Welcome to my blog! This is where I write about music and coding stuff that I find interesting.

Playing Soundfonts with the Web Audio API

March 2023

Playing Soundfonts with the Web Audio API

Playing Soundfonts with the Web Audio API

strudel

1 Year of Strudel

February 2023

1 Year of Strudel

1 Year of Strudel

Looking back at one year of development

code
strudel

Web Audio Scheduling

September 2022

Web Audio Scheduling

Web Audio Scheduling

Comparing different approaches to schedule Web Audio

web audio
code

Claviature: SVG Piano Revisited

July 2022

Claviature: SVG Piano Revisited

Claviature: SVG Piano Revisited

In this post, I want to investigate an alternative piano keyboard sizing that is better suited for digital applications.

tools
web audio

Introducing Strudel

April 2022

Introducing Strudel

Introducing Strudel

Live coding tidal patterns in the browser!

code
strudel

Bending JavaScript with shift-ast

March 2022

Bending JavaScript with shift-ast

Bending JavaScript with shift-ast

Let's talk about JavaScript code transformations.

code

Rhythmical Alternations

January 2022

Rhythmical Alternations

Rhythmical Alternations

In this post, I want to take a look at alternating rhythms, which are enclosed with angle brackets in tidal mini notation.

rhythmical

A closer look at tidal.pegjs

January 2022

A closer look at tidal.pegjs

A closer look at tidal.pegjs

Let's see how tidal.pegjs can be used to generate some rhythms.

rhythmical
code

Abstract Syntax Trees

January 2022

Abstract Syntax Trees

Abstract Syntax Trees

Let's understand how ASTs work!

coding

New Blog Launched

January 2022

New Blog Launched

New Blog Launched

This blog now runs with Next.js.

coding

DIY Modular Synth

November 2021

DIY Modular Synth

DIY Modular Synth

Let's build a modular synth!

diy
electronics
synthesis

Harmonic Lattices

August 2021

Harmonic Lattices

Harmonic Lattices

A powerful way to vizualize the "harmonic space" of any collection of ratios is using a so called lattice.

tuning

Polyphonic MIDI to CV

May 2021

Polyphonic MIDI to CV

Polyphonic MIDI to CV

After looking at the basics of analog synthesis in the last post let's now look at how to approach polyphony.

diy
synthesis
electronics

A Macro View on Analog Synthesis

May 2021

A Macro View on Analog Synthesis

A Macro View on Analog Synthesis

Lately, I've been learning about analog synthesis

diy
electronics
synthesis

Rhythmical Trees

April 2021

Rhythmical Trees

Rhythmical Trees

After the posts about Rhythmical Arrays and Rhythmical Objects, I want to investigate the actual data structure that is at play: trees.

rhythmical
algorithms

Chord Scales

April 2021

Chord Scales

Chord Scales

Let's find the best chord scales with a common path finding algorithm.

music theory
algorithms

DIY MIDI Keyboard Scanner

February 2021

DIY MIDI Keyboard Scanner

DIY MIDI Keyboard Scanner

How to make two MIDI keyboards out of one..

diy
electronics

Pitch Class Sets

January 2021

Pitch Class Sets

Pitch Class Sets

Let's explore the world of pitch class sets.

tuning
music theory

Coloring Musical Scales

January 2021

Coloring Musical Scales

Coloring Musical Scales

After we found a basic way of coloring pitches, let's now look at a way to color scales.

code
d3

Using MIDI with JavaScript

December 2020

Using MIDI with JavaScript

Using MIDI with JavaScript

With the Web MIDI API, we can send and receive MIDI events from javascript

web audio
code

Recording Audio on the Web

October 2020

Recording Audio on the Web

Recording Audio on the Web

I made a few experiments on Audio Recording, using the Web Audio API.

web audio
code

Recreating SNES Music with Chipsynth SFC

October 2020

Recreating SNES Music with Chipsynth SFC

Recreating SNES Music with Chipsynth SFC

Recently, Chipsynth SFC was released, which brings a really accurate emulation of the SNES soundchip to VST or standalone format. Let's play around with it.

synthesis

Voicing Permutation

August 2020

Voicing Permutation

Voicing Permutation

Let's try to generate any possible voicing by permutation.

music theory
algorithms
voicings

Rhythmical Mutations

August 2020

Rhythmical Mutations

Rhythmical Mutations

In this post, I want to develop the idea of mutation to allow more flexibility.

