I also think about this a lot. It was a long time before I became aware of Csound, and for me, Csound, as it is now, is the ideal computer music instrument, so I don't want it to change too drastically or go away. I don't want the drum to suddenly become obsolete, or the piano either. What would happen if people stopped making them? Those instruments have been around for quite a while and people are still doing beautiful things with them, just as they could be doing a hundred years from now with Csound. The mathematics, physics, and basic computer science concepts behind the sounds that I like is something that I can continue to learn about, and be confident that the knowledge will probably not become obsolete. A good solid investment. However, investing a lot of time in getting comfortable with a sound synthesis/signal processing environment that functions partly because of relatively timeless concepts in these disciplines, but is implemented in complex and constantly evolving programming languages and hardware, is not such a sure bet. I hope I can do my part in the future as part of an unofficial society for the preservation of Csound as a musical instrument, and C as a computer programming language.     

On 7/23/08, Michael Gogins <gogins@pipeline.com> wrote:
Thanks for raising this important issue!

I've been concerned about this ever since I started working with computer music. As you may or may not know, there are several classic works of computer music, or computer music software, that have been lost due to the obsolescence of their computer hardware, operating system, or programming language -- including John Chowning's classic pieces, initially realized in SAIL, now fortunately re-realized.

I've personally experienced this kind of obsolescence. I used to use a freebie PC sequencer that went obsolete, so all the pieces I did in this sequencer are now toast. I have the MIDI sequences so I can re-render them in Csound, but I can't edit the compositions (which were hierarchies of sequences).

And I've experienced it in my own software! I have migrated my compositional algorithms from standalone Windows C++ programs, to the Java version of Silence, to CsoundAC. Pieces done in the old software are now dead. I still have the MIDI sequences and the Csound orcs and scos, so I can improve the Csound arrangements and rendering quality, but I can't edit or vary the compositional algorithms any more.

Obviously, open source tools are essential for serious music that has some aspiration to live for more than a few years.

The hope is that basic programs such as Csound and Python will continue to be maintained with backward compatibility, and if backward compatibility breaks, it will still be possible to rebuild the older versions from sources and run them, if necessary on emulators. After all, people are still making "chip tunes" for the Yamaha SID and Commodore 64 on PC emulator software. This is the model for us!

I think that if the software in question is central enough -- C, C++, Python, Java, let's hope Csound -- it will still be possible to build and run the software indefinitely into the future, thanks to scholarly interest in the history of computing and the maintenance of compilers, emulators, and so on.

Regards,
Mike

-----Original Message-----
>From: Steven Yi <stevenyi@gmail.com>
>Sent: Jul 23, 2008 1:22 PM
>To: csound@lists.bath.ac.uk, blue users mailing list <bluemusic-users@lists.sourceforge.net>
>Subject: [Csnd] The case for open source
>
>Hi All,
>
>I just saw a link to this from a Linux Audio mailing list that Tascam
>is ceasing development of Gigastudio:
>
>http://www.filmmusicmag.com/?p=1738
>
>This kind of thing has really been an issue for me, that closed source
>software that goes into an unsupported state severely limits the
>lifespan and history of computer music works.  I've discussed
>long-term software in lectures and about considering what you are
>investing time/money in in terms of future work.  I have referenced
>the issues that affected Apple users moving from OS9 to OSX, then
>again from PPC to Intel, how my friend was affected in half of his
>plugins were never ported to Intel, thus severely limiting his ability
>to open or reuse aspects of his project (basically he would need to
>keep an OSX PPC machine around if he ever wanted to look at the
>project again).
>
>Anyways, it's these kinds of situations that I am very concerned about
>when I think about computer music and the history of it.  I am a
>strong advocate for open source as well as investing in technologies
>based on virtual machines or interpreters where possible to protect
>investments of time/work.  Just wanted to bring this up for discussion
>as I think it's an important point involving our our work.
>
>Thanks,
>steven
>
>
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