Strudel represents a significant evolution in accessible music live coding, porting the sophisticated pattern language of TidalCycles from Haskell to JavaScript for entirely browser-based performance.
Origins and Development
The project emerged in early 2022 when Alex McLean (creator of TidalCycles) began porting Tidal’s pattern representation to JavaScript. Developer Felix Roos discovered this early work and built a complete browser system around it. After intensive collaborative development, Strudel was formally presented at the 2023 International Conference on Live Coding in Utrecht, establishing it within the “Uzulangs” family of Tidal-inspired environments.
Key Differences from TidalCycles
While Strudel faithfully preserves Tidal’s cyclic time model and pattern operations, several distinctions matter:
No installation required. Unlike TidalCycles, which demands Haskell, SuperCollider, and SuperDirt setup, Strudel runs immediately in any modern browser. This dramatically lowers the entry barrier for newcomers and educational contexts.
JavaScript, not Haskell. The syntax feels familiar to web developers, though the underlying pattern concepts remain consistent with Tidal’s approach.
Flexible output routing. Strudel includes WebAudio synthesis directly, but can also drive MIDI hardware, send OSC to SuperCollider/SuperDirt, connect via WebSerial, or route to CSound, making it adaptable to various workflows.
How It Works
Strudel’s REPL transpiles code into Pattern objects using Acorn and Escodegen parsers. A scheduler queries these patterns at regular intervals, generating musical events (called “Haps”) while maintaining Tidal’s characteristic approach: events compress into fixed cycle lengths, enabling dense polymetric structures without tempo changes.
The result is a practical tool for algorave performance, classroom teaching, and studio sequencing that preserves TidalCycles’ creative philosophy while embracing web accessibility.
Explore at strudel.cc.