6 ms·

Live coding (music) with Emacs Live

58 points by mattrepl 14y ago

rjzzleep 14y ago
oh i like, how does this compare to pd and max/msp, apart from the fact that those are visual. it seems that the overtone guys want to add a visual display in the future. but most comparisions of supercollider and max/msp are mainly focused on the frontend. is there anything i can do with max that i can't with sc besides looking pretty? (although i do prefer a nice editor to a visual thingie)
mhd 14y ago
I actually thought the screenshots are quite interesting with their scanline glitz, but apparently that's from postprocessing.
- archangel_one 14y ago
  Yes, I was thinking it'd be fun to be able to switch Emacs into that mode at times. No doubt it'd drive you crazy if you used it too long though...
- martinced 14y ago
  I think I've seen an Emacs video using the same "fake old retro" scanline look but I'm not sure how it was made. Could have been postprocessed on the whole video too. Does anyone know how this effect was achieved?
  - SeoxyS 14y ago
    After effects can do this easily: For the glow: duplicate the video layer, add a fast blur effect and set it to overlay or color dodge blending mode. For the scanlines: AFX has a scanlines/cathode effect that you can tweak to re-create that look. I can't recall off the top of my head how it's done, but I can look it up if you'd like (I've done it before, while fucking around in AFX [1]). [1]: https://vimeo.com/41453548 https://vimeo.com/41453548
    - pmr_ 14y ago
      I don't think OP actually wants to know how he can do that with post-processing, but in a real Emacs session.
- walterkim 14y ago
  Not sure if you can get that specific effect, but Cathode for Mac has lots of options: http://www.secretgeometry.com/apps/cathode/ http://www.secretgeometry.com/apps/cathode/
  - mhd 14y ago
    The author talked to the Cathode developer and even opened a feature request for iTerm2[1]. There seems to be some interest in this. Cathode is mostly about emulating old, slow hardware, this would be about the opposite (code wouldn't look too differently, though). A "movie hacker" terminal or editor for live coding would be pretty interesting. Hmm, maybe in addition to Xt/Gtk/OSX one could add an OpenGL interface to Emacs for maximum scriptability. 1: https://vimeo.com/22798433 https://vimeo.com/22798433
- pmr_ 14y ago
  I've just ported the theme to Emacs 24 [1] custom-theme.el and made the same realization. [1] : https://gist.github.com/3723433 https://gist.github.com/3723433
logn 14y ago
Anyone interested in this should also check out ChucK: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/ChucK http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/ChucK
- scrumper 14y ago
  Thanks for this! Did not know about ChucK. Since we're plugging stuff we like, ChucK co-author Perry Cook's book, here: http://www.amazon.com/Real-Sound-Synthesis-Interactive-Applications/dp/1568811683 http://www.amazon.com/Real-Sound-Synthesis-Interactive-Appli... is an excellent intro to DSP and synthesis techniques.
jipumarino 14y ago
Another similar project, SuperCollider: http://supercollider.sourceforge.net http://supercollider.sourceforge.net And if you're on a Mac, Impromptu: http://impromptu.moso.com.au http://impromptu.moso.com.au
- vutekst 14y ago
  Emacs Live uses Overtone which is a Clojure layer over SuperCollider.
meunier 14y ago
It's worth noting you can also use vimclojure as a live Overtone environment. (or other slime-y vim methods)
FuzzyDunlop 14y ago
Sam Aaron, the guy who has done a bunch of screencasts with Overtone (and his emacs/dvtm config), and used it to create this emacs config setup, has used the same effect on pretty much everything. It really does add an element of coolness to the mix. I've been using emacs live for a bit. It's great. It bundles some nice plugins and has sane defaults. The cyberpunk colour scheme is cool. It has some nice personal touches on the scratch buffer. The downside is that the structure puts far more emphasis on maintaining the structure than adapting your config. If you want to keep it solid you can't use package manager without some changes, or (configure-group). You might get the odd issue with the bundled plugins (auto-complete loved lisp and file system traversal but hated other languages), but for a "I want to live code and I want it to WORK" config, it's bloody good.
fididj 14y ago
Where can one get information about how to actually code with this? The videos sure are fancy, but don't offer much information.

