Planet LinuxMusicians

Csound 5.09 was released on September 23, 2008 and is available from

http://csound.sourceforge.net/#Downloads

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Qtractor is an audio/MIDI multi-track sequencer application, written in C++ on top of Qt Software's Qt4 framework, having JACK and ALSA as its main infrastructures and Linux as native and exclusive platform. Specially suited to the lone-wolf composer, arranger and (re)creative music-maker personal home-studio, it still hopes to evolve as a fairly featured desktop audio/MIDI workstation or at least, a prototypical part of it ;)

Qtractor 0.2.2 (flirty ditz) is out!

Release highlights:

• Stephen Doonan joined documentation team and revised the user manual.
• Spurious MIDI events recording bug ow fixed.
• Audio track monitoring and plugin loop processing slightly improved if not fixed.
• MIDI clip editor improved precision and correct snapping.
• Multiple track mute and solo one-click toggling (NEW).
• Better MIDI connection persistance across sessions.
• Record-armed tracks aren't muted on playback anymore (NEW).
• Optimized audio clip waveform caching and drawing.
• Many more or less fixes (see change-log).

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relax.ogg

relax.mp3

The tenth Goldberg variation.

Hi All,

Due to a bad bug when not setting up blue to use the csound API and blue crashing on start, I have issued a bug fixed release version 0.124.2 available at:

http://www.csounds.com/stevenyi/blue

Apologies for not catching it in 0.124.1!

Thanks!
steven

With this installment I complete my survey of Java-based sound and music applications that run under Linux. Again I've focused mainly on production software.

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Hi All,

I'd like to announce version 0.124.1 of blue is now available at:

http://www.csounds.com/stevenyi/blue

This is a bugfix release that stabilizes using blue with the Csound API on Linux as well as contains other fixes and updates to documentation. Much thanks to all who reported bugs and gave feedback after the 0.124.0 release: it was all a great help! (Note: All users of 0.124.0 are recommended to upgrade to the 0.124.1 release.)

Thanks!
steven

[CHANGE LOG]

>Notes for 0.124.1<
[released 2008.09.28]

Steven Yi-----------------------------------------------------------------------

blue

[update] - by default, have "Save Peak Information in Header" option on
Disk Render Settings default to true; will only affect new
installations of blue where no previous user settings found in
$HOME/.blue directory

[fix] - Fixed instability issues on Linux when using Csound API by
initializing Csound library to not install signal handlers

[fix] - When loading older projects before BSB Widgets had automatable
option, now default to false only if widget was not already
automated (fixes problems with opening legacy projects and running
project with API enabled)

[fix] - open, ran, and fixed blue/examples projects to run with API

[fix] - When using API, always use "csound" for csound executable command
when building command line for Csound API; fixes problem when
executable had a full path with space in it, i.e.
"C:\Program Files\Csound\bin\csound.exe" as API mode does not really
use that first argument, but having space would cause the value to
be split into two args and would then cause render to fail; allows
keeping above value with space when rendering without API and
switching to API then will not cause a problem

documentation

[update] - Added information to csoundAPI section of Installing Csound about
java.lang.UnsatisfiedLinkError and how to update starter scripts
with -Djava.library.path=xxx

[update] - Added information to BlueSynthBuilder and Parameter Automation
documentation to clarify the requirement that when using the Csound
API, the area in the Csound code where the widget value is replaced
must accept a k-rate signal for widgets which are set to automatable

[update] - Added note that blueLive works on Windows when using the Csound
API

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talking robots

talking robots

Something completely different. The world I live in most of the time is one of funky, danceable, jazzy, latiny kind of groove music. But online, in experimental and electronic circles these days, it seems to be Drone is what’s happening. So, here’s some drone.

This one was made with Phil Stone’s PolyGrainSynth in Pure::Data. The second part of it uses a sample of jazz waterfowl from FreeSound.org.

I prefer funky shit, and I’m much happer when working with rhythms, odd meters, percussion, and polyrhythms. There ain’t none of that here.

But, I have to admit that drone seems to be the perfect soundtrack for the surreal, otherwordly, weird times that we are living in. An unsettling, floaty, disorienting feeling that signifies that everything around us is falling apart in slow motion.

Something completely different. The world I live in most of the time is one of funky, danceable, jazzy, latiny kind of groove music. But online, in experimental and electronic circles these days, it seems to be Drone is what's happening. So, here's some drone. This one was made with Phil Stone's PolyGrainSynth in Pure::Data. The second part of it uses a sample of jazz waterfowl from FreeSound.org. I prefer funky shit, and I'm much happer when working with rhythms, odd meters, percussion, and polyrhythms. There ain't none of that here. But, I have to admit that drone seems to be the perfect soundtrack for the surreal, otherwordly, weird times that we are living in. An unsettling, floaty, disorienting feeling that signifies that everything around us is falling apart in slow motion.

