When used for live coding, a computer is more than an instrument; it becomes a musical partner. Coding enables automated behaviours that take on a life of their own. In this article, I take live coding as a starting point from which to explore human–machine relations in creative practices. After a brief scan of music technology history, I describe some of my contemporary algorithmic music-making practices, including live coding, and explore differences between them with particular attention to musician–machine relationships. From a phenomenological perspective, similarities between these practices are the basis for a discussion of ontological conditions that surround live coding and other generative music practices.