Software Alternatives, Accelerators & Startups

SuperCollider VS Lax.js

Compare SuperCollider VS Lax.js and see what are their differences

SuperCollider logo SuperCollider

A real time audio synthesis engine, and an object-oriented programming language specialised for...

Lax.js logo Lax.js

Create beautiful & smooth animations when you scroll
  • SuperCollider Landing page
    Landing page //
    2022-04-25
  • Lax.js Landing page
    Landing page //
    2023-08-06

SuperCollider features and specs

  • Powerful Synthesis Engine
    SuperCollider offers a powerful real-time audio synthesis engine that allows users to create complex and nuanced sounds, making it ideal for experimental music and sound design.
  • Extensive Library of Ugens
    SuperCollider comes with a comprehensive library of unit generators (UGens), which are ready-made building blocks for audio and control signal processing.
  • Flexibility
    SuperCollider supports a wide range of methods for sound generation and manipulation, from simple waveform synthesis to algorithmic composition and live coding.
  • Cross-Platform
    SuperCollider is cross-platform and runs on macOS, Windows, and Linux, making it accessible to a wide range of users.
  • Open Source
    Being open-source, SuperCollider is free to use and has an active community that contributes to its development, ensuring it continually evolves and improves.
  • Live Coding
    SuperCollider supports live coding, allowing users to write and modify code in real-time during performances, which is highly valued in the experimental and electronic music communities.
  • Integrated Development Environment (IDE)
    SuperCollider includes its own IDE, which provides features like syntax highlighting, code completion, and documentation tools, making it more accessible to users.

Possible disadvantages of SuperCollider

  • Steep Learning Curve
    SuperCollider has a steep learning curve, particularly for those who are new to programming or digital signal processing, which can be initially discouraging.
  • Sparse Documentation
    While there is documentation available, some users find it sparse or difficult to understand compared to other music programming environments, making it harder to learn.
  • Complex Syntax
    The syntax of SuperCollider can be complex and less intuitive for beginners, which can result in a slower learning process for new users.
  • Performance Overheads
    Real-time performance might suffer on less powerful hardware due to the computational demands of complex synthesis and processing tasks.
  • Fragmented Community Resources
    Although there is a community around SuperCollider, resources such as tutorials and forums can be fragmented and vary in quality, which can make finding reliable help challenging.
  • Limited GUI Capabilities
    SuperCollider's native GUI capabilities are limited and less polished compared to more specialized software for graphical user interfaces.

Lax.js features and specs

  • Lightweight
    Lax.js is a lightweight animation library, which means it doesn't add much to your project's file size, leading to faster load times compared to heavier animation libraries.
  • Ease of Use
    The library is designed with simplicity in mind, allowing developers to easily implement animations with minimal configuration and effort.
  • Smooth Animations
    Lax.js provides smooth, performant animations by leveraging CSS transforms and requestAnimationFrame, optimizing the animation process.
  • Customizability
    It offers a high degree of customizability, allowing developers to create a wide range of animations tailored to their specific needs.
  • Cross-Browser Compatibility
    Lax.js ensures that animations work consistently across different browsers, enhancing the user experience for a wider audience.

Possible disadvantages of Lax.js

  • Limited Features
    Compared to more extensive libraries like GSAP, Lax.js has a more limited set of features and capabilities, which might not be sufficient for complex animations.
  • Community Support
    The community and support around Lax.js might be smaller compared to more established libraries, potentially making it harder to find solutions and tutorials.
  • Scalability
    While great for small to medium projects, Lax.js might not scale well for very large projects that require extensive animation timelines and intricate interactions.
  • Documentation
    The documentation, while straightforward, may not be as comprehensive or detailed as that of more popular animation libraries, which can pose a challenge to new users.

SuperCollider videos

Making Music with SuperCollider

Lax.js videos

Use Rellax.js to Create this Awesome Parallax Scrolling Effect

Category Popularity

0-100% (relative to SuperCollider and Lax.js)
3D
81 81%
19% 19
Animation
0 0%
100% 100
Music Generation
100 100%
0% 0
Music Tools
100 100%
0% 0

User comments

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Social recommendations and mentions

Based on our record, SuperCollider seems to be a lot more popular than Lax.js. While we know about 33 links to SuperCollider, we've tracked only 1 mention of Lax.js. We are tracking product recommendations and mentions on various public social media platforms and blogs. They can help you identify which product is more popular and what people think of it.

SuperCollider mentions (33)

  • Describing musical domain with F#
    At this point, we can produce the array of pitches that are midi notes. To create sound from these notes I've used a specialized programming language called SuperCollider. I won't dive much into details here, but you may have a look at the code if you're interested. Beware, there are quite a lot of branches there and all of them contain some interesting code. - Source: dev.to / 9 months ago
  • Ask HN: Create audio software akin to physics engines?
    This is essentially sound design from first principles. There's a good book here: https://www.amazon.com/Designing-Sound-Press-Andy-Farnell/dp/0262014416 Note that the software used (Pure Data) can be replaced by another high-level language (SuperCollider: https://supercollider.github.io/) pretty easily. I know of no "tool" to do what you want because there are few things that are universal to different kinds of... - Source: Hacker News / 11 months ago
  • Harnessing Screams with Tidal Looper
    Since then, I've been working more and more with TidalCycles. TidalCycles is an open-source live coding framework for creating patterns written in Haskell. TidalCycles uses SuperCollider on the backend, another language I've been using for live coding. Recently, I started using Tidal Looper for live vocal processing. This blog post will walk you through what you need to get started with vocal looping with Tidal... - Source: dev.to / about 1 year ago
  • Csound
    Csound is... "interesting". If you want to play with something more modern, have a look at https://supercollider.github.io/ instead. - Source: Hacker News / over 1 year ago
  • MuseScore 4.1 is now available
    For the intrepid, especially those annoyed with the purported input-sluggishness of musescore et al, an interesting text-based alternative is LilyPond https://lilypond.org/ My dad wrote an opera using LilyPond in vim, though I believe these days he's actually doing more with supercollider, which skips sheetmusic and goes right to sounds: https://supercollider.github.io/. - Source: Hacker News / almost 2 years ago
View more

Lax.js mentions (1)

What are some alternatives?

When comparing SuperCollider and Lax.js, you can also consider the following products

Pure Data - Pd (aka Pure Data) is a real-time graphical programming environment for audio, video, and graphical...

WOW.js - Animate elements on-scroll to catch attention. Such Magic.

Sonic Pi - Sonic Pi is a new kind of instrument for a new generation of musicians. It is simple to learn, powerful enough for live performances and free to download.

ScrollMagic - The jQuery plugin for magical scroll interactions.

VCV Rack - A cross-platform modular synthesizer.

ScrollReveal - ScrollReveal is a tool to add scroll animations for web and mobile browsers.