Ms Pinky etc...

[JuanSOLO]

I am starting this thread for those wanting to discuss the Ms Pinky M4L device.
ways to modify it
ideas to implement
and so on...

There is really only one object in the Ms Pinky M4L device that makes it work, thats the 'mptcfs_sa~' object.
Since it's part of the licensing agreement when purchasing it's not really up for sharing.
There is one guy who posted his work with a live feed into Pinky on some internet video place, he has posted the patching in question.
I dont want to be that guy, but I would like help on general patching for Ms Pinky, hence this thread.
I also want to have a hub for people to discuss and get help too. The Ms Pinky forums is kind of a ghost town, and the notifications dont always work so it can be hard to keep a thread moving. I find the Ableton forum to be much more prosperous helpful and active.

For me the first things I would like to figure out is how to get 'Vertical Waveforms'
I have found some patching that uses circular waveforms shaped into the LCD object, yet it's pretty complex stuff and I havent had the time to dissect it.
Any help with that would be AWESOME.

here's a screenshot of some Ms Pinky goodness. This particular set up uses a modified patch created by rbrt23 called Superlooper. Basically I use the 'Auto Export' features random naming convention and 'send' that to my Ms Pinky device to be loaded for vinyl manipulation. FUN STUFF! Yet needs efficiency.

[gavspav]

Hey I hope you didn't mean me and more than that I hope I didn't break the licensing agreement!

I made this video http://vimeo.com/9189314 and shared the code but I didn't share the actual mptcfs~ object so if you didn't have that object the patch wouldn't work.

At least I don't think it would.

I'm probably being over sensitive anyway - if so I'd love to have a look at this other patch, where is it?

Apart from that I'm not sure what Vertical Waveforms are? Maybe this thread will help? http://cycling74.com/forums/topic.php?id=39280

[JuanSOLO]

Hey I hope you didn't mean me and more than that I hope I didn't break the licensing agreement!

I doubt it's that big a deal. Seems like only a handful of people on the internet are posting ANYTHING related to Ms Pinky and they all seem to own it already. But yeah, I got your patch from somewhere and it had everything you needed, except the vinyl.

Anyways, I really appreciate your efforts at Ms Pinky. You still using it, doing anything with it?


By vertical waveforms I mean instead of the waveforms going from left to right, they would go from top to bottom, like in Serato.

[gavspav]

I'm pretty sure that the only reason my patch worked for you was because you already had the pinky objects installed.

If you hadn't then Max would not have found the pinky external - I didn't share it!, only the placeholder which Max may (in your case) or may not (if you don't have the Pinky external) find.

The link to the forum should help you draw the waveforms - with a bit of tweaking.

Not really using Ms Pinky myself these days - I was making an installation and realized I didn't want to use decks/needles so remade it using a dj hero controller. Still not finished it!

[JuanSOLO]

I'm pretty sure that the only reason my patch worked for you was because you already had the pinky objects installed.

This could very well be the case. I wasn't trying to put you on the spot, I was more trying to leave hints for those interested.

YEAH, thanks for the LINK!

[gavspav]

No actually you are right I did share the external
I froze the device before sharing it and this bundles all dependent max stuff together.
FWIW I deleted the link.

[pid]

i really enjoy reading all juanSOLO's Ms Pinky journeys. just a shame i do not have it myself i'd really like to get dirty with it.

i have always wondered, why isn't Ms Pinky one of the biggest things on the planet? i mean it is awesome. i covet Ms Pinky, not Serato/Traktor/Etc. i think maybe the developers are slow and do not push it much.

something i might be able to help with is the vertical waveforms. i'll take a stab and get back to you. although i am busy at the moment so it might take some time...

[JuanSOLO]

I deleted the link.

Thats too bad, I think it's invaluable information posted about Ms Pinky patching.
If I were you I'd repost it with a dummy object, like this.

i have always wondered, why isn't Ms Pinky one of the biggest things on the planet?

If someone is used to Traktor or Serato, Ms Pinky has it's quirks in simple areas, browsing, loading, GUI, cue points and loop points. They also have no huge internet ad campaign. I would say that makes it incapable of being a contender for the serious DJ.

However if you want to be some hack DJ that has some weird turntable shit going on, off the beaten path. Ms Pinky is ACES!

