Artist DIY is a series of videos made by artists in collaboration with FACT in response to the COVID-19 pandemic.

FACT edits each episode remotely, while the artist shoots at their home or studio with whatever equipment they have available. In this episode we meet Lizzie Wilson aka Digital Selves, who offers a tutorial on live coding with TidalCycles.

TidalCycles is the open-source software used by the algorave community to create music with code. As Wilson explains, you don’t necessarily need to be an experienced coder to experiment with the software – in fact, it has a lot in common with activities like knitting or weaving.

While the algorave community has been affected by the COVID-19 pandemic in much the same way as other musical scenes, it has embraced virtual raves. And, as this video shows, TidalCycles’ open-source nature makes it an affordable and accessible way to make music at home.

If you want to try TidalCycles yourself, you can download it here. For further resources on live coding, visit TOPLAP, check out video tutorials from Kindohm and find out about TidalCycles developer Alex McLean and Lucy Cheesman’s online live coding course here.

Find Digital Selves’ music at Bandcamp.

Additional footage kindly supplied by:

Alex McLean – https://slab.org
Miri Kat – https://mirikat.bandcamp.com
Antonio Roberts – http://www.hellocatfood.com
Tacacocoding (https://www.instagram.com/disolvta/, https://www.instagram.com/smosgasbord/, https://www.instagram.com/celeste94_____________________/)
Iris Saladino, khoparzi, djalgoritmo, Rangga and rafrobeat
Jack Armitage – https://www.instagram.com/lildata.music/
Guy John – https://rumblesan.com

Watch next: Artist DIY: Dana Gingras