Hi! As a musically-inclined full-time BeOS user I've been spending some time working on MIDI-related projects for BeOS / Haiku. Details follow:
The MIDI sequencer is a long-term project, and although no final code has been produced, much of the internal sequencer engine design is nearing completion. It has now reached a stage where feedback on the proposed GUI design (documented at the link below) would be extremely valuable!
MIDI Sequencer: Main article
Note: This is a proposed project. While the design is
very nearly complete (including schematics), it has never been built.
As a result, there is no user-friendly documentation to describe
how to build it, and if you do decide to follow the schematics and
build it right now, there's a strong possibility you may come
horribly unstuck.
The parallel port is unique in its abilities to maintain extremely
strict MIDI timing, better than USB, and far better than serial. With
some relatively simple circuitry, an 8x8 MIDI interface can be
constructed to attach to the parallel port, providing excellent timing
for less cost than a USB MIDI interface.
PCI-express parallel port cards are also available on the market,
for those of you who lack a parallel port, but crave its legendary
timing. If you have a laptop, build a desktop.
A BeOS-native sample-based software synthesizer that loads Soundfont 2.1 multisample files, and presents itself as a standard MIDI device to
BeOS. It can also load wave files, for playing across the keyboard.
This one hasn't been updated in a while, but it will be updated again
at some point. The sequencer has priority at the moment, however.
Note: Not yet tested under Haiku. Like all the projects here,
once Haiku reaches near-R1 status, it will be modified for
compatibility if any changes are required.
BeOS has gained a reputation over the last couple of years of being incompatible with modern hardware. This is largely untrue, and BeOS can indeed be made to work on modern hardware in many cases. This article is a collection of information relating to this subject, and should be of interest to anyone who is looking to build a new PC that's compatible with R5, or simply make an existing machine -- previously deemed incompatible -- work with R5.
BeOS and Modern Hardware: Main article
You have some feedback on the sequencer already? Great! =P
As of 12-Nov-2007 there's a thread of sorts at the openbeos-midi
mailing list -- go to www.freelists.org and search for "openbeos-midi"
to subscribe.
A less ephemeral way of contacting me is via the SqueekySynth
talkback (
http://www.bebits.com/talkback/4313
) or even e-mail, although I've had less than good luck with e-mail
providers in recent years. At the host 'netscape', try mailing user
'c y a n h 2 5 6'. (Warning: not '. c o m', but rather '. n e t').
Anti-spammed enough?
- Cyan
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