Sound Tools
Several tools are worth trying here, and each teaches something different. Start with the one that fits what you want to make.
New to sound? Do Music & Sound Basics alongside this page. Patching in VCV Rack is easier if you have done Circuits.
Suggested progression
- Understand synthesis. VCV Rack shows how a sound is built from separate modules, and Ableton’s Learning Synths lets you play with a synth in the browser while you learn its parts.
- Make music with code, in the browser. Strudel runs in the browser, so it should work on school computers.
- Go deeper with code. SuperCollider is the main code route, with a steeper start and a high ceiling.
- Fallback and visual patching. Pure Data is the fallback if SuperCollider proves too hard, and the lab has its own guide for it.
| Tool | Good for | Runs | In the lab |
|---|---|---|---|
| VCV Rack | Learning how synthesis works | Desktop app | Not installed yet |
| Strudel | Live coding patterns and beats | Browser | [test on a school computer] |
| SuperCollider | Generative music, data sonification, precise control | Desktop app | Not installed yet |
| Pure Data | Building instruments and effects from boxes and wires | Desktop app | Lab guide written |
VCV Rack
A free virtual modular synthesizer. Modules are placed in a rack and patched together with virtual cables, as on a hardware Eurorack system. It is the quickest way to see what each part of a synth does. Download from vcvrack.com. The free version is all the lab needs.
- Video · Your first minutes in VCV Rack 2 - Omri Cohen. A short tour and a first patch. Start here.
- Video · New to modular? Watch this first - Omri Cohen. A playlist on the core ideas of modular synthesis.
- Video · Let’s Learn Eurorack (ft. VCV Rack) - Red Means Recording. A multi-part series; the first video is linked.
- Video · From Zero to Synth - Sonic Academy. Builds a sound from nothing.
- Read · VCV Rack manual, starting with Getting Started, and the community’s getting-started list.
Strudel
A live-coding environment that runs in the browser: type short patterns and hear music immediately. It is the official JavaScript port of TidalCycles, and no JavaScript or TidalCycles experience is needed. Open it at strudel.cc.
- Interactive · Strudel workshop: first sounds - the official lessons, with a playable editor in each page. Start here.
- Read · Getting started and the showcase - the official introduction, and examples of what people make.
SuperCollider
A free, open-source platform for audio synthesis and algorithmic composition. Sound is described in code. Download from supercollider.github.io. The installers are hosted on GitHub, which school devices block. [work out an install route: IT, or a USB stick]
- Read · Getting Started with SuperCollider - the official tutorial. Start here.
- Video · Eli Fieldsteel’s tutorials - the standard video series; choose the SuperCollider playlist.
- Book · SuperCollider for the Creative Musician - Eli Fieldsteel. Paid, and the most complete route in.
- Reference · Documentation, sccode.org (shared patches) and the forum.
Pure Data
A free visual programming environment for sound: instruments and effects built from boxes and wires, with no typed code. Download from puredata.info. [a browser version is still to be chosen and tested; add its link here]
- Lab guide · Pure Data Lab Guide - PD1 to PD5: a steady tone, pitch and volume, waveforms, filters, then delay and melodies from data. Draft; not yet tested.
- Read · Pd Tutorial: Programming Electronic Music in Pd - Johannes Kreidler’s free online book.
- Read · Theory and Techniques of Electronic Music - Miller Puckette’s free book, by the author of Pd. Best once you want to know why things work.
- Pd’s built-in help: right-click any object and choose Help to open a working example.
Connections to other tools
Any of these can be driven by data from Arduino and Data Science, and that is how a sensor log becomes a piece of music.