• [1]Intro |
  • [2]Community |
  • [3]Examples |
  • [4]News |
  • [5]Tutorial

[logo]

Sonic Pi

Experience the sound of code.

Sonic Pi is your free code-based music creation and performance tool.


Powerful for professional musicians and DJs.
Expressive for composition and performance.
Accessible for blind and partially sighted people.
Simple for computing and music lessons.

Learn to code creatively by composing or performing music in an incredible
range of styles from Classical & Jazz to Hip hop & EDM. Free for everyone with
a friendly [6]tutorial.

Brought to you by [7]Sam Aaron and the Sonic Pi Core Team.

[8]Windows [9]macOS [10]Raspberry Pi OS


Live Code Everything

[sonic-pi-connectivity]

Sonic Pi lets you use simple code to turn your computer into a fully networked
live coding music studio:

  • Multi Channel Audio In/Out
  • Well-timed MIDI In/Out
  • Well-timed OSC (Open Sound Control) In/Out
  • Ableton's Link network metronome built-in

Take the Course

Sonic Pi Creator Sam Aaron has created a series of tutorial courses that will
kick-start your live coding journey.

Free Lesson Preview

4. Exploring Synths

Learn how to trigger expressive synth sounds with simple code

Sonic Pi - Introduction

Sonic Pi - Introduction

Join Sonic Pi's creator Sam Aaron and learn to express yourself with code. This
course will teach you the basics of live coding your own performances and
compositions using the powerful live coding software Sonic Pi.

[11] Buy now

Sponsors

The following organisations are kindly supporting Sonic Pi's mission of
lowering the many barriers to entry for creative experiences with code:

[12] Dashbit


[13] Please consider asking your employer to sponsor Sonic Pi.

Community Support

Please consider joining our wonderful community of supporters helping to keep
Sonic Pi free for everyone.

[14] Alembic

Support via Patreon

[15] Alembic

Support via GitHub Sponsors

Code. Music. Live.

Sonic Pi is a new kind of musical instrument.
Watch how you can use it for live performances from ambient sets to dance music
in nightclubs...

Array by DJ_Dave

Sonic Pi Band - Sam Aaron & Ben Smith

Reeled - Jylda & Sam Aaron

Daft Punk - Aerodynamic
coded by Sébastien Rannou

Welcome to our Community

Join the friendly Sonic Pi community and share your ideas and thoughts with
other educators, musicians and live coders...

[16] [in_thread_screen]

[17]Come and join the conversation...

Live Coding Education

[18] [live-coding-education]



Sonic Pi helps you engage students in Computing through music. Read how in the
article [19]'Live Coding Education'

Watch this introductory [20]CAS TV interview with Sonic Pi creator Sam Aaron.

Sonic Pi in the

Computing Classroom

Sonic Pi was specifically designed for and built in collaboration with teachers
for use in the classroom.

[21][music_note]

Music Live Coding

Sonic Pi is a new kind of musical instrument which enables exciting new
learning pathways in the classroom.

[22]Music programming workshop by Mehackit
[blackboard]

Classroom Ready

Sonic Pi was designed, implemented and developed with extensive classroom
trials in close collaboration with teachers.

[23]Introduction for Teachers
[24] [code-border]

Creative Computing

Sonic Pi comes with a scheme of work targetted for KS3 Computing developed in
harmony with the new UK curriculum.

[25]Scheme of Work for Computing Lessons

Engage your students by coding music in your classroom today.

Free Sonic Pi Book

Sam Aaron, creator of Sonic Pi, has written this book to
[26]complement the built-in tutorial.

Master live loops, code drum breaks, compose your own melodies make random
riffs and loops, learn to shape and sculpt sounds and much, much more...

[27] [book]

[28]Download "Code Music with Sonic Pi" Now!

Sonic Pi Talks

"Sonic Pi lowers the barrier to entry for a creative experience with code..."

[29]TEDx Newcastle 2015 - Programming as Performance

[30]GOTO 2018 - Let's Get Ready to Rock with Sonic Pi

Music. Code. Simple.

See how easy it is to get started coding your first sounds...

Haunted Bells

loop do
  sample :perc_bell, rate: (rrand 0.125, 1.5)
  sleep rrand(0, 2)
end


Listen to the coded bells...

                                     • play
                                     • pause

━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━


Pentatonic Bleeps

with_fx :reverb, mix: 0.2 do
  loop do
    play scale(:Eb2, :major_pentatonic, num_octaves: 3).choose, release: 0.1, amp: rand
    sleep 0.1
  end
end


Code with scales and chords...

