Sonic Pi: samples, FX and generative texture

This module is where Sonic Pi stops being a toy sequencer and becomes a breaks machine: the whole task is a jungle/breakbeat-style track built from an external drum break you supply, re-chopped in code the way an MPC or beat-slicing sampler would do it, with a wide detuned pad floating over the top and variation that sounds random but replays identically — the property that lets you rehearse a “generative” section and still perform it live with confidence.

Start supported: load your break from disk (“Sonic Pi plays external audio files by passing a file path string to sample”) and lock it to the grid with beat_stretch so tempo changes stop breaking your loop. Then chop — first by manual slice math (“Chopping a sample into equal slices and playing them in random order creates beat-slicing effects”), then the idiomatic shortcut (“onset: pick… selects a random transient event”). Re-pitch slices with rpitch: once you understand why rate changes pitch and duration together. In parallel, build the pad from stacked detuned voices and wrap everything in FX the right way — loop inside the block, not the reverse, or your Raspberry Pi will choke. Finally, tame the randomness: one_in gives probabilistic hits, use_random_seed pins them down, and the determinism principle explains why that grip matters for performance.

Every required atom is load-bearing for the capstone: you cannot chop, stretch, layer, or reproduce the variation without them, and the drills (slice math, beat_stretch, with_fx placement, seeding) are the moves you’ll repeat until automatic. Supporting atoms widen the palette — sample-pack filtering, the slicer FX and its probabilistic gate, acid bass via :tb303, parameter slides, Euclidean spreads — plus historical context on why loop-thinking dominates this music. Reach for them after the capstone stands on its own.

Runnable examples

Generated from the context/ instrument corpus by concept (redistributable idioms only). Do not edit — regenerate with gen-module-examples.mjs.

sample-chop

s("breaks125:0").chop(8)

_{strudel-0020 · CC0}

d1 $ chop 8 $ sound "break:0"

_{tidal-0019 · CC0}

resonant-filter

SinOsc s => LPF f => dac; 400 => f.freq;

_{chuck-0002 · MIT}

play :e2, cutoff: 90, res: 0.9, release: 0.3

_{sonicpi-0022 · CC0}

euclidean-rhythm

s("bd(3,8)")

_{strudel-0004 · CC0}

d1 $ sound "bd(3,8)"

_{tidal-0004 · CC0}

detune-thickening

saw [110, 110.2] >> audio

_{punctual-0009 · CC0-1.0}

d1 $ note "c2" # sound "supersaw" # detune 0.3

_{tidal-0039 · CC0}

swing

s("hh*8").swingBy(1/3, 4)

_{strudel-0008 · CC0}

d1 $ swingBy (1/3) 4 $ sound "hh*8"

_{tidal-0008 · CC0}

step-probability

play :e4, release: 0.1 if one_in(3); sleep 0.25

_{sonicpi-0044 · CC0}

SinOsc s => dac; while(true){ if(maybe) 440 => s.gain; else 0 => s.gain; 125::ms => now; }

_{chuck-0047 · MIT}

additive-synthesis

{ Klang.ar(`[[100, 200, 300, 400], [0.4, 0.3, 0.2, 0.1]]) * 0.1 }.play

_{supercollider-0022 · CC0}

reverse-playback

d1 $ sound "bd sn" # speed "-1"

_{tidal-0056 · CC0}

seeded-randomness

use_random_seed 42; 8.times { play (scale :e3, :minor).choose; sleep 0.25 }

_{sonicpi-0051 · CC0}