Strudel REPL – a music live coding environment living in the browser

4 months ago (strudel.cc)

55 comments

birdculture

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amanzi  4 months ago

There are some pretty amazing live coding sessions of Strudel on YouTube. Some examples:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HkgV_-nJOuE

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HkgV_-nJOuE

raffael_de  4 months ago

Strudel is a JavaScript port of TidalCycles (Haskell). While TC uses SuperCollider for the synthesis, Strudel uses superdough which seems to be a custom implementation. I'm currently learning SuperCollider sclang and waiting for a version upgrade to have a reason to submit it here - usually some of the discussion is quite insightful. Anyway sclang is the PHP of music - just uglier and less consistent. But it's also powerful and and quite fun.

  • nucleogenesis  4 months ago

    I was goofing around with TidalCycles and really wanted to use it for the Haskell syntax but Strudel’s interface is so slick I suffer the JS syntax.

    Thanks for mentioning superdough I hadn’t seen it anywhere while I was playing with all of the above. Piqued my curiosity :)

    • jsmith45  4 months ago

      Might be worth checking out Tidal's Mondo Notation, which while not quite Haskell syntax is far closer to it, being a proper functional style notion, that unifies with mini notation, so no need for wrapping many things in strings.

      Looks like this:

          mondo`
    $ note (c2 # euclid <3 6 3> <8 16>) # *2 
    # s "sine" # add (note [0 <12 24>]*2)
    # dec(sine # range .2 2) 
    # room .5
    # lpf (sine/3 # range 120 400)
    # lpenv (rand # range .5 4)
    # lpq (perlin # range 5 12 # \* 2)
    # dist 1 # fm 4 # fmh 5.01 # fmdecay <.1 .2>
    # postgain .6 # delay .1 # clip 5

    $ s [bd bd bd bd] # bank tr909 # clip .5
    # ply <1 [1 [2 4]]>

    $ s oh*4 # press # bank tr909 # speed.8
    # dec (<.02 .05>*2 # add (saw/8 # range 0 1)) # color "red"
    `

      If actual tidal notation is important, that has been worked on, and would look like:

          await initTidal()
    tidal`
    d1 
    $ sub (note "12 0")
    $ sometimes (|+ note "12")
    $ jux rev $ voicing $ n "<0 5 4 2 3(3,8)/2>*8"
    # chord "<Dm Dm7 Dm9 Dm11>"
    # dec 0.5 # delay 0.5 # room 0.5 # vib "4:.25"
    # crush 8 # s "sawtooth" # lpf 800 # lpd 0.1
    # dist 1

    d2 
    $ s "RolandTR909_bd*4, hh(10,16), oh(-10,16)"
    # clip (range 0.1 0.9 $ fast 5 $ saw)
    # release 0.04 # room 0.5
    `

      Only the actually implemented functions, and implemented custom operators are available even when that works, so not all tidal code can necessarily be imported.

      But it is currently broken on the REPL site because of https://codeberg.org/uzu/strudel/pulls/1510 and https://codeberg.org/uzu/strudel/issues/1335

  • 1313ed01  4 months ago

    When I last played with SuperCollider I used Overtone, that wraps everything in a Closure API. With that you use s-expressions instead of sclang to define your sounds. I am not sure what the state of Overtone is these days, but there seems to still be some activity: https://overtone.github.io/

  • zahlman  4 months ago

    sclang came across to me as something like a hybrid of Smalltalk and Ruby. It's indeed very "inconsistent" and weirdly familiar-yet-alien, but I would consider it a lot more elegant than PHP.

awongh  4 months ago

This is cool because a lot of the current tools are a bit old and I feel a bit like they suffer from NIH (not invented here) syndrome, where what is actually needed is for things to just be in javascript.

This wasn’t possible as much when the last gen of tools came out (sonic pi etc) but I think the time is right.

