Activity for Bernard Bel
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Bernard Bel posted a comment on discussion Bol Processor open discussion
The Bol Processor on MacOS is now a standalone application "BolProcessor.app" (based of PHP Desktop) that no longer requires an additional installation. Great news, because running the free version of MAMP had limitations, and using XAMPP is a bit awkward to set up automatically on startup. The installer is used for both the initial installation and updates. Check this page to download the (notarized) installer: https://bolprocessor.org/quick-install-macos/
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Dear colleagues, I have completed and uploaded version 3.2.0 of the Bol Processor, in which important changes have been made, although these may not be audible in the examples. However, they may be noticeable on some MIDI instruments or when capturing MIDI events. The main change is the management of NoteOn/NoteOff messages, described on the page https://bolprocessor.org/control-noteon-noteoff/ It took me a long time to revise pages such as “FillPhaseDiagram.” and “MakeSound.c”, which account for...
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The previous installer is indeed off line. The problem lies in browsers that keep pages and files in their own cache. pinki wrote on 08/01/2025 15:49: Hi Bernard I don’t understand- why don’t you make the previous installer package off line and then this problem of the browser downloading the older version would surely go away? Or do version numbers? Best Andy On 8 Jan 2025, at 14:03, Bernard Bel belbernard@users.sourceforge.net <mailto:belbernard@users.sourceforge.net> wrote: Hi Andy, Well, I now...
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Hi Andy, Well, I now check the installation every day in XAMPP and MAMP (free) environments, both with and without symbolic links... I have learnt from your reports to be very careful about the compatibility. So there are only three hypotheses as to why it failed on your machine: 1) You may not be using the latest "BolProcessorInstaller.pkg" installer. Check its size, it should be 18987 bytes. Browsers (especially Chrome) tend to cache the old version they have, so it's safe to download "BolProcessorInstaller.pkg"...
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Dear all, First of all, I would like to wish you all a happy new year: success, health and peace, despite the appalling international situation... I've spent many days (and nights) fixing problems that have arisen following reports from a new user. I hadn't checked the installation and operation in MacOS carefully enough, feeling confident because the console and its interface were developed on my Mac with the latest version of the system. Part of the problem is that I am using MAMP PRO, which behaves...
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Hello! This problem is very intriguing and kept me busy for a few days (and nights)... The explanation is that MAMP and XAMPP run as different identities. While MAMP uses your personal identity (by default), XAMPP uses "daemon". The user/group parameters of the "bolprocessor" folder (and all its contents) must therefore be different for these Apache servers, i.e: daemon:admin for XAMPP <user_id>:admin for MAMP</user_id> So I modified the installer to detect the presence of XAMPP and change the parameters...
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Hello Andy, I haven't seen your attached images, so I can't understand the new problems you're experiencing. To anticipate my answer, I installed MAMP and the Bol Processor on an "innocent" Mac running MacOS Sequoia 15.2. I then updated the page: https://bolprocessor.org/quick-install-macos/ to reflect the changes. The first unexpected situation was that this version of MAMP uses port "8888", so the link to the Bol Processor is: localhost:8888/bolprocessor/php/ Another unexpected feature: this "innocent"...
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Hello Andy, This discussion list does not seem to share attached files/images. Can you send them directly to bernarbel at gmail.com ? I use MAMP Pro version 5.7 on the Mac, which explains why the interface is different. I haven't tried the free version for a while, but I will do so on another machine. Bernard pinki wrote on 04/01/2025 11:22: Hi Bernard I tried again! The expression “pulling teeth” comes to mind… Now this: Any ideas? Thanks Andy  On 4 Jan 2025, at 06:25, Bernard Bel belbernard@users.sourceforge.net...
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This problem can probably be solved by moving the "bolprocessor" folder to a location where files can be written by MAMP or XAMPP. This is now possible in all installations, e.g. MacOS: https://bolprocessor.org/quick-install-macos/#relocating-bolprocessor
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Hi Andy, This is strange, since "chmod" is a standard command on all MacOS systems, and changing permissions in the Finder is also very easy... Anyway, I understand your disappointment. I've written a call for more reporting of this case on the page: https://bolprocessor.org/quick-install-macos/#compile-the-bp-console At least, your initial report was extremely valuable in correcting my syntax error in the install script! All the best Bernard pinki wrote on 01/01/2025 19:16: I cannot change the permissions...
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Hello Andy, Are permissions of the "bolprocessor" and the "php" folders set to "775"? Did you try setting them to "777" (no restriction)? If this is the case, the problem is not specific to the installer, MAMP or XAMPP. I understand your feeling of defeat! I asked my favorite adviser the following question: A customer trying to run my application on MacOS 13 (Ventura) is getting this error when running a PHP page with MAMP or XAMPP. (Both give the same result.) Warning: file_put_contents(_settings.php):...
