13 ms·

Show HN: Wavepot – Digital audio workstation of the web

625 points by stagas 12y ago

lukasm 12y ago
It goes into loop when I want to switch a file "You've made some edits!" Also yntaxError: Unexpected token * at Function (native) at t (blob:http%3A//wavepot.com/576aa761-8f7c-4918-b4e7-8bdd7c77ff39:2:16401) at Function.<anonymous> (blob:http%3A//wavepot.com/576aa761-8f7c-4918-b4e7-8bdd7c77ff39:2:16779) at Function.i.emit (blob:http%3A//wavepot.com/576aa761-8f7c-4918-b4e7-8bdd7c77ff39:1:2656) at DedicatedWorkerGlobalScope.i.isMaster.self.onmessage (blob:http%3A//wavepot.com/576aa761-8f7c-4918-b4e7-8bdd7c77ff39:2:12723)
JonnieCache 12y ago
This isn't really a DAW. For those unfamiliar, a DAW is a fully-featured music creation environment including sound design, composition, recording, arrangement and mixing in one interface. Examples include logic, cubase and ableton. While I suppose this does allow for all of those things, as much as any programming language with access to an audio API does, this would be better described as a web-based DSP livecoding environment. Apart from the naming quibbles, it looks excellent! I wonder what's generating the sound? I'm aware of the oscillator/filter primitives in the HTML5 audio API from the minimoog google doodle, but this seems more elaborate than that. EDIT: for fun times, load "need more 303," scroll down to the bottom, and change some of the numbers around. Setting the slide() call to 1/1024 yields a nice FM-ish sound. You can even overdrive the filter. Reach for the lasers!
- stagas 12y ago
  In my head, a DAW is exactly what it says. A workstation for digital audio. That said, this has the potential to evolve to something more similar to existing professional DAWs and maybe even surpass them. I'm glad you like it. The sound is generated purely by a JavaScript function returning sample values that are then handled by the Web Audio API and buffered. That's how you hear sound. On edit: It's really easy to remix tracks that way, even small changes to values yield quite different results. It's fun!
  - nitrogen 12y ago
    Have you looked at the work of Bret Victor? Integrating some of his concepts for realtime feedback would be awesome (see http://worrydream.com/#!/LearnableProgramming http://worrydream.com/#!/LearnableProgramming and http://worrydream.com/#!2/LadderOfAbstraction http://worrydream.com/#!2/LadderOfAbstraction)
  - vegedor 12y ago
    >I'm glad you like it. The sound is generated purely by a JavaScript function returning sample values i feel like this belongs here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tCRPUv8V22o https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tCRPUv8V22o - not in a DAW kinda sense, though
- fat0wl 12y ago
  which controls are usable? everything i click just gives me an annoying "gimme $$" popup, haven't actually found a function that works
  - JonnieCache 12y ago
    I just loaded some example projects, hit the play button and started changing the code. The output responded immediately.
    - fat0wl 12y ago
      ah yah for some reason mine showed a blank file & couldnt expand projects. refreshed & its good, this is a pretty awesome project
- svantana 12y ago
  It seems their goal is to make a full-fledged DAW in the browser, but they are not there yet (and far from it from what I can tell). How they would be able to fund all that for $2k is beyond me. That said, it's a really clever idea to have all the source editable, since js is an interpreted language anyway. One can imagine a future where the community not only shares songs and sounds, but the DSP units themselves. Unlike desktop DAWs, which rely on dylibs (dlls) to supply external synths and effects, a js-based DAW can load, re-compile and hotswap units on the fly.
  - JonnieCache 12y ago
    This kind of thing has existed in desktop/native form for some years. Look up supercollider.
    - fat0wl 12y ago
      & max/msp even included js but it operated at control rate, not audio, so you couldn't write synths directly as js
      - larme 12y ago
        Max now have gen[1] so you can write audio/sample rate code. [1]: http://cycling74.com/products/gen/ http://cycling74.com/products/gen/
        fat0wl 12y ago
        yea want to try it but i'm stuck on max 5... max upgrades are more expensive than they're worth & now its splitting into multiple products (max4live,gen) so i'm kindof on an every other generation plan unfortunately. especially annoying when features you like get deprecated (pluggo, ms. pinky) though i understand gen & max4live both kinda serve as pluggo replacements. all in all its just hard for me to pull the trigger on a $250 upgrade for a few extra integration points on a tool that should be mostly open source anyway. http://puredata.info/ http://puredata.info/
- nnnnni 12y ago
  Yeah, it's definitely cool for what it is -- but it is NOT a DAW. I would call it the audio equivalent of OpenSCAD.
  - leeoniya 12y ago
    just saw this reply, also thought same thing! http://www.openscad.org/ http://www.openscad.org/
- tomphoolery 12y ago
  > I'm aware of the oscillator/filter primitives in the HTML5 audio API from the minimoog google doodle, but this seems more elaborate than that. An oscillator and a filter modulator are pretty much all you need to create this particular app. There's no reverb, and any delay effects are being "hard-coded" with simple degrading velocities. All synthesizers are built from these ultra-simple components, maybe 2 or 3 more and you have everything you need to build a digital synth purely with web technologies.
- sunpazed 12y ago
  This is awesome! I'll certainly contribute to this. Will the source be opened up? Here's a delay filter: var delay_array = []; var delay_length = 5; var delay_feedback = 0.6; var delay_volume = 0.4; function delay(x) { y = 0; if (delay_array.length < (delay_length * 1000)) { delay_array.push(x); } else { y = delay_array.shift(); delay_array.push(x + (y*delay_feedback)); } return (x) + ( y * delay_volume ); } Include this in the DSP return code, ie; return delay(synth);
  - Zubedar 12y ago
    Yes that's a good delay filter but it's also a good example why this type of user-programmable synth apparatus, which looks similar to CSound, won't catch on. There is much more going on in the typical delay sound itself than just a delayed iteration of a sample. A pure delay is boring. There is the possibility to model all kinds of analog and hardware digital delays with additional coding, but people have been doing that for years and it's no surprise really that commercial companies do it best (and they won't bother unless there's a way to protect proprietary code such as VST).
