RE: Beatnik

[Tom Attix <toma@microsoft.com>]

Well, you can either have philosophy installed or just bad engineering
and something that claims to pass for user interface. The reason a lot
of complex media-related apps get developed on the Mac is because of
that "philosophy". If you create a consistent and coherent environment,
things can be easily made to fit within it. You make philosophy sound
like a dirty word.
-Tom Attix
Microsoft Quality Assurance 
toma@microsoft.com

        -----Original Message-----
        From:   Stephen P. Goodman [SMTP:sgoodman@primenet.com]
        Sent:   Monday, April 28, 1997 4:08 PM
        To:     Tom Attix
        Subject:        Beatnik

        Heh, the name "Beatnik" would imply that Thomas D. still is
sporting the
        goatee...  

        Alas, the centrism of the Mac community will be its ultimate
downfall. :) 
        Cases like this - Mac-sourced ports - have hardly ever come to
fruit, since
        Mac developers tend to not go outside their own community when
they port
        something to the PC platform.  Their assumptions in many cases
(from
        hardware on down) tend to come off as more an evangelization of
the Mac
        platform, than what it may or should be.  Otherwise Adobe, etc.
would be
        doing much better by now.  Typically we on this side of the
fence have come
        to expect disappointments with respect to ports from Mac
platforms, mainly
        for this reason.  Which, of course, lends itself to a 'wait and
see'
        attitude on this side.

        Not to dis something before its time, of course, I'd welcome the
        opportunity to assist Mr. Dolby in his efforts.  I've been in
the PC
        community on the development end on down, since 1981, and know a
bit about
        system processes.  And I've got contacts that have written some
        heavy-hitters on the multiple-platform level as well: for
instance, the guy
        who wrote the software for pen recognition that you use when you
sign for a
        UPS package?

        > I believe that is right. The authoring tools are only
mac-based now, with
        > plans to release pc-based tools later. The end user plug-ins
are
        available
        > on all platforms. 
        > 
        > I am glad to see that the coolest stuff on the net is
available for macs
        > before pc's for a change,  heh heh......

        Then again, I've come to know "PC vs. Mac" arguments as nothing
more than
        intellectual masturbation. :)  I've worked on Macs as well,
going back to
        85.  But the business world being what it is, and the PC being
what it is,
        in their opposite states of change, well, I know what pays the
rent.  :) 
        If I supported just Macs for a living I'd have one here -
despite my great
        dislike for having Philosophy installed in the hardware. [s]
However, I
        remain in an observant frame for this.

        Cheers,

        Stephen.

        PS - Have you ever been to my site?

        Stephen Goodman       * Download The Loop Of The Week and more! 
        EarthLight Studios         *
http://www.primenet.com/~sgoodman/Studios

*-----------------------------------------------------------------------
----
        ------------------------------
        > 
        > At 01:25 PM 4/28/97 -0700, you wrote:
        > >>From what I've understood the encoder is still Mac-based,
though
        they've
        > >got plans to make a PC encoder sometime this year.  Being a
PC-based
        > >person, this is alas, only encouraging. :)
        > >
        > >----------
        > >> From: Kim Flint <kflint@chromatic.com>
        > >> To: Loopers-Delight@annihilist.com
        > >> Subject: Re: looped music/web
        > >> Date: Monday, April 28, 1997 1:12 PM
        > >> 
        > >> At 03:47 PM 4/28/97 -0400, you wrote:
        > >> >Hi all,
        > >> >
        > >> >I recently possed the following question to Headspace
about their new
        > >audio
        > >> >Netscape plug-in called Beatnik.
        > >> >
        > >> [interesting beatnik stuff]
        > >> >
        > >> >Has anyone tried playing back seamless loops from a PC
using this
        > >plug-in?
        > >> >
        > >> 
        > >> Just install it and go to the Headspace site. Thomas
Dolby's
        walk-through
        > >> examples include several looped audio parts. Also good
examples of
        > >> interactive audio on a web page. They also have links to
demonstration
        > >sites
        > >> with more interesting stuff. I went to one created by a
trip-hop dj
        that
        > >let
        > >> you control four parts of a mix, with the ability to change
the audio
        > >> samples in different parts, as well as mixing and muting
the different
        > >> channels. It was a blast! Another page let you essentially
compose an
        > >> ambient piece interactively by starting up various audio
samples and
        > >letting
        > >> them loop or go in and out, or whatever., all by
interacting with a
        > >graphic
        > >> on the page. It was all incredibly cool.
        > >> 
        > >> Another thing my girlfriend noticed, is that midi files
from the web
        > >sound
        > >> fantastic through beatnik. I think they have their own
sample library,
        > >which
        > >> replaces the crappy gm sounds we had through quicktime. I'm
using it
        for
        > >all
        > >> web based audio now, and highly recommend it.
        > >> 
        > >> kim
        > >> _______________________________________________________
        > >> Kim Flint                  408-752-9284
        > >> VLSI Systems Engineering        kflint@chromatic.com
        > >> Chromatic Research
        > >> 
        > >> 
        > >
        > >
        > >
        > _______________________________________________________
        > Kim Flint                     408-752-9284
        > VLSI Systems Engineering        kflint@chromatic.com
        > Chromatic Research
        > 
        >