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I first made the language (fifteen years ago!) out of curiosity about esolangs and as a first try at writing a compiler. And for fun, yes. Since then, I've writ

I first made the language (fifteen years ago!) out of curiosity about esolangs and as a first try at writing a compiler. And for fun, yes. Since then, I've written more about multicoding -- the way two readings of code impact each other -- and thought more about the music that results (some links in my comment below). This is the aspect of the language that interests me now. I chose MIDI since it's a standard and leaves to the programmer the choice of tool to compose the program. There's an IDE in the works geared for live performance of the language (that will not be MIDI, but not ready to say yet how it will work; it has the same lexicon but is quite a different language in practice).

Rochus 3y ago
I see, thanks. But is Velato actually conceived to create music, or is the music just a "random" byproduct?
- velcrovan 3y ago
  From the top of the original link: > “Velato offers an unusual challenge to programmer-musicians: to compose a musical piece that, in addition to expressing their aims musically, fills the constraints necessary to compile to a working Velato program.” It seems like Velato’s purpose is to provide an unusual and interesting creative constraint for people who can both code and write music.
  - Rochus 3y ago
    > Velato’s purpose is to provide an unusual and interesting creative constraint for people who can both code and write music I do both on a professional level and have no idea what this sentence means; that's why I'm asking.
    - MyNameIs_Hacker 3y ago
      Have you ever sat in front of your favorite DAW version XX and thought, oh wow so many things, what am I going to do? How about Sonic Pi? Or any modern audio toolset. So much possibility, where to start? Creative constraint is about opening up pathways by restricting options.
    - hn_acker 3y ago
      It means come up with a code goal and a music goal, and fulfill both with a Velato program. For example, can you write MIDI file which finds the nth Fibonnaci number and sounds good to your friend when played with a piano instrument (a real one or a sound sample)?
    - Minor49er 3y ago
      Presumably you code and compose in separate contexts, unlike what the sentence describes
    - jcpst 3y ago
      Constraints are not too crazy of a concept. It’s not much different than say, writing a traditional Schoenberg style 12-tone composition. You would create your tone rows and then write your composition. If you follow the rules, then it is also 12-tone serialism.

Rochus 3y ago

I see, thanks. But is Velato actually conceived to create music, or is the music just a "random" byproduct?

velcrovan 3y ago
From the top of the original link: > “Velato offers an unusual challenge to programmer-musicians: to compose a musical piece that, in addition to expressing their aims musically, fills the constraints necessary to compile to a working Velato program.” It seems like Velato’s purpose is to provide an unusual and interesting creative constraint for people who can both code and write music.
- Rochus 3y ago
  > Velato’s purpose is to provide an unusual and interesting creative constraint for people who can both code and write music I do both on a professional level and have no idea what this sentence means; that's why I'm asking.
  - MyNameIs_Hacker 3y ago
    Have you ever sat in front of your favorite DAW version XX and thought, oh wow so many things, what am I going to do? How about Sonic Pi? Or any modern audio toolset. So much possibility, where to start? Creative constraint is about opening up pathways by restricting options.
  - hn_acker 3y ago
    It means come up with a code goal and a music goal, and fulfill both with a Velato program. For example, can you write MIDI file which finds the nth Fibonnaci number and sounds good to your friend when played with a piano instrument (a real one or a sound sample)?
  - Minor49er 3y ago
    Presumably you code and compose in separate contexts, unlike what the sentence describes
  - jcpst 3y ago
    Constraints are not too crazy of a concept. It’s not much different than say, writing a traditional Schoenberg style 12-tone composition. You would create your tone rows and then write your composition. If you follow the rules, then it is also 12-tone serialism.