    - stagas 12y ago
      There's more to digital audio processing than code? I don't get it. Once the collaborative module system is in place (see milestone I) it'll allow for more complex stuff, as you'd be joining components and moving upwards in the abstraction levels, I don't see how big companies can compete with that.
      - Zubedar 12y ago
        No that's not the point I was making. I was saying that to make a good delay in software it can't just be a delay. To sound good, it needs additional algorithms to carry out at least 2 other DSP functions on the return signal.
jrlocke 12y ago
Wonderful
- be2mi9 12y ago
  Great
chillingeffect 12y ago
Holy crap! This is great!
- chillingeffect 12y ago
  Would someone kindly explain why I and two other users (msane and jrlocke) were downvoted for simply expressing delight? Is that somehow unwelcome? I don't see anything against that in the guidelines: http://ycombinator.com/newsguidelines.html http://ycombinator.com/newsguidelines.html Note, this isn't a complaint, it's merely a request to understand why my comment is inappropriate and to understand how I can express my approval of a submission without losing karma.
  - evo_9 12y ago
    Usually, when someone bothers to tell you, it's because the comment 'doesn't contribute to the dialog' or some such reason. Aka, too obvious or perhaps seems pandering for +karma type thing. Anyway, I didn't downvote you btw, just my 2 cents from what I've read in the past.
  - cdcarter 12y ago
    It's not against the guidelines, but it doesn't create conversation. Many people find that fairly useless, and prefer comments with substance that advance the community. The best way to express your approval of a submission? Upvote it.
    - pbhjpbhj 12y ago
      >The best way to express your approval of a submission? Upvote it. // Except with hidden vote scores it doesn't express anything at all (except changing a number on the OP's interface; the OP doesn't even know that you upvoted them). If you want to express your approval to anyone other than the parent/OP or have anyone know who is expressing approval [that is occasionally relevant] then you have to comment.
  - Gracana 12y ago
    I once thanked someone for submitting something interesting after their article had been up for a few hours and nobody commented. Someone downvoted me and took the time to condescendingly explain why my comment was worthless. I really don't understand that attitude. :|
tonetheman 12y ago
this is really cool... it is really hard to see how the math ends up making music though. I almost would have an example of a scale or a 4 beat measure. very interesting stuff.
catshirt 12y ago
seems like this is really a window for executing javascript, no? where's the DAW?
PabloOsinaga 12y ago
Wavepot team: really awesome stuff! love it. At Bandhub ( http://bandhub.us http://bandhub.us ) we are looking for ways to integrate programmed music into our web DAW. If you guys are up for a collaboration or want to discuss ideas, ping me osi (at) getbandhub (dot) com
- castis 12y ago
  Oh wow, I had this idea a few years ago and put together a handful of crap prototypes. Stoked someone is doing it. Well done, I love it!
- evo_9 12y ago
  Cool site. You need more genre categories however; Synth and/or Electronic would be a good start since you are missing anything along those lines. Probably a EDM category as well otherwise that's what either electronic and/or synth will end up being. Also, Find Musicians doesn't seem to be working, at least not in Chrome on osx.
  - PabloOsinaga 12y ago
    what do you see? can you send me the console output too?
    - evo_9 12y ago
      When it's spinning looking for musician's the console says: GET http://bandhub.us/discoverUsersList?genres=&instruments=&collaborationPreferences= http://bandhub.us/discoverUsersList?genres=&instruments=&col... 400 (Bad Request)
- deleted 12y ago
  [deleted]
- bbrennan 12y ago
  Cool site, can't wait to check it out. Would love to see deeper support for programming and mastering
elwell 12y ago
This is really great. Reminds me of: https://github.com/overtone/overtone https://github.com/overtone/overtone
robertfw 12y ago
using super for the keyboard shortcuts is problematic, at least for me - super-enter for me opens a new terminal, and that appears to take precedence over the browser shortcut
quaunaut 12y ago
This is such a great example of a great experience changing behavior. I haven't thought of making music in years, and I've seen other projects kinda similar to this in the past- but this reacts so quickly, so immediate to my inputs, that it's hard to step away from. You've really got a great product here.
jchrisa 12y ago
That was fun. Here is my detuned remix of "on the verge tech mix" https://gist.github.com/jchris/04585454570853297974 https://gist.github.com/jchris/04585454570853297974
- lucb1e 12y ago
  I like it! It is cool to see not just the demo projects, but people actually making something with it :)
- stagas 12y ago
  Awesome!
jarmitage 12y ago
For another take on live coding in the browser: http://gibber.mat.ucsb.edu/ http://gibber.mat.ucsb.edu/ Check out http://algorave.com http://algorave.com for more info on the live coding music scene, which has really taken off in the last year. I can't wait for someone to combine live coding with Swift Playground/Bret Victor 'revealing the system' style interfaces.
- notthetup 12y ago
  "I can't wait for someone to combine live coding with Swift Playground/Bret Victor 'revealing the system' style interfaces." THIS! Let's build it!
- yaxu 12y ago
  There's also http://toplap.org/ http://toplap.org/
msane 12y ago
This is dope
lucb1e 12y ago
Making music with code seems pretty neat, perhaps I'll learn to play an instrument after all some day (that being the instrument of code)!
japhyr 12y ago
This is great! I teach high school math and science, and students often ask how sound waves can be turned into music. I give them a big-picture overview of sine waves and superposition, but I've never had a tool that lets students play with the math easily. I look forward to showing this to students in the fall.
- Gracana 12y ago
  You might also consider showing the Pure Data. The intro documentation/tutorial stuff is quite good at explaining the basics of sound synthesis.
noname123 12y ago
