Starting from a producer’s vocabulary
I think in tracks, grooves, chords, and sections when I produce music. ohcodes brings those familiar units into a live-coding environment. Named tracks and passages give a piece a structure that I can read and change while it plays, from a small rhythmic edit to a new section.
The browser instrument
The current prototype runs in the browser and makes its own sound. It supports drums, notes, chords, effects, and named passages. In Live mode, passage changes take effect at the next bar; Song mode plays an arrangement of passages. Projects can be saved in the browser and exported as .ohcodes files. The built-in English and Chinese manual introduces the language through playable examples.
The research direction
My next question is how this way of working could extend to automation inside an existing DAW. A producer may want to change several plugin parameters over a passage, reuse that motion elsewhere, and still reach for a physical control. I am interested in how code and direct manipulation can share control, and how a performer can understand what is controlling a parameter at a given moment.
What is available now
The browser version is available to try from the link above. It is a working musical prototype, while external DAW and plugin control remain a separate development direction. Future work will need to examine the timing of edits, transitions between passages, and how easily musicians can take over an automated control.