diff --git a/website/src/pages/learn/faq.mdx b/website/src/pages/learn/faq.mdx index 7fbc0d57..f8ebcb0f 100644 --- a/website/src/pages/learn/faq.mdx +++ b/website/src/pages/learn/faq.mdx @@ -46,21 +46,34 @@ There are multiple ways to load your sample collection. Some methods are good fo ## Can I use Strudel with AI/LLM tools? -You are free to do what you like with Strudel, within the terms of the free/open source AGPLv3 license. However as a community we are interested in exploring human creativity. AI is _way_ over-hyped right now, including by people with very shady motives. Many in the community are very wary of people training models on their tunes that they've poured their love into. So please keep discussion and questions around AI and LLMs to channels dedicated to the topic and be fully respectful of other people's work. +You are free to do what you like with Strudel, within the terms of the free/open source AGPLv3 license. +However as a community we are interested in exploring human creativity. AI is _way_ over-hyped right now, +including by people with very shady motives. Many in the community are very wary of people training models +on their tunes that they've poured their love into. So please keep discussion and questions around AI and +LLMs to channels dedicated to the topic and be fully respectful of other people's work. -Furthermore, tools like ChatGPT generally give wrong answers. Please don't ask the community to fix those answers for you, as generally they will be timewasting nonsense. +Furthermore, tools like ChatGPT generally give wrong answers. Please don't ask the community to fix those +answers for you, as generally they will be timewasting nonsense. -Human questions only! +Human questions are always welcome! + +## Where can I download loads of patterns to train my LLM? + +You cannot, as there is no such place. For details regarding our stance towards AI/LLM, see [above](/learn/faq/#can-i-use-strudel-with-aillm-tools) ## How to run offline? -Strudel works offline just fine! There are multiple techniques to run it yourself, see [this explanation](learn/pwa/#using-strudel-offline). +Strudel works offline just fine! There are multiple techniques for this, see [this explanation](learn/pwa/#using-strudel-offline). ## How to change tempo? How do I translate BPM to cpm? -If you have your tempo in beats per minute and use 4 beats per cycle (e.g. if your track is in 4/4ths) then you can do `setcpm(BPM/4)` where BPM is your beats per minute. +Strudel works in cycles, rather than beats, but if you assume a certain number of beats per cycle, you can convert between them. -If you have a different number of beats per bar or are using more or less beats per cycle (e.g. If you want to put only half a bar or two bars into one cycle), adjust accordingly. +For example, if you have your tempo in beats per minute and use 4 beats per cycle (e.g. if your track is in 4/4ths) then you can do `setcpm(BPM/4)` +where BPM is your beats per minute. + +If you have a different number of beats per bar or are using more or less beats per cycle (e.g. If you want to put only half a bar or +two bars into one cycle), adjust accordingly. ## Where can I see all the functions? @@ -72,11 +85,17 @@ If you pop open the sidetab of strudel.cc (small white < on the right hand side) ## How do I use this exactly like a DAW? -Short answer: you don't. +Strudel has different design aims for a DAW, and so treating it like one will likely be frustrating. DAWs are geared towards +sequencing notes over time in predictable ways, whereas Strudel and similar Uzu languages are geared towards combining and +transforming patterns in ways that can be hard to predict. -Long answer: you can use Strudel to work along your creative work in a DAW. There are many ways to do so. +If you want to emulate the functionality of a DAW in Strudel, you'll have to identify the operations +executed by the DAW (sequencing, repeating, applying filters and envelopes) and write code that is equivalent to these +operations. For example in Strudel, the 'arrange' and 'pick' methods are useful for sequencing patterns over time (see question on these later in this document). -If you want to emulate the functionality of a DAW in a live coding language, you'll have to identify the operations executed by the DAW (sequencing, repeating, applying filters and envelopes) and write code that is equivalent to these operations. You might then find that the typical DAW workflow is not really adapted to live coding (because, despite both being ways of making music on the computer, they are two very different tools) and adapt your way of proceeding to the medium of code. This might mean leaving more place to serendipity and writing code that you don't predict the output of. +You might still find that the typical DAW workflow is not really adapted to live coding because, despite +both being ways of making music on the computer, they are two very different tools. You could then adapt your way of proceeding +to the medium of