I’ve got to hand it to you, Chris — you are one industrious guy.

You don’t happen to have notes for those bug fixes, do you? I’d like to read about what you’ve done.

Cheers,
–Bob

@codex99 wrote:

…The bug I recall fixing that affects the musical results the most is the one reported a while ago called « Triggers fire incorrectly « .

That is the very one I was most hoping you had addressed. I am the one who reported it and this is a bug that has kept me from further using Iannix, as it’s a total show-stopper.

I was contemplating fixing it myself, but Iannix’s inactivity in their Google repository and general unresponsiveness has worried me, so I repressed notions of getting further involved.

I’m not set up for doing releases of the complete application (yet), but if you can build the application from source I can tell you what do change to fix it.

Yes, I’ve done several builds. I’d be glad to have those changes, but I don’t know whether I’ll be investing much into Iannix until there’s some indication that this project has life in it. I’d rather see Guillaume incorporate that and any other bug fixes of yours that would be of general interest.

My compliments, Chris, on your amazing work.
–Bob

Chris, I see you’re in BC. A former Canuck-Microsoftie, eh? I guess some places in BC are within commuting range to Redmond :–)

Yes, I would hope Iannix can go on with an active developer and user community surrounding it, whether Thierry’s « group » is at the heart of it or not. The project that supported the earlier iteration of Iannix (0.6, etc.) seemed to just fade away quietly as well. They were active with a Sourceforge project and everything looked right. It had the look of an open source project but those involved did not seem to be running it like one. I got the impression (I’m talking, what, something like three,four years ago) that Iannix was not the developers main priority or even main interest, and now I’m getting the same impression with this iteration of Iannix.

Any other active open source project I can think of would welcome your vast work publicly and with opened arms. So all I can say here is: Go figure.

Cheers,
–Bob

Ps: It’s like Twilight Zone — Geomaestro — I can’t get over how often I still see references to KeyKit, a toolkit that seems never to die!

I agree, it could be totally mainstream.

Sorry to further complicate the hijacking of your thread, Chris, but I believe it is time for Thierry to jump in here and make some direct comments. I’m sure he lurks, at least paternally. The burst of glory that surrounded 0.8 earlier this year motivated a wide cross section of people to jump in here and express interest — they even rolled up their sleeves to try and get it interoperating with all kinds of 3rd party software.

In other words, Iannix has real appeal to lots of people.

–Bob

Ps: Speaking of KeyKit, as recently as 2oo5, Dave Phillips (who hopped into this thread a couple messages back) wrote an article on it at a time when I thought it had been long forgotten. Nice article, Dave (as usual)!

@codex99 wrote:

Actually I moved to Redmond and lived there 10 years, retiring in 1998 and moving back to Canada. I discovered Geomaestro maybe 12 years ago and was probably one of the few people in the world who really tried to use it – at least I never found any other users. It was well documented, fiendishly complex, ingenious, and had intriguing unfinished loose ends. I eventually put it aside because it was too hard to do with it what I felt could be possible with such a tool.

I resolved to someday return to the concept of a geometry based sequencer, which really hasn’t existed anywhere else to my knowledge (other than IanniX). I finally returned to the idea about 6 months ago. I plan to spend the next few years with it as my main project: to develop a powerful software tool for me to use and and that could bring the idea to the « masses » – or at least the masses creating computer based music :).

I think with the right usability tweaks and integration with mainstream applications such a tool could become much more mainstream than it has been. I’m working on it like a full time job, with my only pay being the blast I’m having working on it. It will of course be open source and the goal is to build a community around it.

– Chris

Good morning,

First of all I would like to thank you very much Chris and Bob for their work on the developement of IanniX. Our aim is to have an entire community around this project and I am happy to have you as a fondamental partner, your point of view is extremely important for the evolution of IanniX. Please do not think that our silence is due to a lack of interest in your intellectual and technical contribution to the project, but please understand that we have been all very busy this last period.

My big concern has always been the same for several years, that is the way to keep on financing the developement. For the new version we are actually three people working on the project in Paris, each one has a precise and independent task and you can understand that this is insufficient for the demanded amount of work. We all have another job allowing us to earn money. By the way, I am still looking forward a solution to keep on financing and going on with the project and I am pretty optimist for the beginning of 2012.

Luckily we received a small amount from the Culture Ministry at the beginning of the year that has allowed us to develop the new version, create the website, finalise the documentation and the exemples etc. We have worked hard to launch the new version and I am glad regarding the evolution of the project and even more concerning the feedback of the users that make me feel we are on the good way. Even if did not receive any donation from the users, I am persuaded of the interest in this new approach to musical writing.

This is why I am asking for your patience. Guillaume is actually abroad and he will be back in some weeks. Please be assured of my entire confidence and I hope that we will soon have the possibility of working together on a new update including your contribution.

With my best wishes
Thierry

@THC wrote:

First of all I would like to thank you very much Chris and Bob for their work on the developement of IanniX. Our aim is to have an entire community around this project and I am happy to have you as a fondamental partner, your point of view is extremely important for the evolution of IanniX. Please do not think that our silence is due to a lack of interest in your intellectual and technical contribution to the project, but please understand that we have been all very busy this last period.

Thierry, I wish I could find all of your words here inspirational. I appreciate you’ve taken the time to respond and that you’ve sent kudos to us (even though Chris is more deserving and others here have done much more than I to support things like interoperational concepts, for example).

However, your words exemplify what it is that bothers me and what you say reveals what is behind why I don’t view this as a truly open source project:

My big concern has always been the same for several years, that is the way to keep on financing the development.

You have several volunteers right here, your repository costs nothing, and you don’t really have to pay for a website. Your grant from the French government, however, likely has its own set of rules that ‘transcend’ the tenets of OSS.

For the new version we are actually three people working on the project in Paris,

So the project began with and continues to have a built-in constraint on who can work on it?

…each one has a precise and independent task

Open source development is seldom tidy, and its developers are interdependent. In fact, that interdependence is widely accepted as a core definition of an open source development community. Notwithstanding that, community code can be elegant and robust and reinforced by peer review. This cannot be managed efficiently unless all developers participate via a common repository, something you actually have created but seem to be keeping hidden.

…and you can understand that this is insufficient for the demanded amount of work. We all have another job allowing us to earn money

Well, yes I can understand that it is too much for three part-timers.

By the way, I am still looking forward a solution to keep on financing and going on with the project

So, going on with the project hinges upon getting more financing?! Do you see why I have a bit of trouble with this?

With respect for the accomplishments of the Iannix team over the years,
–Bob