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How to prepare your play space
Now that you know Zerus & Ona, and you've sung and danced to their song, we're going to prepare your computer with all you need to play it.
In this video, you'll learn how to install Sonic Pi, download the files with the music, and get everything ready to start playing!
How to install Sonic Pi
We used Sonic Pi, a programming environment for creating music and rhythms with a simple language to write the song.
Sam Aaron developed it at the University of Cambridge and in collaboration with the Raspberry Pi foundation.
This simple program is used for coding and music lessons. Still, it is such a fantastic tool that more than 1.8 million musicians already use it.
To download Sonic Pi, click on the link depending on whether you use Mac or Windows:
⚡️ Download Sonic Pi for Mac »⚡️ Download Sonic Pi for Windows »
Install Sonic Pi on your computer as you do with any other program.
How to download the files with the music
For the music, we've prepared a folder called /zerusandona that contains two subfolders, called /code and /tracks.
The subfolder /code contains 3 code files that we'll be opening with Sonic Pi. In the second subfolder /tracks you'll find the .wav files with the Zerus & Ona's song, classified by instruments and voice.
IMPORTANT: Once you download the folder /zerusandona, make sure you move it to your DESKTOP. It's very important that you do this step; otherwise, the music won't work.
How to open the files in Sonic Pi
Once you've installed Sonic Pi and the folder /zerusandona is on your DESKTOP, we're going to open the files in Sonic Pi and check that everything works correctly.
To do this, we'll first open Sonic Pi and focus on the box on the left to open the 3 files inside the folder /code.
To open the first file /00-live-coding-player.rb, make sure that you have tab 0 selected in Sonic Pi. Click on File > Load, find the file inside the folder you've downloaded before on your desktop. Select it to open it.
We'll do the same for file /01-electronic-beat.rb. This time we'll select tab 1 in Sonic Pi.
Finally, we'll open the file /02-electronic-sounds.rb, selecting tab 2 in Sonic Pi.
At the end of this section you should have 3 files open in Sonic Pi under tabs 0, 1 and 2.
How to check that everything is correct
Now that we have the 3 files open in Sonic Pi let's check that we've done it right.
Go to tab 0 in Sonic Pi and click on File > Run. You can also use Alt + R (Windows) or Cmd + R (Mac) on our keyboard.
If everything is correct, right now, you should be listening to the "Welcome to our World" song on your computer! 🚀
IMPORTANT: They've found an incompatibility problem between Sonic Pi and the recent version of the Mac operating system, Big Sur. Your computer may not make any sound when you play music. If you think this is your case, restart your computer and check again.
To stop the music, click on File > Stop. You can also use your keyboard pressing Alt + S (Windows) or Cmd + S (Mac).
Repeat this process for the other two files open in tabs 1 and 2, and check whether you can listen to them too.
If you have any questions about these instructions, email us at hello@zerusandona.com. We'll be happy to help!
And if you've made it this far, CONGRATULATIONS!
Setting up your play space and getting your computer ready is usually the most complicated task when you're coding.