Can't wait to go to the next Girl Talk show where instead of DJ pressing space bar to play, they press F5 to "Compile and Run..."
saltyknuckles 12y ago
Very good work, I like this a lot.
jamesmoss 12y ago
A scene has sprung up around music based on algorithms, called Algorave http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Algorave http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Algorave Vice did an article on the subject a few months back which gives an overview of the scene (from a layman's view) http://www.vice.com/en_uk/read/algorave-is-the-future-of-dance-music-if-youre-an-html-coder http://www.vice.com/en_uk/read/algorave-is-the-future-of-dan...
- stagas 12y ago
  This is really, really interesting.
  - yaxu 12y ago
    come and do some wavepot at an algorave
    - stagas 12y ago
      I'd love to! You guys have some amazing things going on there. I have some live performance features planned for wavepot, so yeah, not quite there yet! But keep an eye on it I'm sure you'll enjoy what I have in mind.
- elwell 12y ago
  > it is quite contrary to normal raves due to the fact that the music can be very stop-and-start and the ingestion of MDMA, ketamine or other illicit drugs does not usually happen - wikipedia
- jimbobimbo 12y ago
  Oh, this is so good, thanks for posting the link to Vice! Very much Oval-like performance, super awesome!
newrenowhore 12y ago
This is really, really impressive. Cool range of sounds. Have you thought about attaching a user-friendly, knobby interface to the modules? I could see it as a really easy way for non-programming musicians to learn how to use this and other music generation systems like it.
- stagas 12y ago
  Thanks! That's a good idea, I have it planned for a next milestone as it is not one of the immediate priorities.
Gracana 12y ago
Cool! Reminds me of ChucK[1]. [1] http://chuck.cs.princeton.edu/ http://chuck.cs.princeton.edu/
izolate 12y ago
I could easily see this become the future of music production. Lovely UI too.
dasmithii 12y ago
I'd love to help develop this (and experiment myself!). Is it open source? If so, where can I find the repo?
thinkmassive 12y ago
Looks like a modern (in-browser) take on CSound[1]. I love the idea of modifying the code during runtime. [1] http://www.csounds.com/ http://www.csounds.com/
jbernier 12y ago
This is really cool. Anyone know of any good tutorials for learning how to make sounds like this?
chrislo 12y ago
If you like this, you might also be interested in a newsletter I write called Web Audio Weekly. I link to interesting projects that use the Web Audio and Web MIDI APIs as well as more general stuff of interest to musicians and developers. https://tinyletter.com/webaudioweekly https://tinyletter.com/webaudioweekly
rwl4 12y ago
I love it! I want to see something like this for the iPad. I could also imagine a Soundcloud + Spotify + Github hybrid playlist site where you could actually present your creation for people to play in a playlist format.
sokrates 12y ago
https://gist.githubusercontent.com/jonasschneider/bfa93fbb358313f5b708/raw/4deba14485645b5860f6c1526a74ba52c2895c70/gistfile1.txt https://gist.githubusercontent.com/jonasschneider/bfa93fbb35... Extended the melody & progression a bit. I'm so proud, this is awesome!
lomocotive 12y ago
can you tell more about how you coded the fundraiser modal? is it just checking the balances on those addresses then converting them to USD? im sure its a simple solution but i'd be happy to hear more about it - i was thinking of making a similar one for my own project, but it would be good if it displayed different addresses per visitor for better obfuscation...lets say have half of a wallet full of addresses, then also check server side whether the displayed is a valid one [edit: using something like coinbase would solve this, but how could you work it out without a 3rd party and any fees?]
- stagas 12y ago
  It is using 3rd party APIs server-side to check wallets' balances, converts doge to btc and then converts the sum of btc to USD. I like the obfuscation idea but I'm not sure it's worth the complexity in this particular use-case.
ff7c11 12y ago
see also https://mohayonao.github.io/CoffeeCollider/ https://mohayonao.github.io/CoffeeCollider/
zapt02 12y ago
This is amazing, but I wish there was a clear way of knowing when there is an error causing your changes to not be output. I fiddled for a couple of minutes without any changes before realizing i had forgotten to initialize a variable. (the x checkmarks don't seem to work for unassignad variables..)
- stagas 12y ago
  A debug console is planned for milestone I that will help for those issues.
zapt02 12y ago
Slightly related question: Are there any courses I can take specifically aimed at making music by programming? Lynda or similar preferred, articles / books also work as long as they have examples using some sort of software (not just algorithms)
- GuiA 12y ago
  I quite like http://musicforgeeksandnerds.com http://musicforgeeksandnerds.com
- hmsimha 12y ago
  Unfortunately the course materials aren't available any more, but you should watch for the next offering of this course by the California Institutes of the Arts on Coursera: https://www.coursera.org/course/chuck101 https://www.coursera.org/course/chuck101
bbrennan 12y ago
This looks way more user-friendly than stuff like CSound. Would be awesome to see a real DAW-like GUI built on top of it...I've always wanted a DAW that would let me flip between GUI editing and code. If you could use any help coding, please let me know.
maxogden 12y ago
Seems similar to http://studio.substack.net/ http://studio.substack.net/
- thibauts 12y ago
  It is. http://studio.substack.net/wavepot http://studio.substack.net/wavepot
  - notthetup 12y ago
    Wow.. So is Wavepot.com by substack too?
    - substack 12y ago
      No.
jm547ster 12y ago
This is really cool, really nice level of abstraction. The 303 example in the environments in which I learned computer music fundamentals (PD, Max, CSound, Supercollider) would require either much more or less understanding and/or 3rd party implementations of components to generate something similar. Most importantly the sound is really nice. Btw the categorisation of it being a DAW is dependent on the user perspective, I've created what I would consider to be DAW equivalents in Max/Pure Data, that facilitate audio/midi recording and playback; just because a toolkit doesn't do stuff for you automatically doesn't mean it isn't capable. DAW in my opinion is just a marketing term not a descriptive one.
