Sam Aaron

A slightly surreal thing happened recently: some of my old Geek Gurl Diaries YouTube videos have been added to the @britishfilminstitute National Archive as part of a project preserving online moving image works from UK creators. The BFI contacted me last year about donating a small selection of videos from the series I started back in 2012, and one of the videos included in the archive collection is the Sonic Pi episode, which @samaaron always disliked, as it shows the very early UI before he snazzed it up! Thankfully he’s kept on developing Sonic Pi and has now made Sonic Tau (check it out!!!) Interestingly, a lot of the themes around creativity and agency that were a big part of my early youtube videos feel very relevant again as we think about AI in education, and they’re themes I’m now exploring in my PhD too. If anyone’s curious, the archived video is featured as one of 50 as part of this collection: .uk/collection/458

Nights like Noodlr are vital for the grassroots electronic scene, spaces built around experimentation, community and genuinely original music in its rawest form. This year we had the chance to come back alongside another incredible live electronic lineup from the North, with mind-blowing live coded visuals from Sam Aaron. Big thanks as always to the amazing team at The Carlton Club. 👊 #livehardwaretechno

Thank you for this opportunity today @samaaron Eli worked hard to reproduce this @undertale_offical track with @sonic_pi with great results #cambridgefestival #cambridgeuniversity #computerscience #homeeducation #learningwithoutschool

** THANK YOU TEDX MANCHESTER 2026!! ** Spent a beautiful Saturday at @tedXmcr yesterday and WOW, what an incredible line up it was! Key take homes: TJ @TJpower shared about the DOSE effect (Dopamine, Oxytocin, Serotonin and Endorphins) and how a simple headphone-free walk can optimise these levels to take back control of our brain chemistry. Joanna Jenson @joannajensonofficial shared her story about how her daughter inspired her to create a skincare brand for sensitive skin and eczema Child’s Farm @childsfarm and the importance of building great relationships with EVERYONE across your supply chain for ultimate business success. Sam Aaron @samaaron is the creator of Sonic Pi, am open-source live coding music creation tool - he did a fabulous live demo for us at TedX and talked about inspiring the next generation to use programming for art and music. Chris Bailey @chrisbaileyauth is a productivity guru and shared with us fresh insights on how using his 12-value wheel can help you examine and align goals with what matters to you the most. Julian Treasure @Juliantreasure - you may know from his incredible 2014 TED talk ‘How to speak so that people want to listen’! He is now focused on educating us about mastering the forgotten art of listening and how sound shapes our lives, wellbeing and plant. Jill Scott @jillscottjs8 Lioness and UEFA Women’s Euro Winner shared her incredible life story overcoming bullying, how determination helped her stay motivated and how mindset and her team helped her through low points in her incredible career. Alex Partridge@alex_partridge_100 founder of @ladbible shares his seriously personal and inspiring story and how hhe now advocates for greater awareness around Rejection Sensitivity Dysphoria (RSD), a hugely impactful aspect of his own ADHD diagnosis. Thank you as always @herb.kim and your team for another inspiring event - bringing so many things back to my clinical and academic work! #tedxmanchester #productivity #neurospicy #worksmart #leadership

A wild day presenting at TedX Manchester to 1,500 people. And what a fantastic audience they were. Met so many incredible fellow speakers too. Thank you so much for having me @tedxmcr and for everyone in the audience who shared their kind words. It means the world. Keep your eyes peeled - talk coming to YouTube shortly! #tedtalks #pompeii #ancienthistory

🤩WE ARE COUNTING DOWN THE HOURS..!! 💫TEDXManchester 2026 is TOMORROW and it’s going to be one epic idea-inspiring, thought-sharing, connection-making, conversation-starting, creativity-sparking day! ⬇️ What better way to spend your Saturday? There’s a handful of tickets left if you’d like to come along: 📆 Saturday 7th March 2026 📍 The Bridgewater Hall 🎟️ /tickets

I am so looking forward to speaking tomorrow in the closing session at @tedxmcr - and to listening to all the other amazing speakers!

