Sova (сова)

A Polyglot Live Coding Sequencer

sova.livecoding.fr

Sova is a sequencer and musical programming environment written in Rust. It is built on a virtual machine designed for real-time musical improvisation through code, supporting multiple programming languages concurrently — each offering a different way to think about musical expression. Sova is free and open-source software (AGPL-3.0), built for artists, students, researchers and developers.

Features

• Precision: Two-thread execution model — a scheduler running ~30ms ahead of real time and a world thread at real-time priority with microsecond-accurate dispatch. Tightly coupled with Ableton Link for tempo synchronization.
• Languages: Ships with four languages — Bob (imperative), BaLi (Lisp-like), Boinx (pattern streams) and Cagire (stack-based). Compiled or interpreted, all sharing the same VM and I/O. Extensible via a single trait.
• Sequencer: A timeline of Lines (parallel tracks) and Frames (sequential steps). Per-line speed, loop boundaries, multiple execution modes. Compose structured pieces or improvise freely.
• Multiplayer: TCP client-server architecture with shared scene editing, real-time peer awareness and integrated chat. Start a session, anyone on the network can join.
• Protocols: MIDI I/O (16 device slots, notes/CC/bend/sysex/transport), OSC with timetag-accurate scheduling, SuperDirt integration. Per-device latency compensation.
• Audio: Built-in Doux engine — oscillators, filters, effects, sample playback with slicing and stretching. Also compatible with SuperDirt and Dough.
• Visuals: Built-in GLSL shader editor with real-time compilation.
• Modular: VM, server and clients are separate components. Use the whole system or just the parts you need.

Quick Start

Pre-built binaries

Pre-built binaries are available on sova.livecoding.fr.

Quick build

To build from source:

git clone https://github.com/sova-org/Sova.git
cd Sova
cargo run -p sova-desktop --release    # requires Rust (latest stable)

First steps

When the frontend is running:

• click the "Start Server" button;
• enter a name in the "User" field;
• click the "Connect" button;
• in the "Scene" menu choose a Demo;
• click the "Play" button or type Ctrl+Shift+Space;
• tweak the source in the demo frame then type Ctrl+Enter to validate the changes.

Build

Prerequisites

• Rust (stable toolchain)
• CMake (brew install cmake on macOS, apt install cmake on Linux)
• Linux only: build-essential pkg-config libasound2-dev libclang-dev libjack-dev libxcb-render0-dev libxcb-shape0-dev libxcb-xfixes0-dev libxkbcommon-dev libssl-dev libgl1-mesa-dev libx11-dev libx11-xcb-dev libxcursor-dev libxrandr-dev libxi-dev libwayland-dev

Workspace

Crate	Binary	Description
core	—	Library: VM, scheduler, clock, MIDI/OSC
langs	—	Library: Bob, BaLi, Boinx, Cagire
server	sova-server	TCP server for multiplayer sessions
desktop	sova-frontend	Primary GUI client (egui)
solo-tui	solo-tui	Standalone terminal client

Commands

cargo build                                    # whole workspace
cargo build -p sova-desktop --release          # desktop client (release)
cargo build -p sova-server --release           # server (release)
cargo build -p solo-tui --release              # TUI client (release)
cargo test -p langs                            # language tests
cargo test -p core                             # core tests
cargo clippy -p core -p langs -p sova-server -p sova-desktop

Running

cargo run -p sova-desktop --release            # desktop app (embeds server)
cargo run -p sova-server --release -- -p 8080  # standalone server on port 8080
cargo run -p solo-tui --release                # terminal client (embeds core)

Feature flags

The server and desktop include the Doux audio engine by default. To build without audio:

cargo build -p sova-server --release --no-default-features

Additional flags on server: soundfont (soundfont support), asio (Windows ASIO driver).

Status

Sova is in active development (alpha). The VM is fully functional, languages and clients are usable and improving. Contributions and feedback are welcome — see the Contributing Guide.

License

Sova is distributed under the AGPL-3.0 license. A copy of the license is distributed with the software: LICENSE.

Community

• GitHub Issues - Bug reports and feature requests.
• GitHub Discussions - Questions and general discussion.
• Contributing Guide - How to contribute to Sova.

Acknowledgments

Sova is developed by Raphaël Forment, Loïg Jezequel and Tanguy Dubois as part of a research/creation project supported by Athénor CNCM and the LS2N laboratory at the University of Nantes.

Website: sova.livecoding.fr