- stagas 12y ago
  Thanks! I have background in Music Technology but I'm just starting with DSP myself. Most of the stuff I use are ported from code I found online so I can't really take credit for those though. A modular piece of software like this can achieve pretty much the same as professional DAWs. Consider modules that add UI elements, automations, etc. It won't be long until the abstraction is high enough so everyone just assembles their own custom DAWs on the fly.
recursive 12y ago
Is there a way to contribute without using bitcoin? This is awesome and I want to support it, but I'm not really interested in getting involved in bitcoin.
- stagas 12y ago
  Paypal donations have been added to the crowdfund. Thank you people, I appreciate your enthusiasm, this is a project I am in love as well and I wanna see it going places.
anigbrowl 12y ago
If you like this and have an iPad you should also check out Bitwiz: http://kymatica.com/bitwiz http://kymatica.com/bitwiz
sossles 12y ago
What a great idea. I want to make synthesized sound effects for a game I'm making, and building them algorithmically in Javascript would be great. My alternatives have involved twiddling a zillion predefined knobs in a overwhelming UI, but as a developer this is far more appealing. If only I could export the generated sound!
- stagas 12y ago
  Uncompressed code export with convenience methods like .play() is planned for milestone I. This exact use-case is what I had in mind.
leeoniya 12y ago
reminds me of http://www.openscad.org/ http://www.openscad.org/
hardikj 12y ago
You should also checkout - http://www.audiotool.com/ http://www.audiotool.com/ Its a DAW, but its more of a chrome plugin.
- Pot 12y ago
  Also, they're already on their way to migrate to HTML5!
zhodge 12y ago
As someone who's completely ignorant to the concepts behind algorave, could anyone more experienced outline the helpful prerequisites to know before I experiment with a tool like Wavepot? I assume it's mostly the (basic?) physics of sound waves that I'd need to understand?
- jarmitage 12y ago
  You don't need to know anything about the physics of sound or programming, to get algoraving with Tidal or Ixi Lang http://yaxu.org/tidal/ http://yaxu.org/tidal/ http://www.ixi-audio.net/ixilang/ http://www.ixi-audio.net/ixilang/
aaronsnoswell 12y ago
This is amazing - I had loads of fun playing with this for a couple of minutes - thanks!
yeureka 12y ago
This could be really useful for prototyping realtime sfx for games. I am floored by how well it runs on my Moto G, specially the 303 and the subwah patches. Great job!
tech-no-logical 12y ago
it's probably me, but I get nothing... - ff (latest beta) : waveform thingy works, no sound - chrome (latest beta) : no waveform, no sound - IE (11) : nothing
- maho 12y ago
  For me, using FF (various versions) and IE: Just a black background. It worked yesterday - they must be updating something.
- iibewegung 12y ago
  Linux Mint 14 (desktop) and CyanogenMod 10.2.1-flo (mobile, mod based on Android 4.3.1) user here. For Mint: Firefox 29 - everything works; Chromium 34 - only grey background For CyanogenMod: Chrome 35 - everything works; Dolphin 10.3.1 - only grey background
rabidmachine9 12y ago
This is perfect!
enen 12y ago
As a heavy Ableton user and coder I would like to have a coding environment that also has powerful gui libraries so I can quickly implement faders and knobs and stuff when needed but also be able to change code on the fly. Kind of get the best of both worlds for the ultimate hacking music environment. This is something similar and very interesting but for visual stuff based on openFrameworks: https://media.usfca.edu/app/plugin/embed.aspx?ID=mjWcGbE4DUKAVXRVJLL5BA https://media.usfca.edu/app/plugin/embed.aspx?ID=mjWcGbE4DUK...
- widdershins 12y ago
  Yeah, I'd really like to see a DAW that incorporates SuperCollider in a transparent way along with traditional audio & MIDI tracks, a bit like how Max is integrated with Ableton.
- stagas 12y ago
  That's about what I have in mind, picking the bits and pieces you need to create your custom audio workstations in a modular and hackable manner.
nader 12y ago
Awesome!
rsiqueira 12y ago
You can help the Wavepot project: Contributors can join the discussion and mailing list here: https://groups.google.com/forum/#!forum/wavepot https://groups.google.com/forum/#!forum/wavepot They also have a funding campaign (accepting paypal) to finish this project that will include modules like Oscillators, Sequencers and: Effects: Amp, Chorus, Delay, Dynamics, Eq, Filter, Flanger, Modulation, Phaser, Reverb. Synths: Ambient, Analog, Bass, Drums, Flute, FM, FX, Modular, Organ, Pads, Percussion, Piano, Samples and Strings.
- stagas 12y ago
  Just want to clarify that the modules feature is the ability to create them and import them like this: import DiodeFilter from 'filters'; var filter = new DiodeFilter;
thebeardisred 12y ago
I just want someone to put together a "hypnotoad" sample.
radmuzom 12y ago
Does not work in IE, but does in Firefox and Chrome. Is it just me or the application does not actually work in IE?
rkotcher 12y ago
Hi stagas, great job on wavepot! Is there any way we could get in touch off of this thread? My startup company is working on a very similar idea, and I think it would be great to know each other. If you'd like I can send write down my email onto this thread. Hope to talk soon!
deleted 12y ago
[deleted]
objekt 12y ago
added a filter envelope to "got some 303" and now it sounds much more like a 303 :) source code here: http://pastebin.com/rWMt45ug http://pastebin.com/rWMt45ug
notthetup 12y ago
Made a gist with some of the scripts people have been making.. Add yours to the comments and I'll curate the list. https://gist.github.com/notthetup/65f100f8ecf0f44f568d https://gist.github.com/notthetup/65f100f8ecf0f44f568d
gopher9 12y ago
Need moar languages, not only js. There's a lot of languages that are compiled to js. I'd like to see Elm there.
_druu 12y ago
Hey, Hey, Hey! I made something with it! https://gist.github.com/druu/044b8103e2a4842828bd https://gist.github.com/druu/044b8103e2a4842828bd It's the melody of the song 'Popcorn'. While this might not be special, I implemented a first draft of a (going-to-be) multi-track sequencer. </shameless self plug> Whatcha think?
janesconference 12y ago
Another more DAW-esque pure HTML / js DAW in the browser: http://hya.io http://hya.io
marko123 12y ago
what language is this ? i see it is not php ...

