The Kyma Language for Sound Design, Version 4.5

If you are excited by the prospect of creating Sounds algorithmically, see Scripts and FileInterpreters on
page 525, and The Smalltalk-80 Language on page 513.
Sounds vs. Events
It is important, at this point, to make a clear distinction between the Script Sound and the script parameter
of a MIDIVoice or MIDIMapper.
In the case of the MIDIVoice, you have a single Sound that is loaded on the Capybara, and the script is
generating Event Values that will update parameters of that Sound. It is like playing notes on a single
instrument.
The Script Sound, on the other hand, creates a new Sound — a Mixer with several inputs (each of which
may be optionally time-offset). Once this mixer Sound has been created, it is then loaded into the Capybara.
The Script is a way to algorithmically construct Sounds, similar to the kinds of things you do in the
graphic user interface: dragging new Sounds into a Mixer, setting their values, putting a TimeOffset on
each one to delay its start time relative to the others, etc.
A Script in a MIDIVoice is like sending MIDI events to a patch on your synthesizer, whereas a Script is
like actually creating a new synthesizer. In fact, it makes perfect sense to have a Script as an input to a
MIDIVoice. The Script would create a Sound and could even place Event Values in some of the parameter
fields algorithmically. The MIDIVoice would supply events that would change those Event Values
over time.
In other words, the idea of the MIDIVoice is to supply parameter value updates to an existing architecture,
while the idea of the Script Sound is to algorithmically create a new architecture. It would not be a
very good use of the Script to treat it like a “score”, generating hundreds of note-events for the same
“instrument”, because the Script would actually create hundreds of copies of the instrument, each set up
to play one single note — like a bell choir. The idea of hundreds of notes played on a single instrument
fits the MIDIVoice model much better — one instrument, lots of notes. (This is not to say that you cannot
use the Script as a score — only that it is not as efficient as doing the same thing with a MIDIVoice). On
the other hand, if you want to create something that changes from a sampler, to a synthesizer, to a disk
playback, or if you wanted to create some music in, say, three large sections each with a different set of
“instruments”, then the Script would be the most appropriate way to implement it.
Specialized Algorithmic Sounds
In addition to the Script, there are several Sounds in the Algorithmic category that implement specific
algorithms for putting together new Sounds:
♦ CellularAutomata
♦ ContextFreeGrammar
♦ RandomSelection
♦ Repetition
♦ Substitution
Any one of these could have been written instead as a script for the Script Sound. The Script is the most
general solution for constructing Sounds algorithmically, but in some instances it is easier to use one of
these more specialized Sounds. See Prototypes Reference beginning on page 218 for details on how to use
each of these algorithmic “sound constructors”.
Live green, see red, feel blue
At this point, it is probably worth reiterating what the different colors mean when you see them in parameter
fields or in global or local maps.
?Green Variable
This is used as a kind of place holder or variable in a parameter field of a Sound. It always begins with a
question mark and a letter and can be followed by any number of letters or numbers. It must be associated
with an actual value at some point before the Sound is loaded into the Capybara. If you do not set
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