This library is an interface to a very interesting algorithmic audio
synthesizer - SuperCollider. SuperCollider itself has a builtin
programming language, but cl-collider
makes it possible to write music
in lisp interactively.
Here is how a simple program in sclang looks like:
// 60Hz Gabber Rave 1995
Server.default.boot;
(
SynthDef(\gabberkick, {
var snd, freq, high, lfo;
freq = \freq.kr(440) * (Env.perc(0.001, 0.08, curve: -1).ar * 48 * \bend.kr(1)).midiratio;
snd = Saw.ar(freq);
snd = (snd * 100).tanh + ((snd.sign - snd) * -8.dbamp);
high = HPF.ar(snd, 300);
lfo = SinOsc.ar(8, [0, 0.5pi]).range(0, 0.01);
high = high.dup(2) + (DelayC.ar(high, 0.01, lfo) * -2.dbamp);
snd = LPF.ar(snd, 100).dup(2) + high;
snd = RLPF.ar(snd, 7000, 2);
snd = BPeakEQ.ar(snd, \ffreq.kr(3000) * XLine.kr(1, 0.8, 0.3), 0.5, 15);
snd = snd * Env.asr(0.001, 1, 0.05).ar(2, \gate.kr(1));
Out.ar(\out.kr(0), snd * \amp.kr(0.1));
}).add;
SynthDef(\hoover, {
var snd, freq, bw, delay, decay;
freq = \freq.kr(440);
freq = freq * Env([-5, 6, 0], [0.1, 1.7], [\lin, -4]).kr.midiratio;
bw = 1.035;
snd = { DelayN.ar(Saw.ar(freq * ExpRand(bw, 1 / bw)) + Saw.ar(freq * 0.5 * ExpRand(bw, 1 / bw)), 0.01, Rand(0, 0.01)) }.dup(20);
snd = (Splay.ar(snd) * 3).atan;
snd = snd * Env.asr(0.01, 1.0, 1.0).kr(0, \gate.kr(1));
snd = FreeVerb2.ar(snd[0], snd[1], 0.3, 0.9);
snd = snd * Env.asr(0, 1.0, 4, 6).kr(2, \gate.kr(1));
Out.ar(\out.kr(0), snd * \amp.kr(0.1));
}).add;
)
(
var durations;
durations = [1, 1, 1, 1, 3/4, 1/4, 1/2, 3/4, 1/4, 1/2];
Ppar([
Pbind(*[
instrument: \gabberkick,
amp: -23.dbamp,
freq: 60,
legato: 0.8,
ffreq: Pseq((0..(durations.size * 4 - 1)).normalize, inf).linexp(0, 1, 100, 4000),
dur: Pseq(durations, inf),
bend: Pfuncn({ |x| if(x < (1/2), 0.4, 1) }, inf) <> Pkey(\dur),
]),
Pbind(*[
instrument: \hoover,
amp: -20.dbamp,
midinote: 74,
dur: durations.sum * 2,
sustain: 7,
])
]).play(TempoClock(210 / 60));
)
I wasn’t able to translate it into the Lisp form, because cl-collider
does not have documentation and diving into it will require too much
time. However, there is a working code example from its README, which
you can try in the REPL:
POFTHEDAY> (named-readtables:in-readtable :sc)
POFTHEDAY> (setf sc:*s* (sc:make-external-server
"localhost" :port 48800))
POFTHEDAY> (use-package :sc)
POFTHEDAY> (defsynth saw-synth ((note 60) (dur 4.0))
(let* ((env (env-gen.kr (env [0 .2 0]
[(* dur .2) (* dur .8)])
:act :free))
(freq (midicps note))
(sig (lpf.ar (saw.ar freq env)
(* freq 2))))
(out.ar 0 [sig sig])))
POFTHEDAY> (defun make-melody (time n &optional (offset 0))
(when (> n 0)
(at time (synth 'saw-synth
:note (+ offset (alexandria:random-elt
'(62 65 69 72)))))
(let ((next-time (+ time (alexandria:random-elt
'(0 1 2 1.5)))))
(callback next-time #'make-melody
next-time (- n 1) offset))))
POFTHEDAY> (make-melody (quant 4) 16)
POFTHEDAY> (make-melody (+ 4 (quant 4)) 16 12)
;; This will stop the music
POFTHEDAY> (sc:stop)
Here is a demo, showing how does live coding works with cl-collider
:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pZyuHjztARY
To try cl-collider
, you’ll need to install a SuperCollider. On OSX it is
as simple as doing:
brew cask install supercollider