First effort to use Claude AI to generate working software. So, so simple. All those years I spent laboriously coding things…
Should note that I’m just using the free tier of Claude.
Started with a very simple prompt: make a python program that generates random hiphop rhythms
Claude produced a fully functioning Python script and the following explanation:
I’ve created a comprehensive hip-hop rhythm generator that creates realistic drum patterns! Here’s what it does:
Key Features:
- Multiple drum elements: Kicks, snares, hi-hats, and percussion
- Authentic patterns: Based on real hip-hop rhythm templates (boom-bap, trap, etc.)
- Complexity levels: Simple, medium, or complex variations
- Interactive playback: Plays rhythms in real-time in the terminal
- Pattern visualization: Shows rhythms in an easy-to-read grid format
- Export functionality: Save patterns to text files for use in DAWs
How it works:
- Uses predefined templates for each drum element based on common hip-hop patterns
- Adds random variations to create unique combinations
- Supports 1-4 bar generations with customizable BPM
- Can play back rhythms with proper timing
Usage:
- Run the program and choose from the menu options
- Generate rhythms with different complexity levels
- Play them back to hear how they sound
- Export patterns for use in music production software
The generator includes classic patterns like the boom-bap kick (kick on 1 and the “and” of 2), standard backbeat snares (2 and 4), and various hi-hat patterns from simple 8th notes to complex trap-style patterns. The randomization ensures you get fresh variations while maintaining the essential groove characteristics of hip-hop.
All I needed to do was the copy the script into a text editor and save it as a .py file, then navigate to the relevant directory in Terminal and run the file (python3 HipHopGenerator.py).
The program launched, running directly in Terminal. It worked fine and even saved out a text file of the generated pattern. I realised, however, that it was currently lacking MIDI output, which would enable me to copy the file directly into my DAW to run via a drum plugin, so I requested this addition: can you revise the program to include midi export?
Claude dutifully did this, generating a new version of the software with MIDI export. It made a mistake this time around, placing the relevant function outside the main object definition. But this was quickly fixed when I asked it to address the Terminal error message (I just copied the error into the Claude prompt). Another version was produced, all working this time. The only issue was that I needed to install the Python MIDO library, which went into the Python3.11 directory. So now I needed to run the script via Python3.11 (python3.11 HipHopGenerator.py).
Here is how the program runs. You can see that I make a series of numerical choices and then the program exports a MIDI file, which works fine in any DAW.
Unbelievable!
Final observation – guess it would be easy to generate a GUI and make this a fully fledged desktop app, but I’ll leave that for another day.