                                     • play
                                     • pause

━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━


Tron Bikes

loop do
  with_synth :dsaw do
    with_fx(:slicer, phase: [0.25,0.125].choose) do
      with_fx(:reverb, room: 0.5, mix: 0.3) do
        start_note = chord([:b1, :b2, :e1, :e2, :b3, :e3].choose, :minor).choose
        final_note = chord([:b1, :b2, :e1, :e2, :b3, :e3].choose, :minor).choose

        p = play start_note, release: 8, note_slide: 4, cutoff: 30, cutoff_slide: 4, detune: rrand(0, 0.2), pan: rrand(-1, 0), pan_slide: rrand(4, 8)
        control p, note: final_note, cutoff: rrand(80, 120), pan: rrand(0, 1)
      end
    end
  end
  sleep 8
end


Listen to bikes from the future...

                                     • play
                                     • pause

━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━


Wob Rhythm

with_fx :reverb do
  in_thread do
    loop do
      r = [0.5, 1.0/3, 3.0/5].choose
      8.times do
        sample :ambi_choir, rate: r, pan: rrand(-1, 1)
        sleep 0.5
      end
    end
  end
end

with_fx :wobble, phase: 2 do |w|
  with_fx :echo, mix: 0.6 do
    loop do
      sample :drum_heavy_kick
      sample :bass_hit_c, rate: 0.8, amp: 0.4
      sleep 1
    end
  end
end


Hear the rhythmic wobble...

                                     • play
                                     • pause

━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━


Ocean Waves

with_fx :reverb, mix: 0.5 do
  loop do
    s = synth [:bnoise, :cnoise, :gnoise].choose, amp: rrand(0.5, 1.5), attack: rrand(0, 4), sustain: rrand(0, 2), release: rrand(1, 3), cutoff_slide: rrand(0, 3), cutoff: rrand(60, 80), pan: rrand(-1, 1), pan_slide: 1, amp: rrand(0.5, 1)
    control s, pan: rrand(-1, 1), cutoff: rrand(60, 115)
    sleep rrand(2, 3)
  end
end


Hear the digital waves crash...

                                     • play
                                     • pause

━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━


IDM Breakbeat

define :play_bb do |n|
  sample :drum_heavy_kick
  sample :ambi_drone, rate: [0.25, 0.5, 0.125, 1].choose, amp: 0.25 if rand < 0.125
  sample :ambi_lunar_land, rate: [0.5, 0.125, 1, -1, -0.5].choose, amp: 0.25 if rand < 0.125
  sample :loop_amen, attack: 0, release: 0.05, start: 1 - (1.0 / n), rate: [1,1,1,1,1,1,-1].choose
  sleep sample_duration(:loop_amen) / n
end
loop {play_bb([1,2,4,8,16].choose)}


Listen to crazy coded beats...

                                     • play
                                     • pause

━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━


Acid Walk

in_thread do
  use_synth :fm
  sleep 2
  loop do
    28.times do
       sample :drum_bass_hard, amp: 0.8
       sleep 0.25
       play :e2, release: 0.2
       sample :elec_cymbal, rate: 12, amp: 0.6
       sleep 0.25
     end
     sleep 4
   end
 end

 use_synth :tb303
 with_fx :reverb do |rev|
   loop do
     control rev, mix: rrand(0, 0.3)
     with_fx :slicer, phase: 0.125 do
       sample :ambi_lunar_land, sustain: 0, release: 8, amp: 2
     end

     control rev, mix: rrand(0, 0.6)
     r = rrand(0.05, 0.3)
     64.times do
       play chord(:e3, :minor).choose, release: r, cutoff: rrand(50, 90), amp: 0.5
       sleep 0.125
     end

     control rev, mix: rrand(0, 0.6)
     r = rrand(0.1, 0.2)
     with_synth :prophet do
       32.times do
         sleep 0.125
         play chord(:a3, :m7).choose, release: r, cutoff: rrand(40, 130), amp: 0.7
       end
     end

     control rev, mix: rrand(0, 0.6)
     r = rrand(0.05, 0.3)
     32.times do
       play chord(:e3, :minor).choose, release: r, cutoff: rrand(110, 130), amp: 0.4
       sleep 0.125
     end

     control rev, mix: rrand(0, 0.6)
     with_fx :echo, phase: 0.25, decay: 8 do
       16.times do
         play chord([:e2, :e3, :e4].choose, :m7).choose, release: 0.05, cutoff: rrand(50, 129), amp: 0.5
         sleep 0.125
       end
     end
   end
 end

Start producing longer tracks...

