Products of Interest

Gibber JavaScript Live-Coding Environment

Gibber is a live-coding environment for Google Chrome. It is written completely in JavaScript and can be used within any Web page. It uses the audioLib.js library, which was created by Finish musician and programmer Jussi Kalliokoski. Gibber extends this library to add extra effects, sequencing, and automated audio graph management. The environment provides the user with a simple syntax, sample accurate timings for synthesis and sequencing, and a simple model for networked use, and it supports music notes and chords through the teoria.js library.

Six types of oscillators are available: sine, triangle, pulse, saw, inverse saw, and square waves. A synthesizer object can be used to wrap an oscillator and envelope together to play notes with defined attack and decay envelopes. Three types of sequencers are included in Gibber. The first is a generic sequencer for changing parameters of JavaScript objects such as synthesizers and effects, calling methods, and executing JavaScript functions. The ScaleSeq can be used to sequence notes in a scale, using a given mode and base note. The third sequencer is an Arpeggiator object for sequencing notes in a chord. A delay, distortion, low-pass filter, ring modulator, reverberator, and bit truncation effect are included and can be used with any oscillator or synthesizer. The parameters of oscillators, synthesizers, and effects can be modulated.

Gibber can be used for networked performances in which multiple performers are involved. Each performer works on their individual computer but a master computer is connected to the amplification system. The performers can work on code in the background, auditioning it through headphones and pushing it to the master computer when they wish to.

A number of video demonstrations of Gibber being used in performance is available on the developer’s Web site.

Gibber is available as a free download. Contact: Charlie Roberts, electronic mail charlie@charlie-roberts.com; Web www.charlie-roberts.com/gibber/ and github.com/charlieroberts/Gibber/.

Overtone Live-Coding Audio Environment

Overtone is an open source audio environment designed for live coding. It is implemented in Clojure, a modern Lisp dialect that runs on the Java Virtual Machine, and acts as an Open Sound Control (OSC) client for the SuperCollider synthesis server. Overtone supports multiple simultaneous users, providing them with abstractions that facilitate live performance and the ability to safely coordinate modifications of the system at run time.

The environment provides direct access to SuperCollider’s basic unit generators and synthesizers but also leverages Clojure’s functional emphasis to design more intuitive melody and composition abstractions on top of these. A simple single line function call can be used to play a specified MIDI note on an instrument, and scales and chord representations can be created and manipulated. A metronome and timing system is included for sequencing and synchronizing instruments during live coding. MIDI input/output and OSC message handling is supported. Overtone also provides a fully concurrent event system that is capable of handling multiple simultaneous event streams and supporting a functional reactive programming style.

Overtone is available as a free download. Contact: Sam Aaron, University of Cambridge Computer Laboratory, William Gates Building, 15 JJ Thomson Avenue, Cambridge CB3 0FD, UK; electronic mail sam.aaron@acm.org; Web overtone.github.io/.

TIAALS Analysis Tools for Electroacoustic Music

Tools for the Interactive Aural Analysis (TIAALS) of Electroacoustic music is the result of a research project between the University of Huddersfield and Durham University in the UK. It is a set of tools for analysis and interaction with electroacoustic pieces. The new tools are based on Michael Clarke’s earlier work on IAA in which he produced analysis software written in Max/MSP for Jonathan Harvey’s Mortuos Plango, Vivos Voco, Denis Smalley’s Wind Chime, and Pierre Boulez’s Anthemes 2. His analysis allowed the user to interactively listen to the works, viewing thematic, harmonic and other charts, and to experiment with the techniques used by the composers. In IAA, a separate analysis had to be painstakingly produced for each piece. The tools produced as part of TIAALS are designed to be generic so that they can be used with any composition.

The TIAALS software is currently...