Proceedings ICMC|SMC|2014 14-20 September 2014, Athens, Greece Flocking: A Framework for Declarative Music-Making on the Web Colin Clark Adam Tindale OCAD University OCAD University
[email protected] [email protected] ABSTRACT JavaScript. As artists and musicians increasingly use net- worked devices, sensors, and collaboration in their work, Flocking 1 is a framework for audio synthesis and mu- these limitations take an increasing toll on the complexity sic composition written in JavaScript. It takes a unique and scalability of creative coding. approach to solving several of the common architectural Flocking is an open source JavaScript framework that problems faced by computer music environments, empha- aims to address some of these concerns by connecting mu- sizing a declarative style that is closely aligned with the sicians and artists with the cross-platform, distributed de- principles of the web. livery model of the web, and with the larger pool of li- Flocking’s goal is to enable the growth of an ecosys- braries, user interface components, and tutorials that are tem of tools that can easily parse and understand the logic available to the web development community. Further, and semantics of digital instruments by representing the it emphasizes an approach to interoperability in which basic building blocks of synthesis declaratively. This is declarative instruments and compositions can be broadly particularly useful for supporting generative composition shared, manipulated, and extended across traditional tech- (where programs generate new instruments and scores al- nical subcultural boundaries. gorithmically), graphical tools (for programmers and non- programmers alike to collaborate), and new modes of so- cial programming that allow musicians to easily adapt, ex- 1.1 Interoperability in Context tend, and rework existing instruments without having to A primary motivating concern for Flocking is that the “fork” their code.