One note, six loops - test post -

Sonic Pi · 6 live_loops · one root · 7 minutes

One note, six layers, seven minutes. Everything built from A4.
A drone in A with a random pentatonic melody, a delayed major chord, and a sub-octave bass.

What this is

A long-form ambient piece built around a single note — A4 (440 Hz). No chord changes, no melody in the traditional sense. Six live_loops run at different speeds and create movement through texture, not through harmony.

I wanted something that could run for seven minutes without getting boring, using only one root note and a small set of synths. The whole thing is ~40 lines of code.

Audio

[вставь плеер SoundCloud / Bandcamp / локальный файл]
Или: Link to audio — [URL]

Structure

Loop	Synth	Role	Sleep
`:sun_core`	`:sine`	Sustained drone on A4	12
`:child`	`:pretty_bell`	Random notes from A major pentatonic	`rrand(4, 8)`
`:bloom`	`:hollow`	Major chord, delayed entry	14
`:ground`	`:dark_ambience`	Sub-octave drone (A3)	16
`:pulses`	`:mod_sine`	Random note + cutoff modulation	10 + 10
`:sky`	—	Mixer fade and stop	300

All loops run inside two global effects: :reverb (room 0.9, mix 0.5) and :echo (phase 4, decay 6, mix 0.15).

Key decisions

Why one root note

ROOT = :a4 — everything builds from this. Melody comes from scale(ROOT, :major_pentatonic), harmony from chord(ROOT, :major), bass from ROOT - 12. No modulation, no key changes. The interest comes from layering and timing, not from notes.

Why `sleep rrand(4, 8)` in `:child`

The melody loop shouldn’t be predictable. A random interval between 4 and 8 beats makes it feel like it’s breathing rather than looping. Combined with pan: rrand(-0.5, 0.5), each note lands in a slightly different place in the stereo field.

Why `sleep 60 if tick == 0` in `:bloom`

The pad shouldn’t enter at the start. tick counts loop iterations; on the first one, the loop waits 60 beats before playing the chord. This creates an entrance — the harmony arrives after the drone has already established itself.

Why `control s, cutoff: ...` after `sleep 10` in `:pulses`

The :mod_sine note is played, then after 10 beats the cutoff is modulated. This changes the timbre of the note while it’s still sounding, rather than shaping it only at the attack. It creates movement inside a single note.

Why `set_mixer_control` in `:sky`

The piece ends by reducing the master amplitude slightly (0.9), restoring it (1.0), then calling stop. This gives a short fade rather than an abrupt cut.

Full code

ruby

# ==========================================================
# PRIMAL CLARITY
# Duration ~7 minutes
# ==========================================================

use_bpm 96

ROOT = :a4   # ≈440.00 Hz

with_fx :reverb, room: 0.9, mix: 0.5, damp: 0.4 do
  with_fx :echo, phase: 4, decay: 6, mix: 0.15 do

    # ------------------------------------------------------
    # DRONE — sustained sine at root
    # ------------------------------------------------------
    live_loop :sun_core do
      use_synth :sine
      play ROOT,
        attack: 6,
        sustain: 10,
        release: 12,
        amp: 0.3
      sleep 12
    end

    # ------------------------------------------------------
    # MELODY — random notes from major pentatonic
    # ------------------------------------------------------
    live_loop :child do
      use_synth :pretty_bell
      play choose(scale(ROOT, :major_pentatonic, num_octaves: 2)),
        attack: 1,
        release: 6,
        amp: 0.08,
        pan: rrand(-0.5, 0.5)
      sleep rrand(4, 8)
    end

    # ------------------------------------------------------
    # PAD — major chord, delayed entry
    # ------------------------------------------------------
    live_loop :bloom do
      sleep 60 if tick == 0
      use_synth :hollow
      play chord(ROOT, :major),
        attack: 4,
        sustain: 6,
        release: 10,
        amp: 0.1,
        cutoff: 85
      sleep 14
    end

    # ------------------------------------------------------
    # BASS — sub-octave drone
    # ------------------------------------------------------
    live_loop :ground do
      use_synth :dark_ambience
      play ROOT - 12,
        attack: 5,
        sustain: 8,
        release: 14,
        amp: 0.28,
        cutoff: 70
      sleep 16
    end

    # ------------------------------------------------------
    # PULSES — random note, cutoff modulated after onset
    # ------------------------------------------------------
    live_loop :pulses do
      sleep 120 if tick == 0
      use_synth :mod_sine
      n = choose(scale(ROOT, :major_pentatonic, num_octaves: 2))
      s = play n,
        attack: 3,
        sustain: 3,
        release: 8,
        mod_range: 0.12,
        amp: 0.07
      sleep 10
      control s, cutoff: rrand(70, 100)
      sleep 10
    end

    # ------------------------------------------------------
    # MIXER FADE — reduces amp, then restores, then stops
    # ------------------------------------------------------
    live_loop :sky do
      sleep 300
      set_mixer_control amp: 0.9
      sleep 25
      set_mixer_control amp: 1.0
      stop
    end

  end
end

What I’d change next

Try a different root. Change ROOT = :a4 to :c4, :e4 or :d4 — same code, different feel.
Longer reverb. room: 0.95 and damp: 0.3 would push it further into ambient territory.
More movement in :child. Adding a second pentatonic scale (e.g. :minor_pentatonic) and switching between them every 30 seconds.
Remove :sky. The fade is fine, but a hard stop after 7 minutes might be more honest.

Notes

No external samples. Everything comes from Sonic Pi’s built-in synths.
The code runs as-is in Sonic Pi 4.x.
If you change the BPM, the whole piece stretches — sleep values are in beats, not seconds.

License

Code: MIT
Audio: all rights reserved
Text: CC BY 4.0

If you use the code link back to this post. If you want to use the audio ask first.

One note, six loops – test post