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may be this is from the top shelf sweet box and still out of reach, but Eigenbrowser shows some interesting nested belcanto-commands for Pico

selecting scale:

" empty join 

  scale manager hey 

  cancel 

  scale manager hey 

  variable sm1 choose when activation 

  using scale manager 

` empty join 

  scale manager activation scale as sm1 define 

  talker 4 hey 

  5 called 1 cancel 

  midi input talker hey 

  72 called 1 cancel 

  kgroup 1 , talker 4 hey 

  all scale to activation when 5 called 1 set 

  kgroup 1 , midi input talker hey 

  all scale to activation when 72 set 

` do 

` scale manager scale browse ` do 

" when 1 do

recorder selection:

" recorder 5 hey variable bar record " when 9 do 

this goes together with actual bar-selection:

4 bar as bar when 7 define

So, how to use variables and nested commands?
Seems like the scope of "sm1" in first sample spans both levels ('...' and "..."). In second sample the scope of "bar" seems even global.

Just daydreaming that note indicator lights could be set along by scale selection and intervals highlighted relative to any key.
Any hint how to expand the current scale selection with additional commands?

stefan

Hi Stefan, 0beron

This isn't so much on the top shelf out of reach as about to change dramatically. The way that this stuff works at the moment is pretty insane, and we really don't like it. We have been getting ready to change it for a while, and the way that variables work will be completely different in the 2.X series, at which point it will be documented as it'll be a lot easier to explain, to put it mildly. The actual syntax and functionality of this stuff was added in a real hurry in the two months leading up to launch in the autumn of 2009 and it's a kludge, it wasn't what I would call well designed. We understand a lot more about the way the system is used now than we did then and I think the upcoming changes will make it a lot easier to work with Talkers in general. The goal is to make it possible for advanced users to edit and change them easily with Workbench, something that the current system does not support. This requires a considerable syntax and systemic change to the way variables work, so it's probably not such a good idea to spend ages figuring out the way they work in 1.X.

We don't keep this stuff from you just for the fun of it, if it were not going to change it'd be there on the Wiki right now, but there's not a lot of point in everyone getting used to something we know we'll break later. Its really that the Talkers (which were a late brainwave of Jim's and just sort of thrown in for fun) turned out to be so incredibly useful that they took on a life of their own in Dave and Sam's hands when making setups and playing in 2009. They didn't really get enough engineering to make them user friendly on the first pass. It's one of our next jobs after we get 1.3 into Stable.


John

Hi Oberon,

just found out that any 'do' requires an "interpreter listen" before. But maybe we wait for the things to come...

Stefan

Almost a year ago "about changes" check John's post...

A lot as happen, and more will come I'm sure.
Let's keep our inventive and discovering spirits alert.

keyman