Live coding

By the end of this chapter, the piece plays while you edit its patterns, and every save is heard from the next bar without the music stopping. You can also type into the piece while it plays.

The build checks nothing in this chapter. Live coding needs a piece playing and a person saving a file, and a render has neither, so every block is marked.

Two files

Live coding keeps apart what runs once and what changes as the piece plays. The patterns move into a file of their own, patterns.py, which Subsequence runs again every time it is saved:

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import subsequence.constants.instruments.gm_drums as gm_drums
import subsequence.constants.midi_notes as notes
import subsequence.sequence_utils

swing = subsequence.Groove.swing(percent=57)
hook = subsequence.motif([5, 6, 5, 3, None, 1, 2, 3])
answered = subsequence.period(hook)
melody_state = composition.data["melody_state"]
temperature = composition.data["temperature"]
wind = composition.data["wind"]

@composition.pattern(channel=10, beats=4, drum_note_map=gm_drums.GM_DRUM_MAP, min_energy=0.5)
def fill (p):
	if p.section.last_bar:
		p.sequence(steps=[12, 13, 14, 15], pitches=["high_tom", "high_mid_tom", "low_tom", "low_floor_tom"], velocities=[100, 90, 90, 110])
	p.groove(swing)

@composition.pattern(channel=10, beats=0.75, reschedule_lookahead=0.75, drum_note_map=gm_drums.GM_DRUM_MAP, min_energy=0.5)
def pedal_hats (p):
	p.hit_steps("hi_hat_pedal", [0], velocity=80)

@composition.pattern(channel=4, beats=4, min_energy=0.3)
def melody (p, chord):
	p.melody(melody_state, spacing=0.5, chord_tones=chord.tones(notes.E4))

@composition.pattern(channel=5, bars=4, min_energy=1.0)
def hook_line (p):
	p.phrase(answered, root=notes.E5)

@composition.pattern(channel=10, beats=4, drum_note_map=gm_drums.GM_DRUM_MAP, min_energy=0.2)
def hats (p):
	p.hit_steps("hi_hat_closed", range(16))
	p.velocity_shape(low=40, high=int(p.signal("breath")))
	p.groove(swing)

@composition.pattern(channel=10, beats=4, drum_note_map=gm_drums.GM_DRUM_MAP, min_energy=0.5)
def drums (p):
	p.hit_steps("kick", [0, 4, 8, 12], velocity=110)
	p.hit_steps("snare", [4, 12], velocity=100)
	p.ghost_fill("snare", density=0.5, velocity=(20, 40), bias="before")
	steps = [note.position // 6 for note in p.placed()]
	p.data["drum_syncopation"] = subsequence.sequence_utils.syncopation(steps, p.grid)
	p.groove(swing)

@composition.pattern(channel=3, beats=4, voice_leading=True)
def pad (p, chord):
	p.chord(chord, root=notes.E3, sustain=True, velocity=int(p.signal("swell")))
	p.cc_ramp(74, int(p.signal("cutoff")), int(p.conductor.get("cutoff", (p.bar + 1) * p.bar_beats)))

@composition.pattern(channel=2, beats=4, min_energy=0.5)
def bass (p, chord):
	busy = p.data.get("drum_syncopation", 0.0) > 0.5
	if busy:
		p.arpeggio(chord, root=notes.E1, count=1, spacing=1)
	else:
		p.arpeggio(chord, root=notes.E1, count=4, spacing=0.25)
	p.groove(swing)
	if not busy:
		p.slide(notes=[3, 7, 11, 15], time=0.5, bend_range=12)

@composition.pattern(channel=6, beats=4, min_energy=1.0)
def lead (p, chord):
	progress = (p.bar % 4) / 4
	p.arpeggio(chord, root=int(notes.E4 + 2 * (temperature.get(progress) - 18)), count=3, spacing=0.5)
	p.cc(74, int(wind.get(progress) * 6))

@composition.pattern(channel=10, beats=4, drum_note_map=gm_drums.GM_DRUM_MAP, min_energy=1.0)
def euclidean_snare (p):
	p.euclidean("snare_2", pulses=p.param("pulses", 5), velocity=60).rotate(2).groove(swing)

• Subsequence gives patterns.py two names when it runs it, composition and subsequence, so the file begins with the other imports its patterns use.
• Anything else a pattern needs from piece.py comes through composition.data. melody_state, temperature and wind are made once, in piece.py, so the melody keeps its memory and the lead its weather through every save. swing, hook and answered are made again at each save, which changes nothing, because they remember nothing.
• The patterns keep the order they had, so the drums still come before the bass, which reads what they write.

piece.py keeps everything else, and runs once:

