
• Other practical examples of modulation (Modulators)
• Wavetable synthesis with Wavetable
• Concept of modulation matrix in Live
• Creating complex sounds with Instrument Racks (layering, splitting, macros)
• Signal distortion (saturation, waveshaping, overdrive)
• Signal compression and side-chain
• Cross-synthesis with Vocoder
• Synthesis by physical modeling with Collision, Tension and Electric
• Resonators (Corpus, Resonators, Spectral Resonator)
• Macro-oscillators-based synthesis with Meld
• Other temporal effects and signal modulations (Reverb, Delay, Chorus…)