Basics

Orca operates on a base of 36 increments, operators will convert alphanumeric values into values ranging from 0 to 36. Special characters are used to handle platform and client specific interactions.

This section will teach the basics of playing a note and a sequence of notes.

Send a midi note

D8, will send a bang, every 8th frame. :03C, will send the C note, on the 3rd octave, to send C#, use the lowercase c3.

D8...
.:03C

Play a random note

aRG, will output a random value between A & G, the rightside uppercase letter indicates an uppercase output.

D8.aRG.
.:03D..

Make a melody

04TCAFE, will create a track of 4 notes, and output its first value.

D814TCAFE
.:03A....

Play the melody

8C4, will count from 0 to 3, at 1/8th speed.

.8C4.....
D804TCAFE
.:03C....

Logic

This section will teach the basics of automating logic decisions and changing the values of operators dynamically.

Play every second note

2I6, will increment to 6 at a rate of 2.

.2I6.......
D626TCAFEDG
.:03F......

Play a note with an offset

1AC, will add 1 to C, to output D. To get D#, use the lowercase d, like 1Ac.

D8.1AC.
.:03D..

Play a sequence back and forth

The combination of the output of C6 into B3 will bounce a value between 0 and 3 over 6 frames.

4C6......
.4B3.....
D414TCAFE
.:03A....

Play a note at a specific interval

.I4, will increment to 4, at a rate of 1. .F2, will bang only if leftside input is equal to 2.

I4.....
3F2.1AC
..:03D.

Projectors

This section will teach the basics of creating new operators procedurally. Halt a moving operator

E, will travel further eastward, every frame. H, will stop a E from moving.

..H
E..

Read an operator at position

22O, will get the operator E at the offset 2,2.

22O...
..E..H
.....E

Write an operator at position

22X, will output the operator E at the offset 2,2.

22XE.
.....
.....
....E

Animate a projector

B4, will bounce from 0 to 4 and back.

C...........
.B4.........
.1XE........
........:03C
........:03D
........:03E
........:03F
........:03G

Variables

This section will teach the basics of storing accessing and combining that stored data.

Write a variable

aV5 will store 5 in the variable a.

aV5

Read a variable

Va will output the value of the variable a. Notice how variables always have to be written above where they are read.

.....Va
.......
aV5..Va
.....5.
.......
aV6..Va
.....6.

Read 3 variables

3Kion will output the values of i, o & n, side-by-side.

iV0.oV3.nVC
...........
3Kion......
.:03C......

Carry a value horizontally and vertically

Y will output the west input, eastward.
J will output the north input, southward.

3..
J..
3Y3

Carry a bang

This method will allow you to bring bangs into tight spots.

D43Ka...
.Y.:03C...

Engines

When Orca is installed, a number of tutorials (original) and demos are available to demonstrate basic and Norns specific functionalites.

For the Norns version of Orca different synth engines available to choose from. Synth engines on Norns use the same operators | for playing a note with the synth and - for setting a synth’s params. The following demos are designed to show-off functionality and capability of each engine.

Synth

This demo shows very simply how the SYNTH operator | works for any of the engines, by randomly selecing notes created with the TRACK T operator.

Synth scale

This demo shows very simply how the R.NOTE operator $ works, using the SYNTH | operator to generate the tones using any of the engines.

FM7

This demo shows the FM7 engine (be sure the FM7 engine is installed and loaded) works using the SYNTH | operator and how its sound profile can be adjusted with the SYNTH PARAMS - operator.

Passersby

This demo shows the Passersby engine (be sure the Passersby engine is installed and loaded) works using the SYNTH | operator and how its sound profile can be adjusted with the SYNTH PARAMS - operator.

PolyPerc

This demo shows the PolyPerc engine (be sure the PolyPerc engine is installed and loaded) works using the SYNTH | operator and how its sound profile can be adjusted with the SYNTH PARAMS - operator.

Timber

This demo shows the Timber (be sure the Timber engine is installed and loaded) works using the SYNTH | operator and how the samples can be manipulated with the SYNTH PARAMS - operator.

Importing .txt

This is a text file, similar to what can be found on PatchStorage. Load this demo with the “» Import txt” menu within the main parameters page. Note, this demo uses the MIDI operator :, so unless you have a MIDI controller attached you won’t hear any sound.