Hydra is a browser-based, JavaScript live-coding language for networked video-synth visuals

Hydra (hydra-synth/hydra) is a browser-native JavaScript environment for live-coding visuals, modelled on an analog video synthesizer. Chainable functions fall into categories: source generators (osc, noise, voronoi, camera), geometry transforms (rotate, scale, kaleid, repeat), colour operations, and blend/modulation operators — you compose a signal chain and call .out() to render it to the browser canvas. It runs zero-install in Chrome or Firefox. The index tags it web JavaScript FLOSS visuals, which is why it is a common first choice for browser visual live coding and pairs naturally with a browser audio language like Strudel for audio-visual sets.

Examples

osc(4, 0.1, 0.8).rotate(0.1).out() — a rotating oscillator pattern. Audio-reactive: a.setSmooth(0.8); osc(() => a.fft[0]*20).out() maps a bass-band FFT bin onto oscillator frequency.

Assessment

Name three categories of Hydra functions (sources, geometry, colour/blend). Then explain what .out() does and how Hydra can react to audio.