I'm guessing he had emacs open in a "Cathode": http://www.secretgeometry.com/apps/cathode/ session. The extra warping at the end of the video can be achieved by fiddling with the "distress" parameters in Cathode's preferences.
Is there a linux alternative to that? I want it incredibly badly.
The apple2 screensaver that comes with xscreensaver can be used as a terminal emulator. You can also get a chintzy version by fullscreening xterm or gnome-terminal with the vt220 TrueType font and green-on-black, but that doesn't give you CRT distortions, or for that matter even correct-looking reverse video.
I'm not really sure what you would use this for. I'm a musician and I can't possibly find any use for this. It would take forever to write a song in this and then you would have to mess with the timings just to make it not sound like a programmed piece of music and give it some feel.
Actually, one of the initial motivations for creating Overtone was to experiment with automating "feel". I was getting into electronic music, and it seemed to me that many of the painful aspects of EQing and adjusting instruments and timing so they don't interfere with each other could be automated. We haven't really gotten to this point yet, but I tend to believe that this is yet another area in life where people will argue forever that software will never compete with humans, up until the point where many of the top tracks are being generated by software. It also opens the door to all kinds of interesting things, like live composition of multiple instruments, or meta-composing, where you modify parameters along axis like tension, emotion, drive, and vibe, rather than figuring out how to modulate to the next key. For now I agree with you though, most of what I create in Overtone still has a robotic feel. Hopefully that won't be the case for long. We'd love to have more musicians joining the discussion though, so if you have ideas join the mailing list.
I'm not really sure what you would use this for. I'm a musician and I can't possibly find any use for this. It would take forever to write a song in this and then you would have to mess with the timings just to make it not sound like a programmed piece of music and give it some feel.
Generative / algorithmic music is its own world. I'm a musician too and I can't imagine being very expressive (and musical) with this compared to my shakuhachi or doumbek. I have a hard time imagining how this could be used in live improvisation vs something like Ableton. But this type of music is really its own thing, and I don't presume to understand it. Something that I found interesting, a video game approach to…
Ok, I just saw the link someone posted to "This Binary Universe." I stand corrected: you can make some pretty amazing music this way. :)
I'm not really sure what you would use this for. I'm a musician and I can't possibly find any use for this. It would take forever to write a song in this and then you would have to mess with the timings just to make it not sound like a programmed piece of music and give it some feel.
> I'm not really sure what you would use this for.
"Live coding" means you go to a nightclub, hook your laptop up to the sound system and a big projector, and start programming, while everybody is watching you program and listening to the sounds your program is making.
This is very cool. I remember there was another clojure music library that came out several months ago. It was very cool, but nowhere near as cool and extensible as this.
I practiced writing that code for about a day before I could write it flawlessly in one take. I guess, in a similar fashion to how a musician will practice using an instrument before going on stage.
That only holds for some kinds of playing. How is your experience with improvisation? Can you manage quick changes? Or does it always tend to be a slow buildup of rythms harmonics and melodies?
Is there a linux alternative to that? I want it incredibly badly.
The apple2 screensaver that comes with xscreensaver can be used as a terminal emulator. You can also get a chintzy version by fullscreening xterm or gnome-terminal with the vt220 TrueType font and green-on-black, but that doesn't give you CRT distortions, or for that matter even correct-looking reverse video.
Max/MSP is this times a million. check it out if you haven't heard of it. cycling74.com it does the exact same things but with more options, complexity, and a more usable interface. It also has visual fx.
I’m seeing educational value in this, musical output as a way of teaching programming to beginners, especially to auditory learners (or to the blind, for that matter). Is there anything out there like this that’s specifically intended as an educational tool?