625 points by stagas 12y ago

It goes into loop when I want to switch a file "You've made some edits!" Also yntaxError: Unexpected token * at Function (native) at t (blob:http%3A//wavepot.com/576aa761-8f7c-4918-b4e7-8bdd7c77ff39:2:16401) at Function.<anonymous> (blob:http%3A//wavepot.com/576aa761-8f7c-4918-b4e7-8bdd7c77ff39:2:16779) at Function.i.emit (blob:http%3A//wavepot.com/576aa761-8f7c-4918-b4e7-8bdd7c77ff39:1:2656) at DedicatedWorkerGlobalScope.i.isMaster.self.onmessage (blob:http%3A//wavepot.com/576aa761-8f7c-4918-b4e7-8bdd7c77ff39:2:12723)

JonnieCache 12y ago

This isn't really a DAW. For those unfamiliar, a DAW is a fully-featured music creation environment including sound design, composition, recording, arrangement and mixing in one interface. Examples include logic, cubase and ableton. While I suppose this does allow for all of those things, as much as any programming language with access to an audio API does, this would be better described as a web-based DSP livecoding environment. Apart from the naming quibbles, it looks excellent! I wonder what's generating the sound? I'm aware of the oscillator/filter primitives in the HTML5 audio API from the minimoog google doodle, but this seems more elaborate than that. EDIT: for fun times, load "need more 303," scroll down to the bottom, and change some of the numbers around. Setting the slide() call to 1/1024 yields a nice FM-ish sound. You can even overdrive the filter. Reach for the lasers!

stagas 12y ago
In my head, a DAW is exactly what it says. A workstation for digital audio. That said, this has the potential to evolve to something more similar to existing professional DAWs and maybe even surpass them. I'm glad you like it. The sound is generated purely by a JavaScript function returning sample values that are then handled by the Web Audio API and buffered. That's how you hear sound. On edit: It's really easy to remix tracks that way, even small changes to values yield quite different results. It's fun!
- nitrogen 12y ago
  Have you looked at the work of Bret Victor? Integrating some of his concepts for realtime feedback would be awesome (see http://worrydream.com/#!/LearnableProgramming http://worrydream.com/#!/LearnableProgramming and http://worrydream.com/#!2/LadderOfAbstraction http://worrydream.com/#!2/LadderOfAbstraction)
- vegedor 12y ago
  >I'm glad you like it. The sound is generated purely by a JavaScript function returning sample values i feel like this belongs here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tCRPUv8V22o https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tCRPUv8V22o - not in a DAW kinda sense, though
fat0wl 12y ago
which controls are usable? everything i click just gives me an annoying "gimme $$" popup, haven't actually found a function that works
- JonnieCache 12y ago
  I just loaded some example projects, hit the play button and started changing the code. The output responded immediately.
  - fat0wl 12y ago
    ah yah for some reason mine showed a blank file & couldnt expand projects. refreshed & its good, this is a pretty awesome project
svantana 12y ago
It seems their goal is to make a full-fledged DAW in the browser, but they are not there yet (and far from it from what I can tell). How they would be able to fund all that for $2k is beyond me. That said, it's a really clever idea to have all the source editable, since js is an interpreted language anyway. One can imagine a future where the community not only shares songs and sounds, but the DSP units themselves. Unlike desktop DAWs, which rely on dylibs (dlls) to supply external synths and effects, a js-based DAW can load, re-compile and hotswap units on the fly.
- JonnieCache 12y ago
  This kind of thing has existed in desktop/native form for some years. Look up supercollider.
  - fat0wl 12y ago
    & max/msp even included js but it operated at control rate, not audio, so you couldn't write synths directly as js
    - larme 12y ago
      Max now have gen[1] so you can write audio/sample rate code. [1]: http://cycling74.com/products/gen/ http://cycling74.com/products/gen/
      - fat0wl 12y ago
        yea want to try it but i'm stuck on max 5... max upgrades are more expensive than they're worth & now its splitting into multiple products (max4live,gen) so i'm kindof on an every other generation plan unfortunately. especially annoying when features you like get deprecated (pluggo, ms. pinky) though i understand gen & max4live both kinda serve as pluggo replacements. all in all its just hard for me to pull the trigger on a $250 upgrade for a few extra integration points on a tool that should be mostly open source anyway. http://puredata.info/ http://puredata.info/
nnnnni 12y ago
Yeah, it's definitely cool for what it is -- but it is NOT a DAW. I would call it the audio equivalent of OpenSCAD.
- leeoniya 12y ago
  just saw this reply, also thought same thing! http://www.openscad.org/ http://www.openscad.org/
tomphoolery 12y ago
> I'm aware of the oscillator/filter primitives in the HTML5 audio API from the minimoog google doodle, but this seems more elaborate than that. An oscillator and a filter modulator are pretty much all you need to create this particular app. There's no reverb, and any delay effects are being "hard-coded" with simple degrading velocities. All synthesizers are built from these ultra-simple components, maybe 2 or 3 more and you have everything you need to build a digital synth purely with web technologies.
sunpazed 12y ago
This is awesome! I'll certainly contribute to this. Will the source be opened up? Here's a delay filter: var delay_array = []; var delay_length = 5; var delay_feedback = 0.6; var delay_volume = 0.4; function delay(x) { y = 0; if (delay_array.length < (delay_length * 1000)) { delay_array.push(x); } else { y = delay_array.shift(); delay_array.push(x + (y*delay_feedback)); } return (x) + ( y * delay_volume ); } Include this in the DSP return code, ie; return delay(synth);
- Zubedar 12y ago
  Yes that's a good delay filter but it's also a good example why this type of user-programmable synth apparatus, which looks similar to CSound, won't catch on. There is much more going on in the typical delay sound itself than just a delayed iteration of a sample. A pure delay is boring. There is the possibility to model all kinds of analog and hardware digital delays with additional coding, but people have been doing that for years and it's no surprise really that commercial companies do it best (and they won't bother unless there's a way to protect proprietary code such as VST).
  - stagas 12y ago
    There's more to digital audio processing than code? I don't get it. Once the collaborative module system is in place (see milestone I) it'll allow for more complex stuff, as you'd be joining components and moving upwards in the abstraction levels, I don't see how big companies can compete with that.
    - Zubedar 12y ago
      No that's not the point I was making. I was saying that to make a good delay in software it can't just be a delay. To sound good, it needs additional algorithms to carry out at least 2 other DSP functions on the return signal.

