If you continue the live coding (thought) experiment, you would naturally code a better interface. At that point you would be reinventing something like Ableton Live, but completely different. Similar to how using Lisp for a project develops its own DSL for the application different from other DSLs for other applications.

So we'd be watching someone simultaneously live code/play music and live code their interface.

Personally, I'd rather let them code the interface off stage and watch the live performance. After all, using the interface is live coding, but using the pre-built DSL.

Right, good point.

In some ways, sonic Pi is already a higher order interface than whatever language it's written in.

I am mostly talking about the way of inputting the code though. Having someone bent over a laptop is fairly disgraceful.. Maybe people said the same when knob-turning DJs appeared.

This is a good 1-'man'-show[0] TEDx, where watching someone program/fiddle with (software and) knobs is great to watch. Talk's good too--build-up to performance/demo is about halfway through.

[0] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=q5yxIzs5Wug

You might be interested in the approach Author & Punisher has taken.

Hmmmm why my first instinct is to agree with you wholeheartedly, after a few moments of reflection I start thinking “well isn’t that the actual point here?”

Perhaps the program designer wants people to see actual coding as an artistic expression, which of course all real programmers know is very true, and not as some nerdy boring thing that lets-face-it…many non-programmers think of it.

That’s why personally I love the idea of the real time collaboration additions that are coming online these days. Like what could be better to promote coding then seeing a couple of people go fucking off sitting behind keyboards making interesting music together?

Perhaps ORCA [1] might pique your interest. I've mostly bounced off of live coding because of the interface issue, but something about the ORCA interface tickles my eyeballs and gets the creative juices flowing.

Shameless self-promo example of the language in action [2]

[1] https://100r.co/site/orca.html [2] https://youtu.be/fhYi958qqac

I thought the same. And thanks for sharing your compositions -- I particularly enjoyed "killed in the light of a crescent moon".

I don't think "live coding" music means that musicians would actually write code in front of an audience live -- it's not like musicians compose music in real time even without computers. In either case there is a lot of trial and error in getting things right that you wouldn't want an audience to see (or hear). I think "live coding" is just a fancy way of saying a programming experience with immediate feedback -- like a REPL but even more so.

There are many musicians who "build" music in live concerts with modular synthesizers (in newer times mostly with Eurorack modules). Since many decades! Without computers. With some experience they know how to handle their tools. And with some experience a good live coder can do the same with his computer too.

I've seen performances where the live coding is just them building those same modular synths just digital. They start with a patch, and know what patch they need to end in. Everything between is up to them. Wish I had a better look at what they were doing.

The interface is designed so that a 10-12 year old can write music-making code with little guidance. I have anecdotal evidence that it's quite good for that purpose.

I used to have this complaint until I saw someone do it well. The key is that can't be all their doing. One guy I saw was doing it at audience level while also being in the pit and moshing. Not sure I'll ever see anything like that again.