Uploaded April 2014 | Updated September 2026, 2 weeks ago
A demo and walkthrough of WulfCode, a custom syntax interpreter and environment for MIDI live-coding in improvised audio/visual performance.
I wrote this from scratch in 5 nights ahead of a live set I'm doing at an Algorave (www.algorave.com) gig tomorrow, 26th April 2014, in Gateshead UK. I'm not a great coder, and I only really know Java, so WulfCode is not very efficient and may well contain lots of bugs (I guess I'll find out on the night!).
This is HEAVILY inspired by Thor Magnusson's ixilang, a simplified SuperCollider livecoding interface. ixilang is very cool, much cooler than WulfCode, but I haven't got a clue about SuperCollider since I never did any livecoding before this week... So rather than struggle to define my own SC instruments, I thought I'd have more fun controlling a load of my own instruments in Ableton Live - mostly my own Reaktor ensembles and some Sampler instruments/kits. If you want to get into 'proper' livecoding (and I'm not sure whether this qualifies as 'proper' livecoding), definitely check out ixi-audio.net/ixilang and all the other resources available.
Sinewulf is usually a 3-person live improv electronica/house/techno act consisting of Brendan Ratliff, Craig Walton and John Pope and although I'm doing this gig solo under the Sinewulf name, I intend for WulfCode to form a major part of our future gigs.
Eventually, when I get time, I'll tidy up the code and open source it. Currently it opens two windows, each filling half of an OS X screen, with the livecoding interface in one and some event-driven realtime visuals in the other. As I explain in the video the timing's a bit off in the screencapture because screen recording takes a fair bit of CPU grunt, on top of the MIDI, audio and visuals that the computer's handling.
The audio comes from synths and drum instruments set up on separate Ableton Live tracks, but there's no notedata in Live - it only plays what's sent to it by WulfCode. Live also runs the MIDI clock that's sent to WulfCode, so changing the BPM in Live changes the speed of WulfCode.
Give me a shout on Twitter (@echolevel) if you've any questions, or hit up @sinewulf to hear recordings of some previous gigs. When I've got some spare time I'll try to refine WulfCode a bit, but I'll be keen to help if anyone else wants to use it!
A demo and walkthrough of WulfCode, a custom syntax interpreter and environment for MIDI live-coding in improvised audio/visual performance.
I wrote this from scratch in 5 nights ahead of a live set I'm doing at an Algorave (www.algorave.com) gig tomorrow, 26th April 2014, in Gateshead UK. I'm not a great coder, and I only really know Java, so WulfCode is not very efficient and may well contain lots of bugs (I guess I'll find out on the night!).
This is HEAVILY inspired by Thor Magnusson's ixilang, a simplified SuperCollider livecoding interface. ixilang is very cool, much cooler than WulfCode, but I haven't got a clue about SuperCollider since I never did any livecoding before this week... So rather than struggle to define my own SC instruments, I thought I'd have more fun controlling a load of my own instruments in Ableton Live - mostly my own Reaktor ensembles and some Sampler instruments/kits. If you want to get into 'proper' livecoding (and I'm not sure whether this qualifies as 'proper' livecoding), definitely check out ixi-audio.net/ixilang and all the other resources available.
Sinewulf is usually a 3-person live improv electronica/house/techno act consisting of Brendan Ratliff, Craig Walton and John Pope and although I'm doing this gig solo under the Sinewulf name, I intend for WulfCode to form a major part of our future gigs.
Eventually, when I get time, I'll tidy up the code and open source it. Currently it opens two windows, each filling half of an OS X screen, with the livecoding interface in one and some event-driven realtime visuals in the other. As I explain in the video the timing's a bit off in the screencapture because screen recording takes a fair bit of CPU grunt, on top of the MIDI, audio and visuals that the computer's handling.
The audio comes from synths and drum instruments set up on separate Ableton Live tracks, but there's no notedata in Live - it only plays what's sent to it by WulfCode. Live also runs the MIDI clock that's sent to WulfCode, so changing the BPM in Live changes the speed of WulfCode.
Give me a shout on Twitter (@echolevel) if you've any questions, or hit up @sinewulf to hear recordings of some previous gigs. When I've got some spare time I'll try to refine WulfCode a bit, but I'll be keen to help if anyone else wants to use it!