jrlocke 12y ago

Wonderful

be2mi9 12y ago
Great

chillingeffect 12y ago

Holy crap! This is great!

chillingeffect 12y ago
Would someone kindly explain why I and two other users (msane and jrlocke) were downvoted for simply expressing delight? Is that somehow unwelcome? I don't see anything against that in the guidelines: http://ycombinator.com/newsguidelines.html http://ycombinator.com/newsguidelines.html Note, this isn't a complaint, it's merely a request to understand why my comment is inappropriate and to understand how I can express my approval of a submission without losing karma.
- evo_9 12y ago
  Usually, when someone bothers to tell you, it's because the comment 'doesn't contribute to the dialog' or some such reason. Aka, too obvious or perhaps seems pandering for +karma type thing. Anyway, I didn't downvote you btw, just my 2 cents from what I've read in the past.
- cdcarter 12y ago
  It's not against the guidelines, but it doesn't create conversation. Many people find that fairly useless, and prefer comments with substance that advance the community. The best way to express your approval of a submission? Upvote it.
  - pbhjpbhj 12y ago
    >The best way to express your approval of a submission? Upvote it. // Except with hidden vote scores it doesn't express anything at all (except changing a number on the OP's interface; the OP doesn't even know that you upvoted them). If you want to express your approval to anyone other than the parent/OP or have anyone know who is expressing approval [that is occasionally relevant] then you have to comment.
- Gracana 12y ago
  I once thanked someone for submitting something interesting after their article had been up for a few hours and nobody commented. Someone downvoted me and took the time to condescendingly explain why my comment was worthless. I really don't understand that attitude. :|

tonetheman 12y ago

this is really cool... it is really hard to see how the math ends up making music though. I almost would have an example of a scale or a 4 beat measure. very interesting stuff.

catshirt 12y ago

seems like this is really a window for executing javascript, no? where's the DAW?

PabloOsinaga 12y ago

Wavepot team: really awesome stuff! love it. At Bandhub ( http://bandhub.us http://bandhub.us ) we are looking for ways to integrate programmed music into our web DAW. If you guys are up for a collaboration or want to discuss ideas, ping me osi (at) getbandhub (dot) com

castis 12y ago
Oh wow, I had this idea a few years ago and put together a handful of crap prototypes. Stoked someone is doing it. Well done, I love it!
evo_9 12y ago
Cool site. You need more genre categories however; Synth and/or Electronic would be a good start since you are missing anything along those lines. Probably a EDM category as well otherwise that's what either electronic and/or synth will end up being. Also, Find Musicians doesn't seem to be working, at least not in Chrome on osx.
- PabloOsinaga 12y ago
  what do you see? can you send me the console output too?
  - evo_9 12y ago
    When it's spinning looking for musician's the console says: GET http://bandhub.us/discoverUsersList?genres=&instruments=&collaborationPreferences= http://bandhub.us/discoverUsersList?genres=&instruments=&col... 400 (Bad Request)
deleted 12y ago
[deleted]
bbrennan 12y ago
Cool site, can't wait to check it out. Would love to see deeper support for programming and mastering

elwell 12y ago

This is really great. Reminds me of: https://github.com/overtone/overtone https://github.com/overtone/overtone

robertfw 12y ago

using super for the keyboard shortcuts is problematic, at least for me - super-enter for me opens a new terminal, and that appears to take precedence over the browser shortcut

quaunaut 12y ago

This is such a great example of a great experience changing behavior. I haven't thought of making music in years, and I've seen other projects kinda similar to this in the past- but this reacts so quickly, so immediate to my inputs, that it's hard to step away from. You've really got a great product here.

jchrisa 12y ago

That was fun. Here is my detuned remix of "on the verge tech mix" https://gist.github.com/jchris/04585454570853297974 https://gist.github.com/jchris/04585454570853297974

lucb1e 12y ago
I like it! It is cool to see not just the demo projects, but people actually making something with it :)
stagas 12y ago
Awesome!

jarmitage 12y ago

For another take on live coding in the browser: http://gibber.mat.ucsb.edu/ http://gibber.mat.ucsb.edu/ Check out http://algorave.com http://algorave.com for more info on the live coding music scene, which has really taken off in the last year. I can't wait for someone to combine live coding with Swift Playground/Bret Victor 'revealing the system' style interfaces.

notthetup 12y ago
"I can't wait for someone to combine live coding with Swift Playground/Bret Victor 'revealing the system' style interfaces." THIS! Let's build it!
yaxu 12y ago
There's also http://toplap.org/ http://toplap.org/

msane 12y ago

This is dope

lucb1e 12y ago

Making music with code seems pretty neat, perhaps I'll learn to play an instrument after all some day (that being the instrument of code)!

japhyr 12y ago

This is great! I teach high school math and science, and students often ask how sound waves can be turned into music. I give them a big-picture overview of sine waves and superposition, but I've never had a tool that lets students play with the math easily. I look forward to showing this to students in the fall.

