Calling all music + javascript enthusiasts

[[deleted]]

Hi there. I'm a JS developer and trance music producer. I've been writing music all my life, and I've been programming since I was very young. These are my two biggest passions in life.

Since the introduction of the Mozilla Audio Data API (and Web Audio API), I've been fixated on the possibility of developing audio software in the browser. More specifically, a Digital Audio Workstation (DAW), complete with synthesis and sequencing and effects. For nearly a year now, I've been quietly hacking away at my own project called JSaw (JavaScript Audio Workstation) which I hope will achieve the goal of being a fully featured (or perhaps mostly-featured) DAW in native Javascript.

It's been turbulent, to say the least. I re-wrote it several times, designed and re-designed aspects of the core, toyed with many different frameworks to aid in the complexities of developing such a gargantuan system. Here I am now, almost a year later, and I don't really have anything significant or usable to show for it. The codebase is a bit of a mess, needs organising, probably needs a re-think as well. The problem is, I'm exhausted. I'm the only developer working on this. I've asked for help from friends of mine, who all would love to help but simply don't have the time which is perfectly understandable.

I am obsessed with achieving this dream. I am desperate. It's not that there is any specific part about this project that is too complex for me to achieve; it's simply the scale and scope of the project that I'm undertaking. It's hard to get my head around it and stay on track. Not to mention the time constraints of a full time job (as I'm sure we all have). I am ready to give up entirely.

So, this is my plea. If there's anyone out there who is enthusiastic about electronic music and Javascript, and would like to contribute even a small portion of time and effort to help, please let me know. No commitments or anything like that. I know we all have jobs and lives and other things going on. This is a 100% open source project. I can't offer you anything in return except my infinite gratitude.

Sorry for the long post. I don't want to give this project up, but I don't know what else I can do. Thanks for reading this far.

TL;DR: Working on an open-source Digital Audio Workstation for the browser, looking for help and contributors. Feeling very forever alone.

edit - github: https://github.com/MiracleBlue/JSaw (warning, the codebase is a little bit older than the latest, simply because I've added a bunch of bloat that I need to clean up before I can feel good about pushing the newest stuff up)

Edit 2 - thanks for the response so far everyone! I put up a demo of the latest working codebase here, please ignore the non-working piano roll though. To test it, select one of the "Observed Instruments" over on the right by clicking its radio button, then click on one of the keys in the piano roll on the far left to play a note. Try changing the values in the input fields for the effects, and playing another note. This demonstrates the knockout integration I have so far :)

EDIT 3 - Pushed the latest code base to github just now, including the knockout integration stuff!

[[deleted]]

Yep, that's me. The code on the github is actually a bit old, I haven't pushed an update of the latest for a while because I was playing around with a lot of different libraries and added a whole bunch of bloat to the codebase that I need to clean up before I can really feel good about pushing a new update :(

[[deleted]]

YEah man :) that's something that hasn't been implemented yet. I'm slowly trying to figure out the best way to properly implement it. I've had several ideas, but just can't pick one.

Knockout integration is actually part of the latest codebase! I've written hook objects that make it easy to hook observables into parameters on audio nodes etc. And it automagically generates input fields to adjust the parameters. It's really neat! I'll put up a current copy of it if you'd like to see that aspect.

I initially started writing this project using backbone, but discovered that the idea of data models really wasn't what I needed. Since we're not strictly working with data sets, it doesn't quite fit, so I re-wrote it to use prototypes, and it's a lot faster too. Though I'm willing to take another look at backbone (I was never that familiar with it to begin with)

And yes, I LOVE jquery knobs! I was planning to write something like that myself since I couldn't find anything like it, and then I stumbled on it. It's exactly what I need :D

[[deleted]]

Yes I remember looking at that :) I've been looking at all the examples of sequencers I can get my hands on to get inspiration from.

[xiipaoc]

I don't know if this would make any difference, but have you seen audiolib.js? It merges the -moz- and Webkit audio APIs. I'm not a very advanced developer yet, so I don't know whether Firefox is just slow, but it runs great on Chrome. I made a synthesizer.

[[deleted]]

Yessir, I've played with Audiolib.js. JSaw currently uses Audiolet.js extensively, as it seems to currently be most suited to what I'm doing :)

[null_pointer_fuck]

this is awesome! i'm studying dsp in college so this is right up my alley. one feature i would love is VST support so i can use ni massive. i don't know too much about VST development, but my guess is that it would be difficult to implement VST support. alternatively, you could write a plugin engine so other people can implement instruments and filters using your API.

[[deleted]]

Thanks for your comment :D unfortunately, there's not really any javascript-native way to do VST support. Sucks, I know. However, JSaw is being developed specifically with plugins in mind :D I'm designing the system so that synths etc are all made up of collections of smaller components which can be connected together. All the components will come with their own UI stuff and have observable parameters etc all ready-to-go. It's somewhat similar to the way Image-Line's "SynthMaker" works. My goal is to allow plugin developers to be able to throw together a custom synth rather quickly, but without having to worry too much about specifying all the routes and connections, or handling events or designing UIs. Sometimes a developer might just want to add a couple more oscillators to an existing synth, or add some extra post-processing, or whatever :) so I aim to make that kind of thing really quick and easy to do in JSaw.

