Blogs

Once again and surpassing the least gloomy expectations, tradition has been kept alive and kicking. Even on these times of global economic turmoil, or so they say. One could blame it on the crysis if things would have gone less than regular. That was not the case however.

In spite of it all, I am proud to report that this years attendance and overall content and (in)formal exchange was not weaker that the previous events. In fact, it hasn't lost its spirit even though it's the first time ever that the international Linux Audio Developers meeting, officially known as the Linux Audio Conference has moved outside of Germany. No regrets, quite the contrary and as many of so unforgettable experiences.

All that to say that the Linux Audio Conference 2009 held on the La Casa della Musica (CdM) Parma, Italy, from April 16th to 19th, is now over and I'm already a little bit late to report about my attendance. So there it goes...

There are bugs which are resilient. One is never sure whether squashing one doesn't let a plethora of lurking others get loose, like one's skeleton in the closet falling apart. Paraphrasing Linus' Law, after ESR: given enough eardrums all bugs are shallow. Thanks to all the brave souls who keep harnessing the toy to the bone, some of those nasties could be whipped off. At least for the time being ;)

Trivially speaking, this dot-release marks the 4th anniversary of Qtractor as an active/personal project and, putting numerology to the side, it is being released on this April, 4th (04/04). But then, I do confess, this was just reckoned as an accidental after-thought, as everything in numerology, I guess :)

Although only one developer is still responsible for 99% of the code (that's me!:), there's some outsourcing (kind of) shaping and already pending in its early stages: MIDI event list editing; Windows native VST plugin support, much in the lines of FST/WINE, as in Ardour, perhaps; a new logo and/or splash-screen design is also under this way. Keep in mind that all translations will be asked only after the end of the current alpha phase, whenever it would be an end to it :P

Most importantly, there's serious help being needed on drafting the user manual. The current one available is getting outrageously outdated, ever since the 0.2 situation. It's already getting tough to play catch up. And everyone knows about developer(s) not feeling like doing documentation in the first place. Move on. The more participation the better.

In general, if you ever feel like, please pick up your favorite line on the ever still TODO list and do step in. You'll be more than welcome: eardrums, which usually come in pairs, just like eyeballs do, are pretty wanted!

So dress up your black leather and vinyl, put up the spiky collars and whip it, whip it good B)

Here we go:

Qtractor 0.4.1 (funky dominatrix) unleashed!

Release highlights:

• MIDI editor snap grid. (NEW)
• Multi-clip selection normalize and quantize (NEW)
• Audio export & sample-rate conversion (FIXED)
• MIDI & audio playback sync (FIXED)
• SSE optimization enabled (FIXED)

and a few more fixes and same lurking bugs ;)

Howdy! It's been quite a while since last time (Fluffy Doll for Xmas:). However, Qtractor is back again on track and this time with great news. And the big news are: that this pet is leaving its rusty four-on-the-floor cage and spreading it's musical genre targets. Still a bedroom/home-studio sequencer though, but not for the techno-boy/girl only anymore--if one may trump about it, it's getting a general-purpose sticker now.

And what makes it like just that? One long due feature, now stroked by implementation lightning: Tempo/Time-signature Map. Or in other words: project sessions may now have multiple parts with different tempo (BPM) and/or time-signatures.

Tempo/time-signature map is/was a very pervasive feature change. Although deeply internal, as it's only evidently visible from the new View/Tempo Map... interactive yet primitive dialog, it is also accessible by double-clicking on the time rulers (main track-view and MIDI clip editors) and by left-clicking over the main tempo spin-box, which also introduces the time-signature figures as seen from the current play-head position.

One should probably say that this is the major change in Qtractor internals since its primordial inception. No doubt, we're still in alpha status. It surely will take a (another) while, a year or so, for a similar payload take a lift, ever again. No sweat. Watch for next favorite feature requests, like MIDI controller map/learn/feedback and automation. Coming next, soon, hopefully :)

A few words of caution must be said now. It is of paramount interest for all of you who already use Qtractor for any (small) project or prototype, to be prepared for less amenable surprises. Being optimistically wise, there's a very good chance that all new workings will bring a better experience overall. But given the whole nature and depth of what got through, it is wise enough to have your backups at hand and up to date. Don't hesitate asking for help, in any case.

Caveat emptor!

So, with no further ado, there it is:

Qtractor 0.4.0 (foxy dryad) is now released!

Release highlights:

• Tempo-map/Time-signature support. (NEW)
• MIDI Song Position cueing support. (NEW)
• MIDI Clip Quantize command. (NEW)
• Zoom direction mode option (NEW)
• MP3 audio format support (FIXED)

and many other assorted fixes and brand new bugs ;)

Merry season greetings! After a very long quarantine period, and while after the last Flirty Ditz romance, this pet has calmly bumped a few more steps ahead. Please welcome, my Christmas present to y'all,

Qtractor 0.3.0 (fluffy doll) has been released!

Release highlights:

• Paste-Repeat command.
• Punch in/out recording.
• Session/project template support.
• Current track auto-monitoring.
• MIDI buses now supporting multi-timbral instrument plug-ins.
• Individual clip gain/volume, normalize and audio/MIDI file export.
• Copy/paste to desktop environment clipboard.

and many, many fixes and new bugs ;)

A semester has gone by, since last release, with no big news on this front. Alas, on the verge of the coming one-dot-oh release of the mighty JACK Audio Connection Kit, here goes one fine update of its old and aged Qt GUI front-end:

Nothing much new to see but you might welcome the patch-bay snapshot revamp, which might finally do the right thing, and the rand new translations that are getting in place: German (de), Spanish(es), French (fr) and Russian (ru). Many thanks to all involved.