Documentation Wiki

Talkers and Controllers

Video Part One Includes:

• What talkers are.
• Adding a new keygroup output and connecting it to a new talker.

Video Part Two Includes:

• Converting belcanto phrases for use with talkers.
• Adding phrases to talker agents.

Video Part Three

• Running scripts using a talker.

EigenD version 1.2.11, Alpha setup 1.

Transcript:

Talkers are the agents which add control keys to the eigenharp keyboard, and when these keys are pressed the talker will 'say' a belcanto phrase. Any phrase that you can type in using the eigencommander or with the language keys can be added to a talker.

One talker agent can contain several control keys, you don't need a new talker for every new key.

In the seminar, Dave creates a new kgroup output on kgroup 99, which is later connected to a talker. This has been covered in more detail in the previous seminar Belcanto part 2

Error	9	9	hey

output	2	0	create

This creates a new output, inside which our talker will reside. To see the new talker you will need to select the new output using the main mode key and the new red light on key 20. (This assumes you are using Alpha setup 1. You may need to use a number other than 20 since the other setups use it already.)

Creating a talker agent is done by:

talker	create

it	to	talker	5	7	3	name	ify

573 is an unused talker number.

Names don't have to contain numbers, and can use other words from the belcanto lexicon. In the seminar, Dave names the talker 'hungarian talker'. Hungarian is a word in the lexicon since it is the name of a scale, but here it is just serving as part of the name of the talker. This means it is possible to give very confusing names to agents in a setup, so a good choice of name is important to make setups easier to navigate and for others to understand.

The renaming is done by:

talker	5	7	3	to	hungarian	talker	name	ify

We then connect the talker to the keygroup output we created earlier, which is done as follows:

plumber	hey

Error	9	9	output	2	0	to	hungarian	talker	connect

Adding commands to a talker involves modifying the belcanto phrase we want to assign, so that EigenD knows to add it to the talker and not to run it directly now. This is done by adding 'when X' before the verb at the end of the phrase, where X is a key number within the talker. Belcanto verbs are words such as 'connect', 'set', 'start' etc, and are usually at the end of a phrase. The example uses the metronome agent and the verbs 'start' 'stop' and 'toggle start'. It goes as follows:

First we make an empty conversation with no agents:

empty	join

Then we need to add both the talker and the agent to which it will 'say' its phrases into the conversation:

metronome	listen

hungarian	talker	listen

The modified phrase using 'when' is:

when	1	start

This makes a new orange key on the keyboard which will start the metronome when you press it.

Dave adds some more keys:

when	2	stop

when	3	toggle	start

tempo	to	1	7	0	when	2	4	set

tempo	to	8	0	when	2	5	set

And then adds more that talk instead to keygroup 1 and change the course offsets:

empty	join

hungarian	talker	listen

Error	1	listen

course	2	offset	to	2	4	interval	when	4	7	set

course	2	offset	to	1	interval	when	4	8	set

Running scripts.

Talkers can be used to trigger scripts written in belcanto. The script must be written in plain text, and saved to username/Library/Eigenlabs/Scripts/

The script from the example turns on multiple drum loops at the same time, and is as follows:

description
    test script

name
    test script

script
    drummer listen
    1 play
    2 play
    3 play
    4 play
    5 play
    6 play

To assign this script to a talker key:

empty	join

hungarian	talker	listen

interpreter	listen

test	script	when	1	0	execute

Other talker commands

Browsing the contents of a talker

eigenbrowser	hey

hungarian	talker	phrase	browse

Clearing phrases

hungarian	talker	hey

1	cancel

or to clear all phrases:

hungarian	talker	hey

all	phrase	cancel