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I also think Clojure is a great fit. I've had some really good results with sample-based algorithmic composition, so I'm really looking forward to this: "In t

by vfdfv 11y ago

I also think Clojure is a great fit. I've had some really good results with sample-based algorithmic composition, so I'm really looking forward to this: "In the near future, Alda’s scope will be expanded to include sounds synthesized from basic waveforms, samples loaded from sound files, and perhaps other forms of synthesis."

klum 11y ago
Wonder if VST support is a possibility. Also things like automation, for changing parameters like volume over time. It's easy to see how a programming language can be a good fit for notating certain kinds of music and allowing playback of it. Seems to me like the challenge is to go beyond lining things up neatly to a grid and introducing any kind of "looseness" to the music. Edit: Then again, people do great stuff with trackers, so I'm sure a programming language can be a great fit for some kinds of music.
- vfdfv 11y ago
  Definitely! Though you may already know, aligning notes to exact subdivisions of the beat is called quantization. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Quantization_%28music%29 https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Quantization_%28music%29 Quantized music feels noticeably less organic and lively, to me at least. Audio sequencers like Linux's Hydrogen give you the capability to mess with "lead" and "lag", but it must be done individually for each note and so is fairly tedious. I've used the Python module pydub along with a random number generator to set samples slightly ajar, but, while it helps, a purely random approach doesn't capture how human performers implement lead and lag. I absolutely recommend pydub as an easy way to manipulate sound files. https://github.com/jiaaro/pydub https://github.com/jiaaro/pydub
  - klum 11y ago
    Thanks for the info, pydub looks nice! And I suppose that when you have music represented by a text file, as is the case in Alda, you can then use other programs to operate on the text file (for example, you could probably write a script to vary note/rest lenghts a bit using the quant attribute).

by vfdfv 11y ago

klum 11y ago

Wonder if VST support is a possibility. Also things like automation, for changing parameters like volume over time. It's easy to see how a programming language can be a good fit for notating certain kinds of music and allowing playback of it. Seems to me like the challenge is to go beyond lining things up neatly to a grid and introducing any kind of "looseness" to the music. Edit: Then again, people do great stuff with trackers, so I'm sure a programming language can be a great fit for some kinds of music.

vfdfv 11y ago
Definitely! Though you may already know, aligning notes to exact subdivisions of the beat is called quantization. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Quantization_%28music%29 https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Quantization_%28music%29 Quantized music feels noticeably less organic and lively, to me at least. Audio sequencers like Linux's Hydrogen give you the capability to mess with "lead" and "lag", but it must be done individually for each note and so is fairly tedious. I've used the Python module pydub along with a random number generator to set samples slightly ajar, but, while it helps, a purely random approach doesn't capture how human performers implement lead and lag. I absolutely recommend pydub as an easy way to manipulate sound files. https://github.com/jiaaro/pydub https://github.com/jiaaro/pydub
- klum 11y ago
  Thanks for the info, pydub looks nice! And I suppose that when you have music represented by a text file, as is the case in Alda, you can then use other programs to operate on the text file (for example, you could probably write a script to vary note/rest lenghts a bit using the quant attribute).