skred
skred
wavetables gone rogue — snap together voices like LEGO, then shape them with short ASCII incantations for instant sonic mischief
description
skred is a polyphonic wavetable synthesizer built for
flexibility and live performance.
Instead of fixed, hardwired signal paths, it lets you freely interconnect voices in a modular playground — route (nearly) anything to anything, and reshape sounds on the fly.
It skips ultra-polished features like pristine interpolation in favor of raw responsiveness and real-time control.
You command it the same way everywhere: terse ASCII messages sent over wire or air or typed directly into the console.
Simple pattern playback keeps the grooves rolling while you twist the knobs — or the code.
In short: a lightweight, hackable synth that feels alive under your fingers, whether you’re performing live or scripting chaos from a terminal.
quick start
# open a shell / cmd.exe / powershell
# install zig 0.13.0
git clone https://github.com/octetta/skred
cd skred
zig build
./zig-out/bin/skred # or skred.exe on Windows
v0 w0 f440 a0 l1 # start a 440Hz sine wave on voice 0
v1 m1 a0 f1 l1 # start a 1Hz modulator on voice 1
v0 F1,1 # use v1 modulator to change v0's frequency
?? # show the running voices
-
on macOS you may need
xattr -d com.apple.quarantine zig-out/bin/skred -
on Windows you’ll see a prompt about allowing network access… this is for incoming UDP skode commands
behind the scenes
components
- synth skred’s sound engine
- skode the skred live code language
- skode reference details about skode commands and values
- tools various tools for learning and controlling skred
credits
inspiration
- POKEY the wonderful Atari 8-bit computer sound chip
- SID the amazing Commodore 8-bit computer sound chip
- Ensoniq DOC the fantastic 8-bit sample playback chip that changed synths forever
- GUS the IBM PC era 16-bit sample playback card that rocked my world
- PureData make sounds with visual coding
- ChucK music programming language with time at the center
- SonicPi a free open-source live coding environment
- AMY A high-performance fixed-point Music synthesizer librarY for microcontrollers
- Casio SK-1 first sampler that didn’t feel like a science experiment
- Casio CZ my very first synth