8 ms·

Helio Project: libre music composition software

183 points by danbolt 5y ago

adamnemecek 5y ago
If you are into this, you might be interested in this IDE for music composition I’ve been working on. It’s not out yet, but I’m hoping to launch soon http://ngrid.io http://ngrid.io.
- diskzero 5y ago
  I'm into it. Just checked out the page and sent an invite request. Any info on your release plans?
  - adamnemecek 5y ago
    I’m hoping to do it by the end of the year. I had to build my own GUI framework and such which complicated things.
    - drcongo 5y ago
      Any plans for releasing on iOS?
      - adamnemecek 5y ago
        Probably not since my whole workflow is not well suited for iOS.
        drcongo 5y ago
        No worries, thanks for replying!
4ec0755f5522 5y ago
"Documentation is like sex: when it is good, it is very, very good; and when it is bad, it is better than nothing. " Classy.
- Optimal_Persona 5y ago
  And like sex, there are a lot more people talking about it than actually doing it ;-) Haven't tested this app yet but the chord feature and microtonal capabilities look intriguing!
- dcre 5y ago
  Embarrassing. Obnoxious. Really hope the devs remove it.
  - deleted 5y ago
    [deleted]
  - kyleee 5y ago
    Or you could just ignore it and move on. Life would be so boring if everything was so bland; corporate and HR approved
    - coliveira 5y ago
      Open source is everyday getting more corporate-like. In the old times people would create open source as a hobby, nowadays they're just thinking on how this will appear on the resume.
    - webkike 5y ago
      It’s also wrong. Bad documentation is worse than no documentation because bad documentation can be intentionally misleading
      - avnigo 5y ago
        I think the sentiment it was trying to get across is that many projects don't have documentation because the task of creating great documentation may seem daunting, so in a sense just saying at least have something. I'm taking it to mean it's a work in progress, but it could have been worded better, of course.
  - broooder 5y ago
Klasiaster 5y ago
Would be nice if it can import/export Lilypond files. Export is probably the more interesting part because of the rendering to PDF.
- diskzero 5y ago
  Lilypond and MusicXML would both be nice export options. I think there would have to be quite a bit of thought put into configuring what the export would be. Would you map the audio plugins you are using to instruments then represented as staves?
- PaulDavisThe1st 5y ago
  Given that for this sort of project, there's a more or less completely 1:1, deterministic mapping between a MIDI representation and anything else, you can just insert a MIDI->Lilypond (or vice versa) filter and you're done.
ggerganov 5y ago
Really cool project! I really liked the UI of this app. It feels very smooth and looks amazing. Also, I went to poke around the source code: https://github.com/helio-fm/helio-workstation https://github.com/helio-fm/helio-workstation It looks to be a really well written and maintained C++ project. It's built on top of the JUCE framework [0]. Builds super easy on Linux with minimal dependencies. The coding style is C#-like - very easy to read. I can't say anything about the main functionality though, as I have zero understanding about music composition. [0] https://github.com/juce-framework/JUCE https://github.com/juce-framework/JUCE
deleted 5y ago
[deleted]
tutuca 5y ago
Awesome project. Really nice interface work.
LegitShady 5y ago
Looks cool will try it out on the weekend. Interested in trying to get a microtonal sequencer/midi output and this is that.
kubb 5y ago
The sequencer looks slick, but for an amateur like me it’s hard to beat the instruments and samples that come with Logic. Maybe I can route the midi output from Helio to Logic through a virtual midi device and try it out that way. Otherwise I’d need to drop tons of cash on a plug-in and sample collection.
- scns 5y ago
  No need to drop tons of cash on anything, there are enormous amounts of samples and plugins availlable for free. You just need a little time and stop yourself from searching for more <edit>to actually</edit> start making music ;) (edit) formatting https://www.spitfireaudio.com/labs/ https://www.spitfireaudio.com/labs/ https://bedroomproducersblog.com/free-samples/ https://bedroomproducersblog.com/free-samples/ https://bedroomproducersblog.com/free-download/ https://bedroomproducersblog.com/free-download/ https://bedroomproducersblog.com/2020/10/30/free-retro-synth/ https://bedroomproducersblog.com/2020/10/30/free-retro-synth... https://www.kvraudio.com/plugins/instruments/effects/hosts/free/newest https://www.kvraudio.com/plugins/instruments/effects/hosts/f...