There's also a tiny community for it.
It would be fun to get enough Max and programming knowledge to help kick Ms Pinky up a notch, post some vids and see if it excelled much further. It could very well be a contending solution, it just needs help.

[gavspav]

Yeah, ill do that.....one day! EDIT***Have done it Today!***

One thing I have been playing about with (as a result of this thread) is warping the pinky cd control mp3 in repitch mode.

Havent tested alot but it seems to work at least within certain tempo boundaries.

This could enable some cool stuff maybe, if you rename the tc clip you can have it represent a specific tune.

Need to make a max patch to display the waveform of the mp3 and copy setting of start, end and loop points to the tc clip.

Thinking out loud here......

[tsutek]

Hey Mr Solo, good to see that you're still involved with the MsPinky system!

I'd be very interested in joining a MsPinky "workshop". I really like the software, but I'm not much of a max patching guru myself. My experiences with the official forum is quite poor also, nobody's home it seems..

I think MsPinky's biggest obstacles are the lack of good documentation and proper marketing (a polished default patch would be welcome as well). Otherwise it would surely flourish - it's about the only option for a DVS without a proprietary dongle! It's pretty stable too and does not kill my 5-year old MBP either

I've made a rough draft of the reference document for the external which I need to finish eventually. I've also been playing around with the file slots, which are awesome! One could really build a neat system around those. But it's no fun dev'ing for oneself, I often end up just scratching instead

What would be the coolest thing though, would be for someone to come up with a sample/audio file player/scrubber that would accept the MsPinky timecode signals (velocity, position, power). MsPinky system has the input and the input+output, but we need a separate output module so we can easily mess around with the timecode signal data before sending it to the player.. Oh but now I'm rambling.

Big up to all the Pinkstahz

[maara]

Hi guys,
Its nice to see some thread about ms pinky that is not older than few years...
Anyway, I really enjoy djing with my apc, twitch and ableton and my turntable (just one) arrived recently - so I wondered - does it worth spending 100 usd for Pinky?
I am a kind of that beatmixing dj, not a turntablist.. There are not so many topics about the pinky and how does it works (even on their official forum) so I wanted to ask what are the possibilities? - can I use it (or patch it) so the ableton global tempo and nudge are controlled by the turntable? can I get other clips sync to the one playing through the pinky device? Is it even suitable for full tracks instead of short loops? And is the project even still alive as there is no update nearly for 2 years? Simply - should I get one?
thx

[JuanSOLO]

I really like Ms Pinky, and for 100 bucks I felt it was worth it when I bought it. Now thats debatable Traktor only costing 89 bucks, granted you already have an Audio 8 or something.

My guess is that you could make Live's Temp follow Ms Pinky.
Seems most of the limitations of what you can do or alter the patch to do is based on how far the user is willing to understand and patch with M4L.
Other limitations would be those of M4L itself and access to the API.

When it comes to tempo matching using an APC40, I find it's better to think of it the other way around, matching the spinning vinyl to playing clips and Live's tempo.
I do this with cue points, and manually speeding up or slowing down the record.
ALSO, just warping my music to stay perfect BPM.

It's definitely suitable for long tracks. However, for straight up DJing, having a better browser is limited by max menus, and Lives browser. At one time I used to use Ms Pinky in Ableton for DJing. Using the "highlighted clip" loading feature I was able to turn Live into one giant browser with blank midi clips that would load my audio into Ms Pinky based on what I named the clips. BUT, the way Ms Pinky works with the Max file path it can have subtle hiccups when searching through lots of sub folders and LOTS of files. That part drove me nuts, leaving me to try and use 1 folder, and limiting my tracks to only my favorites. I havent incorporated an SSD drive into my Laptop yet. I imagine this would make Ms Pinky work seamlessly with searching for audio if you used the SSD drive to store audio as well as run the program.
OLD SET UP


It's very hackable, and a lot of fun. I really wish the Ms Pinky guys would revisit the pricing, make it like 40 bucks, or even consider sharing it with the Max for Live community. This would get a lot more folks on board and maybe create some advancements. The Ms Pinky forums is a total ghost town, but there's a few people still hacking on it.

You can most definitely make a customized Ms Pinky patch that works directly in conjunction with your APC40 utilizing the control_surface stuff M4L offers.