Alex McLean

{{short description|British musician and researcher (born 1975)}}

{{distinguish|Alec McLean}}

{{EngvarB|date=December 2017}}

{{Use dmy dates|date=December 2017}}

{{Infobox person

| name = Alex McLean

| image = Alex McLean, 2015 (cropped).jpg

| alt =

| caption = Alex McLean, in 2015.

| birth_name =

| birth_date = {{birth year and age|1975}}

| birth_place =

| death_date =

| death_place =

| nationality = British

| other_names = Yaxu {{ Cite web |url=https://algorave.com/yaxu/ | title=Interview with Alex McLean | access-date=2024-01-07}}

| occupation = Musician, Researcher {{ Cite web |url=https://thentrythis.org/about/alex-mclean/|title=Then Try This - Alex McLean| access-date=2024-01-07}}

| known_for = Live coding, TidalCycles, TOPLAP, Algorave

}}

Alex McLean (born 1975) is a British musician and researcher. He is notable for his key role in developing live coding as a musical practice,

{{Cite web | last=Muggs | first=Joe | website=Red Bull Music Academy | title=Algoraving: Dancing to Live Coding | url=http://daily.redbullmusicacademy.com/2013/10/algoraving-dancing-to-coding | access-date=26 January 2016}}

{{Cite news | last=Perry | first=Grayson | title=Is the world wide web art's final frontier? | url=https://www.thetimes.com/sunday-times-100-tech/hardware-profile/article/is-the-world-wide-web-arts-final-frontier-8t0fjwxwqbg | website=The Times | access-date=26 January 2016}}

{{Cite web | last=Welleman | first=Vincent | url=http://www.kwadratuur.be/interviews/detail/slub-trio/ | website=Kwadratuur | title=SLUB-trio Muziek moet het visuele volgen, niet omgekeerd | date=19 May 2010 | access-date=26 January 2016}}

{{ Cite web |last=Temkin | first=Daniel | url=http://esoteric.codes/post/135188341128/interview-with-alex-mclean | title=Interview with Alex McLean | access-date=26 January 2016}}

{{Cite web | last=Fortune | first=Stephen | url=http://www.dazeddigital.com/artsandculture/article/16150/1/what-on-earth-is-livecoding | website=Dazed Digital | title=What on earth is livecoding?| date=14 May 2013 }}

{{Cite web | website=NOS | url=http://nos.nl/video/580850-algorave-dansen-op-software.html | title=Algorave: dansen op software | date=29 November 2013 | access-date=26 January 2016 }}

{{Cite magazine | last = Cheshire

|first = Tom

|title = Hacking meets clubbing with the 'algorave'

| magazine = Wired

| date = 29 August 2013

| url = https://www.wired.co.uk/magazine/archive/2013/09/play/algorave

| access-date = 29 August 2013}}{{cite web|last1=Bell|first1=Sarah|website=British Science Association|access-date=9 November 2015|title=Live Coding Brings Programming to Life – an interview with Alex McLean|url=http://www.britishscienceassociation.org/blog/live-coding-brings-programming-to-life-an-interview-with-alex-mac|archive-date=4 March 2016|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160304142548/http://www.britishscienceassociation.org/blog/live-coding-brings-programming-to-life-an-interview-with-alex-mac|url-status=dead}}{{cite web|title=Hacking + Clubbing = Algoraves!|url=http://www.arte.tv/fr/hacking-clubbing-algoraves/7769884,CmC=7768150.html|access-date=10 November 2015|website=ARTE|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160203051632/http://www.arte.tv/fr/hacking-clubbing-algoraves/7769884,CmC=7768150.html|archive-date=3 February 2016|url-status=dead}}{{cite magazine|url=https://www.wired.com/2006/07/real-djs-code-live/|title=Real DJs Code Live|magazine=Wired|access-date=26 January 2016|last=Andrews|first=Robert}}{{cite journal|year=2004|title=Live coding in laptop performance|journal=Organised Sound|volume=Cambridge University Press|issue=3|pages=321–330|doi=10.1017/S135577180300030X|author=Collins, N.|author2=McLean, A.|author3=Rohrhuber, J.|author4=Ward, A.|s2cid=56413136|name-list-style=amp}}

{{Excessive citations inline|date=March 2022}} including for creating TidalCycles, a live-coding environment{{cite web|last1=McLean|first1=Alex|title=Tidal – Pattern Language for Live Coding of Music|url=http://smcnetwork.org/node/1371|website=Sound and Music Computing|access-date=22 May 2015|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20171015145948/http://smcnetwork.org/node/1371|archive-date=15 October 2017|url-status=dead|df=dmy-all}} that allows programmer musicians to code simply and quickly, and for coining the term Algorave with Nick Collins.