jcpst 5y ago
It can load scala tuning files, that makes it worth it for me to at least try.
- jcpst 5y ago
  Update: The UI was unusable for me on an iPhone SE 2020. Lots of buttns cut off, labels overlapping. May look into the issues for this later to make sure there hasn’t been one created yet.
marcodiego 5y ago
Some popular music production software are skeumorphic aberrations with practical but dated UI. They are very reliable but clunky. It is a shame that FLOSS has very a weak tradition with regard to UI. Music production software looks right now like an unexplored avenue needing new residents.
- tuyiown 5y ago
  > FLOSS has very a weak tradition with regard to UI. It was not true on macOS pre mac app store. Open source apps extracted as much as possible of what was provided by Cocoa and guidelines, it was working very well. Mac app store, Swift, electron and the general advent of apple killed the appeal for the native app on macOS to open source developers.
- PaulDavisThe1st 5y ago
  Some popular music production hardware are skeumorphic aberrations with practical but dated UI. They are reliable, but clunky. It is a shame that hardware designers have a very weak tradition with regard to UI.
TheRealPomax 5y ago
So is it just a piano roll based DAW-lite?
- tgv 5y ago
  Haven't played with it yet, but yes. Its strengths are: free, oss, multi-platform, and a different way of interacting with the notes. It probably has good handling of micro-tonality, too.
ObscureScience 5y ago
I actually found out about this software a couple of ways ago, when searching for sequencing software for Android, preferably with midi support. Though it seem quite capable and polished, the Android version was a bit annoying to use.
debarshri 5y ago
Just installed it. This is great. I wish there were more instruments and built-in sample library. Like a full blown DAW. The composing experience is not as simple as fruityloops or other platforms. Also, I was wondering if I could add midi controller. Could not find much info on that.
- maroonblazer 5y ago
  >I was wondering if I could add midi controller. Could not find much info on that. All four of my MIDI controllers show up. Look for the 'gear' icon in the lower right corner.
- tgv 5y ago
  > I wish there were more instruments and built-in sample library. That's costly and time-consuming. Think of all the licenses. There are enough free VST plugins to get you started, though. Here's a starting point: https://www.kvraudio.com/plugins/instruments/free/newest https://www.kvraudio.com/plugins/instruments/free/newest. Change the search to match your platform, and don't forget to look at the effects (although I couldn't see if Helios supports them).
  - debarshri 5y ago
    Hey thanks!
- deleted 5y ago
  [deleted]
still_grokking 5y ago
I see a lot of very promising ideas! But frankly this is light years away form usable. I wish that project luck and a lot of endurance.
unixhero 5y ago
Whoa, it supports VSTs? SOLD!
strogonoff 5y ago
It’s very refreshing to see a DAW putting the entirety of its focus on host UI and core features like microtonality support, rather than maintaining built-in banks and instruments. Yes, Helio is nothing without your plugins; but it also implies that your source project is more easily portable to another platform capable of running AU/VST. (Especially if things like tempo automation can be exported, to be confirmed.) Built-in stuff like Bitwig’s modular grid are great, but I know I can’t recreate that exact sound in another DAW. I was able to connect Pianoteq and create a few seconds long, very simple arrangement using just keyboard & touchpad in about 10 minutes. Helio’s editing interface and approach to patterns and arrangement seem a bit idiomatic and will take some getting used to, but its unique orchestra pit approach to managing instruments jives with me perfectly.
lpcvoid 5y ago
What a breath of fresh air, finally somebody not using Electron. Great job.

