Is Beads still alive?

Jean-François Hicter

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Feb 26, 2020, 4:44:41 PM2/26/20

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Hey!

I just discovered Beads as I was searching the best way to do sound treatment in Processing...

Now, I have to grab documentation to work. And it appears that the official website -- https://beadsproject.net/ -- is dead...

Does it mean that Beads is no more supported? Does it mean there is a better solution available?

I found a PDF: https://www.yumpu.com/en/document/read/51513113/sonifying-processing-the-beads-tutorial-computer-music-blog

But I have no idea if this tutorial is up-to-date or what...

Is there a secret place where the Beads Bible is hidden?

Ollie Bown

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Feb 26, 2020, 4:50:51 PM2/26/20

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Remove the “s” from https and it will work.

We have not given the Beads Processing library release or the Beads website any TLC for a very long time, consider that to be indefinitely on hold.

However, Beads itself has actually gone through quite a bit of development, particularly in relation to our main project HappyBrackets (Java audio for Rsapberry Pis). The Beads github holds the latest updates.

The Beads Processing library remains stable and usable — please let me know if you encounter any problems. We would love to do a major update to this library for Processing. It has not been our focus but if enough noise is made about it on this forum then we’ll put attention to it. Anyone willing to help would be welcome! One problem I have is that I rarely do any in-depth programming any more (boo!) because I’m an academic managing various projects. Angelo Fraietta has been working full-time on HappyBrackets and making occasional fixes to Beads along the way. We are getting Beads up to date to work with Java 13 at the moment.

Best,

Ollie

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Jean-François Hicter

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Feb 27, 2020, 5:41:29 AM2/27/20

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Hey, Ollie!

Thanks for the reply!

Currently, the only tutorial I have is this one: https://www.yumpu.com/en/document/read/51513113/sonifying-processing-the-beads-tutorial-computer-music-blog

Blurred scanned paper version... :(

Is there a HTML or PDF version of this tutorial?

Maybe you have it in your archives and could share it?

:)

Ollie

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Jean-François Hicter

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Feb 27, 2020, 6:40:37 AM2/27/20

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I checked the Minim library, too...

Lots of interesting code here: http://code.compartmental.net/minim/index_ugens.html

But, I can't figure out how to use it!

I'm not a computer scientist!

:O

Federico Joselevich Puiggrós

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Feb 27, 2020, 7:03:09 AM2/27/20

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Hi.

Minim has a lot of examples. It has another approach than Beads.

Greetings, F.

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Jean-François Hicter

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Feb 27, 2020, 9:38:39 AM2/27/20

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Le jeudi 27 février 2020 13:03:09 UTC+1, Federico Joselevich Puiggrós a écrit :

Hi.

Hey!

Minim has a lot of examples. It has another approach than Beads.

The fact is both of them have a huge learning curve...

So, I'd like to know what is the difference between the two of them...

And, which is the most powerful?

And, I have also to consider which one has the most alive community...

Neil C Smith

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Feb 27, 2020, 11:21:10 AM2/27/20

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On Thu, 27 Feb 2020 at 14:38, Jean-François Hicter <hic...@gmail.com> wrote:
> Hey!

Hi! Fancy seeing you here ... :-)

>> Minim has a lot of examples. It has another approach than Beads.
>
> The fact is both of them have a huge learning curve...
> So, I'd like to know what is the difference between the two of them...
> And, which is the most powerful?

I would say Beads, partly because Minim seems more heavily tied to
JavaSound, and Beads has a better abstraction of audio backends and
supports Jack (which you mentioned wanting). Although if Beads
development does continue, the JAudioLibs AudioServer could do with an
update!

Minim may have slightly more units these days, although if I recall
correctly it computes a single sample at a time, which is likely to
end up being far less performant.

There is also no shortage of other audio UGen libraries in Java,
including the venerable JASS that I know Ollie and I were both
influenced by, JSyn, and of course Pipes (which is rather overdue for
v2 to actually be released).

Theoretically it should be fairly easy to wrap one library's units in
another too ...

Best wishes,

Neil

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Artist & Technologist
www.neilcsmith.net

PraxisLIVE - hybrid visual live programming
for creatives, for programmers, for students, for tinkerers
www.praxislive.org

Ollie Bown

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Feb 27, 2020, 4:50:36 PM2/27/20

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And Praxis, made by the awesome Neil C Smith. But this has nothing to do with Processing.

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Ollie Bown

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Feb 27, 2020, 5:19:23 PM2/27/20

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PS Evan’s excellent Sonifying Processing tute is available here http://evanxmerz.com/blog/index.php/sonifying-processing/

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Neil C Smith

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Feb 27, 2020, 5:34:09 PM2/27/20

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On Thu, 27 Feb 2020, 21:50 Ollie Bown, <ol...@icarus.nu> wrote:

And Praxis, made by the awesome Neil C Smith. But this has nothing to do with Processing.