![syphus - Bubblecode [MS-DOS Impulse Tracker mod]](https://i.ytimg.com/vi/FS1KZ7WdSuM/mqdefault.jpg "syphus - Bubblecode [MS-DOS Impulse Tracker mod]
Ive been active in the Demoscene and chiptune scene for many years under the name syphus, though occasionally going by silo7, lightbomb, echolevel, and joey&splif. Im a member of the demogroups Up Rough and Space Raiders, and Ive been in BDSE, CpH and some others over the years. Im not as active in the scene as I used to be, but occasionally I still find the time to write a tune or collaborate on a production.
This tune is from an archive of over 130 tunes written since the late 90s using various Amiga and PC trackers, spanning my earliest attempts, my most productive demoscene years, and my more recent middle-aged dabblings. I’ve not dated them, partly because my memory’s not great and also because not all file creation timestamps are reliable.
These tunes are all recorded directly from the trackers in which they were written, with no post production or editing. You can download all the original tracker modules for free from https://syphus-mods.github.io. I usually compose on original hardware, which you can see in some of my other videos and on Instagram, but filming and editing this quantity of tunes on my Amiga/PC’s CRT monitors with a full camera setup would be too time-consuming; I’m very happy with the sound quality and aesthetics offered by WinUAE, SchismTracker, and 8bitbubsy’s fantastic FastTracker clone.
With the exception of tunes clearly labelled as covers, these are all my own compositions and I retain all copyrights. However, I’ve always made my tracker modules freely available under Creative Commons’ Attribution, Non-Commercial, No-Derivatives license, which means that listening, copying and distribution is fine as long as I’m credited (as one of the above names;or Brendan O’Callaghan Ratliff; or both), and they cannot be used for commercial or remix purposes without my express permission. Cheers!
syphus - All Protracker, FastTracker, AHX, HivelyTracker and Impulse Tracker mods playlist:
https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLJTg89-ZF-3nfnyxbLRILsBdbRrlTMlau
syphus - just the Protracker mods playlist:
https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLJTg89-ZF-3muQwOq3FZmtROydCAYfH0X
syphus - just the FastTracker mods playlist:
https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLJTg89-ZF-3nkuE6sky2cdu6NSkSYixlM
syphus - just the AHX mods playlist:
https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLJTg89-ZF-3k5WZA1xYLtn1E34xFoVIcw
syphus - just the Impulse Tracker mods playlist:
https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLJTg89-ZF-3mjimQPmuskRJpUnmOFOiAQ
syphus - just the HivelyTracker mods playlist:
https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLJTg89-ZF-3l863FmbqOE9PyzH19XOxg2")
![syphus - brewed [Amiga Protracker mod]](https://i.ytimg.com/vi/HGtSkbvWb_g/mqdefault.jpg "syphus - brewed [Amiga Protracker mod]
Ive been active in the Demoscene and chiptune scene for many years under the name syphus, though occasionally going by silo7, lightbomb, echolevel, and joey&splif. Im a member of the demogroups Up Rough and Space Raiders, and Ive been in BDSE, CpH and some others over the years. Im not as active in the scene as I used to be, but occasionally I still find the time to write a tune or collaborate on a production.
This tune is from an archive of over 130 tunes written since the late 90s using various Amiga and PC trackers, spanning my earliest attempts, my most productive demoscene years, and my more recent middle-aged dabblings. I’ve not dated them, partly because my memory’s not great and also because not all file creation timestamps are reliable.
These tunes are all recorded directly from the trackers in which they were written, with no post production or editing. You can download all the original tracker modules for free from https://syphus-mods.github.io. I usually compose on original hardware, which you can see in some of my other videos and on Instagram, but filming and editing this quantity of tunes on my Amiga/PC’s CRT monitors with a full camera setup would be too time-consuming; I’m very happy with the sound quality and aesthetics offered by WinUAE, SchismTracker, and 8bitbubsy’s fantastic FastTracker clone.