📣📣📣 🤩 It’s nearly time…!! We are super stoked to bring you an epic line up for #TEDxManchester 2026 this Saturday! 🫶We cannot wait to introduce our incredible eleven speakers including… 👍UNILAD and LADBible founder Alex Partridge, on his battle to being a neurodiversity advocate ⚽️Football legend, Jill Scott, on her journey from Sunderland to Wembley, and beyond ☕️Productivity authority, Chris Bailey, on his latest research and tips to get things done
  🤖Oxford Uni AI guru, Michael Wooldridge, on the reality and future of AI
  👂🏼TED Talks viral star, Julian Treasure, on the superpower of conscious listening  🥷🏽Entrepreneur extraordinaire, Joanna Jensen, on defeating Goliath  🧠Neuroscientist, Tj Power, on taking back control of your brain chemistry
  🧪Biotechnologist, Sahara Bhanot, on turning e-waste back into gold  🎼Computer scientist, Sam Aaron, on using electronic dance music to teach coding  🌋Ancient historian, Jess Venner, on her latest book and lessons on Pompeii  🔮Physicist  magician, Kevin Quantum, on how his reality TV experience changed him. 💫And there’s still time for you to join us for one incredible idea-inspiring, thought-sharing, connection-making, conversation-starting, creativity-sparking day! ⬇️ There’s only a limited number of tickets left - hope to see you Saturday!! 📆 Saturday 7th March 2026 📍 The Bridgewater Hall 🎟️ /tickets

We’re super excited to let you know that the full #TEDxManchester 2026 programme is now live!! And there’s still time for you to join us! We’d love you to come along to hear our fabulous speakers including… ⚽️ Football legend, Jill Scott, on her journey from Sunderland to Wembley, and beyond ☕️ Productivity authority, Chris Bailey, on his latest research and tips to get things done
 🤖 Oxford Uni AI guru, Michael Wooldridge, on the reality and future of AI
 👂🏼 TED Talks viral star, Julian Treasure, on the superpower of conscious listening 🥷🏽 Entrepreneur extraordinaire, Joanna Jensen, on defeating Goliath 🧠 Neuroscientist, Tj Power, on taking back control of your brain 🧪 Biotechnologist, Saraha Bhanot, on turning e-waste back into gold 🎼 Computer scientist, Sam Aaron, on using electronic dance music to teach coding 🌋 Ancient historian, Jess Venner, on her latest book and lessons on Pompeii 🔮 Physicist magician, Kevin Quantum, on how reality TV changed his perspective and his magic. Checkout all our speakers and the programme at the link in the bio- and if you haven’t already registered do it now ⬇️ 📆 Saturday 7th March 2026 📍 The Bridgewater Hall 🎟️ /tickets

🤩We are over the moon to announce our final speakers in what is a stellar line up of super stars for TEDxManchester 2026. 🙌We’re thrilled to introduce: 🌟Dr Sahara Bhanot is a biotechnologist, entrepreneur, and Co-Founder & Chief Scientific Officer (CSO) of LanthaGen Bio, a startup focused on developing sustainable, synthetic biology-based rare earth metal extraction systems. Sahara Bhanot joins us at TEDxManchester to discuss her research on how we could use biology and chemistry to create an entirely new source of these critical minerals by scavenging the scourge of e-waste around the world. 🌟Physicist-turned-magician Kevin Quantum was trained by the best magicians in the business – Penn & Teller. He has been a magician for twenty years creating award winning productions at Fringe Festivals around the world, and a Guinness World Record breaker. His unique magic creations, saw him reach the final stages of Britain’s Got Talent and he is Artistic Director of the UK’s only magic festival; Edinburgh International Magic Festival. Drawing on magic, psychology, writing zoom-magic-shows and real-world observation, Kevin Quantum explores how attention really works, and why noticing today requires deliberate effort rather than intuition — because when signals vanish, responsibility to notice doesn’t. 🌟Dr Sam Aaron is the creator of Sonic Pi, an internationally renowned live coding performer and science communicator. Described by Rolling Stone as a performer who “transcends the present,” Sam has spent over 15 years pioneering “programming as performance,” turning computer code into a visceral, live artistic medium. Sam comes to Manchester asking how do we engage the next generation of programmers? Could it be possible to learn the fundamentals of programming whilst also becoming a DJ from the future? And how is AI changing computer coding and music creation? ‼️Don’t miss out - there’s still time to register and join us for one unforgettable day: 📆 Saturday 7th March 2026 📍 The Bridgewater Hall 🎟️ /tickets

17.02.2026 Playing with new tools

TOMORROW! We will be celebrating the release of Tide Turner from the vast infinite expanse of an aurora-laden world within VRChat - with live performances from @ssclewss @samaaron @xenon_chameleon and visuals from @zaronm 13:00 GMT/ 22:00 JST Join in VRChat (it's quick to set up) or hang in the chat on Twitch - be there!!! Song: Comfig by Sclews, from Tide Turner