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import itertools

import subsequence
import subsequence.constants.instruments.gm_drums as gm_drums
import subsequence.constants.midi_notes as notes
import subsequence.easing

composition = subsequence.Composition(bpm=120, key="E", scale="minor", seed=1)
composition.harmony(style="aeolian_minor")
melody_state = subsequence.MelodicState(low=notes.E4, high=notes.E5, rest_probability=0.2)
composition.data["melody_state"] = melody_state

composition.form(subsequence.Form([
	subsequence.Section("intro", 4, energy=0.2),
	subsequence.Section("build", 8, energy=0.5),
	subsequence.Section("drop", 8, energy=1.0),
	subsequence.Section("breakdown", 4, energy=0.3),
]), loop=True)

composition.transition(before="drop", mute=["drums", "hats"])

composition.conductor.line("swell", start_val=40, end_val=90, duration_beats=32, start_beat=16)
composition.conductor.lfo("breath", shape="sine", cycle_beats=16, min_val=60, max_val=100)

def tempo (section):
	if section is not None and section.name == "build":
		composition.target_bpm(126, bars=8)
	elif section is not None and section.name == "breakdown":
		composition.target_bpm(120, bars=4)

composition.on_section(tempo)

composition.conductor.line("cutoff", start_val=20, end_val=127, duration_beats=32, start_beat=16)

# Weather data by Open-Meteo.com, CC BY 4.0: central London, 15 September 2026.
recorded = {
	"time": ["2026-09-15T03:00", "2026-09-15T06:00", "2026-09-15T09:00", "2026-09-15T12:00", "2026-09-15T15:00", "2026-09-15T18:00", "2026-09-15T21:00"],
	"temperature_2m": [18.1, 17.8, 17.7, 19.8, 22.3, 21.7, 18.4],
	"wind_speed_10m": [13.0, 14.4, 15.5, 16.2, 13.7, 13.0, 15.8],
}
readings = itertools.cycle(zip(recorded["temperature_2m"], recorded["wind_speed_10m"]))

temperature = subsequence.easing.EasedValue()
wind = subsequence.easing.EasedValue()
composition.data["temperature"] = temperature
composition.data["wind"] = wind

async def read_weather ():
	temperature_now, wind_now = next(readings)
	temperature.update(temperature_now)
	wind.update(wind_now)

composition.schedule(read_weather, cycle_beats=16, reschedule_lookahead=2, wait_for_initial=True)

def hats_out ():
	composition.mute("hats")

def hats_in ():
	composition.unmute("hats")

def tom_fill (p):
	p.sequence(steps=[8, 10, 12, 14], pitches=["high_tom", "high_mid_tom", "low_tom", "low_floor_tom"], velocities=[90, 90, 100, 110])

def fire_fill ():
	composition.trigger(tom_fill, channel=10, bars=1, drum_note_map=gm_drums.GM_DRUM_MAP, quantize=4)

def drop_now ():
	composition.form_jump("drop")

def more_snare ():
	composition.tweak("euclidean_snare", pulses=7)

def drop_again ():
	composition.form_next("drop")

composition.display(grid=True)
composition.hotkeys()
composition.hotkey("m", hats_out)
composition.hotkey("u", hats_in)
composition.hotkey("f", fire_fill)
composition.hotkey("d", drop_now)
composition.hotkey("s", more_snare)
composition.hotkey("r", drop_again)

composition.watch("patterns.py")
composition.play()

• piece.py is the piece without its patterns, swing, hook, answered and the sequence_utils import, which only the drums use, and with three new lines that put melody_state, temperature and wind into composition.data.
• composition.watch runs patterns.py once, and again each time it is saved. Run the piece from the folder that holds both files.

Editing while it plays

Start the piece with python piece.py, as before, and open patterns.py in your editor. To play the hats on eighth notes, change the first line of hats to this and save:

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	p.hit_steps("hi_hat_closed", range(0, 16, 2))

range(0, 16, 2) counts from 0 up to 15 in twos.

• A save is heard from the next bar. A save in the last beat or two of a bar is heard a bar later: Subsequence reads a save once the file has held still for a quarter of a second, and builds each bar's patterns a beat before it starts.
• A save that Python cannot read, such as a bracket left open, is skipped. Subsequence prints the error, and the piece plays on as it was until the file is saved again, mended.
• Delete a pattern and save, and it stops. Add one, and it comes in on the next bar line that fits its length: a pattern a bar long on the next bar, one four bars long on the next four-bar line.
• A save changes how a pattern is set up as well as what it plays. A change to channel, beats, min_energy or anything else in the line above def is heard from the pattern's next cycle, except device, which waits until the piece is restarted, as a change to piece.py does.

Typing into the piece

composition.live lets you type Python into the piece while it plays. In piece.py, add this line before the watch line:

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composition.live()

Then, with the piece playing, open a second terminal in the same folder, with the same virtual environment active, and start the prompt:

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python -m subsequence.live_client

It says it has connected, shows where the piece has got to, and waits at a >>> prompt. A line is heard from the next bar, as a save is:

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>>> composition.mute("hats")
OK
>>> composition.unmute("hats")
OK

• Anything composition can do can be typed here, such as composition.tweak("euclidean_snare", pulses=7). The moves in piece.py are not here by name, because the prompt knows only composition and subsequence.
• Ctrl+D leaves the prompt, and the piece plays on.
• composition.live() runs whatever it is sent. It listens only to programs on the same computer, so leave it out on a computer that other people use.