OSS Music Composer Gaining Attention 116
An anonymous reader writes "Following in the footsteps of Psycle, VioLet Composer is a completely GPLed music composer for Windows that has slowly but surely been gaining attention. In an interview at Laptoprockers the author covers not only the program itself but the his reasoning behind choosing to open the source using the GPL."
And now with link (Score:5, Informative)
http://sourceforge.net/projects/buzz-like [sourceforge.net]
The screen shots looks kind of nice, but I don't know enough about making music to be able to evaluate it's worth.
Don't forget ModPlug (Score:5, Informative)
One great OSS music editor I've used is ModPlug.
http://sourceforge.net/projects/modplug/ [sourceforge.net]
Re:And now with link (Score:5, Informative)
You call that a lack of features?
Basically a not as pretty version of "Reason" where you make your own devices. Plus some other things that are nice.
Re:Don't forget ModPlug (Score:3, Informative)
There are also 'sound editors', like Sound Forge, that allow you to mess with the raw sound data, and Cakewalk and Audacity, which are excellent 'multitrack recorders' with SF-like functionality built in (Cakewalk's a MUCH better program, but as for Audacity, 'free' is a good selling point).
None of these could be considered 'music editors', which to me implies something that can take in raw PCM data and let you select out and remove, add, and modify notes. No such program exists to my knowledge.
Some User Feedback... (Score:3, Informative)
On the config dialog:
- Why don't you read the default sound card selection off of the "Control Panel"? (Audio panel)
- What's up with the "(fix bad sound)" labels? (Audio panel)
- Why do I only have "Desktop" or "MyDocs" as choices for "Recording Directory". (I'd like "D:\Music".) (Audio panel)
- Don't put the "HELP" button in red text. It's 2007 - if people need help, they'll know to look for a help button or just as likely, hit the web. (Same thing for the doc; if you think you have to write the text in red to get people to understand it, it's probably because the doc wasn't that clear in black.)
Next screen:
- What's up with the "Learn about stuff!" titlebar?
- No, it's not true that "You've Upgraded!". I just installed the software for the first time.
- Why is the "show next startup" box checked by default? I don't know any other software program that shows me the release notes with each launch. (Especially when I'm supposed to be relaunching the program several times to check audio settings.)
The actual program:
- Don't bug me with the "Violet needs testers and developers" prompt. WTF do you think I'm doing?
- OK, I loaded a sample. Where's the "play sample" button? (Also, why not tie the sample to the "keyboard" at this point so I can see which pitch I want to play the sample at.)
- Why don't you start with at least one track in a new pattern?
Looks like a good start. I'll try to write something in it over the weekend. (I should also tell you that my favorite tracker is something called "OctaMed" so you know where I'm coming from.)
nice project but this is nothing new... (Score:2, Informative)
Jeskola Buzz has been around for a while (it is free but unfortunately not open source... well, the developer lost the source anyway). There is a very vivid community around it (see for example http://www.buzzmusic.de/ [buzzmusic.de]) and many people have already created a lot of nice music with it. Now there are even efforts make open alternatives to buzz (see http://trac.zeitherrschaft.org/aldrin/ [zeitherrschaft.org] or http://trac.zeitherrschaft.org/buzzrmx/ [zeitherrschaft.org] or http://www.buzztard.org/ [buzztard.org])
Check for example the music of http://www.paniq.org/ [paniq.org]. Most of this is made with buzz or aldrin.
Appart from the buzz scene, a lot of other virtual studio software and other audio tools have been created. Especially for Linux. See http://wired.epitech.net/ [epitech.net], http://lmms.sourceforge.net/ [sourceforge.net], http://beast.gtk.org/ [gtk.org]
So, as the Violet Composer surely is a nice project, there is already enough stuff out there for low-budget computer geeks to unleash their musical creativity!
Re:Don't forget ModPlug (Score:4, Informative)
apt-get rosegarden
Re:Don't forget ModPlug (Score:5, Informative)
Re:Don't forget ModPlug (Score:3, Informative)
But you don't see them in "proper" hired studios, for the simple reason that they'd be rubbish at it. Why go to the expense of hiring a studio? It's not to program beats, which you can do quite happily at home... OK, whilst it would clearly be simplifying to say this is the only reason to get a real studio, it's probably fair to say the most compelling reason is to record vocals or instruments. After all - all those classic hardware EQs, compressors, reverbs and effects can be reproduced with software these days (especially now that convolution [soundonsound.com] technology is making such strides) - but you can't download a well-designed acoustic environment
And if you're recording long takes of audio from a vocalist or instrumentalist... you don't use a tracker. Because by and large they don't / can't do that all, and even if they can, they'll do it badly, compared to something designed for the task (ie, a DAW).
a better one: rosegarden (Score:2, Informative)
http://www.rosegardenmusic.com/ [rosegardenmusic.com]
and paired with audacity for chopping and converting samples you would have everything you need to make your own music:
http://audacity.sourceforge.net/ [sourceforge.net]
A nice drum machine:
http://www.hydrogen-music.org/ [hydrogen-music.org]
use ardour to mix it all!
http://ardour.org/ [ardour.org]
Re:Attention can be a bad thing (Score:1, Informative)
So that's why MTV bought Guitar Hero. It all becomes clear, now.
Re:Don't forget ModPlug (Score:3, Informative)
Re:Some User Feedback... (Score:1, Informative)
Why don't you read the default sound card selection off of the "Control Panel"
That's not a bad point. It's just that when you're using ASIO things like that aren't available.
What's up with the "(fix bad sound)" labels? (Audio panel)
Well, it's basically that surround and 3D sound output have yet to be tested, and when you ask for more channels than are available you can sometimes get a working audio chain that spits static.
Why do I only have "Desktop" or "MyDocs" as choices for "Recording Directory"
Because I haven't figured out how to make a file requester part of my generalised preferences system yet.
Don't put the "HELP" button in red text.
Noted, but it is just a matter of opinion. The whole reason I wanted to get on slashdot was so I could find out how people feel about these things - don't forget I've been working in the dark here for almost two years.
What's up with the "Learn about stuff!"
Since you just downloaded VC for the first time, you are a prime candidate to be learning about stuff. Otherwise why are you here?
No, it's not true that "You've Upgraded!". I just installed the software for the first time.
Isn't that an upgrade?
Why is the "show next startup" box checked by default?
If you'd launched it more than once you'd know.
Don't bug me with the "Violet needs testers and developers" prompt. WTF do you think I'm doing?
So far, about infinity percent more than the 15,000 people who've downloaded VC to date. Sorry that it bugs you, but again you can't have played with it for long since it goes away after the first time play is pressed on each run. Again, clearly not a message aimed at someone like yourself.
OK, I loaded a sample. Where's the "play sample" button?
You've got no idea what adding that will entail.
Why don't you start with at least one track in a new pattern?
Because tracks are by definition optional elements, and because so far there's no way for the machine developer to indicate what is a 'default' track and what isn't. Thanks for the suggestion though.
Hope this didn't come across as brusque, I've got a lot more feedback than usual to deal with today.
Re:C# (Score:1, Informative)
If you are serious about this, point me in the direction of a Linux GUI developer with a bunch of spare time on their hands.