[chuck-users] User-Module Fundamentals AKA Extending Ugen

[Veli-Pekka Tätilä]

Hi list,
A quick question I'll post tonight before replying in the other thread I've 
started. To gain some experience in ChucK and make it feel more like 
Reaktor, in terms of modules, I thought I should try implementing some 
Reaktor modules in ChucK itself. of course, it makes no sense to create 
something as simple as an audio adder as we have the infix plus binary 
operator already in the language.

So I dug up an ancient Generator module (Generator was the product before 
they named it Reaktor), and picked a relatively simple example namely a wave 
made up of series of up and down counts as folows:

Quote ancient Generator manual:
Multistep Oscillator 4-Ramp
Oscillator for 4-ramp waveform with logarithmic pitch control and linear 
amplitude modulation.
The level of each of the breakpoints which are connected by ramps can be set 
independent of
the others.
w P: Logarithmic event input for controlling the pitch (oscillator 
frequency). Value in
semitones (69.0 = 440 Hz, but also see DAC Tun).
112
w A: Audio input for controlling the amplitude. The output signal moves 
between +A and -
A.
w S1: Event input for controlling the level of the first breakpoint.
w S2: Event input for controlling the level of the second breakpoint.
w S3: Event input for controlling the level of the third breakpoint.
w S4: Event input for controlling the level of the fourth breakpoint.
w Out: Audio signal output for the ramp waveform.
End quote.

Although in this case my aim would be to create a Multistep Oscillator 
n-Ramp to make it more flexible. In stead of multiple getters and setters 
I'll create just one with an index parameter, makes life much easier. I read 
that constructors having parameters are not supported, so I might as well 
use an initializer method to set parameters after instanciation. I've been 
looking into ./class/dinky.ck and it claims that one cannot yet inherit from 
a Ugen, ouch. Is that still true? Well if classes are duck-typed as in Perl 
or Ruby, i.e. common method names are good enough for polymorphism, then 
that's not a problem I suppose.

I've been trying to grasp how a uGen operates, too, where is it documented 
thoroughly? The manual says all uGens have certain common parameters. But 
how should I implement something like:

Quote manual:
. .chan - (int) - returns a reference on a channel (0 ->N-1)
End quote.

For my class which should work like a uGen, i.e. what to return and where do 
I get the object  I'm supposed to return? Ideally I'd like to create modules 
that make no difference between event and audio signals as in a true 
modular.

Howabout modules with multiple inputs. Another thing I'm thinking of 
creating would be a simple multiplexer named OneOfN which has n inputs and a 
selectN adress bus. It connects the input addressed by selectN to the 
output. This is a generalization of the Reaktor modules audio switch 2, 4, 8 
and event switch 2, 4, 8. Are such multi in/out modules currently feasible? 
Do I have to advance time in such a module, as it is a 
(stateless)combination circuit, not a state machine?

Lastly, how do I import my classes in a project ii.e. is there some C:ish 
preprocessor include syntax or a Java-like classpath environment variable?

I find there ar a number of things the manual and a quick glance at the 
examples doesn't answer adequately. Well, I'm glad we have this list. And 
sorry to bother you with pretty obvious newbie Qs, I mean if one has ever 
created an instrument, all or most of these must have been answered already, 
or else I'm seriously lost, <smile>. Is there a FAQ or archive?

-- 
With kind regards Veli-Pekka Tätilä (vtatila at mail.student.oulu.fi)
Accessibility, game music, synthesizers and programming:
http://www.student.oulu.fi/~vtatila/