Buzztrax

open source all in one music composer

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About

Buzztrax aims to be a music studio that allows one to compose songs using only a computer with a soundcard. If you’ve used tracker programs like FastTracker, Impulse Tracker, or the original AMIGA SoundTracker, that will give you an idea of how one can sequence music in Buzztrax.

The Buzztrax editor uses a similar concept, where a song consists of a sequence with tracks and in each track one uses patterns with events (musical notes and control changes). In contrast to other Tracker programs, tracks are not simply sample players: a user can make a song using an arrangment of virtual audio plugins that are linked together to create different effects. Each of these machines can be controlled realtime or via patterns in the sequencer.

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The buzztrax editor will be just one possible application of the framework we are implementing. Tools like a dj mixing application or a live session composer are other things that can be built using our framework.

Modules

All the code is contained in a single git repo. Head over to the buzztrax module to learn how to build the software from the sources. If you don’t want to build the latest git snapshot, you can find stable versions in the releases section.

Besides the main repository the buzzmachines module conatains a collection of open-source plugin in the buzzmachine format that can be used with buzztrax. This modules does not have releases. The conde contained here is considered finished.

Finally the design module is mostly interesting for developers and contains short code snippet for bug reproduction, testing new features or sketching algorithms. You can also find a bunch of python notebooks with dsp algorithms in there. Non of this is required to build and run the main application.