183 points by danbolt 5y ago

If you are into this, you might be interested in this IDE for music composition I’ve been working on. It’s not out yet, but I’m hoping to launch soon http://ngrid.io http://ngrid.io.

diskzero 5y ago
I'm into it. Just checked out the page and sent an invite request. Any info on your release plans?
- adamnemecek 5y ago
  I’m hoping to do it by the end of the year. I had to build my own GUI framework and such which complicated things.
  - drcongo 5y ago
    Any plans for releasing on iOS?
    - adamnemecek 5y ago
      Probably not since my whole workflow is not well suited for iOS.
      - drcongo 5y ago
        No worries, thanks for replying!

4ec0755f5522 5y ago

"Documentation is like sex: when it is good, it is very, very good; and when it is bad, it is better than nothing. " Classy.

Optimal_Persona 5y ago
And like sex, there are a lot more people talking about it than actually doing it ;-) Haven't tested this app yet but the chord feature and microtonal capabilities look intriguing!
dcre 5y ago
Embarrassing. Obnoxious. Really hope the devs remove it.
- deleted 5y ago
  [deleted]
- kyleee 5y ago
  Or you could just ignore it and move on. Life would be so boring if everything was so bland; corporate and HR approved
  - coliveira 5y ago
    Open source is everyday getting more corporate-like. In the old times people would create open source as a hobby, nowadays they're just thinking on how this will appear on the resume.
  - webkike 5y ago
    It’s also wrong. Bad documentation is worse than no documentation because bad documentation can be intentionally misleading
    - avnigo 5y ago
      I think the sentiment it was trying to get across is that many projects don't have documentation because the task of creating great documentation may seem daunting, so in a sense just saying at least have something. I'm taking it to mean it's a work in progress, but it could have been worded better, of course.
- broooder 5y ago

Klasiaster 5y ago

Would be nice if it can import/export Lilypond files. Export is probably the more interesting part because of the rendering to PDF.

diskzero 5y ago
Lilypond and MusicXML would both be nice export options. I think there would have to be quite a bit of thought put into configuring what the export would be. Would you map the audio plugins you are using to instruments then represented as staves?
PaulDavisThe1st 5y ago
Given that for this sort of project, there's a more or less completely 1:1, deterministic mapping between a MIDI representation and anything else, you can just insert a MIDI->Lilypond (or vice versa) filter and you're done.

ggerganov 5y ago

Really cool project! I really liked the UI of this app. It feels very smooth and looks amazing. Also, I went to poke around the source code: https://github.com/helio-fm/helio-workstation https://github.com/helio-fm/helio-workstation It looks to be a really well written and maintained C++ project. It's built on top of the JUCE framework [0]. Builds super easy on Linux with minimal dependencies. The coding style is C#-like - very easy to read. I can't say anything about the main functionality though, as I have zero understanding about music composition. [0] https://github.com/juce-framework/JUCE https://github.com/juce-framework/JUCE

deleted 5y ago

[deleted]

tutuca 5y ago

Awesome project. Really nice interface work.

LegitShady 5y ago

Looks cool will try it out on the weekend. Interested in trying to get a microtonal sequencer/midi output and this is that.

kubb 5y ago

The sequencer looks slick, but for an amateur like me it’s hard to beat the instruments and samples that come with Logic. Maybe I can route the midi output from Helio to Logic through a virtual midi device and try it out that way. Otherwise I’d need to drop tons of cash on a plug-in and sample collection.