Gracana 12y ago
You might also consider showing the Pure Data. The intro documentation/tutorial stuff is quite good at explaining the basics of sound synthesis.

noname123 12y ago

Can't wait to go to the next Girl Talk show where instead of DJ pressing space bar to play, they press F5 to "Compile and Run..."

saltyknuckles 12y ago

Very good work, I like this a lot.

jamesmoss 12y ago

A scene has sprung up around music based on algorithms, called Algorave http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Algorave http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Algorave Vice did an article on the subject a few months back which gives an overview of the scene (from a layman's view) http://www.vice.com/en_uk/read/algorave-is-the-future-of-dance-music-if-youre-an-html-coder http://www.vice.com/en_uk/read/algorave-is-the-future-of-dan...

stagas 12y ago
This is really, really interesting.
- yaxu 12y ago
  come and do some wavepot at an algorave
  - stagas 12y ago
    I'd love to! You guys have some amazing things going on there. I have some live performance features planned for wavepot, so yeah, not quite there yet! But keep an eye on it I'm sure you'll enjoy what I have in mind.
elwell 12y ago
> it is quite contrary to normal raves due to the fact that the music can be very stop-and-start and the ingestion of MDMA, ketamine or other illicit drugs does not usually happen - wikipedia
jimbobimbo 12y ago
Oh, this is so good, thanks for posting the link to Vice! Very much Oval-like performance, super awesome!

newrenowhore 12y ago

This is really, really impressive. Cool range of sounds. Have you thought about attaching a user-friendly, knobby interface to the modules? I could see it as a really easy way for non-programming musicians to learn how to use this and other music generation systems like it.

stagas 12y ago
Thanks! That's a good idea, I have it planned for a next milestone as it is not one of the immediate priorities.

Gracana 12y ago

Cool! Reminds me of ChucK[1]. [1] http://chuck.cs.princeton.edu/ http://chuck.cs.princeton.edu/

izolate 12y ago

I could easily see this become the future of music production. Lovely UI too.

dasmithii 12y ago

I'd love to help develop this (and experiment myself!). Is it open source? If so, where can I find the repo?

thinkmassive 12y ago

Looks like a modern (in-browser) take on CSound[1]. I love the idea of modifying the code during runtime. [1] http://www.csounds.com/ http://www.csounds.com/

jbernier 12y ago

This is really cool. Anyone know of any good tutorials for learning how to make sounds like this?

chrislo 12y ago

If you like this, you might also be interested in a newsletter I write called Web Audio Weekly. I link to interesting projects that use the Web Audio and Web MIDI APIs as well as more general stuff of interest to musicians and developers. https://tinyletter.com/webaudioweekly https://tinyletter.com/webaudioweekly

rwl4 12y ago

I love it! I want to see something like this for the iPad. I could also imagine a Soundcloud + Spotify + Github hybrid playlist site where you could actually present your creation for people to play in a playlist format.

sokrates 12y ago

https://gist.githubusercontent.com/jonasschneider/bfa93fbb358313f5b708/raw/4deba14485645b5860f6c1526a74ba52c2895c70/gistfile1.txt https://gist.githubusercontent.com/jonasschneider/bfa93fbb35... Extended the melody & progression a bit. I'm so proud, this is awesome!

lomocotive 12y ago

can you tell more about how you coded the fundraiser modal? is it just checking the balances on those addresses then converting them to USD? im sure its a simple solution but i'd be happy to hear more about it - i was thinking of making a similar one for my own project, but it would be good if it displayed different addresses per visitor for better obfuscation...lets say have half of a wallet full of addresses, then also check server side whether the displayed is a valid one [edit: using something like coinbase would solve this, but how could you work it out without a 3rd party and any fees?]

stagas 12y ago
It is using 3rd party APIs server-side to check wallets' balances, converts doge to btc and then converts the sum of btc to USD. I like the obfuscation idea but I'm not sure it's worth the complexity in this particular use-case.

ff7c11 12y ago

see also https://mohayonao.github.io/CoffeeCollider/ https://mohayonao.github.io/CoffeeCollider/

zapt02 12y ago

This is amazing, but I wish there was a clear way of knowing when there is an error causing your changes to not be output. I fiddled for a couple of minutes without any changes before realizing i had forgotten to initialize a variable. (the x checkmarks don't seem to work for unassignad variables..)

stagas 12y ago
A debug console is planned for milestone I that will help for those issues.

zapt02 12y ago

Slightly related question: Are there any courses I can take specifically aimed at making music by programming? Lynda or similar preferred, articles / books also work as long as they have examples using some sort of software (not just algorithms)

GuiA 12y ago
I quite like http://musicforgeeksandnerds.com http://musicforgeeksandnerds.com
hmsimha 12y ago
Unfortunately the course materials aren't available any more, but you should watch for the next offering of this course by the California Institutes of the Arts on Coursera: https://www.coursera.org/course/chuck101 https://www.coursera.org/course/chuck101

bbrennan 12y ago

This looks way more user-friendly than stuff like CSound. Would be awesome to see a real DAW-like GUI built on top of it...I've always wanted a DAW that would let me flip between GUI editing and code. If you could use any help coding, please let me know.

maxogden 12y ago

Seems similar to http://studio.substack.net/ http://studio.substack.net/

thibauts 12y ago
It is. http://studio.substack.net/wavepot http://studio.substack.net/wavepot
- notthetup 12y ago
  Wow.. So is Wavepot.com by substack too?
  - substack 12y ago
    No.

jm547ster 12y ago

This is really cool, really nice level of abstraction. The 303 example in the environments in which I learned computer music fundamentals (PD, Max, CSound, Supercollider) would require either much more or less understanding and/or 3rd party implementations of components to generate something similar. Most importantly the sound is really nice. Btw the categorisation of it being a DAW is dependent on the user perspective, I've created what I would consider to be DAW equivalents in Max/Pure Data, that facilitate audio/midi recording and playback; just because a toolkit doesn't do stuff for you automatically doesn't mean it isn't capable. DAW in my opinion is just a marketing term not a descriptive one.

stagas 12y ago
Thanks! I have background in Music Technology but I'm just starting with DSP myself. Most of the stuff I use are ported from code I found online so I can't really take credit for those though. A modular piece of software like this can achieve pretty much the same as professional DAWs. Consider modules that add UI elements, automations, etc. It won't be long until the abstraction is high enough so everyone just assembles their own custom DAWs on the fly.