I won't bow my head, I won't fall to my knees
religion is slavery and god is a disease
I won't be pushed around, won't take being harassed
the reason I'm an atheist... I CAN'T STAND KISSING ASS!

This a short, rather sad little tune. It should have words, but I can't think of any suitable ones.

All the voices come from ZynAddSubFX

Here’s Audiobraille at the Mojo Cafe, featuring Kate, the bring-down-the-house Alto Sax player from Afrolicious, sitting in with us and delivering the old-skool Maceo Parker funk. I love this stuff. Later in the track we break it down with digeridoo player James Frechette who also joined us.

We at Audiobraille are very proud of the whole show, which you may enjoy in its entirety here.

Here's Audiobraille at the Mojo Cafe, featuring Kate, the bring-down-the-house Alto Sax player from Afrolicious, sitting in with us and delivering the old-skool Maceo Parker funk. I love this stuff. Later in the track we break it down with digeridoo player James Frechette who also joined us. We at Audiobraille are very proud of the whole show, which you may enjoy in its entirety here.

We (linuxaudio.org memembers) received an invitation from Priyanka Jain to join the sixth OSScamp on 27th & 28th of September 2008 in Delhi. If you can't make it to India; you can follow the event via live webcast.

In this second part of my survey I list and briefly describe some of the Java sound and music applications known to work under Linux. Java applications show up in almost every category found at linux-sound.org and the Applications Database at linuxaudio.org. The scalability of the language is well-demonstrated throughout those pages where one can find everything from highly specialized mini-applications to full-size production environments. Of course I can't cover or even present the entire range of Java soundapps, but this survey should give readers a good idea of Java's potential in the sound and music software domain. Again the presentation is in no special order.

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The "Menina da Praia Mole" is a new "Bossa Nova" from Florianopolis. The "Praia Mole" is a "Bossa Nova"! I did this music to pay tribute to the whole summer movement in the Island of Santa Catarina, in Brazil. She is not an experimental music, how I normally have been doing. I used conventional instruments: electric nylon strings guitar, bass, keyboard is a mix of several instruments DSSI under Musix Gnu Linux, Rosegarden and Hydrogen percussion!

Menina da Praia Mole é uma bossa-nova florianopolitana. A Praia Mole é bossa-nova! Fiz essa bossa para homenagear toda a movimentação do verão na Ilha de Santa Catarina. Não é uma música experimental, como normalmente tenho feito. Nem mesmo é eletroacústica. Usei instrumentos convencionais, violão nylon de verdade, baixo elétrico, teclado é uma mistura de diversos instrumentos DSSI rodando em Musix Gnu Linux e Rosegarden. Bateria, Hydrogen + percussão!

Hi All,

I'd like to announce that blue 0.124.0 is now available from:

http://www.csounds.com/stevenyi/blue

This is the first version of blue able to work directly with the Csound API, which has opened up the ability to modify widget values (including mixer sliders) and automations in realtime during render and immediately hearing results. Documentation on how to enable blue to work with the Csound API can be found in the manual here:

http://www.csounds.com/stevenyi/blue/usermanual/html/installingCsound.ht...

Note: to use the API, you must use it with a version of Csound compiled with double-precision.

Much thanks to Peiman for helping to test out builds and giving valuable feedback.

Thanks and enjoy!
steven

[CHANGE LOG]

>Notes for 0.124.0<
[released 2008.09.10]

Steven Yi-----------------------------------------------------------------------

blue

[new] - implemented working with Csound API (double-precision build),
enabling modifying of automations and widget values in real time
during render; to enable, please view new documentation added on
setting up blue with the API

[new] - Added piece "Second Sleep" by Dave Seidel to
examples/pieces/daveSeidel folder

[updated] - made blueX7 envelope editor draw with black background and gray
border to make it easier to see; will continue to update in future
release

[fix] - When loading older projects before BSB Widgets had automatable
option, now default to false

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Saturday, September the 6th, I was once again pleased to attend the second National openSUSE Portuguese Meeting (ENOS), in a renewed invitation from Carlos Gonçalves. This time I had a chance to talk around the current Linux Audio/MIDI scenario and, of course, my brainchild Qtractor.

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Audiobraille live on the beach, here graciously indulging my fetish for odd meters. This one is in 5/4. You can faintly hear an as-yet-unidentified rapper and a harp player in the background. We had a whole army of great percussionists out there with us too, and a digeridoo player. This cut was mostly just the three of us, at the end of the night, after a lot of people had gone home already. If you want a better sense of the incredible energy that was going on that afternoon, and the percussionists at full power, you might want to check out this cut with which we greeted the sunset.

