Current state of Pyo and next steps?

[Alexandros Drymonitis]

Hi all,

Since some time now I have been wondering what is the current state of Pyo. Olivier went on to create 1.0.6 test version mentioning that from now on all even ending version numbers will be test versions and odd ending will be stable releases, but we last saw him reply to any message in March 2025, sort of going AWOL. A discussion on GitHub, the now "official" Pyo discussions channel, questions whether Pyo is abandonware (https://github.com/belangeo/pyo/discussions/310).

Lately there has been very little activity in there or elsewhere (this Google group or the Discord server with only five remaining members). So my questions are, where is Pyo standing right now? Anyone has any news from Olivier? If Pyo is officially abandonware, are there people willing to form a developer community around this and continue from the current point with a fork?

Cheers,
Alexandros

[Gabriele Battaglia]

I loved this project but I left it behind since I wanted to upgrade Python.

It would be a pity if it desappears.

I hope Pyo will gain its healty soon.

Gabe.

[Aaron Krister Johnson]

Yeah, sadly, since Olivier didn't respond, and appears super-busy, I'm thinking I've answered my own question: Pyo is unofficially abandonware at this point.

I've moved on to using Faust (mostly) and csound (somewhat) for my recent projects, and anything else not handled by Faust that I need from old pyo I'd port to csound. As for MIDI-style instrument triggering code, I've already ported a lot of the functionality I need to my own language dclang.

I'm still interested in helping keep Pyo alive, it's a worthy project, time allowing here and there. But it's clear that at least for now, Olivier is AWOL and possibly overwhelmed with the thought of keeping Pyo going.

If anyone wants to coordinate with me on this, reach out. I can't say I'm super-available myself, but we can at least start a conversation to plan.

Does anyone know what doesn't work in Pyo anymore for say, Python-3.13 or 3.14?

Aaron Krister Johnson
Music, etc.:
https://soundcloud.com/aaron-krister-johnson

https://soundcloud.com/filtercreed

https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC_utjGYbSizWE0dNyr0Vdmg

https://aaronkristerjohnson.bandcamp.com/

http://www.untwelve.org

Code:
https://github.com/akjmicro

--
You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "pyo-discuss" group.
To unsubscribe from this group and stop receiving emails from it, send an email to pyo-discuss...@googlegroups.com.
To view this discussion visit https://groups.google.com/d/msgid/pyo-discuss/2c43dea7-c047-467f-b223-664cd2d6da10%40gmail.com.

[Gabriele Battaglia]

Ciao Aaron,

Based on my experience, nothing higher than Python 3.11 works.

Best,
Gabriele

Inviato dalla nave Gabryphone17ProMax.

To view this discussion visit https://groups.google.com/d/msgid/pyo-discuss/CAFKYMmwescRTZx7_apRoFgqD8C5nwM9CdzPkbF9qnrxc3gLY%2BQ%40mail.gmail.com.

[Chris Csikszentmihalyi]

This would be very sad. One of the things I love about PYO is that it integrates well into a real programming language without having to do anything special. I am using it for a project with ROS2 (robotics) and nicegui, for example. Sure, one can eventually get anything to talk to anything, but with PYO I can get a system together in a day with all of python's libraries, and quick scripting at hand.

I have been hyping PYO for a decade but sadly it doesn't seem to catch on widely. I think, frankly, it needed a few influencers who could have shown what was possible, especially by leaning on python. 

If Olivier is just taking a pause, I would love to hear from him! Meanwhile I thank him for powering several of my projects. The API he created is the most elegant and sane one I have seen.

C.

Chris Csíkszentmihályi

rob...@gmail.com | edgyproduct.org

"Art means… to resist the course of a world that unceasingly holds a gun to mankind's chest."                                                                       --Theodore Adorno

To view this discussion visit https://groups.google.com/d/msgid/pyo-discuss/CAMMNeJLYtmiR4qKvZ1X5YMebivQtKVeUG9GQN%3DT0hx66dn%2BsFw%40mail.gmail.com.

[barmin]

Hello,

I thought this list was dead, but obviously it works again! :-)

I had a contact with Olivier regarding these questions a couple of months ago.

I can't speak for Olivier, but AFAICT he is willing to go on with the development of pyo, although he is currently very busy and cannot always keep up.

Note that he pre-published pyo 1.0.6, compatible with python 3.9 to 3.13, for testing (https://github.com/belangeo/pyo/discussions/293). He told me he didn't publish it officially yet because he didn't have enough feedback from the community regarding this test version. Presumably he's not the only one to be too busy!

(I'm pleading guilty here: although I did ask for an update compatible with latest python versions, I did not test 1.0.6 yet.)

BUT the good news is: at Les Chemins de Traverse (https://www.lescheminsdetraverse.net/), we are currently planning a project about the "Charming Snake" framework, based on pyo (https://bitbucket.org/MatthieuAmiguet/charmingsnake/src/master/). We submitted an application for a grant by the Swiss Arts Council. Olivier is part of the project, and if we get the money, we could fund some development work for pyo too. So hopefully in early 2026, we should see some news on the pyo front.

