JAVA 2, system independent. Purpose:to encourage research in harmony in astronomy, math and music. Obstacles:math, DSP/synthesis, networks, astronomy.Features:audio, database, graphicsTechnologies: Telnet, .WAV audio, oggvorbis, other audio
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For the last year and a little more there has been little activity on the software, although many improvements could be made. In October 2008 an application was made to receive a grant from the National Endowment for the Humanities, under the "Digital Start-Up" grants. The program seeks to offer support to software and web projects which give innovation to study in the humanities. If the grant is received, the project will undergo major revision and extensive elaboration of concepts, especially in relation to making its roots more apparent in literature and history. The NEH will make known its decision in May 2009. Until then there will not be much change in the project unless there is alternative support. As the development of this project has stagnated in the last two years or so, it has unfortunately fallen somewhat behind its technologies. The most recent versions, which seemed to work well with Java 1.4.3, no longer seem to function under the present releases of Sun Java, due to changes in the windowing systems. With that being said, the earlier versions operating through command prompts still work, confirming that the trouble is in the Swing code (which was coded as a kind of wrapper around the command line version). The future plans would most likely continue development in Java as opposed to other languages, especially if web-based operation is pursued, and necessarily it would be so if the grant is received. However, development is not likely to produce a better digital music tool.
The present software provides a graphical interface for composing quasi-musical pieces by way of ephemeris data. Among its strengths are the acceptance of many tonal systems, the score-orbital notation with printing capabilites, and access to a 6000-year database. Among its weaknesses are poor documentation for the interface, buggy/quirky operation, and insepid sound support. If there will be a future version of HOW, the following tasks would hopefully be accomplished: 1. Re-style the interface for a typical user 2. Develop more french language implementation 3. Make a documentation specific to the interface 4. Augment the compositional formula to determine rhythm as well as harmony.
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