The next iteration that would be cool is a true two-way interface between the visualizations and the code. Right now the slider is a really awesome element, for example. I think Bret Victor would be proud.

lovehashbrowns  4 months ago

I'm not very musically inclined but this is what I was able to make:

$: arrange( [4, "<sh09_bd>(4,8)"], [4, "<sh09_bd>(4,8)"], [1, "<sh09_bd mfb512_sd>(6,6)"] ).s().fast(2).layer(x=>x.add("0,2")).gain(".4!2 .5").phaser(2).phasercenter("<4000 800 4000 4000>")

$: s("gm_tinkle_bell").distort("<1 2 1 2:.5>").crush("<8 8 8 6 6 8 8>").chop(4)

$: arrange( [2, "<c4 e4 g4>(3,8)"], [1, "<f4 a4 c5>(3,8)"], [1, "<c4 e4 g4>(3,8)"] ).note().chop(4).fast(4).distort("<3:.5>").phaser(4).phasercenter("<800>").fm(4).fmdecay("<.05 .05 .1 .2>").fmsustain(.4)._scope()

I don't know what half this stuff does but it was still so much fun and this is probably one of my favorite projects ever. What made it most fun for me is that the reference docs are in the page so it's really easy to pick something at random and just see what it does.

chwzr  4 months ago

Oh and there is flok[1] which combines the strudel repl with visuals from hydra. Also there are sclang and other algorave environments available. Everything is synced (with crdts i guess) so it’s live collaborative. Which is nice to remotely jam with friends

[1] https://flok.cc

zahlman  4 months ago 

  Uncaught (in promise) ReferenceError: AudioContext is not defined
    ln https://strudel.cc/_astro/spectrum.Bf7jMx6O.js:1
    W https://strudel.cc/_astro/spectrum.Bf7jMx6O.js:1
    un https://strudel.cc/_astro/spectrum.Bf7jMx6O.js:1
    c https://strudel.cc/_astro/spectrum.Bf7jMx6O.js:1

What would I need to change in my security settings for this?

ako  4 months ago

This being text based makes it really easy to have AI generate the music. Now waiting for Strudel agent that will transcribe music into strudel notation.

Rochus  4 months ago

Can it make music like e.g. Extempore (see https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PL_eJ0XdLbWzzq_03wTIMV...)?

All examples I've heard from Strudel so far are pretty boring (constant beat/chord machine music).

Are there examples in other styles?

  • nucleogenesis  4 months ago

    Strudel can use custom samples in addition to the built in synths and samples. The language is really expressive. I’ve not gone too far into playing with it but from what I’ve seen it’s pretty flexible.

    That said I’ve only seen people making house/techno/drum-n-bass kinda stuff with it.

    • Rochus  4 months ago

      The syntax is pretty relevant for the kind/compexity of the aspired music. The music from the examples is quite simple compared to what Soerensen does with his Lisp-like syntax. Strudel seems to go more towards SuperCollider syntax, which from my humble point of view is better suited for offline productions.

    • kymki  4 months ago

      I added an example of some music other than what you describe in comments above (below? in some direction)?

999900000999  4 months ago

Awesome!

Tide Cycles doesn't work on Fedora, so I might use this instead. Anyway to get it running as a node js script so I use it locally?

  • joeatwork  4 months ago

    It will run locally in a web browser, it’s open source and if I recall correctly the authors provide a downloadable way to serve it from your local machine.

iainctduncan  4 months ago

For a much more open ended (but advanced) option, one can run Csound live in the browser too now over WASM.

For some music ed stuff I work on, I actually have s7 Scheme in WASM controlling csound in WASM, both were surprisingly easy to get going!

amingilani  4 months ago

There are plenty of instruments in there. I did a quick and dirty encoding of the first bar of “City of Star” with the piano when I first discovered it.

note("G2@2 A#2 D@2 G@2 ~ G F@2 D@1.5") .sound("piano")

ge96  4 months ago

Like others I saw this in YT recently. It's funny how the interface makes you think it's a console but you'l see a slider in there.

yoyohello13  4 months ago

I always wanted to try tidal cycles but the setup always seemed daunting (at least when I last looked). This is pretty cool

kymki  4 months ago

Strudel did something many other approaches to live coding have failed to do imho. No hosting needed. Just open the web based REPL and go. Great entry to live coding, but you quickly run into limitations.

