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RESONON

Your First Sound

On this page you make a project, play a drum beat from VSCode, and change it while it plays.

You need resonon and the VSCode extension installed — see Installation.

Before you start

Section titled “Before you start”

Check resonon --version and that the extension is enabled. Use a new hello project for this page. If you already have a live session, evaluate RESET; on its own before the first beat, then remove that line. The session should be silent.

Make a project

Section titled “Make a project”

A piece lives in a project: a folder with a resonon.toml in it. Open a terminal and make one:

Terminal window
resonon new hello

Open the hello folder in VSCode, and open src/main.non. Delete what is in it. You write everything on this page into that file.

Run a line

Section titled “Run a line”

Write this line, put the cursor on it, and press Cmd+Enter:

print("Hello, RESONON!");

The first time, the extension starts a resonon server and connects to it. The RESONON item in the status bar shows the server it is connected to. The text appears in the Output panel: press Cmd+Shift+U and pick RESONON.

Cmd+Enter runs the lines you select. With nothing selected, it runs the line the cursor is on.

Play a beat

Section titled “Play a beat”

Write these lines under the first one, select them, and press Cmd+Enter:

use "std/instruments" { Sampler, Kit };


let drums = AudioTrack("drums");
drums.set_instrument(Sampler(Kit("CR-78")));


drums << [bd sd bd sd];


PLAY;

You hear a kick and a snare, looping.

  • use brings Sampler and Kit in from the standard library.
  • AudioTrack("drums") makes a track, like a channel on a mixer. Its sound goes to the master output.
  • Sampler(Kit("CR-78")) is a drum sampler loaded with the CR-78 kit, which comes with resonon. .set_instrument() puts it on the track.
  • [bd sd bd sd] is a pattern: bass drum, snare, bass drum, snare. << sends it to the track. The pattern fills one cycle — one bar — and repeats.
  • PLAY; starts the transport.

Change the beat

Section titled “Change the beat”

The server keeps everything you run, so drums is still there. Send it a new pattern:

drums << [bd _ sd _, hh hh hh hh];

_ is a rest. The comma plays two patterns at the same time: the kick and snare, and four hi-hats over them. You did not stop the music and you did not make the track again. This is live coding: change a line, run it, listen.

Stop

Section titled “Stop”
STOP;

The beat stops, and the play head goes back to the start. Shift+F5 does the same from the keyboard. Press F5 and the beat plays again from the start.

Next steps

Section titled “Next steps”