GitHub - souvik03-136/SLAPT: A human readable music programming language that lets you write beats like you text.

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Sounds Like A Perfect Track
_{(or Sonic Language Audio Programming Tool if ur parents are asking)}

Is your code slapping? Because mine is.

What if making music felt like texting your bestie?

You know that feeling when a beat just hits different? When the bass drops and everything clicks? That's what coding music should feel like.

Welcome to SLAPT

Music programming that actually makes sense:

drums:
  kick on 1 and 3
  snare on 2 and 4
  hihat 8 times

Read that. You understood it immediately. That's the whole point.

Download & Run (No Setup)

Requires: Docker Desktop installed and running. That's literally the only dependency.

Step 1 → Download the latest release

Go to Releases and download slapt-vX.X.X.zip.

Step 2 → Unzip it

Unzip anywhere. You'll get a folder with these files:

slapt-v1.1.0/
  start.bat              <- Windows
  start.sh               <- Mac / Linux
  stop.bat               <- Windows
  stop.sh                <- Mac / Linux
  docker-compose.release.yml
  .env

Step 3 → Start it

Windows: double-click start.bat

Mac / Linux:

chmod +x start.sh
./start.sh

Browser opens automatically at http://localhost. Done.

Stop it

Windows: double-click stop.bat

Mac / Linux: ./stop.sh

The Vibe

If you can text, you can make beats

SLAPT was built around one idea: music programming should feel approachable, not intimidating.

What we're going for:

Code that reads like your inner monologue
Errors that teach instead of confuse
Results that slap immediately
Zero gatekeeping

A Quick Taste

Natural Syntax That Scales With You

// Level 1: Your first day
drums:
  kick on 1 and 3
  snare on 2 and 4

// Level 30: Two weeks later
@timesig 3/4

drums with swing(60%):
  kick pattern [1, 2.75, 3]
  snare on 2 and 4
  snare velocity random(0.7 to 0.9)
  hihat closed 8 times
  hihat open on 4
  apply bitcrush(10bit)
  compress heavily

make it dusty

Same language, different power level. No sudden difficulty spike.

Errors That Actually Help

kick on 5

→ Error: BEAT_OUT_OF_RANGE
   "Beat 5 doesn't exist in 4/4 time"
   context: "kick on"

   Suggestions:
   - Beats go from 1 to 4 in your current time signature
   - Did you mean beat 1?

One-Line Vibe Shifts

make it groovy    // swing + humanization
make it dusty     // bitcrush + vinyl crackle
add some laziness // pushed-back timing
bring energy up   // higher velocity, drum fills

The Full Lo-fi Setup

@genre lofi-hiphop
@tempo 72 bpm
@key Am

atmosphere:
  vinyl crackle at 20% volume
  rain sounds softly in background

drums with swing(60%):
  kick pattern [1, 2.75, 3]
  snare on 2 and 4
  snare velocity random(0.7 to 0.9)
  hihat closed 8 times
  hihat open on 4

chords using rhodes piano:
  progression Am7 -> Fmaj7 -> Dm7 -> E7
  reverb(medium, dreamy)

bass walking the roots:
  follow chord progression
  sound mellow

make it dusty

What's New in v1.1.0

Open Hihat on Specific Beats

Place an open hihat exactly where you want it. The closed grid skips that position automatically — no double-hits.

hihat closed 8 times
hihat open on 4
hihat open on 2 and 4   // multiple beats

Time Signatures — 3/4 and 5/4

Write in waltz or odd time. Beat validation adjusts automatically.

@timesig 3/4   // beats 1–3 valid, waltz feel
@timesig 5/4   // beats 1–5 valid, Radiohead territory

MIDI Export

Click the MIDI button. Download a .mid file that works in any DAW — Ableton, Logic, FL Studio, GarageBand. Drums on GM channel 10, chords on channel 1, bass on channel 2.

More Keys

Four new keys: F#m (ethereal), Bb (jazzy), Ab (lush), Ebm (heavy). Now 11 total.

Auto-Save

Your code saves to localStorage on every keystroke. Refresh, close the tab, restart Docker — your track comes back automatically.

In-App Documentation

Hit the Docs button in the top bar. Full language reference and examples without leaving the editor.

Reset Button

One click restores the default example track if you want a clean start.

Who Is This For?

You should use SLAPT if:

You want to make beats but coding feels like alien language
You're tired of spending hours on tutorials before hearing a single sound
You learn by doing, not by reading documentation
You think music production should be fun, not a CS degree

Maybe stick to your DAW if:

You need pixel-perfect MIDI editing
You prefer clicking buttons over typing

Run From Source (Developers)

1. Clone and configure

git clone https://github.com/souvik03-136/slapt
cd slapt

The repo ships with a .env file at the root:

# .env (root - single config for everything)
NGINX_PORT=80
WEB_PORT=3000
PARSER_PORT=3001
PARSER_URL=http://parser:3001
NODE_ENV=production

Only edit if port 80 is already taken on your machine.

