An Algorave is a niche subset of the live club scene. It’s the portmanteau of Algorithms and Raves, where the music and visuals are generated by code. Rather than mixing sounds or performing instruments, everything is created in real-time and improvised by changing the code live. Normally a VJ would mix and composite collected media elements, whereas a Live Coder would create and generate their own visuals and effects through the code they are writing.

Often coding is thought of a as a published medium. It is written, drafted, edited, and then finalized. Updates are scheduled and versioned. Algoraves directly contrast that. By performing live, the code is always changing, and has the opportunity to be influenced by the crowd and the music in the room.