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Speaking as a Ruby developer, this is very cool. I could see using this for algorithmically generated music and that would be neat. (Speaking of which, I was me

Speaking as a Ruby developer, this is very cool. I could see using this for algorithmically generated music and that would be neat. (Speaking of which, I was meaning to make our noisy git repository events into some kind of algorithmic music — this would be good for that.)* But speaking as a musician with lots of keyboard instruments — if I were trying to compose a piece of music, I'm not really sure why I would compose musical sequences with Ruby when I can play them with a MIDI keyboard, or record an acoustic instrument and loop it. I see that you can input anything you like with the Ruby DSL, but it's not a great UX compared to a piano keyboard. I guess to put it another way — I would not use this to replace what I use Logic for. But that's just me. * see also http://listen.hatnote.com/ http://listen.hatnote.com/

decasia 2y ago
I will say though - in some ways, the ruby DSL expresses intention more clearly than a midi sequence. Sometimes you really do think in terms of "now it's a C minor arpeggio, and now it's an F major arpeggio". And I like how you can compose functions that express that so clearly.
wildzzz 2y ago
Music theorists that have poor coordination and fine motor skills.
chaosharmonic 2y ago
I alluded to this in the OP, but it's mostly due to logistical constraints. While I have a keyboard I like, and could theoretically use for this, all of my instruments have been in storage for the last... while, for messy personal reasons.
dragonwriter 2y ago
Yeah, I think Sonic Pi is really more about algorithmically created music (specifically live coding, but being mainly algorithmically-created rather than played-by-note seems pretty fundamental to that) than general composition. But, interesting uses of tools that aren't what you would otherwise use because of unusual constraints is kind of centered in the "on topic" domain for Hacker News.

decasia 2y ago

I will say though - in some ways, the ruby DSL expresses intention more clearly than a midi sequence. Sometimes you really do think in terms of "now it's a C minor arpeggio, and now it's an F major arpeggio". And I like how you can compose functions that express that so clearly.

wildzzz 2y ago

Music theorists that have poor coordination and fine motor skills.

chaosharmonic 2y ago

I alluded to this in the OP, but it's mostly due to logistical constraints. While I have a keyboard I like, and could theoretically use for this, all of my instruments have been in storage for the last... while, for messy personal reasons.

dragonwriter 2y ago

Yeah, I think Sonic Pi is really more about algorithmically created music (specifically live coding, but being mainly algorithmically-created rather than played-by-note seems pretty fundamental to that) than general composition. But, interesting uses of tools that aren't what you would otherwise use because of unusual constraints is kind of centered in the "on topic" domain for Hacker News.