2. Run with Docker

docker-compose up --build

Open http://localhost. Done.

3. Run in dev mode (no Docker)

# Terminal 1 - parser service
cd services/parser
npm run dev

# Terminal 2 - web frontend
cd services/web
npm run dev

Web runs on http://localhost:3000, parser on http://localhost:3001.

What's Next?

Phase 1 (Done): Foundation

Phase 2 (Soon): More Expression

More chord voicings and instruments beyond rhodes piano
More atmosphere layers (custom noise types)
More genre templates

Phase 3 (Future): Everything Else

Tagging a New Release

If you're a maintainer cutting a new release:

# 1. Make sure main is clean and all CI is green
git checkout main
git pull

# 2. Tag the release (semver — bump major.minor.patch as appropriate)
git tag v1.1.0

# 3. Push the tag — this triggers the release workflow automatically
git push origin v1.1.0

The release.yml workflow kicks in: it builds and pushes versioned Docker images to GHCR, packages slapt-v1.1.0.zip (start/stop scripts + docker-compose.release.yml), generates a grouped changelog from commit history, and creates the GitHub Release with the zip attached.

No manual steps after the tag push. The workflow does everything.

To overwrite an existing tag locally and remotely if you need to redo a release:

git tag -d v1.1.0
git push origin :refs/tags/v1.1.0
git tag v1.1.0
git push origin v1.1.0

Contributing

SLAPT is open source because music should be accessible to everyone.

Report bugs (with kindness)
Suggest features (dream big)
Improve docs (explain it better)
Add genre templates (share your expertise)
Submit PRs (code that slaps)

Check out CONTRIBUTING.md for guidelines.

Community Tracks

People are making things with SLAPT. Come see what's possible — or add yours.

Browse tracks: TRACKS.md
Quick share (no PR): Discussions → Show & Tell
Add permanently: Fork → create tracks/your-username--track-name.md → PR

Quick Links

Releases → download the latest version
Documentation → architecture, language reference, API
Tutorials → step-by-step guides from first beat to advanced patterns
Task Commands → all task commands for Docker, dev, tests, build, and cleanup
Tests → lexer, error validation, and API integration tests
Contributing → how to report bugs, add genres, submit PRs
Security → how to report vulnerabilities
Report Issues
Feature Requests

License

MIT — Free to use, modify, and distribute.

Credits

Inspired by TidalCycles, Strudel, Sonic Pi, and every producer who shares knowledge freely.

Contributors

_{Souvik Mahanta}
🔗 🐙

"Finally, a music programming language that doesn't make me want to uninstall everything."

Built different. Sounds different. Is different.

Name		Name	Last commit message	Last commit date
Latest commit History 41 Commits
.github		.github
docs		docs
media		media
nginx		nginx
services		services
tests		tests
tracks		tracks
.env		.env
.gitattributes		.gitattributes
.gitignore		.gitignore
CONTRIBUTING.md		CONTRIBUTING.md
LICENSE		LICENSE
README.md		README.md
SECURITY.md		SECURITY.md
TASKS.md		TASKS.md
TRACKS.md		TRACKS.md
Taskfile.yml		Taskfile.yml
docker-compose.release.yml		docker-compose.release.yml
docker-compose.yml		docker-compose.yml
start.bat		start.bat
start.sh		start.sh
stop.bat		stop.bat
stop.sh		stop.sh

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What if making music felt like texting your bestie?

Welcome to SLAPT

Download & Run (No Setup)

Step 1 → Download the latest release

Step 2 → Unzip it

Step 3 → Start it

Stop it

The Vibe

If you can text, you can make beats

A Quick Taste

Natural Syntax That Scales With You

Errors That Actually Help

One-Line Vibe Shifts

The Full Lo-fi Setup

What's New in v1.1.0

Open Hihat on Specific Beats

Time Signatures — 3/4 and 5/4

MIDI Export

More Keys

Auto-Save

In-App Documentation

Reset Button

Who Is This For?

Run From Source (Developers)

1. Clone and configure

2. Run with Docker

3. Run in dev mode (no Docker)

What's Next?

Phase 1 (Done): Foundation

Phase 2 (Soon): More Expression

Phase 3 (Future): Everything Else

Tagging a New Release

Contributing

Community Tracks

Quick Links

License

Credits

Contributors

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Resources

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Contributing

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