First I would like to apologize for not updating the blog for a long time, and not having uploaded the video that I promised a month ago. The truth is that technical issues impeded the recording and the blog update was delayed and, when I thought I would be able to do it, my teachers burst in with an ambush of projects and then the fateful exams arrived. Luckly, the exams have gone quite well wich is a small injection of morale to work hard in the next weeks.
Actually, the lack of activity in the web does not mean that there were no significant news. Now there are LFO’s and a variety of filters, which allow a richer play with the sound, which can be generated with new wave forms and a ring modulator has been added for both audio and control signals. Also, objects can be deactivated without deleting them just by clicking on their connection. There is a multilevel and hierarchical logging system with multiple output. And the generated sound can be recorded into wav files. I have also made important modifications in the objects system to give it more versatility and will allow us to write a wider variety of synthesis objects. I have also made a quite synthetic diagram of the architecture of the program which can be viewed at the documentation section of the forge. And probably there are more things not included in this list.
On the other hand, during the exams period I have used some isolation time to think out the next things to implement and the pause have also served to refresh ideas and rethink some things. So I will comment briefly what are the next things to do:
As I could not find any library that satisfied my taste, yesterday I started to write a system to store the settings of the program. I will be hierarchical and MVC based and the backend will be interchangeable transparently -by now, I will use XML, but one could use gconf or the Windows registry, for example. I will also complete this work with a system to update automatically the configuration parameter and a class PsychosynthApp to ease the development of Psychosynth based applications.
Later I will put my hands to work into a triccky task: the creation of rythm generator objects and the solution of those small clicks that can be heard when connecting and disconnecting objects. Luckly, I have almost decided how to implement all this.
Once this is done I have many interesting ideas in my mind but I do not know in which order I will do them. For example, to do the mapping between the real synthesis objects and the visual shapes that you see on the screen via a XML based language. I also want to write a reacTIVision based controller for the 3D simulator, so we can have a Reactable without expending lots of money in expensive devices. Other things with the same priority is the possibility to play files -adjusting the tempo and such, which would become Psychosynth in an attractive weapon for DJ’s- and the visualization of the signals that the objects emit.
At last, I want to mention my decision of not developing the documentation during the contest. There are still several months of development before the API can be made stable and I would also like not to make it stable until some other developers take part in the project and make suggestions and feel comfortable with the libraries. As you can see there is a lot of work to do and there is no need to hurry too much with that.
