Computer music is not just about software engineering. In fact, at least from my point of view, it is ultimately only about music. The software is just a musical instrument. Therefore, the existence of alternative instruments that do the same thing is a deadly distraction. Imagine what classical music would be like, if there were 2 or 3 common layouts for the piano keyboard, or 2 or 3 different systems for music notation. It would be harder to learn to play or compose, composers would find it harder to understand each other, and they would not be able to reach as wide an audience.

Having different versions of Csound is, precisely, having different systems for music notation. It will make it harder to learn to use Csound, make it harder for composers to understand each other, and make it harder for them reach a wider audience.

The same arguments apply to having different software synthesis systems. It is a distraction to have Csound, SuperCollider, PD, Max/MSP, Cmix, etc., etc. As long as the software synthesis system is reasonably easy to program and is Turing universal and therefore extensible, from a musical point of view it is better to have only one, or at least, fewer of them.

You have been a great help in increasing the popularity of Csound, which is arguably the most powerful of these systems, even if it is not the prettiest or the most elegant. I would hate for you to go off in a huff and split the Csound community again.

Of course, music is not the only interest in software synthesis systems. There is a computer science or software engineering side of things, and from that point of view, of course, it is better to have alternatives. Perhaps you are more interested in the engineering side of things than in the musical side.

Regards,
Mike

-----Original Message-----
From: Istvan Varga 
Sent: Oct 19, 2005 6:24 AM
To: csound-devel@lists.sourceforge.net
Subject: Re: [Cs-dev] Tampering with other people's work

Michael Gogins wrote:

> If you simply create a new clone of Csound, I don't see the point.

Why not ? I should have done that in the first place.


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