He is an active and influential member of the live coding community; he is a co-founder of TOPLAP{{cite web|title=Toplap Credits|url=http://smcnetwork.org/node/1371|website=Sound and Music Computing|access-date=9 November 2015|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20171015145948/http://smcnetwork.org/node/1371|archive-date=15 October 2017|url-status=dead|df=dmy-all}} and joint leader of the Live Coding Research Network.{{Cite web|url=https://iclc.toplap.org/|title=International Conference on Live Coding - Home|website=Iclc.toplap.org|access-date=8 August 2020}}

Alex is co-founder of the Chordpunch record label{{cite web|title=Hacking + Clubbing = Algoraves!|url=http://www.arte.tv/fr/hacking-clubbing-algoraves/7769884,CmC=7768150.html|access-date=10 November 2015|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160203051632/http://www.arte.tv/fr/hacking-clubbing-algoraves/7769884,CmC=7768150.html|archive-date=3 February 2016|url-status=dead}}

McLean is also known for his work in software art, winning the Transmediale award for software art in 2002 for forkbomb.pl,{{Cite book|title = Community Without Community in Digital Culture|url = https://books.google.com/books?id=xlA0K8yHOh4C|publisher = Palgrave Macmillan|date = 7 August 2012|isbn = 9781137026675|first = Charlie|last = Gere}} a short Perl script which creates a unique image from an operating system under heavy load,{{Cite book|title = Cutting Code: Software and Sociality|url = https://books.google.com/books?id=083BUgMnLKQC|publisher = Peter Lang|date = 1 January 2006|isbn = 9780820478234|first = Adrian|last = Mackenzie}}{{Cite book|title = Futures Past: Thirty Years of Arts Computing|url = https://books.google.com/books?id=8z_GXxkyDn4C|publisher = Intellect Books|date = 1 January 2007|isbn = 9781841501680|first1 = Anna|last1 = Bentkowska-Kafel|first2 = Trish|last2 = Cashen|first3 = Hazel|last3 = Gardiner}}{{Cite book|title = Violence and the Limits of Representation|url = https://books.google.com/books?id=oWujVgoWfFwC|publisher = Palgrave Macmillan|date = 31 May 2013|isbn = 9781137296917|first1 = Graham|last1 = Matthews|first2 = Sam|last2 = Goodman}} and co-founding the runme.org software art repository with Olga Goriunova, Amy Alexander and Alexei Shulgin in 2003, which received an honorary mention in the Prix Ars Electronica netvision category in 2004.

Alex McLean performs as a solo artist under the moniker Yaxu and is also a member of the live coding bands Slub{{cite magazine|last=Armitage|first=Tom|title=Making music with live computer code|magazine=Wired UK |url=https://www.wired.co.uk/news/archive/2009-09/25/making-music-with-live-computer-code-|access-date=9 November 2015}} and Canute. He has also collaborated with Kate Sicchio in combining live coding and live choreography.{{cite web|last1=Squires|first1=Paul|url=https://www.imperica.com/en/in-conversation-with/in-conversation-with-kate-sicchio-and-alex-mclean|title=In conversation with Kate Sicchio and Alex McLean|access-date=9 November 2015|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160201055841/https://www.imperica.com/en/in-conversation-with/in-conversation-with-kate-sicchio-and-alex-mclean|archive-date=1 February 2016|url-status=dead}}

During 2016, McLean was sound artist in residence at the Open Data Institute, as part of the Sound and Music embedded programme.{{ Cite web | url=http://soundandmusic.org/projects/embedded-alex-mclean-chosen-odis-sound-artist-residence | access-date=26 January 2016|website=Soundandmusic.org | title=Alex McLean chosen as ODI's sound artist in residence}}