🦊 Devalang — Write music with code

Devalang is a compact domain-specific language (DSL) for music makers, sound designers, and creative coders. Compose loops, control samples, synthesize audio, and render your ideas — all in clean, readable text.

Whether you're prototyping a beat, building generative music, or performing live, Devalang gives you rhythmic precision with the elegance of code.

From studio sketches to live sets, Devalang puts musical ideas into motion.

🚀 v0.1.0 - Complete Rewriting

NEW: Devalang Playground V2.0 is now available — Try it in your browser!

📚 Quick Access

• ▶️ Playground — Try Devalang in your browser
• 📖 Documentation — Complete language reference
• 🧩 VSCode Extension — Syntax highlighting & snippets
• 📜 Changelog — Version history
• 💡 Examples
• 🌐 Website — Project homepage
• 📦 npm Package
• 📦 Rust Crate

⚡ Quick Start

Try in Your Browser

Launch the Playground to try Devalang without installing anything.

Install via npm (Recommended)

npm install -g @devaloop/devalang

Install via Cargo (Rust)

cargo install devalang

Create Your First Project

# Initialize a new project
devalang init my-project

# Navigate to the project
cd my-project

# Check syntax
devalang check --entry examples/index.deva

# Build audio files
devalang build --path examples/index.deva --formats wav mid

# Play audio (live mode)
devalang play --live --input examples/index.deva

🎵 Your First Devalang Script

Create a file hello.deva:

# Set the tempo
bpm 120

# Load a bank of sounds (make sur you have the bank installed)
bank devaloop.808 as drums

# Create a simple kick pattern
pattern kickPattern with drums.kick = "x--- x--- x--- x---"

# Define a synth and a melody
let mySynth = synth saw

# Define a melody using a group to organize notes
group myMelody:
    mySynth -> note(C5)
        -> duration(500)

    mySynth -> note(E5)
        -> duration(500)

    mySynth -> note(G5)
        -> duration(500)

# Play the melody
spawn myMelody

# Play the kick pattern
spawn kickPattern

Build the audio

# Build to WAV
devalang build --path hello.deva --formats wav

# Output: ./output/audio/hello.wav

Play the audio

# Play the audio file
devalang play --input hello.deva

# Play live (repeats and watch until stopped)
devalang play --live --input hello.deva

🚀 Features

🎵 Core Language

• ✅ Lexer & Parser — Complete tokenization and AST generation
• ✅ Patterns — Rhythmic notation with swing, humanize, velocity
• ✅ Synths — Built-in synthesizers with ADSR envelopes
• ✅ Filters — Lowpass, highpass, bandpass audio filtering
• ✅ Effects — Reverb, delay, distortion, drive, chorus
• ✅ Variables — let, const, var with scoping
• ✅ Groups & Spawn — Organize and parallelize execution
• ✅ Loops & Conditions — for, if, else control flow
• ✅ Triggers — Conditional audio triggering
• ✅ Events — Event system with on and emit

🛠️ CLI Tools

• ✅ devalang init — Scaffold new projects (3 templates)
• ✅ devalang build — Compile to WAV/MIDI
• ✅ devalang check — Validate syntax
• ✅ devalang play — Audio playback
• ✅ devalang addon — Manage addons (install, list, discover)
• ✅ devalang login/logout — Authentication
• ✅ devalang telemetry — Privacy controls

🌐 WASM API

• ✅ render_audio() — Browser audio rendering
• ✅ render_midi_array() — MIDI export
• ✅ debug_render() — Debug information
• ✅ parse() — Parse Devalang code
• ✅ TypeScript types included

📦 Output Formats

• ✅ WAV — 16/24/32-bit audio export
• ✅ MIDI — Standard MIDI file export
• ✅ MP3/FLAC — Planned

🎯 Performance

• ⚡ Fast builds — 7-10ms for typical projects
• ⚡ Low latency — Optimized audio engine
• ⚡ Release builds — 5-6x faster than debug

📚 Learning Resources

• ✅ Online Docs — Complete language reference
• ✅ VSCode Extension — Syntax highlighting

💡 Why Devalang?

• 🎹 Prototype audio ideas without opening a DAW
• 💻 Integrate sound into code-based workflows
• 🎛️ Control audio parameters with readable syntax
• 🧪 Build musical logic with variables and conditions
• 🔄 Create patterns with expressive notation
• 🎨 Live code with fast iteration cycles
• 📦 Version control your music with git

📖 Documentation

Visit docs.devalang.com for:

• Complete syntax reference
• API documentation
• WASM integration guide
• CLI command reference
• Advanced tutorials
• Best practices

🔧 Development

Build from Source

# Clone the repository
git clone https://github.com/devaloop-labs/devalang.git
cd devalang

# Build CLI (Rust)
cargo build --release --features cli

# Build WASM
cargo build --release --features wasm --lib

# Build TypeScript
npm install
npm run ts:build

# Run tests
cargo test --features cli
npm test

🤝 Contributing

We welcome contributions! See CONTRIBUTING.md for guidelines.

Ways to Contribute

• 🐛 Report bugs via GitHub Issues
• 💡 Suggest features in discussions
• 📝 Improve docs with pull requests
• 🎵 Share examples of your creations
• 🧪 Write tests for new features

📜 License

MIT License — See LICENSE for details.

Copyright (c) 2025 Devaloop