In "Real-Time"

... as opposed to that "fake" time I was using before, right? Heh.

Anyway, I'm pretty excited today because the music program I've been writing just took a huge leap forward in it's capabilities. It is becoming a "real-time" sequencer. In a nutshell, I've coded a synthesizer that operates on vector data instead of midi data, which is really cool, because up until now hearing what was drawn in the program required compiling all the tracks into waveforms and playing back the wave files as compiled. Now, however, there is no need to compile each track into a wave file because the new synthesizer code is fast enough to compile the wave while it's playing back. So from a user-interface perspective, all you have to do is draw and hit the play button to hear what you drew, instead of the three step process of drawing, compiling, then playing back. Fun!

There's tons more that can be done with the synthesizer and how it interfaces with the main program, too! All in good time.

Keeping it "real",
Andy F.

To open source or not to open source?

To open source or not to open source? That has been the question, and after much deliberation I've decided to open the source.

There are many reasons for and against open sourcing but in my mind all the reasons boil down to the same choice. Do I choose God or the world? God says "open source" and the world says "keep it for yourself and get rich". Fortunately, I've had some experience with what each choice promises and know that God's promise is trustworthy while the world's is not. The funny thing about it, though, is that God's promise often delivers on both his and the world's promises while the world's promise ultimately fails to deliver on anything, including it's own promises. Even funnier still is that, until last week and the decision to open source, I was still considering both. What is there to consider? The choice is an obvious one, because as Linda says... "You ARE rich!"

So now I make preparations for opening the source, which starts with the odious task of documenting the code.

Why "Triune" Artistry?

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From the song "American Pie" written by Don McLean...
- "... the three men I admire most, the father, son, and the holy ghost. They caught the last train for the coast. The day the music died."
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There are multiple reasons for the name "Triune Artistry", the foremost being I believe in a triune God and feel He/They have led me every step of the way in my quest for creative genius. That alone would not have been "cool" enough for me to name this blog after it, though, because my sense of creativity often demands double entendre, so when I see a quadruple entendre, I can't resist.
So what are the 2nd, 3rd, and 4th meanings of this quadruple entendre? Well, there's actually only 3 meanings to the entendre but that in itself being "tri" makes it a quadruple entendre. Therefore we can immediately pare it down to just a 2nd and 3rd meaning, with the first being the aforementioned Trinity itself.
The 2nd meaning, though, is due to an awesome piece of non-fiction called "The Mind of the Maker" written by the mystery novelist Dorothy Sayers. In this book Sayers makes an analogy between the Trinity and creative expression, and being an artist, this book led me to a whole new understanding of how the Trinity can be perceived on a human level while at the same time leading me to a greater appreciation for art as a resonance of God. In the interest of brevity I'll leave the 2nd meaning's full exploration open ended for now.
Lastly, the 3rd meaning is due to the three different disciplines I'm currently employing in my creative process (another "3", who's up for a quintuple entendre?), that being sound, motion-picture and computer programming. All these disciplines make me feel like a renaissance man, which is appropriate since the world is going through changes of a pace and type similar to that era.

Stay tuned,
Andy Fillebrown

...and we're off!

...or should I say "on", this being my first blog and all.

No keen insights or witty observations today since time does not allow for now, so this first post will have to serve as a test and not much else.