Frequently Asked Questions

How do you pronounce Hz?

Hz will answer to any of these pronunciations

• /hɜrz/ (her-tz) (american)
• /hərz/ (hair-tz) (german)
• /hɪz/ (hiz) (programmer)

What platforms does it run on?

Currently we support Windows 10,11 x86-64 and Mac M? builds. We have a Linux build under way but are currently stuck getting CLAP native GUIs going.

How much does Hz cost?

Hz is offered free of charge so the biggest cost of Hz is the investment of your time! Occasional or regular tips are welcome as this helps keep our attitudes, computers and website well-adjusted.

Hz is distributed in the hope that it will be useful, but WITHOUT ANY WARRANTY; without even the implied warranty of MERCHANTABILITY or FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE.

Can I use Hz if I'm not a programmer?

There are some usage modes that require little or no strenuous programming. If you want to learn about audio programming, Hz may be a good place to start. If you don't want to touch coding, then Hz isn't for you.

Why not support VST3 or AU or AAX?

CLAP's primary advantage is its modernity. CLAP supports:

• per-note-expression (better than MIDI/MPE)
• platform neutrality
• relatively simple build tooling and small code-base
• forward looking growth plan via its extension subsystem
• permissive licensing policy (MIT)

CLAP's main disadvantage is that it's new-ish and has a smaller installed base. With the help of "thought leaders" (humor) in the Audio Dev community, CLAP should replace these legacy plugin architectures "before you know it".

The list of cool CLAP plugins is only getting larger.

Does Hz use JUCE?

No. While JUCE is an amazing framework, we try to minimize our dependencies on third-party systems that impose licensing constraints. The same is true of VST3.

How does Hz compare with SuperCollider?

At a superficial level, Hz and SuperCollider are quite similar. The primary difference is the programming language and the means of expressing musical ideas. Hz uses standard programming languages (JavasSript, Lua) and plugins (CLAP) while SuperCollider has a custom language, SC.

From Wikipedia: (SuperCollider) has been evolving into a system used and further developed by both scientists and artists working with sound. It is a dynamic programming language providing a framework for acoustic research, algorithmic music, interactive programming, and live coding.

These statements apply equally well to Hz. Our reliance on standard languages and plugins means that it has a gentler learning curve, fits into a wider range of high-quality development environments and therefore may appeal to a larger audience.

How does Hz compare with WebAudio?

Hz and WebAudio are both programmable via JavaScript. The WebAudio API is a bit low-level which is why higher-level APIs, like Tonal are popular. The WebAudio audio engine is built into popular Web browsers (Chrome, Safari, Firefox, Edge, …) and therefore doesn't support native plugins. WASM-based plugins have been proposed but not widely embraced by leading audio plugin-providers. Hz, by comparison implements its own audio engine and does support native plugins. This makes it able to handle more complex audio setups.

Why Hz when Fiddle?

We decided to create Hz and to deprecate Fiddle because ChucK's custom-language and runtime offered no advantages over either JavaScript or Lua. By "moving on", we broaden the potential audience and leverage the significant community investments in improving and promoting these languages.

This means we can evolve our system more quickly and be more responsive to feedback. ChucK's runtime is fundamentally single-sample oriented which means that, while it's more expressive it's also slower. It's harder for it to take advantage of data parallel processing. So the move to Hz results in improved audio engine performance.

Which multinational corporation is really behind Hz?

Hz is the creation of Dana Batali and Cannery Coders LLC. The idea is to make software for our own use and then share the results on a zero-calorie marketing budget.

Is Hz open source?

We plan to make it open source, just hasn't risen to the top of the pile. It's a lot of work to genericize and document the codebase so it's up to the level expected by the open source community.