All things live coding

A curated list of live coding languages and tools

This list was created with the intention of giving a quick-glance over the many possibilities to engage in this practice. For further information, head over to TOPLAP.

Contents

• What is live coding
• Websites
• Community
• Languages
• Libraries and tools
• To Watch
• To Read
• To Dance
• Conferences
• Related lists
• Acknowledgement
• How to Contribute
• Code of Conduct

What is live coding

Quoting Wikipedia

Live coding (sometimes referred to as 'on-the-fly programming', 'just in time programming' and 'conversational programming') is a performing arts form and a creativity technique centred upon the writing of source code and the use of interactive programming in an improvised way.

Websites

• TOPLAP - The home of Live Coding.
• LiveCoding.fr - French-speaking information website on Live Coding

Community

• Directory of local TOPLAP nodes / live coding collectives: https://toplap.org/nodes/
• livecode mailing list - Old school email discussion list, going since 2004!
  • Archive from February 2004 - August 2023
  • Current archive
• Web forums
  • TOPLAP Forum - A web-based 'discourse' forum for in-depth discussion and exchange around live coding.
  • Tidal club - A discourse forum for TidalCycles (including for the video course)
  • Lines Forum - from the monome community, with loads of general music tech threads including on live coding
• Discord servers for live chat around live coding
  • TOPLAP - cross-community live coding chat + discussion
  • Estuary
  • Hydra
  • Cane
  • gwion
  • Pure Data
  • SuperCollider
  • TidalCycles, Strudel and friends
  • Bubo Tools
• Mastodon
  • Official TOPLAP mastodon instance: TOPLAP Social
  • List of livecode communities and projects on mastodon: https://social.toplap.org/@toplap/111703319382988669
  • Other live coding-related and -adjacent instances include: sonomu.club, assemblag.es and post.lurk.org
  • General live coding-related accounts include: @toplap@toplap.org https://social.toplap.org/@algorave
• /r/livecoding - The Live Coding subreddit.
• livecode.demozoo.org - Archive of demoscene related live coding events.

Languages

(In Alphabetical Order)

• afterglow - A live-coding lighting controller, building on the Open Lighting Architecture with Clojure and bits of Overtone.

  Windows | macOS | GNU/Linux lisp FLOSS audio

• Alda - A music programming language for musicians.

  Windows | macOS | GNU/Linux FLOSS audio

• Atomiix - A re-implementation and re-invigoration of ixi lang. (inactive)

  Windows | macOS | GNU/Linux JavaScript FLOSS SuperCollider audio

• Bacalao - A live-coding library for SuperCollider inspired by Tidalcycles syntax.

  Windows | macOS | GNU/Linux SuperCollider audio

• Cane - A small MIDI sequencer DSL designed around vectors and euclidean rhythms.

  Windows | macOS | GNU/Linux FLOSS audio MIDI Jack

• ChucK - Strongly-timed, Concurrent, and On-the-fly Music Programming Language.

  Windows | macOS | GNU/Linux FLOSS audio

• clive - Live-coding audio in C.

  GNU/Linux C FLOSS audio

• Conductive - A set of Haskell libraries for livecoding and real-time music applications. (inactive)

  Windows | macOS | GNU/Linux haskell SuperCollider FLOSS audio

• Cyril - A programming language designed for fast prototyping of visualisations and livecoding visuals. (inactive)

  Windows | macOS | GNU/Linux openFrameworks FLOSS visuals

• Extempore - (Previously Impromptu) A programming language and runtime environment designed to support 'cyberphysical programming'.

  Windows | macOS | GNU/Linux lisp FLOSS audio

• Facet - An open source livecoding environment in NodeJS with a text editor in the browser.

  Windows | macOS | GNU/Linux NodeJS JavaScript midi Open Sound Control audio synthesis

• FaustLive - FaustLive is an advanced self-contained prototyping environment for the Faust programming language with an ultra-short edit-compile-run cycle.

  Windows | macOS | GNU/Linux faust llvm FLOSS audio DSP

• Fluxus - A rapid prototyping, playing and learning environment for 3D graphics, sound and games.

  Windows | macOS | GNU/Linux | Android | PS2 racket-lang lisp FLOSS visuals

• FoxDot - Live Coding with Python and SuperCollider. See also the pitchglitch actively maintained fork.

  Windows | macOS | GNU/Linux Python SuperCollider FLOSS audio

• Gibber - Creative coding for JavaScript.

  Google Chrome | Mozilla Firefox web JavaScript FLOSS audio visuals

• Glicol - A graph-oriented live coding language written in Rust.

  Google Chrome | Mozilla Firefox web Rust JavaScript WebAssembly FLOSS audio visuals

• gwion - :musical_note: strongly-timed musical programming language Windows | macOS | GNU/Linux FLOSS audio

• hydra - Live Coding networked visuals in the browser.

  Google Chrome | Mozilla Firefox web JavaScript FLOSS visuals

• Improviz - An environment for using and abusing primitive shapes and animated textures. (inactive/deprecated)

  Windows | macOS | GNU/Linux Haskell FLOSS visuals

• Iannix - A graphical open-source sequencer for digital art

  Windows | macOS | GNU/Linux JavaScript FLOSS audio Open Sound Control visuals

• ixi lang - An experimental project concerned with the creation of digital musical instruments and environments for generative music. (inactive)

  Windows | macOS | GNU/Linux FLOSS SuperCollider audio

• ossia score - An interactive sequencer that allows live programming of intermedia, inter-protocol artworks, through a custom visual language.

