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dictionary between sonic pi, overtone and supercollider #1630

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palmierieugenio opened this issue Jun 17, 2017 · 2 comments
Closed

dictionary between sonic pi, overtone and supercollider #1630

palmierieugenio opened this issue Jun 17, 2017 · 2 comments

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@palmierieugenio
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I think it would be useful to have a sort of dictionary or comparison of the function of sonic pi, overtone (or other similar, like foxdot, etc) and supercollider.

The main idea is that people probably want to start from Sonic Pi to learn the basics and then move to another more complex program, like Overtone or Supercollider, since the main purpose of Sonic Pi seems to be educational.

It would be easier to migrate from a program to another if the users could check a dictionary, where the functions of sonic pi have their equivalent in other programs.

@samaaron
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This is a lovely idea, but one which I think belongs to a project external from any one live coding system.

However, whilst we're here, I can make a brief overview of how I see things in case that's at all useful :-)

Firstly, whilst Sonic Pi is an educational system, that doesn't make it any less sophisticated than Overtone or SuperCollider. The guitar is also educational and totally suitable for beginners...

Of course, words like complex/sophisticated/power are difficult words to consider and evaluate, especially if you're trying to measure any difference - in reality their differences in power are often multi-dimensional and really depend what you're trying to do with the system.

For example, both SuperCollider Lang and Overtone attempt to give you as much control as possible over the SuperCollider server, which you might equate to complex. However, they are both pretty tough to use for fast prototyping and performance (although both are possible of course) due to the fact you have to build many abstractions yourself - including designing sounds if you want to make a noise.

Sonic Pi may seem much simpler (and it is in many ways) which comes at the cost of total control of the SuperCollider server. For example, you can't design new synths live in Sonic Pi - although you can import new designs that have been made elsewhere. However, that simplicity comes with a benefit of fluidity and speed of expression.

Overtone and SuperCollider may allow you to express more things. However, if Sonic Pi can express the kinds of composition/performance you want (and you'd be surprised by the range of things Sonic Pi can express) then it's quite likely that it is quicker and easier to express it in Sonic Pi.

For me, the speed of expression has been amazingly transformative to my live coding practice.

You suppose that most people will want to start on Sonic Pi and move to Overtone. Well, as one of the core developers of Overtone and creator of Sonic Pi I can present myself as an example where this isn't the case. I've moved completely from Overtone to Sonic Pi - purely because Sonic Pi is way more expressive, fluent and fun for the kinds of music I want to code live. I must emphasise that this statement will not be the case for all musics and all interaction styles.

I also believe that other live coding languages have similar fluidity/expressiveness trade-offs and experimenting with a few should let you find the balance that works for you :-)

@samaaron
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Also, this would have been an excellent question to ask over on https://in-thread.sonic-pi.net

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