With the exception of tunes clearly labelled as covers, these are all my own compositions and I retain all copyrights. However, I’ve always made my tracker modules freely available under Creative Commons’ Attribution, Non-Commercial, No-Derivatives license, which means that listening, copying and distribution is fine as long as I’m credited (as one of the above names;or Brendan O’Callaghan Ratliff; or both), and they cannot be used for commercial or remix purposes without my express permission. Cheers!
syphus - All Protracker, FastTracker, AHX, HivelyTracker and Impulse Tracker mods playlist:
https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLJTg89-ZF-3nfnyxbLRILsBdbRrlTMlau
syphus - just the Protracker mods playlist:
https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLJTg89-ZF-3muQwOq3FZmtROydCAYfH0X
syphus - just the FastTracker mods playlist:
https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLJTg89-ZF-3nkuE6sky2cdu6NSkSYixlM
syphus - just the AHX mods playlist:
https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLJTg89-ZF-3k5WZA1xYLtn1E34xFoVIcw
syphus - just the Impulse Tracker mods playlist:
https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLJTg89-ZF-3mjimQPmuskRJpUnmOFOiAQ
syphus - just the HivelyTracker mods playlist:
https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLJTg89-ZF-3l863FmbqOE9PyzH19XOxg2")
![syphus - too fool [Amiga Protracker mod]](https://i.ytimg.com/vi/HX3xWyEImn8/mqdefault.jpg "syphus - too fool [Amiga Protracker mod]
Ive been active in the Demoscene and chiptune scene for many years under the name syphus, though occasionally going by silo7, lightbomb, echolevel, and joey&splif. Im a member of the demogroups Up Rough and Space Raiders, and Ive been in BDSE, CpH and some others over the years. Im not as active in the scene as I used to be, but occasionally I still find the time to write a tune or collaborate on a production.
This tune is from an archive of over 130 tunes written since the late 90s using various Amiga and PC trackers, spanning my earliest attempts, my most productive demoscene years, and my more recent middle-aged dabblings. I’ve not dated them, partly because my memory’s not great and also because not all file creation timestamps are reliable.
These tunes are all recorded directly from the trackers in which they were written, with no post production or editing. You can download all the original tracker modules for free from https://syphus-mods.github.io. I usually compose on original hardware, which you can see in some of my other videos and on Instagram, but filming and editing this quantity of tunes on my Amiga/PC’s CRT monitors with a full camera setup would be too time-consuming; I’m very happy with the sound quality and aesthetics offered by WinUAE, SchismTracker, and 8bitbubsy’s fantastic FastTracker clone.
With the exception of tunes clearly labelled as covers, these are all my own compositions and I retain all copyrights. However, I’ve always made my tracker modules freely available under Creative Commons’ Attribution, Non-Commercial, No-Derivatives license, which means that listening, copying and distribution is fine as long as I’m credited (as one of the above names;or Brendan O’Callaghan Ratliff; or both), and they cannot be used for commercial or remix purposes without my express permission. Cheers!
syphus - All Protracker, FastTracker, AHX, HivelyTracker and Impulse Tracker mods playlist:
https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLJTg89-ZF-3nfnyxbLRILsBdbRrlTMlau
syphus - just the Protracker mods playlist:
https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLJTg89-ZF-3muQwOq3FZmtROydCAYfH0X
syphus - just the FastTracker mods playlist:
https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLJTg89-ZF-3nkuE6sky2cdu6NSkSYixlM
syphus - just the AHX mods playlist:
https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLJTg89-ZF-3k5WZA1xYLtn1E34xFoVIcw
syphus - just the Impulse Tracker mods playlist:
https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLJTg89-ZF-3mjimQPmuskRJpUnmOFOiAQ
syphus - just the HivelyTracker mods playlist:
https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLJTg89-ZF-3l863FmbqOE9PyzH19XOxg2")
![syphus - sceney [MS-DOS FastTracker .XM mod]](https://i.ytimg.com/vi/I5FgQpnW84o/mqdefault.jpg "syphus - sceney [MS-DOS FastTracker .XM mod]
Ive been active in the Demoscene and chiptune scene for many years under the name syphus, though occasionally going by silo7, lightbomb, echolevel, and joey&splif. Im a member of the demogroups Up Rough and Space Raiders, and Ive been in BDSE, CpH and some others over the years. Im not as active in the scene as I used to be, but occasionally I still find the time to write a tune or collaborate on a production.
This tune is from an archive of over 130 tunes written since the late 90s using various Amiga and PC trackers, spanning my earliest attempts, my most productive demoscene years, and my more recent middle-aged dabblings. I’ve not dated them, partly because my memory’s not great and also because not all file creation timestamps are reliable.