recursive 12y ago

Is there a way to contribute without using bitcoin? This is awesome and I want to support it, but I'm not really interested in getting involved in bitcoin.

stagas 12y ago
Paypal donations have been added to the crowdfund. Thank you people, I appreciate your enthusiasm, this is a project I am in love as well and I wanna see it going places.

anigbrowl 12y ago

If you like this and have an iPad you should also check out Bitwiz: http://kymatica.com/bitwiz http://kymatica.com/bitwiz

sossles 12y ago

What a great idea. I want to make synthesized sound effects for a game I'm making, and building them algorithmically in Javascript would be great. My alternatives have involved twiddling a zillion predefined knobs in a overwhelming UI, but as a developer this is far more appealing. If only I could export the generated sound!

stagas 12y ago
Uncompressed code export with convenience methods like .play() is planned for milestone I. This exact use-case is what I had in mind.

leeoniya 12y ago

reminds me of http://www.openscad.org/ http://www.openscad.org/

hardikj 12y ago

You should also checkout - http://www.audiotool.com/ http://www.audiotool.com/ Its a DAW, but its more of a chrome plugin.

Pot 12y ago
Also, they're already on their way to migrate to HTML5!

zhodge 12y ago

As someone who's completely ignorant to the concepts behind algorave, could anyone more experienced outline the helpful prerequisites to know before I experiment with a tool like Wavepot? I assume it's mostly the (basic?) physics of sound waves that I'd need to understand?

jarmitage 12y ago
You don't need to know anything about the physics of sound or programming, to get algoraving with Tidal or Ixi Lang http://yaxu.org/tidal/ http://yaxu.org/tidal/ http://www.ixi-audio.net/ixilang/ http://www.ixi-audio.net/ixilang/

aaronsnoswell 12y ago

This is amazing - I had loads of fun playing with this for a couple of minutes - thanks!

yeureka 12y ago

This could be really useful for prototyping realtime sfx for games. I am floored by how well it runs on my Moto G, specially the 303 and the subwah patches. Great job!

tech-no-logical 12y ago

it's probably me, but I get nothing... - ff (latest beta) : waveform thingy works, no sound - chrome (latest beta) : no waveform, no sound - IE (11) : nothing

maho 12y ago
For me, using FF (various versions) and IE: Just a black background. It worked yesterday - they must be updating something.
iibewegung 12y ago
Linux Mint 14 (desktop) and CyanogenMod 10.2.1-flo (mobile, mod based on Android 4.3.1) user here. For Mint: Firefox 29 - everything works; Chromium 34 - only grey background For CyanogenMod: Chrome 35 - everything works; Dolphin 10.3.1 - only grey background

rabidmachine9 12y ago

This is perfect!

enen 12y ago

As a heavy Ableton user and coder I would like to have a coding environment that also has powerful gui libraries so I can quickly implement faders and knobs and stuff when needed but also be able to change code on the fly. Kind of get the best of both worlds for the ultimate hacking music environment. This is something similar and very interesting but for visual stuff based on openFrameworks: https://media.usfca.edu/app/plugin/embed.aspx?ID=mjWcGbE4DUKAVXRVJLL5BA https://media.usfca.edu/app/plugin/embed.aspx?ID=mjWcGbE4DUK...

widdershins 12y ago
Yeah, I'd really like to see a DAW that incorporates SuperCollider in a transparent way along with traditional audio & MIDI tracks, a bit like how Max is integrated with Ableton.
stagas 12y ago
That's about what I have in mind, picking the bits and pieces you need to create your custom audio workstations in a modular and hackable manner.

nader 12y ago

Awesome!

rsiqueira 12y ago

You can help the Wavepot project: Contributors can join the discussion and mailing list here: https://groups.google.com/forum/#!forum/wavepot https://groups.google.com/forum/#!forum/wavepot They also have a funding campaign (accepting paypal) to finish this project that will include modules like Oscillators, Sequencers and: Effects: Amp, Chorus, Delay, Dynamics, Eq, Filter, Flanger, Modulation, Phaser, Reverb. Synths: Ambient, Analog, Bass, Drums, Flute, FM, FX, Modular, Organ, Pads, Percussion, Piano, Samples and Strings.

stagas 12y ago
Just want to clarify that the modules feature is the ability to create them and import them like this: import DiodeFilter from 'filters'; var filter = new DiodeFilter;

thebeardisred 12y ago

I just want someone to put together a "hypnotoad" sample.

radmuzom 12y ago

Does not work in IE, but does in Firefox and Chrome. Is it just me or the application does not actually work in IE?

rkotcher 12y ago

Hi stagas, great job on wavepot! Is there any way we could get in touch off of this thread? My startup company is working on a very similar idea, and I think it would be great to know each other. If you'd like I can send write down my email onto this thread. Hope to talk soon!

deleted 12y ago

[deleted]

objekt 12y ago

added a filter envelope to "got some 303" and now it sounds much more like a 303 :) source code here: http://pastebin.com/rWMt45ug http://pastebin.com/rWMt45ug

notthetup 12y ago

Made a gist with some of the scripts people have been making.. Add yours to the comments and I'll curate the list. https://gist.github.com/notthetup/65f100f8ecf0f44f568d https://gist.github.com/notthetup/65f100f8ecf0f44f568d

gopher9 12y ago

Need moar languages, not only js. There's a lot of languages that are compiled to js. I'd like to see Elm there.

_druu 12y ago

Hey, Hey, Hey! I made something with it! https://gist.github.com/druu/044b8103e2a4842828bd https://gist.github.com/druu/044b8103e2a4842828bd It's the melody of the song 'Popcorn'. While this might not be special, I implemented a first draft of a (going-to-be) multi-track sequencer. </shameless self plug> Whatcha think?

janesconference 12y ago

Another more DAW-esque pure HTML / js DAW in the browser: http://hya.io http://hya.io

marko123 12y ago

what language is this ? i see it is not php ...