Would all other applicants please read this guys first. Well thought out,
initial thoughts on the project he intends to tackle. Not asking all the
questions that are answered on the GSoC info page.
I vote for Corey.
Gavin S
On Mon, Mar 10, 2014 at 3:13 PM, Corey Antoniuk <corey.anton...@gmail.com>wrote:
> Hello all!
>
> My name is Corey Antoniuk and I'd love to work with you guys for Google's
> Summer of Code!
>
> I'm just writing to say hello, and to bounce my ideas off you guys before
> I submit my official proposal.
>
>
>
> I've been using Mixx for a few months now on my trusty MPD26 and love it!
> I haven't played a gig with it, but it's been great for trying new stuff. I
> love to see open-source projects that can keep up with the big players,
>
> That said, as with most open source projects, while it has a full set of
> features and works beautifully, it is lacking some UX niceties that users
> want. This is where I would like to help out. I'd like to work on
> implementing cover art functionality, primarily using the pictureflow QT
> widget written by Airya Hidayat, as suggested by RJ Ryan in Bug #1015894. (
> http://code.google.com/p/pictureflow/)
>
> For me, album art is an important part of putting together sets. I mostly
> mix vinyl so the selection process starts well before the gig. There's
> something very special about digging through your collection and pulling
> the right records. While this experience can't be recreated in software, I
> think that having the album artwork available could bring a bit more
> emotion into the process of selection, and hopefully help users be a bit
> more spontaneous live.
>
> Using an existing widget will keep the project within my skill level and
> speed up the process (and it's one of the cooler parts of open source
> development, IMO.)
>
>
>
> Here is a brief overview of my plan at the moment. I'd love to here what
> you guys think.
> I'll have to do some more research to determine a timeline, but I figured
> it would be better to see what you guys think of this first.
>
> 1. Make local art accessible to pictureflow
>
> * pictureflow wants a directory containing artwork
> * files are stored within a QStringList
> * I should hopefully be able to do a recursive search of the media
> player's directory
> * this should allow me to not have to copy files to a new
> directory for MIxxx
> * this may involve modifying pictureflow's findFiles
> function, but any modifications should be minimal, just to get recursion.
> * user could specify their own folder
> * another option would be to look at the metadata associated with
> each track for MP3/Flac files
>
> 2. implement pictureflow within the Mixxx UI
>
> * between library and decks?
> * find right size (half and half?)
> * three column?
> * this will potentially be the longest part
>
> 3. preferences
>
> * at first it'll just be an on/off but as I add functionality I'll add the
> appropriate preferences
> * could be in library or appearance pane, whichever is more appropriate
> * there could also be buttons in the UI, but it's probably best to reduce
> clutter as much as possible.
>
> 3. drag and drop to crates
>
> * each piece of art corresponds to an album within the QStringList, so
> this should be a fairly simple process
> * this could be the piece of functionality that takes cover flow from a UI
> novelty to a killer feature
>
> 4. add "digger mode (tm)"
>
> * vertical cover flow
> * placed between library and side bar
> * could better fit the metaphor of digging through your crate at a gig
> * a preference could be to have this mode while in crates and normal cover
> flow while in the library
> * we can work on the name...
>
> 5. fetch artwork from online services
>
> * I don't feel this needs to be done straight away
> * most music players have this functinality already so if I could
> just import their library it would be taken care of
> * most users will have artwork in their music player, and if not,
> I don't feel as though they would care too much about this functionality in
> general.
> * this functionality would take some research, it could be as simple as a
> curl job though (that would be awesome!!!)
>
> 5. figure out how to display current artwork in deck
>
> * this would propably be the most controversial (and least practical)
> feature and would require many preferences to work right for each user
> * spinny widget background?
> * spinny widget spinning?
> * whole deck background?
> * blurred?
> * darkened?
>
> If you see any glaring problems I'd love to hear about them, and feel free
> to let me know how you'd like this to be implemented on the front end or
> back end!
>
>
>
> About Me:
>
> I'm a Computer Science freshman at McGill University in Montreal and a DJ
> and musician. I mostly play beats and house, anything with good vibes. I've
> been separated from my decks since September, it's been very hard to
> handle, which I'm sure you can sympathize with.
>
> I've been really interested in music software for the last few years,
> mostly working in Ableton and messing around with Max/Pd. I mostly DJ with
> vinyl or usb sticks, but I really like the functionality offered by DJ/DVS
> software. When I graduate, I'd love to work in the audio industry and
> continue to contribute to open source projects. Next year I will hopefully
> be in a minor in Music Technology, and maybe another minor in Music. If all
> goes well this summer, I would totally see myself staying with the project
> and using it as a place to work with my skills as I learn (MIDI, DSP etc..
> is all in my curriculum.)
>
> I'm also in the process of switching to Linux full time. Ableton has been
> the one piece of software that has been keeping me on OS X, but if Bitwig
> Studio turns out to be as good as it looks, I'd really have no reason to be
> on Mac.
>
> To be honest, my experience is quite limited. I've only worked on school
> assignments in C, Java and Bash, and I'm not very familiar with C++ and Qt
> (I've been wanting to learn QT for quite a while now so this is a perfect
> opportunity.) That said, I'm very comfortable with what I know and am very
> good with object oriented design. I've routinely gotten perfect grades on
> assignments and strive to produce the best algorithms I can, not just just
> get things done. I also comment like crazy :)
>
> I am familiar with Git, as I've been using it as much as I can to manage
> things like Vim plugins, but I'll definitely work through some tutorials
> before I start using it with you guys.
>
> I've looked over the source for both Mixxx and pictureflow and have been
> able to wrap my head around it. I feel confident that I will be able to
> produce great code, with your help of course. This is an amazing
> opportunity for me to get involved with the industry I'd like to work in,
> so all the work I do here would benefit me greatly. I would love to spend
> this summer getting pale while working on an awesome project!
>
>
>
> Thanks for reading what I have to say, I look forward to any feedback I
> get!
>
> Corey Antoniuk
>
> Montreal QC, Canada
> corey.anton...@gmail.com
>
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