code, which might mean leaving more place to serendipity and writing code that you don't predict the output of. ## Why doesn't everyone just use a DAW? @@ -84,39 +103,29 @@ There is no easy answer to this question. Here are some thoughts: - Live coding tools such as Strudel are excellent for improvising music and visuals using a computer. DAWs are valuable and robust companions for other activities such as producing, mastering and mixing audio, among other usages. Using a tool does not exclude from using any another tool, just build a toolbox. -- Live coding has been practiced for quite some time as a performative activity. Artists like to show their screens while playing in front of an audience. It is an essential part of what they do, of the way they share their activity with everybody. +- Live coding has developed over decades as a distinct creative practice. For example, live coding artists like to show their screens while playing in front of an audience. It is an essential part of what they do, of the way they share their activity with everybody. -- Code is a human language, it is made for other humans to read it. You can read the code and enjoy the music too. It has meaning, value, and there might even be something poetic/important about it! - Strudel is free and open source, you can inspect the code, reshape it, contribute to it if you can/want. It is not opaque and this matters for many people. There is no black box, no obscure abstractions, no business model or hidden features. We need open tools in the arts! - Live coders don't shy away from using DAWs. They use them all of the time, especially when it makes their life easier for... live coding! +- Code is a human language, it is made for other humans to read it. You can read the code and enjoy the music too. It has meaning, value, and there might even be something poetic/important about it! - Strudel is free and open source, you can inspect the code, reshape it, contribute to it if you can/want. It is not opaque and this matters for many people. There is no black box, no obscure abstractions, no business model, no user tracking or hidden features. We need open tools in the arts! - Live coders don't all shy away from using DAWs. Many use them all of the time, especially when it makes their life easier for... live coding! - Code is an artistic material like any other. There is something valuable in the process of making music through code. More generally speaking, it is nice to tackle creative problems through the use of a programming language: creative thinking, building up your own solutions, DIY approach to music-making, unexpected outcome of algorithms, funny human errors, etc. - There are pianos and trumpets in your DAW: why do people continue playing the piano or the trumpet? Think of live coding tools as instruments that you activate through the act of programming. -## Is it more efficient to use Strudel than a DAW? - -Strudel was not build to be a DAW, yet it can still be used to make covers, arrange tracks, or prepare patterns for jamming. When playing concerts or jamming, some livecoders prepare their code, some perform from scratch. - -It might be interesting for you to check out for yourself how strudel can be used to express yourself creatively. Also you are free to combine a language like Strudel with a DAW. - ## How can I interface Strudel with my favorite music software? What can I do with it? Strudel can send [MIDI and OSC](/learn/input-output/), which are protocols for communicating musical information. -Another music software (or hardware!) can then listen to these messages and process them according to its capabilities. +Other music software (or hardware!) can then listen to these messages and process them according to its capabilities. -A simple example would be to send livecoded audio to Ableton on different tracks and then use it to mix them. +A simple example would be to send livecoded audio to a DAW like Ardour on different tracks and then use it to mix them. You could also send the MIDI of a sequenced pattern to Musescore and then have it transcribe your livecoded work as a musical score. -You could also send MIDI to your hardware synths because you think they sound better than the software synths built-in Strudel. +You could also send MIDI to your hardware synths, if you like their sound. -## How do I use this in my closed source webgame? +## How do I use this in my closed source webgame or other software? -You don't. You would need to re-license your game to AGPLv3 to fulfill the license Strudel is distributed under. - -## Where can I download loads of patterns to train my LLM? - -You cannot, as there is no such place. For details regarding our stance towards AI/LLM, see [above](/learn/faq/#can-i-use-strudel-with-aillm-tools) +You don't. You need to license your game to a free/open source license fulfill the [AGPLv3 license](https://codeberg.org/uzu/strudel/src/branch/main/LICENSE) Strudel is distributed under. ## How to play different patterns simultaneously?