Tidal Doc Event # 2

Hi fellow Tidal cyclists! I would like to organize a new Tidal meetup event to discuss the current state of the documentation website. There is still a lot of work we can work on collectively to bring that website to a new state of greatness! There are suggestions here and there on the forum and on the Discord server about what could be improved, so let's do it :slight_smile: .

The event will simply be a Zoom/Jitsi call where we all gather to discuss about the website by randomly browsing and listing all the currrent imprecisions / weaknesses / welcomed additions we can think of. Anyone is invited to join, beginners and veterans alike! All together, I think that we can find many many things to add. It would be great if this documentation website could reflect how people actually use Tidal Cycles and how they use the language for creating algorithmic music / art.

Written suggestions are also welcomed on this forum topic for those of you who know that they can't join.

:artificial_satellite: First poll! Let me know if you would like to join / participate to a november meetup:

  • Yes (first half of November)
  • Yes (second half of November)
  • Maybe, on a later occasion

0 voters

1 Like

Voted for the second half of Novermber, but really any day except the 10th will work for me.

Good idea.

I am not sure how much I can contribute as a newbie, but one observation is that (unless I am looking in the wrong place) the reference doesn't seem to cover the most basic operators like gain, pan, room, speed, and sz.

The second half of the month team won! What about holding the meetup during the evening of the 17th (wednesday) or 18th (thursday)?. Anyone wishing to help as well (program / advertisement / etc..) ? Bring your ideas!

You are right. Some control patterns are not that well explained in the docs. People usually learn them by looking at the effects section or by reading source code. It is surely covered by @yaxu official guide/tour of Tidal.

Great! I'd prefer 18th if possible, as I'm busy giving a talk on the 17th.

18th works for me as well. Advanced warning will be appreciated (I am on Seattle time).

:paperclip: The event will take place on 2021-11-18T18:00:00Z using Jitsi Meet (click on the link to be redirected to the event room. :speech_balloon: Extra smileys for extra visibility :curling_stone: :firecracker: :sparkles:!


I've been using Tidal a lot recently, and here are some topics that should be more thoroughly documented (based on ... what I would have loved to see in the docs):

  • The Tidal Audio Sampler: tips, tricks, list of parameters, extra arcane knowledge.
  • Tuning Tidal and SuperDirt for performances: audio configuration, preventing SuperDirt from blowing up, audio sample management, synthdef management, recovering from an audio crash / problem, etc...
  • Transitions: because that's still something that isn't properly documented and I think that we lost some documents during last migration.
  • Cool functions explained: a page dedicated to the really cool functions created by Tidalists: everything ranging from controlling audio volume and syntactic shorcuts to @geikha drum machine system.
  • Missing functions / Functions on the run: There is inhabit and there is a bunch of other functions that can be seen in the sourcecode but nowhere else really. There's resetCycles that need manual rewriting, that kind of stuff, etc..

Please add more to fuel the coming discussions!

4 Likes

A couple things worth discussing, just off the top of my head:

  • (perhaps fitting in the "cool functions explained" bit) @cleary and I are working on standardizing and documenting the Mutable Instruments UGens and SynthDefs so many of us have grown to love
  • I know at least a few people still refer to the old docs for some things, in particular the "All the functions" page. I think anything people regularly reference is worth updating and porting.
1 Like

I'll be there! Maybe a smidge late...

definitely, I miss this

Cool functions I'd think are more for function snippets like the kindohm classics modfunc and rip - ie funky (funcy?) functions people use to shorthand common code blocks

The mi-ugens usage doesn't really fall within this scope - hence still warranting their own reference section (imo, of course)

The last thing on my todo list, is to bump the automated (~debian-based) linux installation process to sit above the manual block... I see quite a few people on the discord help who've taken the difficult route only to hit a dead end needlessly

Edit: and update the chordList

1 Like

Definitely. Very often, I found out that people created tiny tiny functions that they use with great effect to produce an effect that we don't often see anywhere else. Thinking about everyone using swing and swingBy and actually making it sound good, or the different flavours of lfo that we have all created at some point.

I'm wondering now about how I could make a public announcement for this meetup. I'll try to make some noise on Discord (TOPLAP and Tidal) but feel free to post a link somewhere on your social networks, etc... The more the merrier, etc..

2 Likes

@Raph Unfortunately I can't make it on the 19th. But I do use SwingBy a lot, so I would happy to show how I use it in a next meeting if someone would like to dive in to that function.

:alarm_clock: :alarm_clock: REMINDER :alarm_clock: :alarm_clock:

:paperclip: The event will take place 2021-11-18T18:00:00Z using Jitsi Meet (click on the link to be redirected to the event room. :paperclip:

Join us to speak about Tidal and Tidalcycles.org the great. Everyone is welcome: speakers, listeners, musicians, video conference enthusiasts and robots.

3 Likes

I'm there (and free bump) :smiley:

Notes:

Undocumented functions (do we have a list?)
Stuff from the old website -> https://userbase.tidalcycles.org/Welcome 
- Don't have a list of what's undocumentated, or a list of what documented
- Paul will make a list of all the functions, useful as an index, Alex will go through categorising things into internal functions, maybe renaming some in the code (with _ in front)

Undocumented concepts
- How the sampler works - how to pitch samples, legato etc
- Difference between 'note' and 'n'
- control busses
- state ('tidal can count')

Documentation structure
- transitions in the small reference -> https://tidalcycles.org/docs/patternlib/tour/transitions/
- need to merge into a single reference
- Need a club forum thread for feedback and link it in

blog.tidalcycles.org
- Languishing.. Maybe best not to move the content to the new website though if it's not going ot be added to? Looks stale..
- Maybe leave it some months and then archive/shut it down

Topics for future discussion
* Standard terminology
* documenting custom functions
* `all` and `once` https://tidalcycles.org/docs/patternlib/tour/performance
* Dealing with change - what if tidal changes a lot?
* MI Ugens doc - begun here:
      https://github.com/cleary/tidal-doc-miugens/blob/main/docs/reference/mi-ugens.md
- Integrating documentation into editors (Calling a function / opening a browser)
- documenting different workflows (live performance setup, etc..)
- integrating Tidalcycles into hardware systems (synths, Raspberry, etc..)
- documenting the sampler itself (currently no page)






1 Like

Following the close of this issue/feature request I think it should now be Difference between 'note, 'n' and 'number'

1 Like

This function should find its place somewhere!

I think it would also be useful to add up in the mix (sometimes it's synonymous with some of those... sometimes not?)