                                     • play
                                     • pause

What are you waiting for? Get yourself a copy of Sonic Pi for:

[31]Windows [32]macOS [33]Raspberry Pi OS

What's Happening with

Sonic Pi

Here's a taster of some of the exciting things happening in the Sonic Pi
world...

[34]The Music Commission

[35]The Music Commission

Sonic Pi is represented by Sam Aaron on The Music Commission panel, a new
enquiry launched by ABRSM exploring how to better sustain & support progress &
progression in learning music.

[36]Naked Scientists

[37]The Naked Scientists

The wonderful Naked Scientists covered Sonic Pi in an interview which was
broadcast live on BBC radio and is available to listen and read [38]here.

[39]The Big Bang Fair

[40]The Big Bang Fair 2018

The Big Bang Fair is the UK's largest celebration of STEM for young people. In
2018 the Sonic Pi Band performed a series of shows demonstrating how to live
code your own band.

[41]Mehackit

[42]Kokoa Certified Resources

The incredible [43]Mehackit Sonic Pi creative coding resource has been
certified by the Finnish Education Standard Kakoa for its educational quality.

[44][convo]

[45]Royal Albert Hall : Convo

Sonic Pi was an Education Partner for Convo, an ambitious new work at the Royal
Albert Hall featuring 1,000 young instrumentalists & singers combining
traditional instruments & code.
[46]Watch the performance here

[47][codebus]

[48]Codebus Africa

In 2017, African and Finnish tech and education innovators collaborated to use
Sonic Pi to deliver creative coding workshops engaging almost 2000 children in
10 African countries.

[49]Google Logo

[50]Google Open Source Winner

Google have announced Sonic Pi as one of a number of projects they either use
or think are important.

[51][mt-awardlo]

[52]Sonic Pi nominated Music Teacher Award finalist

Sonic Pi was listed as a finalist for the [53]Music Teacher Best Music
Education Product Award alongside music instrument manufacturers Boss & Korg.

[54][rollingsto]

[55]Rolling Stone Review

Sam Aaron performed with Sonic Pi at Moogfest 2016. Rolling Stone featured his
performance in their [56]review of the festival and said it "transcended the
present".

[57]The International Space Station

[58]Sonic Pi Space Competition

[59]These are the winning students that won an exciting once-in-a-lifetime
competition to get their Sonic Pi music played onboard the International Space
Station by UK astronaut Tim Peake.

[60][mistajam]

[61]CBBC Ten Pieces Masterclass

Radio 1 DJ MistaJam and Live Coder Sam Aaron compose a piece of music using
Sonic Pi, inspired by Bizet's 'Carmen'

[62]Daft Punk

[63]Daft Punk in code

Sébastien Rannou has published a tutorial on how he live coded his fabulous 
[64]cover of Aerodynamic by Daft Punk.

[65][newsround]

[66]Sonic Pi featured on CBBC Newsround

Sonic Pi was featured on the UK national children's news programme [67]CBBC
Newsround - with presenter Jenny Lawrence discovering Live Coding for the first
time.

[68][sonic-drea]

[69]Sonic Pi: Live & Coding Pop Pi Videos Launched

The Sonic Pi: Live & Coding project has launched [70] a series of 10 "Pop Pi"
music videos created by artists using Sonic Pi.

[71][summerscho]

[72]Sonic Pi Live & Coding - Summer School

Artists Juneau Projects [73]write about the recent Sonic Pi Live & Coding
Summer School which involved 60 children aged 10-14 learning to code and
perform on stage at Cambridge Junction.

Get Sonic Pi for

Raspberry Pi OS - 64 bit

Get started on the world's most affordable computer.

Built for Raspberry Pi

[74] [rpi-logo]

Get the latest version of Sonic Pi for your Raspberry Pi to take advantage of
all the new features such as MIDI, OSC networking, new translations, improved
interface, headphone audio and much, much more...

64 bit package

[arm64-chip]

v4.5.1
Download then right click and choose 'install package'

Requires the 64 bit release of Raspberry Pi OS (Bookworm)

[75]Download (64 bit)
[76]Full Installation Instructions

Thanks for Downloading Sonic Pi

Sonic Pi - Introduction

Take the Course

Kick start your Sonic Pi journey and join creator Sam Aaron with this new
introductory course and learn to express yourself with code.

