Hands on Web Audio

Sole Penadés, Web Audio expert at Mozilla, has created this fantastic slide deck to introduce the Web Audio API and demonstrate its capabilities. Frustrated with having to leave a presentation to run demos, Sole has embedded all of the examples directly in the slides. ‘Slides’ doesn’t really do this justice - it’s more of an interactive audio application and a great overview of the capabilities of the Web Audio API and modern browsers in general.

Looplabs

Looplabs is a collaborative music-making application built with the Web Audio API that allows you to listen to tracks made by other musicians, and then remix or create entirely new songs yourself in the built-in multitrack “studio”. The studio itself is a slickly-implemented interface reminiscent of traditional desktop music software, with individual tracks, effect busses and a library of samples and loops. The integrated chat feature allows you to collaborate with other people on your composition in real time.

Web Audio JS Developer at Looplabs

Looplabs are reimagining what music can and should be with a collaborative, cloud based music production platform. They’re looking for developers who are familiar with the Web Audio and Web MIDI APIs and have experience developing full stack JS applications.

pizzicato.js

pizzicato.js is a Web Audio API wrapper from Alejandro Mantecon Guillen. It’s designed to abstract away some of the boilerplate code required when working with the API directly, allowing the user to specify audio graphs and combinations of effects at a higher level:

var sawtoothWave = new Pizzicato.Sound({
    wave: { type: 'sawtooth' }
});

var delay = new Pizzicato.Effects.Delay();
sawtoothWave.addEffect(delay);

Blend4Web adds Web Audio support

Blend4Web is a development platform for interactive 3D applications on the web. With the latest version developer can exploit some of the features of the Web Audio API without having to program with it directly. The new audio features allow directional sound sources to be added to 3D models within the Blend4Web environment, which compile down to Web Audio node graphs for deployment to the browser.

New node chaining API now in Firefox Nightly

A small but significant change to the Web Audio API specification means that calling connect() on a Node returns the destination. This means node graphs can be created by method chaining:

var ctx = new AudioContext();
var gain = context.createGain();
var delay = context.createDelay();

gain.connect(delay).connect(ctx.destination)

The change has already been implemented in FireFox nightly.

Pitch shift the audio from any HTML5 video

Foxdog studios have taken Chris Wilson’s pitch shift demo and packages it up as a Google Chrome extension allowing you to alter the pitch of any HTML5 video source, for example those found on YouTube.

Trent Reznor: Archetype of a Synthesizer

I’m not a big Nine Inch Nails fan, but I did enjoy this YouTube video from Moog Music where Trent Reznor talks about his musical history and his relationship with synthesizers. The way he speaks about the quirks and character of his favourite synths is a refreshing antidote to the usual narrative that electronic instruments are dry and clinical.