rhythmical
code

Rhythmical Chords

July 2020

Rhythmical Chords

Rhythmical Chords

To bring rhythmical one step closer to being a hackable backing track player, I want to implement one of the most important things: chord symbols

rhythmical
code

Rhythmical Ties

July 2020

Rhythmical Ties

Rhythmical Ties

In modern music, ties across barlines are a common way of adding interest to a melody. Let's add tie support to rhythmical

rhythmical
code

Using Sampled Instruments with Tone.js

July 2020

Using Sampled Instruments with Tone.js

Using Sampled Instruments with Tone.js

To get away from cheap synth sounds, let's implement instruments that use samples, with the help of Tone.js.

tone.js
web audio
code

Analyzing iReal Chord Changes

June 2020

Analyzing iReal Chord Changes

Analyzing iReal Chord Changes

Now that we have a huge dataset of chord changes, we can do some data mining on it.

tools
music theory

Parsing iReal Chord Changes

June 2020

Parsing iReal Chord Changes

Parsing iReal Chord Changes

Let's get access to a huge collection of chord changes.

code
ireal

Building a Minimoog MIDI Controller

June 2020

Building a Minimoog MIDI Controller

Building a Minimoog MIDI Controller

Last week, a friend a I built a MIDI Controller for the Arturia Mini V3 VST.

diy
electronics
arduino

SVG Piano Roll Component

June 2020

SVG Piano Roll Component

SVG Piano Roll Component

After playback was implemented in the last post, we can now feed our eyes with some colored bars.

code
web audio

Tone.js Playback

June 2020

Tone.js Playback

Tone.js Playback

Before implementing more rhythmical features, it would be good to hear some results. This is where the Player comes in.

tone.js
code
rhythmical

Rhythmical Objects

May 2020

Rhythmical Objects

Rhythmical Objects

Today, I want to write about why and how the powerful rhythmical object format is implemented.

code
rhythmical

Rhythmical Arrays

May 2020

Rhythmical Arrays

Rhythmical Arrays

In this post, I want to describe how and why rhythmical is implemented.

code
rhythmical

Rhythmical Staff Notation

May 2020

Rhythmical Staff Notation

Rhythmical Staff Notation

In this post, I want to find out how I can render rhythmical format as staff notation.

code
rhythmical

Trumpet Harmonics

May 2020

Trumpet Harmonics

Trumpet Harmonics

The harmonic spiral from last post can also be used to vizualize the harmonics of instruments that work with overblowing, like a trumpet.

tuning
music theory

Harmonic Spirals

May 2020

Harmonic Spirals

Harmonic Spirals

Let's create some harmonic spirals by winding the number line.

tuning
music theory

DIY Monochord

May 2020

DIY Monochord

DIY Monochord

After fiddling around with digital monochords and cheap web audio sounds, I decided to give my build a physical monochord from scrap wood.

diy
tuning
music theory

5 Limit Just Intonation

May 2020

5 Limit Just Intonation

5 Limit Just Intonation

As this is the third post of a series of a series about Just Intonation, let's talk about thirds.

tuning
music theory

3 Limit Just Intonation

April 2020

3 Limit Just Intonation

3 Limit Just Intonation

After building a foundation of understanding pure intervals in the last post, we will now look at different ways of building tuning systems with them.

tuning
music theory

Pure Intervals

April 2020

Pure Intervals

Pure Intervals

This article is the first of a series about Just Intonation.

tuning
music theory

The Harmonic Series & Additive Synthesis

April 2020

The Harmonic Series & Additive Synthesis

The Harmonic Series & Additive Synthesis

Let's understand the harmonic series by looking at monochords.

tuning
music theory

Animating React Components

April 2020

Animating React Components

Animating React Components

Let's make a react component that can be used to animate anything.

code
react

Plotting Functions with React and d3.js

April 2020

Plotting Functions with React and d3.js

Plotting Functions with React and d3.js

As the basis of many upcoming visualizations.

code
d3

Coloring Pitches

April 2020

Coloring Pitches

Coloring Pitches

Let's play with colors. Vizualization loves color. To map musical notes to color, we can do various things.

code
d3

Combinatorial Search

March 2020

Combinatorial Search

Combinatorial Search

Let's look at a concept that be used in a future post to find all possible piano voicings for a given chord.

code
algorithms

Chords and Scales

March 2020

Chords and Scales

Chords and Scales

Let's use the SVG Piano to display chords.

music theory

SVG Piano

March 2020

SVG Piano

SVG Piano

Let's talk about virtual keyboards: They are good to visualize chords as a static image and melodies as an animation.

code
web audio

Hello, let me enter

March 2020

Hello, let me enter

Hello, let me enter

I will write about music and coding here.

Felix Roos 2023