Sonic Pi - BEAM up the VJ

Speaker:
Sam Aaron


Abstract:

Sonic Pi is a free code-based music creation and performance tool that targets both education and professional musicians. It is possible for beginners to code fresh beats, driving bass lines and shimmering synth riffs. All this whilst teaching core computer science concepts such as sequencing, functions, variables, loops, data structures and algorithms.

This talk will briefly introduce Sonic Pi before taking a deep technical nose-dive into some of the interesting requirements of live coding systems. We will then examine the architecture of Sonic Pi’s IO sub-system which is implemented on the BEAM in both Erlang and Elixir.

Once we’ve covered these basics we will then be in the perfect position to take a look at how Elixir is core to the future of Sonic Pi. The first stop in this new exciting journey and the main focus of this talk will be live coding visualisations in sync with the music. For that we’ll need to BEAM up a VJ.

Expect plenty of live code, noise and psychedelic imagery!

Level:
Introductory and Overview