  Windows | macOS | GNU/Linux C++ FLOSS audio

• kilobeat - A collaborative web-based dsp livecoding instrument inspired by bytebeat and Gibber.

  Google Chrome | Mozilla Firefox web JavaScript FLOSS audio

• Krill - Tidal cycle like live coding in NodeJS / Browser. (inactive)

  Windows | macOS | GNU/Linux NodeJS Browser FLOSS midi

• Limut - Live code music and visuals in a web browser.

  Google Chrome | Mozilla Firefox | Safari web JavaScript FLOSS audio visuals

• line - A tiny command-line midi sequencer and language for live coding.

  Windows | macOS | GNU/Linux c++ FLOSS midi audio

• LiveCodeLab - A web-based language and environment for VJs, musicians and graphic artists. Allows for immediate and engaging run-as-you-type prototyping, also used in education. (inactive)

  Windows | macOS | GNU/Linux web FLOSS visuals audio

• Max - A visual programming language for media.

  Windows | macOS graphical-language Commercial audio visuals

• Melrōse - a MIDI producing environment for creating (live) music

  Windows | macOS | GNU/Linux golang web midi MIT

• Mégra.rs - A high-level, LISP-y live coding language implemented in Rust. Prominently features Markov chains.

  Windows | macOS | GNU/Linux FLOSS audio LISP rust

• Mercury | Mercury Playground - A highly abstracted minimal language for the live coding of algorithmic music, designed to make code more accessible for both the performer and the audience. Runs in Max or the Browser.

  Windows | macOS Chrome | Firefox audio visuals MaxMSP JavaScript

• Moonlet - Lua live coding. (inactive)

  Windows | GNU/Linux FLOSS audio

• Mosaic - An openFrameworks based Visual Patching Creative-Coding Platform.

  Windows | macOS | GNU/Linux FLOSS graphical-language audio visuals

• Motifn - Code music in Javascript that plays in your DAW or browser

  Google Chrome | Mozilla Firefox web JavaScript MIDI audio WebAudio

• mutate4l - Live coding integrated into Ableton Live's session view.

  Windows | macOS Max for Live C# FLOSS audio

• Negasonic - Live coding in the browser with Ruby.

  Google Chrome | Mozilla Firefox web Ruby FLOSS audio

• ORCΛ - An esoteric live coding environment with two-dimensional syntax.

  Windows | macOS | GNU/Linux audio FLOSS

• OSCII - OSCII is a web software for drawing and live-coding textmode visuals and sounds.

  Google Chrome | Mozilla Firefox web JavaScript FLOSS audio visuals

• Overtone - An open source audio environment designed to explore new musical ideas from synthesis and sampling to instrument building, live-coding and collaborative jamming.

  Windows | macOS | GNU/Linux SuperCollider lisp FLOSS audio FLOSS

• PraxisLive - Hybrid visual IDE for live creative coding.

  Windows | macOS | GNU/Linux Java Processing GLSL graphical-language FLOSS visuals audio

• Pulchra - Live coding language for 3D graphics.

  Google Chrome | Microsoft Edge | etc. Web WebGL visuals

• Punctual - Browser-based, zero-installation, audiovisual live coding language, built into the Estuary collaborative platform.

  Google Chrome | Mozilla Firefox web WebGL JavaScript FLOSS visuals

• Pure Data - An open source visual programming language that can be used to process and generate sound, video, 2D/3D graphics, and interface sensors, input devices, and MIDI.

  Windows | macOS | GNU/Linux graphical-language FLOSS audio visuals

• re<urse - A language for generating musical patterns. (inactive)

  abandoned Windows | macOS | GNU/Linux TypeScript FLOSS audio

• Renardo - A FoxDot fork bringing new features and functionalities

  Windows | macOS | GNU/Linux Python FLOSS audio

• Repetition.sc - A set of tools to build a SequenceableCollection of Events. (inactive)

  Windows | macOS | GNU/Linux SuperCollider FLOSS audio

• Regex - A VCV Rack live coding module generating intricated pitch and rhythm sequences.

  Windows | macOS | GNU/Linux VCV Rack Modular FLOSS audio

• Sardine A Python based live coding library (MIDI/OSC/SuperDirt).

  Windows | macOS | GNU/Linux Python SuperCollider FLOSS audio midi Open Sound Control

• sema - Sema – A Playground for Live Coding Music and Machine Learning. (inactive)

  Windows | macOS | GNU/Linux JavaScript FLOSS audio

• serialist - A live coding environment that generates MIDI messages. (inactive)

  Windows | macOS | GNU/Linux JavaScript FLOSS audio

• Skoar - A high-level language for coding music with SuperCollider. (inactive)

  Windows | macOS | GNU/Linux SuperCollider Python FLOSS audio

• Sonic Pi - The Live Coding music synth for everyone.

  Windows | macOS | GNU/Linux Ruby SuperCollider FLOSS audio