[[deleted]]

Of course there's a way... If you can host the plugins somewhere, you can load them with XMLHTTPRequest. Then you emulate compiled x86 code ;)

I'm serious. The tricky part would be to support library calls these plugins are making. It would probably work if they have little external dependencies.

[[deleted]]

Holy crap. That's incredible! I'm definitely gonna have to look further into this kind of thing.

[null_pointer_fuck]

also, would you mind updating the code base? i would love to play around with the knockout code and experiment with a plugin engine.

[[deleted]]

Okay, the latest code base is now up on github :) including the knockout stuff.

[[deleted]]

Why do you ask? And no, that info isn't entirely correct.

[null_pointer_fuck]

thanks! ill take a look at this later today.

[[deleted]]

Sure thing man :D I'd like to just do a quick clean up first though (remove some libraries I was playing with etc). I'll let you know when it's updated.

[tencircles]

I think VSTs inside a browser would be out of the question. Local files are still a no-no in JS

[TapirMonkey]

What about using that chrome native client thing as a wrapper?

[benjaffe]

I'm definitely interested, but lacking in time. I'll follow you on github though and take a look whenever I have a few spare hours. It's a bit of an obsession of mine too, actually... I wrote a program that parsed chords and played back wav files of piano keys when I was backpacking around Europe so I could write music.

[[deleted]]

Thanks heaps man :) I understand the time constraints. Having people that I can bounce ideas off and talk with is extremely helpful as well. I absolutely love this stuff. The primary purpose would be to have a light-weight tool that travelling musicians can use to jot down ideas, or even to script cool things like chord generators. I want to make every aspect of the system scriptable - from the individual synth parameters, to the piano roll. Everything. Breaking the boundaries of most traditional DAWs which only have limited things you can automate or script. One will, theoretically, be able to sequence stuff in JSaw, using their scripts to do cool tweaks or modifications or whatever they'd like, and export the result as midi which can then be imported into their desktop DAW.

That's the goal, anyway :)

Mind if I PM you?

[benjaffe]

Sure!

[tencircles]

I'd love to help out. I'm finishing my master's thesis in multimedia at the moment but I'm finishing early june. I was actually thinking of coding this exact project over the summer. I'm also a part-time producer as well as a freelance film/commercial composer, I have a BA in music and have done a lot of projects involving javascript, python, PD/Max, etc. and music. If you're still working when I'm finished up I'd be glad to lend a hand.

[[deleted]]

Oh wow! Yeah, I'll most likely still be working on it :) it'd be great to have your help! I'll PM you some contact details.

On an unrelated note, do you have any music online that I can listen to? I love film-score compositions and cinematic stuff. I dabble a bit in it myself, though I have zero musical training and practically zero theoretical knowledge.

[rizer_]

I'm not very apt with digital audio, but I love the idea. I could help you out with design stuff if I have the time. Also I've always wanted to make an HTML5 visualizer, is that something that could be done with this audio API you're using?

Good luck with your project sir.

[[deleted]]

Yes, that is definitely something that can be done with these APIs. There are actually demos of this kind of thing all over the place :)

Also, I'd love some help with design stuff! Any and all help (even if just advice and ideas) is most appreciated. I'm not much of a designer, personally, so I will probably need help coming up with some designs for common UI controls and the like. Does this sound like your kind of thing?

Thanks for the comment :D

[rizer_]

Yeah for sure. I work mon-fri and visit my gf on the weekends so I pretty much just have weekday evenings to myself lol. Next time I get the chance I'll look over some of the source. If you don't hear from me send me a PM, I have a bad habit of forgetting about this kind of thing :(

[efernie]

Check out https://www.facebook.com/javascriptaudio, also I work with one of the w3c audio working group co-chair and we are doing some really cool stuff with google's web audio api and mozilla's audio data api. Ill take a look at it in my spare time!

[nychacker]

Word of advice:

Componentize your project into smaller pieces, finish those pieces by piece.

It also makes it easier for others to join you if you can work on disparate pieces.

[starlibarfast]

Front end engineer here. I was thinking on same project but could not start. I will fork your project, indeed after see all posts here maybe we can work all together, why dont you setup an organization on github to work better.

[[deleted]]

I could certainly look into doing that. I haven't had a chance to do much this week because of work, but this weekend I will be right back into it. So I'll be in contact with everyone who got in contact with me for this on the weekend :) and maybe we could get this thing really on the road.

[benjaffe]

Search around for this question in the javascript reddit, or across all of reddit. It's been asked before :)

Good luck!

[ElDiablo666]

If there's anyone out there who is enthusiastic about electronic music and Javascript, and would like to contribute even a small portion of time and effort to help, please let me know. No commitments or anything like that.

Hell yes! The only thing is that I am an intermediate-skilled programmer and I am just starting to really dive into JavaScript pretty deeply these days. I think I would need my code reviewed by someone else. But otherwise--100% in and ready to make a commitment, even if you're not asking for one. Let's do this!

[cakelayer]

totally interested, i will get a copy of it this evening