The iconic monome grid just got native support from Cycling ’74’s RNBO, the patching tool for exporting Max sounds on other hardware and software environments. There’s a fun, free example patch to get you started, too.
It’s fitting, too, as part of what launched monome into music tech history was not just the minimalist grid itself, but also Max patches like mlr that gave it unique musical expression.
Here’s a walkthrough on how to get going: how to grab the package, set up, and start playing and learning. Since the monome is just a grid controller, the idea here is to use RNBO with Raspberry Pi and then add this package for easier bi-directional interaction with monome. That makes for quicker prototyping.
It’s nice how they’ve done this. Honestly, as is usually the case in this community, I hope that folks working on open source projects and Cycling ’74’s (partly) proprietary efforts keep tabs on what the others are doing.
Cycling is working directly with the monome project on this. They’ve expanded their existing Exp Polyphony Drum Sampler patch with monome interactions.
You don’t need to do any coding/patching to get started – you can just install and start playing.
The documentation is over at the monome site:
That includes all the dependencies and details of the API. Dan/i Derks for monome.org provides the thoughtful tutorial, complete with some suggested exercises to keep going.
RNBO info:
https://cycling74.com/products/rnbo