# ORCΛ Orca is an [esoteric programming language](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Esoteric_programming_language) and live editor designed to quickly create procedural sequencers. Every letter of the alphabet is an operation, lowercase letters execute on `*bang*`, and uppercase letters execute each frame. This is the C implementation of the [ORCΛ](https://wiki.xxiivv.com/site/orca.html) language and terminal livecoding environment. It's designed to be power efficient. It can handle large files, even if your terminal is small. Orca is not a synthesizer, but a flexible livecoding environment capable of sending MIDI, OSC, and UDP to your audio/visual interfaces like Ableton, Renoise, VCV Rack, or SuperCollider. | Main git repo | GitHub mirror | | ------------- | ------------- | | [git.sr.ht/~rabbits/orca](https://git.sr.ht/~rabbits/orca) | [github.com/hundredrabbits/Orca-c](https://github.com/hundredrabbits/Orca-c) | ## Quick Start for Debian/Raspbian (Raspberry Pi) ```sh sudo apt-get install git libncurses5-dev libncursesw5-dev libportmidi-dev git clone https://github.com/hundredrabbits/Orca-c.git cd Orca-c make # Compile orca build/orca # Run orca ``` To choose your MIDI output device, press `F1` (or `Ctrl+D`) to open the main menu, and then select `MIDI Output...` ``` ┌ ORCA ───────────────┐┌ PortMidi Device Selection ─────┐ │ New ││ > (*) #0 - Midi Through Port-0 │ │ Open... ││ ( ) #2 - ES1371 │ │ Save │└────────────────────────────────┘ │ Save As... │ │ │ │ Set BPM... │ │ Set Grid Size... │ │ Auto-fit Grid │ │ │ │ OSC Output... │ │ > MIDI Output... │ │ │ │ Clock & Timing... │ │.....................│ ``` ## Prerequisites Core library: A C99 compiler (no VLAs required), plus enough libc for `malloc`, `realloc`, `free`, `memcpy`, `memset`, and `memmove`. (Also, `#pragma once` must be supported.) Command-line interpreter: The above, plus POSIX, and enough libc for the common string operations (`strlen`, `strcmp`, etc.) Livecoding terminal UI: The above, plus ncurses (or compatible curses library), and floating point support (for timing.) Optionally, PortMidi can be used to enable direct MIDI output. ## Build The build script, called simply `tool`, is written in POSIX `sh`. It should work with `gcc` (including the `musl-gcc` wrapper), `tcc`, and `clang`, and will automatically detect your compiler. You can manually specify a compiler with the `-c` option. Currently known to build on macOS (`gcc`, `clang`, `tcc`) and Linux (`gcc`, `musl-gcc`, `tcc`, and `clang`, optionally with `LLD`), and Windows via cygwin or WSL (`gcc` or `clang`, `tcc` untested). There is a fire-and-forget `make` wrapper around the build script. PortMidi is an optional dependency. It can be enabled by adding the option `--portmidi` when running the `tool` build script. Mouse awareness can be disabled by adding the `--no-mouse` option. ### Build using the `tool` build script Run `./tool help` to see usage info. Examples: ```sh ./tool build -c clang-7 --portmidi orca # Build the livecoding environment with a compiler # named clang-7, with optimizations enabled, and # with PortMidi enabled for MIDI output. # Binary placed at build/orca ./tool build -d orca # Debug build of the livecoding environment. # Binary placed at build/debug/orca ./tool build -d cli # Debug build of the headless CLI interpreter. # Binary placed at build/debug/cli ./tool clean # Same as make clean. Removes build/ ``` ### Build using the `make` wrapper ```sh make release # optimized build, binary placed at build/orca make debug # debugging build, binary placed at build/debug/orca make clean # removes build/ ``` The `make` wrapper will enable `--portmidi` by default. If you run the `tool` build script on its own, `--portmidi` is not enabled by default. ## `orca` Livecoding Environment Usage ``` Usage: orca [options] [file] General options: --undo-limit Set the maximum number of undo steps. If you plan to work with large files, set this to a low number. Default: 100 --initial-size When creating a new grid file, use these starting dimensions. --bpm Set the tempo (beats per minute). Default: 120 --seed Set the seed for the random function. Default: 1 -h or --help Print this message and exit. OSC/MIDI options: --strict-timing Reduce the timing jitter of outgoing MIDI and OSC messages. Uses more CPU time. --osc-midi-bidule Set MIDI to be sent via OSC formatted for Plogue Bidule. The path argument is the path of the Plogue OSC MIDI device. Example: /OSC_MIDI_0/MIDI ``` ### Example: build and run `orca` livecoding environment with MIDI output ```sh $ ./tool build --portmidi orca # compile orca using build script $ build/orca # run orca ``` ### `orca` Livecoding Environment Controls ``` ┌ Controls ───────────────────────────────────────────┐ │ Ctrl+Q Quit │ │ Arrow Keys Move Cursor │ │ Ctrl+D or F1 Open Main Menu │ │ 0-9, A-Z, a-z, Insert Character │ │ ! : % / = # * │ │ Spacebar Play/Pause │ │ Ctrl+Z or Ctrl+U Undo │ │ Ctrl+X Cut │ │ Ctrl+C Copy │ │ Ctrl+V Paste │ │ Ctrl+S Save │ │ Ctrl+F Frame Step Forward │ │ Ctrl+R Reset Frame Number │ │ Ctrl+I or Insert Append/Overwrite Mode │ │ ' (quote) Rectangle Selection Mode │ │ Shift+Arrow Keys Adjust Rectangle Selection │ │ Alt+Arrow Keys Slide Selection │ │ ` (grave) or ~ Slide Selection Mode │ │ Escape Return to Normal Mode or Deselect │ │ ( ) _ + [ ] { } Adjust Grid Size and Rulers │ │ < and > Adjust BPM │ │ ? Controls (this message) │ └─────────────────────────────────────────────────────┘ ``` ## `cli` command-line interface interpreter The CLI (`cli` binary) reads from a file and runs the orca simulation for 1 timestep (default) or a specified number (`-t` option) and writes the resulting state of the grid to stdout. ```sh cli [-t timesteps] infile ``` You can also make `cli` read from stdin: ```sh echo -e "...\na34\n..." | cli /dev/stdin ``` ## Extras - Discuss and get help in the [forum thread](https://llllllll.co/t/orca-live-coding-tool/17689). - Support this project through [Patreon](https://patreon.com/100). - See the [License](LICENSE.md) (MIT) file for license rights and limitations.