randospire

A CLI that randomly picks files for you, so you can challenge yourself to create something with them.

It can be used for example, to pick random samples, MIDI files, presets for you. Now use those randomly picked files to create something awesome out of it :)

To use it, you need to create a config file which lists the folders and file extension to consider.

As a result, it will create a new folder and copy all the randomly chosen files into it according to the config structure. It will also add a report, what files had been picked, where the originals are and where the copies are.

Demo

Use it without installation

• Prerequisite: Install Node.js (as a runtime)

# Execute it like following
npx randospire examples/music-example.yaml

# Optionally: Provide target directory:
npx randospire examples/music-example.yaml ./tmp

Use it offline with installation

• Prerequisite: Install Node.js (as a runtime)

# Install or update the CLI globally
npm i -g randospire

# Now use it:
randospire examples/music-example.yaml ./tmp

Config File

The config file is a multi-document YAML file. The interface is described in src/config.ts, but how it works can be easily understood from examples.

It is probably easiest to copy an example and change it to your purposes.

Here is one example file with comments explaining it: ./examples/music-example.yaml:

# Execute with npx randospire ./music-example.yaml

# Each --- indicates a new YAML document, or in our case, a new job
---
# The name should be something meaningful to you. 
# It also doubles as a folder name for the output, so make sure the names are unique and work as folder names 
name: 'Drum Hits'
# How many files to pick randomly
amount: 7
# A list of input folders where to look for
inputFolders:
  - C:\Sound Library\AUDIO Drum Hits
  - C:\Sound Library\AUDIO Drum Kits'
# Optional: Limit file extensions. If not given, all files are considered.
fileExtensions:
  - 'wav'
  - 'flac'
  - 'mp3'

---
name: 'Drum Loops'
amount: 2
inputFolders:
  - C:\Sound Library\AUDIO Drum Loops

---
name: 'U-He Hive 2 Patches'
amount: 2
inputFolders:
  # %USERPROFILE% can be used to point to the user home directory
  - '%USERPROFILE%\Documents\u-he\Hive.data\Presets\Hive'