Thursday 20th May 6pm UK / 7pm Berlin / 10am LA / 1pm NYC

In this livestreamed interview, Alex McLean retraces the history and intent that prompted him to develop TidalCycles alongside ‘Algorave’ live performance events, contributing to establish Live Coding as an art discipline.

 Alex started TidalCycles project for exploring musical patterns in 2009, and it is now a healthy free/open-source software project and among the most well-known live coding environments for music.

TidalCycles represents musical patterns as a function of time, making them easy to make, combine and transform. It is generally partnered with the SuperDirt hybrid synthesiser/sampler, created by Julian Rohrhuber using SuperCollider. 

Culturally, TidalCycles is tightly linked to Algorave, a movement created by Alex McLean and Nick Collins in 2011, where musicians and VJs make algorithms to dance to.

Where to watch – 

 

Facebook –  https://www.facebook.com/musichackspace/

Overview of speaker

Alex McLean is a musician and researcher based in Sheffield UK. As well as working on TidalCycles, he also researches algorithmic patterns in ancient weaving, as part of the PENELOPE project based in Deutsches Museum, Munich. He has organised hundreds of events in the digital arts, including the annual AlgoMech festival of Algorithmic and Mechanical Movement. Alex co-founded the international conferences on live coding and live interfaces, and co-edited the Oxford Handbook of Algorithmic Music. As live coder has performed worldwide, including Sonar, No Bounds, Ars Electronica, Bluedot and Glastonbury festivals.

Level: Beginner

Live coding is the act of manipulating algorithms in real time to change an ongoing artistic process, like music or visuals. In this workshop, we will begin with an introduction to live coding, highlighting various technologies and artists, before learning how to live code sound using TidalCycles. This workshop aims to provide an introduction to live coding to encourage others to incorporate live coding technologies and techniques into their practice.

Session Learning Outcomes

By the end of this session, a successful student will be able to:

• Create a variety of patterns

• Use functions to vary sequences

• Add effects to manipulate and process sounds

• Identify various technologies and practitioners of live coding

Session Study Topics

• An introduction to various live coding technologies and artists:

  • Sonic Pi

  • TidalCycles

  • FoxDot

  • Hydra

• How to create various patterns and sequences

• Functions for varying sequences

• How to add effects to sound

Requirements

• A computer and internet connection

• A web cam and mic

• A Zoom account

TidalCycles
Software to download:

• Atom

• SuperCollider

• Atom-tidalcycles

Note: To run TidalCycles on your machine, you will need to install software in addition to the applications/packages listed above. Follow these instructions to see how to do this on your machine.

To use an online version of TidalCycles (*no installation required):

Visit the Estuary Live Coding Server. Select ‘MiniTidal’ as your language of choice.

About the workshop leader 

Melody Loveless is an artist, creative technologist, and educator based in Brooklyn, NYC. Her work ranges from live coding performance, generative sound installations, multisensory performance, and more. She currently teaches at Hunter College and Harvestworks and is part of Cycling 74’s Max Certified Trainer Program.