Well, thanks, although not sure about being nothing to do with Processing?! This partly follows on incidentally from a thread on the Processing forums where I pointed Jean-François here. Beads is still best of the audio libraries packaged for Processing. You should find more time for it! ;-)

Hope all's well with you!

Best wishes,

Neil

Jean-François Hicter

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Feb 27, 2020, 5:49:08 PM2/27/20

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Le jeudi 27 février 2020 17:21:10 UTC+1, Neil C Smith a écrit :

On Thu, 27 Feb 2020 at 14:38, Jean-François Hicter <hic...@gmail.com> wrote:
> Hey!

Hi! Fancy seeing you here ... :-)

Yep! I prowl to find the perfect tool! :D

>
PraxisLIVE - hybrid visual live programming
for creatives, for programmers, for students, for tinkerers
www.praxislive.org

Another tool to explore!

Thanks for your help!

:)

Jean-François Hicter

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Feb 27, 2020, 6:01:30 PM2/27/20

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Le jeudi 27 février 2020 23:19:23 UTC+1, Ollie a écrit :

PS Evan’s excellent Sonifying Processing tute is available here http://evanxmerz.com/blog/index.php/sonifying-processing/

There is a link -- http://www.computermusicblog.com/SonifyingProcessing/Sonifying_Processing_The_Beads_Tutorial.pdf -- to a PDF version, but, the website is dead...

Any rescue plan?

;)

Ollie Bown

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Feb 27, 2020, 6:07:59 PM2/27/20

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Hmm, is Evan still on this list?

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Evan Merz

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Feb 28, 2020, 1:12:38 AM2/28/20

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Evan is still here!

I'm still making music with beads actually. Did an algorithmic album last year and posted it recently.

https://evanxmerz.bandcamp.com/

But I'm using old software for that. Kids and my career as a web programmer have prevented me from writing new music software or even updating my Android synth apps, for like two years.

I want to get back into it, but I am unsure how or when I will do that.

The more recent beads book is actually Sound Synthesis in Java, which is from 2015 I think. It's here: https://evanxmerz.com/blog/index.php/sound-synthesis-in-java/

Hope this helps!

-Evan

Sent from Yahoo Mail on Android

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Jean-François Hicter

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Feb 28, 2020, 4:32:32 AM2/28/20

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Hey, Evan!

Thanks for your post!

I will check your book about sound in Java...

But I'm afraid, as a non-programmer, that I'd have preferred the one about Beads in Processing...

If you have it in your archive, please consider to share it...

Cheers!

Jean-François

Le vendredi 28 février 2020 07:12:38 UTC+1, Evan a écrit :

Evan is still here!

I'm still making music with beads actually. Did an algorithmic album last year and posted it recently.

https://evanxmerz.bandcamp.com/

But I'm using old software for that. Kids and my career as a web programmer have prevented me from writing new music software or even updating my Android synth apps, for like two years.

I want to get back into it, but I am unsure how or when I will do that.

The more recent beads book is actually Sound Synthesis in Java, which is from 2015 I think. It's here: https://evanxmerz.com/blog/index.php/sound-synthesis-in-java/

Hope this helps!

-Evan

Sent from Yahoo Mail on Android

On Thu, Feb 27, 2020 at 3:07 PM, Ollie Bown
<ol...@icarus.nu> wrote:

Hmm, is Evan still on this list?

On 28 Feb 2020, at 10:01 am, Jean-François Hicter <hic...@gmail.com> wrote:

Le jeudi 27 février 2020 23:19:23 UTC+1, Ollie a écrit :
PS Evan’s excellent Sonifying Processing tute is available here http://evanxmerz.com/ blog/index.php/sonifying- processing/

There is a link -- http://www.computermusicblog.com/SonifyingProcessing/Sonifying_Processing_The_Beads_Tutorial.pdf -- to a PDF version, but, the website is dead...
Any rescue plan?

;)

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Evan Merz

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Feb 28, 2020, 9:44:58 AM2/28/20

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Shoot I just realized all the links are broken on the processing book. I'll try to fix them this weekend.

-Evan

Sent from Yahoo Mail on Android

There is a link -- http://www.computermusicblog. com/SonifyingProcessing/ Sonifying_Processing_The_ Beads_Tutorial.pdf -- to a PDF version, but, the website is dead...
Any rescue plan?

;)

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.

Jean-François Hicter

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Feb 28, 2020, 11:52:08 AM2/28/20

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Shoot I just realized all the links are broken on the processing book. I'll try to fix them this weekend.

Excellent ! :)

INTERLICHTSPIELHAUS

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Mar 1, 2020, 5:14:44 PM3/1/20

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I'm currently listening to "The Invisible Kingdom" album,

I think it's brilliant :-)

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Jean-François Hicter

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Mar 1, 2020, 5:48:05 PM3/1/20

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I'm currently listening to "The Invisible Kingdom" album,
I think it's brilliant :-)

That's refreshing, yep!

Nice for chilling out after a dark industrial techno session!

😁

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