[77] Learn More
Using 32 bit Raspberry Pi OS?
[78]Download a 32 bit version here

Terminal Installation

[box3]

To install run the following commands via the terminal (within the directory
you downloaded the deb file):

sudo apt update
sudo apt install ./sonic-pi_4.5.1_1_bookworm.arm64.deb

[79]Back to top

Get Sonic Pi for

Windows

Turn any PC into a full Sonic Pi workstation.

Built for Windows 10 & 11

[unibody_wi]

Sonic Pi has been developed and designed to work perfectly on laptops and
desktops running either Windows 10 or 11.

Sonic Pi for Windows

[intel-cpu]

Download and double-click to install
v4.5.1

Requires Windows 10.

[80]Windows 10/11 (64 bit)
MSI Installer

Thanks for Downloading Sonic Pi

Sonic Pi - Introduction

Take the Course

Kick start your Sonic Pi journey and join creator Sam Aaron with this new
introductory course and learn to express yourself with code.

[81] Learn More
Still using Windows 7 or 8.1?
[82]Download v3.1 here

MSI Installer

[windows]

Sonic Pi is available as a signed MSI installer for you to securely install on
your machine or network.

Getting Sonic Pi running on Windows is as easy as 3, 1, 4...

[83]Back to top

Get Sonic Pi for

macOS

Use the full power of your Mac to take Sonic Pi to the next level.

macOS - Apple Silicon

[apple-cpu]

v4.5.1
for Macs with Apple M series chips

Requires Ventura
(macOS 13)

[84]Mac with Apple chip


Securely Built for Apple

[apple]

Intel or Apple Silicon?

There are two versions available to download. Apple Silicon for newer Macs
powered by M1 or M2 chips and Intel for older Macs.

See "About This Mac" for your chip type.

Thanks for Downloading Sonic Pi

Sonic Pi - Introduction

Take the Course

Kick start your Sonic Pi journey and join creator Sam Aaron with this new
introductory course and learn to express yourself with code.

[85] Learn More
Using macOS 10.15 or below?
[86]Download previous releases here

macOS - Intel x64

[intel-cpu]

v4.5.1
for older Macs with Intel chips

Requires Monterey
(macOS 12)

[87]Mac with Intel chip
Most Common

Getting Sonic Pi running on your Mac is as easy as eating Apple Pi.

[88]Back to top

  • [89]Twitter |
  • [90]Github


References:

