alda-clj is a Clojure library for algorithmic music composition and live-coding with Alda.

A simple Clojure DSL provides useful functions like note and chord that can be composed together to create a musical score. The resulting values are translated into a string of Alda code and played in a subprocess via the alda command line client.

alda-clj is intended to be used in at least two ways:

1. In an improv / live-coding setting, using a live Clojure REPL to generate and play music on the fly.

2. In a music composition setting, where the composition is a Clojure program / script that uses alda-clj to generate a score.

NOTE: alda-clj requires Alda version 2.0.0 or greater.

1. If you haven't already, install Alda and make sure alda is available on your PATH.

alda-clj will shell out and use alda (wherever it's found on your PATH) to play your scores. If desired, you can specify an alternate alda executable by binding alda.core/*alda-executable* to something else, e.g. "/home/dave/Downloads/some-other-alda".

2. Add the latest release version of alda-clj to your dependencies:

;; deps.edn
io.djy/alda-clj {:mvn/version "X.X.X"}

;; lein/boot
[io.djy/alda-clj "X.X.X"]

3. Require alda.core and you're off to the races!

(require '[alda.core :refer :all])

(play!
  (part "piano")
  (for [notes [[:c :e :g] [:c :f :a] [:c :e :g]]]
    (apply chord (map #(note (pitch %)) notes))))

API documentation, a Getting Started guide and more are available at cljdoc.

There are also example scripts in this repo that will give you a sense of what you can do with alda-clj.

Ping @dave on Slack if you have any questions or if you just want to chat about alda-clj!

Copyright © 2018-2023 Dave Yarwood

Distributed under the Eclipse Public License version 2.0.