Orca-PicoCalc

A port of the Orca livecoding sequencer to the PicoCalc handheld.

Features

• Full Orca VM - All 26 operators (A-Z) plus special operators
• Built-in Synthesizer - 4-voice polyphonic synth with 4 waveforms (inspired by Pilot)
• Original Orca Font - Authentic 8x16 bitmap font
• Flash Storage - Save/load grids to internal flash
• Undo History - 8-level undo
• Selection Tools - Copy, cut, paste, fill, slide

Controls

Navigation

Key	Action
Arrow keys	Move cursor
Shift + Arrows	Resize selection
Tab	Toggle append mode (cursor moves right after input)
' (quote)	Toggle selection resize mode
` (grave)	Toggle slide mode (move selection contents)
Esc	Reset selection / exit mode

Playback

Key	Action
Space	Play/Pause
< / >	Decrease/Increase BPM (±5)
Ctrl+F	Step single frame (when paused)
Ctrl+R	Reset tick counter

Editing

Key	Action
Ctrl+C	Copy selection
Ctrl+X	Cut selection
Ctrl+V	Paste
Ctrl+Z	Undo
Ctrl+A	Select all
Ctrl+N	New grid (clear all)
Backspace/Del	Clear cell(s)

Grid

Key	Action
( / )	Decrease/Increase grid height
[ / ]	Decrease/Increase grid width

Synth

Key	Action
{ / }	Volume down/up

File

Key	Action
Ctrl+S	Save to flash
Ctrl+O	Load from flash

Synth Operator (=)

The = operator plays notes on the built-in speaker, inspired by Pilot.

Format: =WAVEFORM OCTAVE NOTE VELOCITY DURATION

*=14Cff
 │││││└─ Duration (1-g, longer)
 ││││└── Velocity (0-f, . = max)
 │││└─── Note (C-B, lowercase = sharp)
 ││└──── Octave (0-9)
 │└───── Waveform (0-3)
 └────── Bang required (*)

Waveforms

Value	Type
0	Sine (smooth)
1	Triangle (soft, default)
2	Square (8-bit/chiptune)
3	Sawtooth (bright/buzzy)

Examples

D8..........    Simple beat with triangle wave
*=14Cff.....

D4..........    Chord with different waveforms
*=04Cff.....    Sine bass
*=24Eff.....    Square mid
*=34Gff.....    Saw high

C8..........    Arpeggio using clock + track
.0CDEFGABc..
D8T.........
*=14.ff.....

MIDI Operator (:)

The : operator is reserved for MIDI output over GPIO (not yet implemented).

Format: :CHANNEL OCTAVE NOTE VELOCITY DURATION

All Operators

Output

Op	Name	Description
:	MIDI	Send MIDI note (GPIO)
=	Synth	Play note on speaker
!	CC	Send MIDI CC
?	PB	Send MIDI pitch bend
;	UDP	Send UDP message

Math

Op	Name	Description
A	Add	Output sum of inputs
B	Subtract	Output difference
C	Clock	Output modulo of frame
D	Delay	Bang on modulo of frame
F	If	Bang if inputs are equal
I	Increment	Increment southward
L	Lesser	Output smallest input
M	Multiply	Output product
R	Random	Output random value
U	Uclid	Euclidean rhythm
Z	Lerp	Transition between values

Transport

Op	Name	Description
E	East	Move eastward or bang
N	North	Move northward or bang
S	South	Move southward or bang
W	West	Move westward or bang

Memory

Op	Name	Description
H	Halt	Halt southward operand
J	Jump	Output northward operand
K	Konkat	Read multiple variables
O	Offset	Read with offset
P	Push	Write eastward
Q	Query	Read with offset (multiple)
T	Track	Read eastward
V	Variable	Read/write variable
X	Teleport	Write with offset
Y	Yump	Output westward operand
G	Generator	Write multiple operands

Special

Op	Name	Description
*	Bang	Trigger operators
#	Comment	Comment until line end

Building

Requirements

• Raspberry Pi Pico SDK
• ARM GCC toolchain
• CMake

Build Steps

cd orca-picocalc
mkdir build && cd build
cmake ..
make -j4

Flash

Copy orca-picocalc.uf2 to the PicoCalc in BOOTSEL mode.

Credits

• Orca by Hundred Rabbits - Original livecoding environment
• Pilot by Hundred Rabbits - Synth inspiration
• PicoCalc by ClockworkPi - Hardware platform

License

MIT License - See Orca-c for original license.