Logo has been for many users 'the' first programming language they were exposed to. The friendly turtle, the simplicity of its commands, and the strange drawings that came from our mistakes made it an unforgettable experience. Kyle Stetz decided to take inspiration from Logo to design Turtle.Audio, a hybrid between a sequencer and a programming environment with which we can draw music using lines, points, and two-dimensional graphics.
We all want to make music at some point, but the most robust tools tend to be intimidating and have a steep learning curve. That makes me think of old alternatives like the mini sequencers that came preloaded on several mobile phones.
Even with the device's limited controls, the ringtones that came out of there were quite interesting. Maybe there's something to learn from them, but developer Kyle Stetz decided to go a step further and seek inspiration in the classic Logo language, which we remember with great fondness. The result is Turtle.Audio.
Turtle.Audio: Learn to Draw Music with Simple Commands
At first glance, the interface doesn't tell us much, but the key to starting is on the right, in the tutorials section. The lines that play the musical sequences are created with just three commands: M to move forward, R turns 90 degrees to the right, and L turns 90 degrees to the left. Remember, you must turn first, and then move forward.
Repeating the letter M becomes tedious in record time, however, there are code shortcuts that make life easier. For example, writing 'M7' tells the cursor to move forward seven positions.
In the advanced section of the tutorials, you'll find parentheses and variables that allow you to compress and optimize the code even further.
In the Sound section, Turtle.Audio gives us a wide range of parameters that change the sound on the fly, and Paint stores all the notes that can be painted on the sequence lines.
At the bottom, you'll find the basic audio controls, the exact number of notes entered, and the overall BPM value, which helps you easily change the speed (the maximum is 300).
Turtle.Audio doesn't have support for saving the music we draw, but we can generate a URL and come back when needed.
