Battery is a simple sampler (or rompler if you wish) you can control only with keyboard. In fact only with couple keys. The goal was to have something to play samples I can control on a headless machine (I'm using Rasberry Pi and MakeyMakey to control it right now). The philosophy is quite straightforward. Get some samples, copy them into samples directory and stick them into banks config file (see banks
directory). You can specify as many banks as you want. Once you're ready, fire up battery with your custom bank file: python battery.py -b my_bank.json
or just do python battery.py
to use default one.
Once you've started the sampler use a
, s
, d
, f
, g
, h
, j
and arrow keys
to play the samples and space
to rotate defined banks. Know what? Now you can record what you play by pressing r
. Once you're finished, press r
again to stop recording. You can do this multiple times and layer your loops on top of previous ones. To delete the last loop press p
. Yes, so it almost works like Kaossilator's loops when using FIX
. You can use w
to toggle reverse mode on samples (not loops). To close the sampler press q
or ESC
.
I've bundled Kawai XD-5 drum samples from Hydrogen, you can get more free samples by runing get_samples.sh
script. It expects you to have wget and rar binaries on your system.
More or less current screenshot:
This is how the drums would look like if use something you normally have at home: tinfoil and cardboard ;)
To check it in action (captured screen video, with bad sound and even worse music), click this video....