These tunes are all recorded directly from the trackers in which they were written, with no post production or editing. You can download all the original tracker modules for free from https://syphus-mods.github.io. I usually compose on original hardware, which you can see in some of my other videos and on Instagram, but filming and editing this quantity of tunes on my Amiga/PC’s CRT monitors with a full camera setup would be too time-consuming; I’m very happy with the sound quality and aesthetics offered by WinUAE, SchismTracker, and 8bitbubsy’s fantastic FastTracker clone.
With the exception of tunes clearly labelled as covers, these are all my own compositions and I retain all copyrights. However, I’ve always made my tracker modules freely available under Creative Commons’ Attribution, Non-Commercial, No-Derivatives license, which means that listening, copying and distribution is fine as long as I’m credited (as one of the above names;or Brendan O’Callaghan Ratliff; or both), and they cannot be used for commercial or remix purposes without my express permission. Cheers!
syphus - All Protracker, FastTracker, AHX, HivelyTracker and Impulse Tracker mods playlist:
https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLJTg89-ZF-3nfnyxbLRILsBdbRrlTMlau
syphus - just the Protracker mods playlist:
https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLJTg89-ZF-3muQwOq3FZmtROydCAYfH0X
syphus - just the FastTracker mods playlist:
https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLJTg89-ZF-3nkuE6sky2cdu6NSkSYixlM
syphus - just the AHX mods playlist:
https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLJTg89-ZF-3k5WZA1xYLtn1E34xFoVIcw
syphus - just the Impulse Tracker mods playlist:
https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLJTg89-ZF-3mjimQPmuskRJpUnmOFOiAQ
syphus - just the HivelyTracker mods playlist:
https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLJTg89-ZF-3l863FmbqOE9PyzH19XOxg2")
![syphus - Forest Hill [MS-DOS FastTracker .XM mod]](https://i.ytimg.com/vi/IGp_orM2MN0/mqdefault.jpg "syphus - Forest Hill [MS-DOS FastTracker .XM mod]
Ive been active in the Demoscene and chiptune scene for many years under the name syphus, though occasionally going by silo7, lightbomb, echolevel, and joey&splif. Im a member of the demogroups Up Rough and Space Raiders, and Ive been in BDSE, CpH and some others over the years. Im not as active in the scene as I used to be, but occasionally I still find the time to write a tune or collaborate on a production.
This tune is from an archive of over 130 tunes written since the late 90s using various Amiga and PC trackers, spanning my earliest attempts, my most productive demoscene years, and my more recent middle-aged dabblings. I’ve not dated them, partly because my memory’s not great and also because not all file creation timestamps are reliable.
These tunes are all recorded directly from the trackers in which they were written, with no post production or editing. You can download all the original tracker modules for free from https://syphus-mods.github.io. I usually compose on original hardware, which you can see in some of my other videos and on Instagram, but filming and editing this quantity of tunes on my Amiga/PC’s CRT monitors with a full camera setup would be too time-consuming; I’m very happy with the sound quality and aesthetics offered by WinUAE, SchismTracker, and 8bitbubsy’s fantastic FastTracker clone.
With the exception of tunes clearly labelled as covers, these are all my own compositions and I retain all copyrights. However, I’ve always made my tracker modules freely available under Creative Commons’ Attribution, Non-Commercial, No-Derivatives license, which means that listening, copying and distribution is fine as long as I’m credited (as one of the above names;or Brendan O’Callaghan Ratliff; or both), and they cannot be used for commercial or remix purposes without my express permission. Cheers!
syphus - All Protracker, FastTracker, AHX, HivelyTracker and Impulse Tracker mods playlist:
https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLJTg89-ZF-3nfnyxbLRILsBdbRrlTMlau
syphus - just the Protracker mods playlist:
https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLJTg89-ZF-3muQwOq3FZmtROydCAYfH0X
syphus - just the FastTracker mods playlist:
https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLJTg89-ZF-3nkuE6sky2cdu6NSkSYixlM
syphus - just the AHX mods playlist:
https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLJTg89-ZF-3k5WZA1xYLtn1E34xFoVIcw
syphus - just the Impulse Tracker mods playlist:
https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLJTg89-ZF-3mjimQPmuskRJpUnmOFOiAQ
syphus - just the HivelyTracker mods playlist:
https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLJTg89-ZF-3l863FmbqOE9PyzH19XOxg2")
