Hi James,
In spite of your depression at the end, I have to say I admire your software/hardware abilities; my programming skills are close to nil, I can kludge some stuff together but barely and that's about it. I haven't even gotten Jack/Alsa to run that well on my machines. When I think of your work, I think of the programming, and your writing about the programming, as much art as anything else, and I find it brilliant; you write about it with a passion and knowledge that really exceeds my own. What I'm good at is tuning things, making things work together, but not real interoperabil- ity. I'll spend hours setting up cameras etc. for example in Second Life, but my SL programming skills are minimal, again kludging; it's the weak side of stuff. I worry I'm fiddling around too much. I always read your posts completely and learn from them, keep on going of course... - - Alan On Sat, 19 Mar 2011, James Morris wrote: > I agree with what you're saying. > > I live in my head too much. It worries me, but I always have done to > greater or lesser extents. A few years ago I thought I was coming out > of it, but over the past few years where I'm working in factories at > machines by myself, and not being extroverted enough to have > conversations by shouting at the top of my voice (I don't recall what > the top of my voice sounds like anymore) I seem to be becoming more > introverted again and I don't think it's particularly good for me. > Then I spend most of my free time on the PC, often programming. > > I program to enable me to do things with software I either can't > afford or software not capable of doing what I want it to. Of course I > had to spend years learning to do this and my capabilities are limited > by not having awesome-super-startlingly-intelligent intelligence. > > I've recently created a fork ( http://github.com/jwm-art-net/Petri-Foo > not recommended for normal use as load/save is broken) of a software > sampler. I've added a number of new features to it, and made changes > to the way in which some aspects of it interact with each other. > During coding I obviously tested what I had done by loading samples > into the program and then sequencing them (with another program > connected via ALSA/JACK) etc and playing around with them checking > that things worked. > > Now I've achieved many of the targets I set out to implement when I > begun (though I've disabled the patch save/load code until all > features have stabilized and chosen on a file format to use (probably > http://library.gnome.org/devel/glib/stable/glib-Key-value-file-parser.html) > etc)) blah blah blah. > > So I'm left feeling drained again by it. During testing I played > around with it and my creativity was momentarily satisfied. Creating a > piece of music - a track, a tune, or whatever - seems like too much > hard work. > > There's lots of boring stuff left to program on it (fileloadsave) (so > session management (via new jack session api works). And complex stuff > to do with multi-threading I'm not expertly confident with but I'm > sure should be done. > > luckily going on holiday soon. and then i've got a whole long time > left to look forward to being slowly lobotomised by machines - at home > and at work. the future's bleak, the future's some dull grey colour. > > (note to self) YOU'RE GOING ON HOLIDAY SOON SNAP OUT OF YOU STUPID > BASTARD! (/note to self) > > /james imagines to no avail himself slapping himself around the face/ > > > james. > > On 19 March 2011 00:30, Alan Sondheim <[email protected]> wrote: >> >> >> I think about stuff like this a lot; there's something artificial or >> disconnected about online - which I think is one reason I continue to play >> music on acoustic instruments that need real physical care. Tonight I >> lined my sanshin (Okinawan instrument) case; I have to keep the instrument >> in somewhat higher humidity than the others because of the antique snake- >> skin on the body. When I play it, or any acoustic instrument, it's >> responding directly to my body; there's no reverb or buffer to cover my >> mistakes. Without things like this, I'd live/write/teach/talk too much in >> my head, a deadening body dangling from words... >> >> - Alan >> >> On Fri, 18 Mar 2011, James Morris wrote: >> >>> I'd get back on my bike! >>> >>> >>> On 18 March 2011 02:04, Alan Sondheim <[email protected]> wrote: >>>> >>>> >>>> At least we wouldn't get viruses! >>>> What if the power ran out? :-) >>>> >>>> On Fri, 18 Mar 2011, James Morris wrote: >>>> >>>>> And what about if all the openness of the internet was lost? If the >>>>> powers that be decided all this access to knowledge dangerous for us >>>>> little people and giving us too many ideas. What if the powers that be >>>>> decided to close down all our access to this stuff? >>>>> >>>>> You'd be left with your Ubuntu Linux system. I'd be left with my Arch >>>>> Linux system. Neither of us would be able to update our systems or get >>>>> more software for it (and pretend for a minute that the internet is >>>>> the only network where you'd be able to get software). But because we >>>>> both use Linux and not Windows, we'd both be able to write new >>>>> software for it if so inclined. Though the Arch user is more likely to >>>>> be able to do this than the Ubuntu user. >>>>> >>>>> It was just an exercise. >>>>> >>>>> James Morris. >>>>> >>>>> >>>>> >>>>> >>>>> On 17 March 2011 23:50, Alan Sondheim <[email protected]> wrote: >>>>>> >>>>>> >>>>>> The good thing about Ubuntu of course is that updating is simple, even to >>>>>> another release. I _don't want_ to play with the system - I want to use >>>>>> it, and Ubuntu's amazingly functional. >>>>>> >>>>>> - Alan >>>>>> >>>>>> On Thu, 17 Mar 2011, James Morris wrote: >>>>>> >>>>>>> With Linux you are free to NOT UPDATE your system. RESIST. >>>>>>> >>>>>>> I would like to decide to do this. Freeze my system. All the software >>>>>>> on it, all the documentation on it. That's it, that's all that's >>>>>>> available to me. No other resources. No internet. It's all just here. >>>>>>> If I need new features I will code them. I will break and mend my >>>>>>> system. No single part of it over a period of forty years would remain >>>>>>> untouched from my prying. I would lock it away from the outside world. >>>>>>> It would evolve to my evolving specifications and idiosyncrasies - >>>>>>> especially the latter. >>>>>>> >>>>>>> I would like to do this but I don't have the time. So I will update my >>>>>>> system in a timely manner - especially as an internet user. >>>>>>> >>>>>>> Semaj Sirrom >>>>>>> >>>>>>> -- >>>>>>> _ >>>>>>> : http://jwm-art.net/ >>>>>>> -audio/image/text/code/ >>>>>>> _______________________________________________ >>>>>>> NetBehaviour mailing list >>>>>>> [email protected] >>>>>>> http://www.netbehaviour.org/mailman/listinfo/netbehaviour >>>>>>> >>>>>>> >>>>>> >>>>>> >>>>>> == >>>>>> email archive: http://sondheim.rupamsunyata.org/ >>>>>> webpage http://www.alansondheim.org >>>>>> music archive: http://www.espdisk.com/alansondheim/ >>>>>> current text http://www.alansondheim.org/qx.txt >>>>>> == >>>>>> _______________________________________________ >>>>>> NetBehaviour mailing list >>>>>> [email protected] >>>>>> http://www.netbehaviour.org/mailman/listinfo/netbehaviour >>>>>> >>>>> >>>>> >>>>> >>>>> -- >>>>> _ >>>>> : http://jwm-art.net/ >>>>> -audio/image/text/code/ >>>>> _______________________________________________ >>>>> NetBehaviour mailing list >>>>> [email protected] >>>>> http://www.netbehaviour.org/mailman/listinfo/netbehaviour >>>>> >>>>> >>>> >>>> >>>> == >>>> email archive: http://sondheim.rupamsunyata.org/ >>>> webpage http://www.alansondheim.org >>>> music archive: http://www.espdisk.com/alansondheim/ >>>> current text http://www.alansondheim.org/qx.txt >>>> == >>>> _______________________________________________ >>>> NetBehaviour mailing list >>>> [email protected] >>>> http://www.netbehaviour.org/mailman/listinfo/netbehaviour >>>> >>> >>> >>> >>> -- >>> _ >>> : http://jwm-art.net/ >>> -audio/image/text/code/ >>> _______________________________________________ >>> NetBehaviour mailing list >>> [email protected] >>> http://www.netbehaviour.org/mailman/listinfo/netbehaviour >>> >>> >> >> >> == >> email archive: http://sondheim.rupamsunyata.org/ >> webpage http://www.alansondheim.org >> music archive: http://www.espdisk.com/alansondheim/ >> current text http://www.alansondheim.org/qx.txt >> == >> _______________________________________________ >> NetBehaviour mailing list >> [email protected] >> http://www.netbehaviour.org/mailman/listinfo/netbehaviour >> > > > > -- > _ > : http://jwm-art.net/ > -audio/image/text/code/ > _______________________________________________ > NetBehaviour mailing list > [email protected] > http://www.netbehaviour.org/mailman/listinfo/netbehaviour > > == email archive: http://sondheim.rupamsunyata.org/ webpage http://www.alansondheim.org music archive: http://www.espdisk.com/alansondheim/ current text http://www.alansondheim.org/qx.txt == _______________________________________________ NetBehaviour mailing list [email protected] http://www.netbehaviour.org/mailman/listinfo/netbehaviour
