Simulating a wah effect with TidalCycles

waheffect.tidal

-- with @yaxu and @bgold help
d1 $ n "c5*8" # s "supersquare" # release "0.3"
# bandf (density 3 $ saw1 * (4500 * rand) + (100 * (density 1.0001 rand)))
# bandq "5.5"
# delay "0.9" # delaytime "0.15" # delayfeedback "0.5" -- some sonic sugar

-- this one is similiar to previous one, just adding harmonic richness by replacing one note (c5) with a chord (c5 major 7th)
d1 $ n "[c5,e5,g5,b5]*8" # s "supersquare" # release "0.3"
# bandf (density 3 $ saw1 * (4500 * rand) + (300 * (density 1.0001 rand)))
# bandq "5.5"
# room "0.3" # size "0.3"

A couple of thoughts.. First you don't need the second discretise because when you combine two patterns (in this case with +) the structure always comes from the left:

d1 $ n "c5*8" # s "supersquare" # release "0.3"
   # bandf (density 3 $ saw1 * (discretise 1 $ rand * 4500) + (rand * 100))
   # bandq "5.5"
   # delay "0.9" # delaytime "0.15" # delayfeedback "0.5" -- some sonic sugar

in fact along these lines you don't need the first one either, you can just swap round the left and right side of *, then the structure will come from 4500, which already is one event per cycle (being the number 4500)

d1 $ n "c5*8" # s "supersquare" # release "0.3"
   # bandf (density 3 $ saw1 * (4500 * rand) + (100 * rand))
   # bandq "5.5"
   # delay "0.9" # delaytime "0.15" # delayfeedback "0.5" -- some sonic sugar

(I swapped the second one as well to put 100 first, just for tidiness)
However there is a problem with using rand more than once in a pattern. rand is a deterministic stream of pseudo-random numbers - if you use it twice in the same pattern, it will have the same value in both cases. You can fix this by changing the density of one of the patterns, then you magically get a different stream of random numbers by 'zooming in' (as rand gives a continuous pattern, this doesn't mean you get fewer values back!).

d1 $ n "c5*8" # s "supersquare" # release "0.3"
   # bandf (density 3 $ saw1 * (4500 * rand) + (100 * (density 1.0001 rand)))
   # bandq "5.5"
   # delay "0.9" # delaytime "0.15" # delayfeedback "0.5" -- some sonic sugar

However I'm unsure about the usefulness of adding together two random streams in this way, unless you wanted the particular distribution it gives you..

Anyway sorry for the ramble, found this interesting!

Cool! I just changed it based on your thoughts. Added also a chord playing version.