Here is a piece inspired by Dawn of Midi and my attempt at taking a piano synth and trying to make it sound like a lof of different things.

Copy, paste, modify.

const bpm = 138; setcps(bpm/60/4);

// Pattern 1: lower melodic pulse

const bass_pulse = note("<d2 f2 a2 g2>") .s("piano") .slow(4) .gain(rand.range(0.45, 0.65)) .attack(0.005) .decay(0.8) .sustain(1.2) .release(1.2) .lpf(800) .room(0.3) .delay(0.15) .delaytime(0.375) .delayfeedback(0.25) .pan(0.5);

// Pattern 1.5 (?): layered base

const bass_pulse_2 = note("<d2 f2 a2 g2>") .s("piano") .slow(4) .gain(rand.range(0.45, 0.65)) .add(note(12)) .attack(0.005) .decay(0.8) .sustain(1.2) .release(1.2) .lpf(800) .room(0.3) .delay(0.15) .delaytime(0.375) .delayfeedback(0.25) .pan(0.5);

// Pattern 2: Mid-range polyrhythm

const mid_pattern = note("<a3 c4 d4 f4 a3>") .s("piano") .struct("x(5,8)") .gain(rand.range(0.25, 0.45)) .attack(0.008) .decay(0.4) .sustain(0.05) .release(0.6) .lpf(perlin.range(1200, 2200).slow(8)) .room(0.5) .pan(rand.range(0.3, 0.7));

// Pattern 3: repetitive pulse

const high_pulse = note("d5 [~ d5] d5 ~") .s("piano") .fast(2) .gain(rand.range(0.18, 0.35)) .attack(0.01) .decay(0.3) .sustain(0) .release(0.4) .lpf(2800) .room(0.6) .delay(0.25) .delaytime(0.1875) .delayfeedback(0.3) .pan(0.7);

// Pattern 4: Sparse accent notes (3 over 4 polyrhythm)

const accents = note("a4 ~ f4") .s("piano") .slow(2) .gain(rand.range(0.35, 0.55)) .attack(0.5) .decay(0.6) .sustain(0.9) .release(0.9) .lpf(1800) .room(0.45) .pan(0.2) .sometimes(x => x.delay(0.3).delayfeedback(0.4));

// Pattern 5: Extended mid-range polyrhythm (13 over 16 - cello thingie)

const mid_long = note("<a3 c4 d4 f4 a3 c4 e4 d4 f4 g3 a3 c4 d4>") .s("piano") .struct("x(13,16)") .gain(rand.range(0.32, 0.48)) .attack(0.06) .decay(0.9) .sustain(0.25) .release(1.1) .lpf(perlin.range(800, 1400).slow(12)) .lpq(4) .room(0.55) .delay(0.18) .delaytime(0.25) .delayfeedback(0.3) .pan(rand.range(0.35, 0.65));

const high_long = note("<d5 a4 f5 d5 c5 a4 g4>") .s("piano") .struct("x(7,8)") .gain(rand.range(0.28, 0.42)) .attack(0.05) .decay(0.8) .sustain(0.3) .release(1.0) .lpf(sine.range(1000, 1600).slow(8)) .lpq(3.5) .room(0.6) .delay(0.22) .delaytime(0.1875) .delayfeedback(0.35) .pan(0.7);

stack( bass_pulse, bass_pulse_2, mid_long, high_long, mid_pattern, high_pulse, accents );

numpy-thagoras  4 months ago

It's cool and all, and I like it. I have TidalCycles installed and have played around with it.

My only criticism is it makes music feel like CSS. In some ways it helps with theory, yes, but the DX is more like Tailwind.

bryan10101  4 months ago

Just got introduced to this today, honestly as an ECE major finishing up his BS, I legit want to do this as an edm hobby & skill honing