Headache - Early Adopter version coming shortly
by Paul Malyschko · 05/07/2006 (2:18 pm) · 5 comments
It's been a while since I've posted progress on Headache.
At the last point of contact, I'd created the shell of an editor, however I needed to get the data from C to Python and back again. Python, the language, has a remarkably apt syntax (though some would disagree), however, underneath in the engine room, the code is a nightmare. Creating a usable module for Python in C is a gigantic brainfuck for anything but the simplest of modules.
After a couple of weeks hitting brick walls, I relented and searched for easier options. I found a friend in Pyrex, an intermediate C/Python language that was designed to make modules effortless to write, and it was mature enough for production purposes (though a couple of features were a little undercooked). If you ever need to interface C with Python, Pyrex should be you first port of call.
Now to Headache itself. In a couple of weeks we are releasing an early adopter version of HeadacheTracker (the library will be available for free, always), so musicians can get writing fluid event-based music. In the not too distant future, I'm going to be documenting techniques for writing emotive event-based music. Please note, this is NOT just cross-fading tracks, or muting channels. HeadacheTracker allows the musician to decide how events affect the music they write, but writing an event-based track is different from writing a linear track.
Also note, it is a tracker, not a MIDI sequencer. If there is sufficient demand, we will hack together a MIDI plug-in so musicians can use their expensive rigs to create music. That will require a plug-in structure first, something the early adopter release does not have. The application is bare bones functionality right now - all the goodies will have to wait.
When the library is available, I'll submit a snippet for adding it to Torque. Adding it to any program is dead simple, and we are releasing extensions for our favourite scripting languages as well: Python, Lua, Ruby and Blitz, with Java under consideration.
We are eager to show that you don't need a ten thousand dollar rig to start creating great music. If you're interested in what we're doing, let me know with a comment and e-mail.
At the last point of contact, I'd created the shell of an editor, however I needed to get the data from C to Python and back again. Python, the language, has a remarkably apt syntax (though some would disagree), however, underneath in the engine room, the code is a nightmare. Creating a usable module for Python in C is a gigantic brainfuck for anything but the simplest of modules.
After a couple of weeks hitting brick walls, I relented and searched for easier options. I found a friend in Pyrex, an intermediate C/Python language that was designed to make modules effortless to write, and it was mature enough for production purposes (though a couple of features were a little undercooked). If you ever need to interface C with Python, Pyrex should be you first port of call.
Now to Headache itself. In a couple of weeks we are releasing an early adopter version of HeadacheTracker (the library will be available for free, always), so musicians can get writing fluid event-based music. In the not too distant future, I'm going to be documenting techniques for writing emotive event-based music. Please note, this is NOT just cross-fading tracks, or muting channels. HeadacheTracker allows the musician to decide how events affect the music they write, but writing an event-based track is different from writing a linear track.
Also note, it is a tracker, not a MIDI sequencer. If there is sufficient demand, we will hack together a MIDI plug-in so musicians can use their expensive rigs to create music. That will require a plug-in structure first, something the early adopter release does not have. The application is bare bones functionality right now - all the goodies will have to wait.
When the library is available, I'll submit a snippet for adding it to Torque. Adding it to any program is dead simple, and we are releasing extensions for our favourite scripting languages as well: Python, Lua, Ruby and Blitz, with Java under consideration.
We are eager to show that you don't need a ten thousand dollar rig to start creating great music. If you're interested in what we're doing, let me know with a comment and e-mail.
About the author
#2
05/07/2006 (3:51 pm)
Sound very interesting. I like the concept. 
#4
05/08/2006 (4:53 am)
Well done man. *Thumbs up*
#5
@Jody: Thanks man. It's been going for a while now.
@Jon: Send us an e-mail Jon, and we can chat a little more.
@Dylan: Hey dude, good to see you're still hanging around, and thanks for the encouragement. It's been a long time coming, that's for sure. How's the story stuff coming along?
05/08/2006 (10:27 pm)
@Midhir: It's dynamic music or interactive music... event-based music is what I call it. The music is written to change according to the events that are sent to the engine (which is up to the programmers). How well that music moves, of course, depends on the musician.@Jody: Thanks man. It's been going for a while now.
@Jon: Send us an e-mail Jon, and we can chat a little more.
@Dylan: Hey dude, good to see you're still hanging around, and thanks for the encouragement. It's been a long time coming, that's for sure. How's the story stuff coming along?
Torque 3D Owner Jesse (Midhir) Liles