The whole afternoon and evening was amazing, and I can recommend confidently that you listen to or download the whole 2-hour show thanks to Archive.org.

Audiobraille live on the beach, here graciously indulging my fetish for odd meters. This one is in 5/4. You can faintly hear an as-yet-unidentified rapper and a harp player in the background. We had a whole army of great percussionists out there with us too, and a digeridoo player. This cut was mostly just the three of us, at the end of the night, after a lot of people had gone home already. If you want a better sense of the incredible energy that was going on that afternoon, and the percussionists at full power, you might want to check out this cut with which we greeted the sunset. The whole afternoon and evening was amazing, and I can recommend confidently that you listen to or download the whole 2-hour show thanks to Archive.org.

I've wanted to write this article for quite a while. Over the years I've noted that Java-based music and sound applications have increased in number and quality, yet no comprehensive list or summaries have covered these advances. And so at long last I present this survey of music and sound applications that require Java. The presentation follows no particular order, but in this first part I'll begin by questioning the use of Java in sound and music applications development, followed by a brief look at Java's internal audio and MIDI capabilities.

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Hi Guys,

I'm very sorry to inform you, that I just haven't had much time this week to write up a post and my weekend is looking pretty full. I will definitely have one for you next week, but for now, why don't you check out some of the topics you haven't seen before? Here is a list of some topics:

Hydrogen
Ardour
Mastering
Recording Tips
Equipment Discussions
Room Acoustics

Or you can make some suggestions or request certain content from the link below:
Comments and Suggestions

Thanks for your continued support,
Brian

A lush,massive Zyn patch courtesy of Folderol, putting a skyscape over a Moby-like groove.

A somber groove for a remarkable prisoner of conscience.

Shamelessly ripping off Keston-Westdal here.

I'm really proud of this one. A massive AMS patch putting the phat behind some Math Funk.

Back to getting funky again. Yay.

A very mellow, simple, 1980's-Windham-Hill-like piano improv.

Fun with the CScape LADSPA plugin from the CAPS plugin package. Everything here is just Rhodes and fretless bass soundfonts in Fluidsynth, CScape plugin, and AMS. All played live, no overdubs, no loops.

Back to Math Funk again. This one is in 5/4,5/4,7/4. Uses NekoString synth.

Uses the jconv reverb with an analog delay impulse. As well as Nekostring.

Staple food. Just a little downtempo groove.

Uses every Linux synth I could find. Lots of pads and textures.

More math funk. And food.

An off-hand math-funk groove.

Fun with the Freqtweak signal processor.

Yay, Ardour2 now running, on 64-bit system, time to finish up and publish all the music I was working on before I got into such heavy system configuration work.

shifting phase patterns.

and facelifts.

A quick little jam using PhaseX's arpeggiation features.

Samples of female voices, which get down, get funky, and start freestyling.

Done completely in softsynths on Linux, with hardly any CPU usage.

Math Funk drenched in analog echo, based on a Tibetan throat singing sample (http://freesound.iua.upf.edu/samplesViewSingle.php?id=20289)

Uses AMS, not Om (which is now Ingen anyway)

Just a simple chord progression, played on the virtual Rhodes, with a virtual analog delay, and some simple sampled drums.

Using an FFT in PD to do the glitchy loop. Other than that it's just a mellow spooky little groove in 9/4.

An experiment with some music box samples I made.

Fun with my modified, stereo-ized version of Atte's "moving overtone" AMS patch.

The 1 is there, but it is hiding.

Just a funky jam, while waiting for Ardour2 to compile.

Using the new SVN version of Hydrogen which has gated hi-hats.

A math-funky celebration of this past year's most annoying internet meme.

An experimental sketcy made with a single PHASEX patch, one track, no overdubs.

More Math Funk, but with a very jazzy solo and chords, and a Hydrogen drum sound that's a little too BIG, and PHASEX chirps as a pad.

Solo Rhodes improv in a harmonic minor mode.

AZR3 organ textures, AMS for the dental-drill synth. Hydrogen of course for the drummmms.

Fun with AMS,

The sound of a fretless guitar played through a violin, using JACE convolution reverb.

Also includes a sample of the contents of my hard disk, per the suggestion of some clever folks on the LAU list.

Long, 12-tone chromatic exploration, done with Rhodes and fretless bass instead of just piano.

Insane free improv using the jazzmaster PD patch from Obiwannabe.

An experiment assigning MIDI controllers to some parameters in WhySynth, and playing with the LFO's.

An abstract, chromatic, impressionistic piano improv, in blue and gray.

Math funk, with a weird industrialized granularized sound and cheezy drum machine.