scns 5y ago
No need to drop tons of cash on anything, there are enormous amounts of samples and plugins availlable for free. You just need a little time and stop yourself from searching for more <edit>to actually</edit> start making music ;) (edit) formatting https://www.spitfireaudio.com/labs/ https://www.spitfireaudio.com/labs/ https://bedroomproducersblog.com/free-samples/ https://bedroomproducersblog.com/free-samples/ https://bedroomproducersblog.com/free-download/ https://bedroomproducersblog.com/free-download/ https://bedroomproducersblog.com/2020/10/30/free-retro-synth/ https://bedroomproducersblog.com/2020/10/30/free-retro-synth... https://www.kvraudio.com/plugins/instruments/effects/hosts/free/newest https://www.kvraudio.com/plugins/instruments/effects/hosts/f...

jcpst 5y ago

It can load scala tuning files, that makes it worth it for me to at least try.

jcpst 5y ago
Update: The UI was unusable for me on an iPhone SE 2020. Lots of buttns cut off, labels overlapping. May look into the issues for this later to make sure there hasn’t been one created yet.

marcodiego 5y ago

Some popular music production software are skeumorphic aberrations with practical but dated UI. They are very reliable but clunky. It is a shame that FLOSS has very a weak tradition with regard to UI. Music production software looks right now like an unexplored avenue needing new residents.

tuyiown 5y ago
> FLOSS has very a weak tradition with regard to UI. It was not true on macOS pre mac app store. Open source apps extracted as much as possible of what was provided by Cocoa and guidelines, it was working very well. Mac app store, Swift, electron and the general advent of apple killed the appeal for the native app on macOS to open source developers.
PaulDavisThe1st 5y ago
Some popular music production hardware are skeumorphic aberrations with practical but dated UI. They are reliable, but clunky. It is a shame that hardware designers have a very weak tradition with regard to UI.

TheRealPomax 5y ago

So is it just a piano roll based DAW-lite?

tgv 5y ago
Haven't played with it yet, but yes. Its strengths are: free, oss, multi-platform, and a different way of interacting with the notes. It probably has good handling of micro-tonality, too.

ObscureScience 5y ago

I actually found out about this software a couple of ways ago, when searching for sequencing software for Android, preferably with midi support. Though it seem quite capable and polished, the Android version was a bit annoying to use.

debarshri 5y ago

Just installed it. This is great. I wish there were more instruments and built-in sample library. Like a full blown DAW. The composing experience is not as simple as fruityloops or other platforms. Also, I was wondering if I could add midi controller. Could not find much info on that.

maroonblazer 5y ago
>I was wondering if I could add midi controller. Could not find much info on that. All four of my MIDI controllers show up. Look for the 'gear' icon in the lower right corner.
tgv 5y ago
> I wish there were more instruments and built-in sample library. That's costly and time-consuming. Think of all the licenses. There are enough free VST plugins to get you started, though. Here's a starting point: https://www.kvraudio.com/plugins/instruments/free/newest https://www.kvraudio.com/plugins/instruments/free/newest. Change the search to match your platform, and don't forget to look at the effects (although I couldn't see if Helios supports them).
- debarshri 5y ago
  Hey thanks!
deleted 5y ago
[deleted]

still_grokking 5y ago

I see a lot of very promising ideas! But frankly this is light years away form usable. I wish that project luck and a lot of endurance.

unixhero 5y ago

Whoa, it supports VSTs? SOLD!

strogonoff 5y ago

It’s very refreshing to see a DAW putting the entirety of its focus on host UI and core features like microtonality support, rather than maintaining built-in banks and instruments. Yes, Helio is nothing without your plugins; but it also implies that your source project is more easily portable to another platform capable of running AU/VST. (Especially if things like tempo automation can be exported, to be confirmed.) Built-in stuff like Bitwig’s modular grid are great, but I know I can’t recreate that exact sound in another DAW. I was able to connect Pianoteq and create a few seconds long, very simple arrangement using just keyboard & touchpad in about 10 minutes. Helio’s editing interface and approach to patterns and arrangement seem a bit idiomatic and will take some getting used to, but its unique orchestra pit approach to managing instruments jives with me perfectly.

lpcvoid 5y ago

What a breath of fresh air, finally somebody not using Electron. Great job.