[1] https://sonic-pi.net/#intro
[2] https://sonic-pi.net/#community
[3] https://sonic-pi.net/#examples
[4] https://sonic-pi.net/#news
[5] https://sonic-pi.net/tutorial.html
[6] https://sonic-pi.net/tutorial.html
[7] https://twitter.com/samaaron
[8] https://sonic-pi.net/#windows
[9] https://sonic-pi.net/#mac
[10] https://sonic-pi.net/#rp
[11] https://sonic-pi-studio.teachable.com/p/sonic-pi-introduction
[12] https://dashbit.co/
[13] https://github.com/sponsors/samaaron
[14] https://patreon.com/samaaron
[15] https://github.com/sponsors/samaaron
[16] https://in-thread.sonic-pi.net/
[17] https://in-thread.sonic-pi.net/
[18] https://sonic-pi.net/files/articles/Live-Coding-Education.pdf
[19] https://sonic-pi.net/files/articles/Live-Coding-Education.pdf
[20] https://youtu.be/7sEMKXrRaAs?list=LLQB04t2hxSBVTjxpbIHdI-w
[21] https://www.sonicpiliveandcoding.com/
[22] https://sonic-pi.mehackit.org/
[23] https://sonic-pi.net/files/articles/Live-Coding-Education.pdf
[24] https://www.raspberrypi.org/learning/sonic-pi-lessons/
[25] https://www.raspberrypi.org/learning/sonic-pi-lessons/
[26] https://sonic-pi.net/tutorial.html
[27] https://magpi.raspberrypi.com/books/essentials-sonic-pi-v1/pdf/download
[28] https://magpi.raspberrypi.com/books/essentials-sonic-pi-v1/pdf/download
[29] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TK1mBqKvIyU
[30] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OLLwG_SN8oo
[31] https://sonic-pi.net/#windows
[32] https://sonic-pi.net/#mac
[33] https://sonic-pi.net/#rp
[34] http://www.musiccommission.org.uk/
[35] http://www.musiccommission.org.uk/
[36] https://www.thenakedscientists.com/articles/interviews/creating-code-make-music
[37] https://www.thenakedscientists.com/articles/interviews/creating-code-make-music
[38] https://www.thenakedscientists.com/articles/interviews/creating-code-make-music
[39] https://www.thebigbangfair.co.uk/
[40] https://www.thebigbangfair.co.uk/
[41] http://sonic-pi.mehackit.org/
[42] http://sonic-pi.mehackit.org/
[43] http://mehackit.org/
[44] https://www.royalalberthall.com/tickets/events/2019/convo-2019/
[45] https://www.royalalberthall.com/tickets/events/2019/convo-2019/
[46] https://vimeo.com/328673793#t=3534s
[47] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UqzDW-OdFJI
[48] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UqzDW-OdFJI
[49] https://opensource.googleblog.com/2017/03/the-latest-round-of-google-open-source.html
[50] https://opensource.googleblog.com/2017/03/the-latest-round-of-google-open-source.html
[51] https://www.musicmark.org.uk/news/full-list-of-winners-at-the-music-teacher-awards-for-excellence/
[52] https://www.musicmark.org.uk/news/full-list-of-winners-at-the-music-teacher-awards-for-excellence/
[53] https://www.musicmark.org.uk/news/full-list-of-winners-at-the-music-teacher-awards-for-excellence/
[54] http://www.rollingstone.com/music/music-live-reviews/moogfest-2016-was-it-actually-the-future-of-music-58300
[55] https://www.rollingstone.com/music/music-live-reviews/moogfest-2015-was-it-actually-the-future-of-music-58300
[56] http://www.rollingstone.com/music/music-live-reviews/moogfest-2016-was-it-actually-the-future-of-music-58300
[57] https://astro-pi.org/principia/sonic-pi-winners/
[58] https://astro-pi.org/principia/sonic-pi-winners/
[59] https://astro-pi.org/principia/sonic-pi-winners/
[60] https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/p031dq3j
[61] https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/p031dq3j
[62] https://aimxhaisse.com/aerodynamic-en.html
[63] https://aimxhaisse.com/aerodynamic-en.html
[64] https://aimxhaisse.com/aerodynamic-en.html
[65] https://www.bbc.co.uk/newsround/30151730
[66] https://www.bbc.co.uk/newsround/30151730
[67] https://www.bbc.co.uk/newsround/30151730
[68] https://vimeo.com/110416910
[69] https://vimeo.com/user33572687
[70] https://vimeo.com/user33572687
[71] https://www.raspberrypi.org/blog/sonic-pi-live-summer-school
[72] https://www.raspberrypi.org/blog/sonic-pi-live-summer-school
[73] https://www.raspberrypi.org/blog/sonic-pi-live-summer-school
[74] https://github.com/samaaron/sonic-pi
[75] https://sonic-pi.net/files/releases/v4.5.1/sonic-pi_4.5.1_1_bookworm.arm64.deb
[76] https://sonic-pi.net/files/releases/v4.5.1/README-Sonic-Pi-Raspberry-Pi-OS.txt
[77] https://sonic-pi-studio.teachable.com/p/sonic-pi-introduction
[78] https://github.com/samaaron/sonic-pi/releases/tag/v4.3.0
[79] https://sonic-pi.net/#intro
[80] https://sonic-pi.net/files/releases/v4.5.1/Sonic-Pi-for-Win-x64-v4-5-1.msi
[81] https://sonic-pi-studio.teachable.com/p/sonic-pi-introduction
[82] https://github.com/samaaron/sonic-pi/releases/tag/v3.1.0
[83] https://sonic-pi.net/#intro
[84] https://sonic-pi.net/files/releases/v4.5.1/Sonic-Pi-for-Mac-arm64-v4-5-1.dmg
[85] https://sonic-pi-studio.teachable.com/p/sonic-pi-introduction
[86] https://github.com/sonic-pi-net/sonic-pi/releases
[87] https://sonic-pi.net/files/releases/v4.5.1/Sonic-Pi-for-Intel-Mac-x64-v4-5-1.dmg
[88] https://sonic-pi.net/#intro
[89] https://twitter.com/sonic_pi
[90] https://github.com/samaaron/sonic-pi