Don't give up on pyo too soon, as it's one of the best tools out there!

And, fingers crossed! Let's hope we get some funding to boost pyo development!

Cheers,

Matthieu

Le 15.12.25 à 13:30, Alexandros Drymonitis a écrit :

> --
> You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "pyo-discuss" group.

> To unsubscribe from this group and stop receiving emails from it, send an email to pyo-discuss...@googlegroups.com <mailto:pyo-discuss...@googlegroups.com>.
> To view this discussion visit https://groups.google.com/d/msgid/pyo-discuss/9101757b-6511-4c7f-95a9-d9841d46d2afn%40googlegroups.com <https://groups.google.com/d/msgid/pyo-discuss/9101757b-6511-4c7f-95a9-d9841d46d2afn%40googlegroups.com?utm_medium=email&utm_source=footer>.

[barmin]

> I think, frankly, it needed a few influencers who could have shown what was possible, especially by leaning on python.

I'm afraid I'm not an influencer, but I truly did my best: talk in EuroPython 2025 in Praha, talk in PyConDE 2024 in Berlin, talk and gig in EuroPython 2019 in Basel, talk at the Swiss Python Summit 2016, plus several wider-audience talks (the videos and slides of all the talks are available here if you're interested: https://matthieuamiguet.ch/a-propos/)

I also invited Olivier for a talk about pyo at RFLA'16 in Neuchâtel: http://www.augmented-instruments.net/rfla2016

And wrote 15+ posts related to pyo on my blog since 2013: https://matthieuamiguet.ch/tags/pyo/

I did "convert" a few people along the way, but I'm afraid pyo definitely stays a niche within a niche...

Cheers,

Matthieu

[Alexandros Drymonitis]

My opinion is that Pyo would greatly benefit from a wider developer
community than Olivier alone. I know it's his creation and I respect
that he possibly wants it in a certain way so he might want to have full
control over it. Having a developer community around though doesn't
necessarily mean loosing control. Take Pure Data for example, Miller
Puckette is probably the "Benevolent dictator for life"
(https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Benevolent_dictator_for_life) while a
number of developers contribute code and help with compiling for various
systems.

My coding skills are rather limited, but I would definitely be in to
become a member of Pyo's developer community where I would help in any
way I can.

As for influencers, I have written a book on Pyo
(https://www.routledge.com/The-Python-Audio-Cookbook-Recipes-for-Audio-Scripting-with-Python/Drymonitis/p/book/9781032480114),
but I'm not sure how much this has contributed in spreading the word. I
also try to introduce it to academic institutions where I occasionally
teach, but that's that.

It's great that Matthieu was in contact with Olivier only two months
ago. We could also organize an online meeting with anyone who is
interested in contributing in development or maintenance and see what
steps we can take. Of course, it would be best if Olivier could attend.

I know I might sound like I want to take over, but that's not the case.
What I really want is that Pyo stays alive!

[Aaron Krister Johnson]

Absolutely this. Before I heard anything about Olivier's signs-of-life, I was ready at some point to fork the repo and attempt to hack it into current-ness.

Glad that we possibly don't have to go this route.

In any event, count me in on discussion regarding widening the development pool and giving Olivier help.

One idea I had would be to create a framework via Faust (which would really mostly entail a PR to Faust itself, but would perhaps require changes in Pyo to make it "pluggable") to extend Pyo. I know there's docs for that in Pyo, but a way to make this "fluid" and "semi-automated" would be nice. Dreams for the future, anyhow...

Aaron Krister Johnson
Music, etc.:
https://soundcloud.com/aaron-krister-johnson

https://soundcloud.com/filtercreed

https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC_utjGYbSizWE0dNyr0Vdmg

https://aaronkristerjohnson.bandcamp.com/

http://www.untwelve.org

Code:
https://github.com/akjmicro

To unsubscribe from this group and stop receiving emails from it, send an email to pyo-discuss...@googlegroups.com.
To view this discussion visit https://groups.google.com/d/msgid/pyo-discuss/e0530e35-7f03-4d86-8858-ad0644bda448%40gmail.com.

[Alexandros Drymonitis]

Matthieu, is it possible to get hold of Olivier and pass our concerns on to him? I cannot know what he thinks of all this, but both Aaron and I have been thinking of forking Pyo's repo to keep it alive, so I think having a meeting wouldn't be that bad (unless he really has no time at all). Still, I think it's nice that people are so interested in his software, so I only see good in all this.

To view this discussion visit https://groups.google.com/d/msgid/pyo-discuss/CAFKYMmx94PLLnCDCzX1qha0NH8CqAnTTEv7Fd-0K%2B5kCGe1JLg%40mail.gmail.com.