Take a Raspberry Pi, add a delicious web editor in RNBO, and then – go nuts controlling the iconic Elektron Machinedrum. Cycling ’74 is having a lot of fun with RNBO, their Max patching solution for targeting hardware, plug-ins, and the Web.
I wrote about this release of RNBO before – including the fact that the Raspberry Pi now gets a slick web editor:
But this is worth mentioning again, in case you missed it – and there’s a patch download, too. RNBO aside, this is a reminder of how interactive patching can give you a new take on hardware. If that seems like too much mousing for you, don’t forget that you can also take patches like this and assign parameters to hardware so you can really jam with them.
It can go deeper in this case thanks to support for SysEx. You have a full MIDI implementation here for patchable brilliance.
Plus, this is Tom Hall – even in those few seconds, you can hear the goodness. It’s a good case of technology and musicianship being intertwined – the patching here is necessary to realize this idea. (Namely – CRAZY RHYTHMS.)
You can turn the clock back to a terrific interview by Gregory Taylor – in that story talking about visuals, though the approach to form and rhythm I think is related:
https://cycling74.com/articles/an-interview-with-tom-hall
Check the RNBO documentation on how the RasPi works:
https://rnbo.cycling74.com/learn/raspberry-pi-web-interface-guide
And that Web UI:
Awesome as RNBO is, this kind of slick web interface is the future of hacking music stuff in general – which is great for collaboration and patching jams. (I introduced the “patching circle” concept some year ago, recalling knitting circles – maybe it’s time to get folks together for that.)
More on this soon, especially as I’m getting back to the lab/studio after six weeks away.