Welcome

This is a personal webpage that contains a portfolio of my work, which includes software, presentations and papers, as well as musical performances and compositions. If you would like to contact me, please send an email to ryan[at]foxdot[dot]org.

For a full list of my software repositories, see my dedicated software development GitHub account.

Software

FoxDot

FoxDot is a Python library for live coding music with a focus on object-oriented programming practices. It uses the SuperCollider audio engine to generate sound by sending messages via Open Sound Control (OSC). Users take control of “Players” and allocate instructions, such as pitch and duration, and can change these instructions algorithmically in time. What started as a personal experiment has now become a tool used by live coders from all over the world.

Project website

Troop

During my PhD studies I have been researching methods for collaboration in live coding music and it has led me to develop several GUIs for joint working across a network. The first interface I developed was Troop; a real-time concurrent multi-user editor for live coding, similar in style to Google Docs. Multiple users can connect to a Troop server and start working on the same body of code using a variety of different live coding environments including FoxDot, TidalCycles, SuperCollider, and Sonic-Pi.

Project website

CodeBank

This collaborative live coding interface (still in development) gives users a local workspace to experiment in before ‘pushing’ their code to a server that is generating audio for an audience. It is part of ongoing research into public and private working in digital music creation in the context of live coding.

Project website

Publications

Kirkbride, Ryan, and Kia Ng. “Infinite remix machine: automatic analysis and arrangement of musical recordings.” Proceedings of the Conference on Electronic Visualisation and the Arts. British Computer Society, 2015.

Kirkbride, Ryan. “FoxDot Live Coding with Python and SuperCollider”. Proceedings of the International Conference on Live Interfaces, 2016.

Kirkbride, Ryan. “Programming in Time: New Implications for Temporality”. Proceedings of the International Conference on Live Coding, 2016.

Kirkbride, Ryan. “Cooperative Live Coding of Electronic Music with Troop.” Proceedings of 15th European Conference on Computer-Supported Cooperative Work - Panels, Posters and Demos. European Society for Socially Embedded Technologies (EUSSET), 2017.

Kirkbride, Ryan. “Troop: A Collaborative Tool for Live Coding.” Proceedings of the 14th Sound and Music Computing Conference. 2017.

Conference Presentations

Making Time in Music (2016)
Co-ordination of Expression in Vocal Ensembles
University of Oxford, UK

International Conference on Live Coding (2016)
Programming in Time: New Implications for Temporality in Live Coding
McMaster University, Toronto, Canada

PyCon UK (2017)
Programming Music for Performance: Live Coding with FoxDot
Cardiff City Hall, UK

Electroacoustic Music Studies Network (2017)
Troop: A Collaborative Environment for Live Coding Electronic Music
Nagoya University, Japan

PyCon SK (2018)
Programming Music for Performance: Live Coding with FoxDot
Slovak University of Technology, Bratislava, Slovakia

Together in Music (2018)
Together in Cyberspace: Collaborative Live Coding of Music
National Centre for Early Music, York, UK

PyCon CZ (2018)
Programming Music for Performance: Live Coding with FoxDot
Meet Factory, Prague, Czech Republic

Music

I perform music as solo act under the moniker of Qirky, creating a blend of melodic techno, deep house, and electro-pop using FoxDot. I have performed at several Algorave events across the UK, including Green Man and Shambala festivals, and also at international events.

Webpage for Qirky

I also perform with an experimental/electronic group of live coders called The Yorkshire Programming Ensemble (TYPE) using Troop to collaborate with code in FoxDot.

Webpage for TYPE

Contact

ryan[at]foxdot[dot]org