1000_Days_a_Week.rb

Sonic Pi cover of The Beatles' "Eight Days a Week"

I took a Junior Interdisciplinary Seminar class in my third year of undergrad at Truman State University. The theme of the class was "Rock Music - The British Invastion."

Our final project was to use techniques from multiple disciplines to produce a creative response to something we learned about in class. 1000_Days_a_Week.rb (pronounced "Eight Days a Week", for those who don't speak binary) combines computer science and music to play an arrangement of my favorite Beatles tune using Sonic Pi.

Check out the audio and the source code below:

# Welcome to Sonic Pi v3.1
use_bpm 135

define :be_a_starr do
  2.times do
    sample :bd_haus, amp: 0.7
    sample :drum_cymbal_open, amp: 0.5
    wait 1
    sample :sn_generic, amp: 0.7
    sample :drum_cymbal_open, amp: 0.5
    wait 1
  end
end


define :four_on_the_floor do
  4.times do
    sample :bd_haus
    sleep 0.99
  end
end

define :george_guitar do |note|
  use_synth :pluck
  12.times do
    play note, release: 0.4, amp: 0.8
    sleep 0.33
  end
end

define :triplet_bass do |note|
  use_synth :chipbass
  12.times do
    play note, release: 0.4
    sleep 0.33
  end
end

define :intro_guitar do |root, third, fifth, sixth|
  use_synth :chiplead
  play root, release: 1.66, amp: 0.5
  play third, release: 1.66, amp: 0.5
  play fifth, release: 1.66, amp: 0.5
  sleep 1.66
  play root, amp: 0.5
  play third, amp: 0.5
  ##| bend it like Lennon
  s = play fifth, release: 1.99, amp: 0.8, note_slide: 0.55
  sleep 0.33
  play root, release: 1.32, amp: 0.5
  play third, release: 1.32, amp: 0.5
  control s, note: sixth
  sleep 0.99
  play root, release: 0.99, amp: 0.5
  play third, release: 0.99, amp: 0.5
  play fifth, release: 0.99, amp: 0.5
  sleep 0.99
end

define :intro do
  in_thread do
    triplet_bass :D3
    triplet_bass :E3
    triplet_bass :G3
    triplet_bass :D3
  end

  in_thread do
    4.times do
    george_guitar :D3
    end
  end

  in_thread do
    4.times do
    four_on_the_floor
    end
  end

  intro_guitar :D4, :Fs4, :A4, :B4
  intro_guitar :E4, :Gs4, :B4, :Cs5
  intro_guitar :G4, :B4, :D5, :E5
  intro_guitar :D4, :Fs4, :A4, :B4
end

define :paul_bass do |one, two, three, four|
  use_synth :chipbass
  play one, release: 1, amp: 1.5
  sleep 1
  play two, release: 1, amp: 1.5
  sleep 1
  play three, release: 1, amp: 1.5
  sleep 1
  play four, release: 1, amp: 1.5
  sleep 1
end

define :verse_guitar do |one, two, three|
  use_synth :prophet
  sleep 1
  play one, release: 0.5
  play two, release: 0.5
  play three, release: 0.5
  sleep 1.66
  play one, release: 0.5
  play two, release: 0.5
  play three, release: 0.5
  sleep 0.99
  play one, release: 0.5
  play two, release: 0.5
  sleep 0.35
end

define :verse_vocals do
  use_synth :chiplead
  2.times do
    play :Fs4, amp: 1.25
    sleep 1
    play :E4, amp: 1.25
    sleep 1
    play :D4, amp: 1.25
    sleep 1
    s = play :D4, release: 1.99, amp: 1.25, note_slide: 0.1
    sleep 0.665
    control s, note: :E4
    sleep 0.335
    play :E4, amp: 1.25
    sleep 1.665
    play :B3, amp: 1.25
    sleep 2.335
		
    play :B3, amp: 1.25
    sleep 1
    play :D4, amp: 1.25
    sleep 1
    play :G4, amp: 1.25
    sleep 1
    play :G4, amp: 1.25
    sleep 0.665
    play :Fs4, amp: 1.25
    sleep 4.335
  end
end

define :verse do
  in_thread do
    use_synth :chiplead
    play :D4, release: 4, amp: 0.5
    play :Fs4, release: 4, amp: 0.5
    play :A4, release: 4, amp: 0.5
  end

  in_thread do
    8.times do
      be_a_starr
    end
  end

  in_thread do
    2.times do
      paul_bass :D3, :B2, :A2, :Fs2
      paul_bass :E2, :Gs2, :B2, :Gs2
      paul_bass :G2, :B2, :D3, :B2
      paul_bass :D3, :B2, :A2, :Fs2
    end
  end

  in_thread do
    2.times do
      verse_guitar :A3, :D4, :Fs4
      verse_guitar :Gs3, :B3, :E4
      verse_guitar :B3, :D4, :G4
      verse_guitar :A3, :D4, :Fs4
    end
  end

  verse_vocals
end

define :chorus do
end


intro
verse