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Speaking of experimental music interfaces: if anyone is interested, I made an iPad app called Composer's Sketchpad[1] to explore a more freehand process for mus

Speaking of experimental music interfaces: if anyone is interested, I made an iPad app called Composer's Sketchpad[1] to explore a more freehand process for musical composition. Instead of placing note symbols on a stave, you draw notes on a continuous time/pitch grid using your finger or the Pencil, bending to any pitch and extending to any length. Makes it super easy to jot down complex rhythms and bendy guitar solos in an instant. I'm working on other things right now but I hope to come back to it in the near future to add MIDI support, microtonal grids, repeating sections, and other features. [1]: http://composerssketchpad.com http://composerssketchpad.com

snissn 10y ago
Wow! Congratulations that is very cool! Is there any reason why that would not work on an iPhone Plus?
- archagon 10y ago
  Thank you! I've wanted to make an iPhone version from the start, but I would need to rethink a lot of the UI and possibly integrate iCloud syncing, and that would take me a while... but definitely at some point in the future.
pierrec 10y ago
Excellent work, I would get it if it was available on other platforms. Do you have (or plan to add) velocity per note? I find it important to compose expressively. I'm also wondering how it would be visualized with your interface. Maybe it's best to keep it minimal and uncluttered, you can only add so much information on the canvas before it becomes a mess.
- archagon 10y ago
  Yeah, I've thought about it but couldn't figure out a good way to do it UI-wise. In terms of my design goals, it's important that every audible element be visible on screen, so I can't just shove it into a separate mode. I'd love to do an Android version at some point. Wonder if the audio stack is up to snuff?
  - widdershins 10y ago
    Android's audio stack is pretty poor. Audio callbacks can happen at very uneven intervals, unlike iOS's reliable high-priority scheduling. The result is that you either have to buffer more (resulting in high latency) or radically reduce the time spent rendering your audio buffers, which of course means less time for making nice sound. Google actually recommends that you use no more than 1/4 of the typical time budget for rendering, to account for these non-deterministic callback times.

snissn 10y ago

Wow! Congratulations that is very cool! Is there any reason why that would not work on an iPhone Plus?

archagon 10y ago
Thank you! I've wanted to make an iPhone version from the start, but I would need to rethink a lot of the UI and possibly integrate iCloud syncing, and that would take me a while... but definitely at some point in the future.

pierrec 10y ago

Excellent work, I would get it if it was available on other platforms. Do you have (or plan to add) velocity per note? I find it important to compose expressively. I'm also wondering how it would be visualized with your interface. Maybe it's best to keep it minimal and uncluttered, you can only add so much information on the canvas before it becomes a mess.

archagon 10y ago
Yeah, I've thought about it but couldn't figure out a good way to do it UI-wise. In terms of my design goals, it's important that every audible element be visible on screen, so I can't just shove it into a separate mode. I'd love to do an Android version at some point. Wonder if the audio stack is up to snuff?
- widdershins 10y ago
  Android's audio stack is pretty poor. Audio callbacks can happen at very uneven intervals, unlike iOS's reliable high-priority scheduling. The result is that you either have to buffer more (resulting in high latency) or radically reduce the time spent rendering your audio buffers, which of course means less time for making nice sound. Google actually recommends that you use no more than 1/4 of the typical time budget for rendering, to account for these non-deterministic callback times.