Orca is a visual programming language developed by the artist collective Hundred Rabbits, in which there are exactly 26 operators—corresponding to each letter of the alphabet.

My interest in Orca stems from the visual aesthetics of the language: the placement of the operators in the coordinate space supports the creation of stimulating visuals that correspond to its sonic output. This is in contrast to most live coding performances, which tend to involve code being written and run via a typical text editor, such as VS Code or through a terminal. While this can be engaging for audiences familiar with programming, those without that background may lose interest once the novelty fades. Orca succeeds in captivating both groups: its esoteric, limited design intrigues programmers, while its dynamic visual patterns give tangible form and meaning to the music.

These three works were written to learn all 26 operators of the language. As Orca is “just” a controller (and supports sending MIDI, OSC, and UDP messages), I intend to use it for more than just triggering virtual instruments in Ableton, such as manipulating Eurorack parameters and spatializing voices in real-time.