58 points by mattrepl 14y ago

oh i like, how does this compare to pd and max/msp, apart from the fact that those are visual. it seems that the overtone guys want to add a visual display in the future. but most comparisions of supercollider and max/msp are mainly focused on the frontend. is there anything i can do with max that i can't with sc besides looking pretty? (although i do prefer a nice editor to a visual thingie)

mhd 14y ago

I actually thought the screenshots are quite interesting with their scanline glitz, but apparently that's from postprocessing.

archangel_one 14y ago
Yes, I was thinking it'd be fun to be able to switch Emacs into that mode at times. No doubt it'd drive you crazy if you used it too long though...
martinced 14y ago
I think I've seen an Emacs video using the same "fake old retro" scanline look but I'm not sure how it was made. Could have been postprocessed on the whole video too. Does anyone know how this effect was achieved?
- SeoxyS 14y ago
  After effects can do this easily: For the glow: duplicate the video layer, add a fast blur effect and set it to overlay or color dodge blending mode. For the scanlines: AFX has a scanlines/cathode effect that you can tweak to re-create that look. I can't recall off the top of my head how it's done, but I can look it up if you'd like (I've done it before, while fucking around in AFX [1]). [1]: https://vimeo.com/41453548 https://vimeo.com/41453548
  - pmr_ 14y ago
    I don't think OP actually wants to know how he can do that with post-processing, but in a real Emacs session.
walterkim 14y ago
Not sure if you can get that specific effect, but Cathode for Mac has lots of options: http://www.secretgeometry.com/apps/cathode/ http://www.secretgeometry.com/apps/cathode/
- mhd 14y ago
  The author talked to the Cathode developer and even opened a feature request for iTerm2[1]. There seems to be some interest in this. Cathode is mostly about emulating old, slow hardware, this would be about the opposite (code wouldn't look too differently, though). A "movie hacker" terminal or editor for live coding would be pretty interesting. Hmm, maybe in addition to Xt/Gtk/OSX one could add an OpenGL interface to Emacs for maximum scriptability. 1: https://vimeo.com/22798433 https://vimeo.com/22798433
pmr_ 14y ago
I've just ported the theme to Emacs 24 [1] custom-theme.el and made the same realization. [1] : https://gist.github.com/3723433 https://gist.github.com/3723433

logn 14y ago

Anyone interested in this should also check out ChucK: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/ChucK http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/ChucK

scrumper 14y ago
Thanks for this! Did not know about ChucK. Since we're plugging stuff we like, ChucK co-author Perry Cook's book, here: http://www.amazon.com/Real-Sound-Synthesis-Interactive-Applications/dp/1568811683 http://www.amazon.com/Real-Sound-Synthesis-Interactive-Appli... is an excellent intro to DSP and synthesis techniques.

jipumarino 14y ago

Another similar project, SuperCollider: http://supercollider.sourceforge.net http://supercollider.sourceforge.net And if you're on a Mac, Impromptu: http://impromptu.moso.com.au http://impromptu.moso.com.au

vutekst 14y ago
Emacs Live uses Overtone which is a Clojure layer over SuperCollider.

meunier 14y ago

It's worth noting you can also use vimclojure as a live Overtone environment. (or other slime-y vim methods)

FuzzyDunlop 14y ago

Sam Aaron, the guy who has done a bunch of screencasts with Overtone (and his emacs/dvtm config), and used it to create this emacs config setup, has used the same effect on pretty much everything. It really does add an element of coolness to the mix. I've been using emacs live for a bit. It's great. It bundles some nice plugins and has sane defaults. The cyberpunk colour scheme is cool. It has some nice personal touches on the scratch buffer. The downside is that the structure puts far more emphasis on maintaining the structure than adapting your config. If you want to keep it solid you can't use package manager without some changes, or (configure-group). You might get the odd issue with the bundled plugins (auto-complete loved lisp and file system traversal but hated other languages), but for a "I want to live code and I want it to WORK" config, it's bloody good.

fididj 14y ago

Where can one get information about how to actually code with this? The videos sure are fancy, but don't offer much information.