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This is odd because the full install works fine on my Mac and I don't get this message suggesting that the permissions on the "php" folder are not sufficient to create the "_settings.php" file. The (correct) installer recursively sets permissions in the "bolprocessor" folder to "775", which means "read & write" for 'system' and 'admin', and "read only" for 'everyone'. You can check this (and fix it) in the Finder by clicking "Get Info" on the "bolprocessor" folder. (The Finder may request you to...
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This is odd because the full install works fine on my Mac and I don't get this message suggesting that the permissions on the "php" folder are not sufficient to create the "_settings.php" file. The (correct) installer recursively sets permissions in the "bolprocessor" folder to "775", which means "read & write" for 'system' and 'admin', and "read only" for 'everyone'. You can check this (and fix it) in the Finder by clicking "Get Info" on the "bolprocessor" folder. (The Finder may request you to...
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Done! I found a bug in the installation script I had updated some time ago... For geeks: I forgot the "fi" command that ends an "if" (what a ridiculous syntax!). The problem with this MacOS installer is that it doesn't show its process, for some obscure security reason that even ChatGPT couldn't explain. But running the script in the Terminal immediately pointed out the error. I was so confident that I only checked Windows and Linux installations. The correct "BolProcessorInstaller.pkg" can be downloaded...
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Hello Andy, Correct! I tried installing on a Mac and it didn't work. The problem is that it installed files for the console, but not the "php" and "ctests" folders. This may be due to permissions issues. I am working on it now and will let you know when it works again. The Windows installation still works fine, so this is not a repository problem. In the meantime, you can get the php and ctests folders from here: https://github.com/bolprocessor/php-frontend/archive/master.zip https://github.com/bolprocessor/bp3-ctests/archive/main.zip...
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Hello Andy, No need for Command Line Tools, Xcode, etc. I am running Sequoia (MacOS 15) but earlier I had also tried Ventura (MacOS 13). All above Mojave (10.14) are compatible. If you get a "This site can't be reached error" it means that MAMPP is not running. If you get a "Not Found" error it means that MAMPP is running but the URL is not correct. I guess you've used the installer, so it installed the "bolprocessor" folder inside the "htdocs" folder. However, be careful: if you've installed both...
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Dear all, Version 3.0.19 of the Bol Processor supports the "Compute while playing" option (checked by default) and the "Max advance time" parameter, which sets the maximum time for the computation ahead of the performance. This is useful to ensure proper synchronisation when multiple instances of BP3 take turns: uncheck "Compute while playing" and set "Max advance time" to less than 2 times the expected duration of each production. "Pause" and "Continue" can also be controlled by receiving the standard...
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Dear all , Version 3.0.17 of the Bol Processor adds "Pause" and "Continue" buttons when playing a piece of music in real-time MIDI. Another significant update is the storage of settings in a structured JSON format, which will make it easier to create new parameters in future developments. This version has been checked in MacOS, Linux and Windows environments. Install BP3 and its PHP interface using our installers: https://bolprocessor.org/check-bp3/ All the best, Bernard
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Dear all , I have spent this month designing better distributions of the Bol Processor in the three environments (MacOS, Windows, Linux). First of all, to make the interface more attractive, thanks to several colour 'skins' that will be updated from time to time. I have a preference for the blue skin in dark mode, which is the one selected by default... But the most important work is not yet visible. Czarek Tomczak has released the long-awaited distribution of his "PHP Desktop" package for MacOS....
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Dear colleagues, Given my painful experience with cathode ray tube screens on early computers, I feel uncomfortable with any piece of software that displays a dark work desktop. These have become popular with younger generations who didn't have this experience… That's why I felt challenged to create a dark interface of the Bol processor. To prove that it can't be that good? The new interface in this 'Halloween' version has an icon in the top right corner that switches the light on and off with a...
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Dear colleagues, Given my painful experience with cathode ray tube screens on early computers, I feel uncomfortable with any piece of software that displays a dark work desktop. These have become popular with younger generations who didn't have this experience… That's why I felt challenged to create a dark interface of the Bol processor. To prove that it can't be that good? The new interface in this 'Halloween' version has an icon in the top right corner that switches the light on and off with a...
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Dear colleagues, Given my painful experience with cathode ray tube screens on early computers, I feel uncomfortable with any piece of software that displays a dark work desktop. These have become popular with younger generations who didn't have this experience… That's why I felt challenged to create a dark interface of the Bol processor. To prove that it can't be that good? The new interface in this 'Halloween' version has an icon in the top right corner that switches the light on and off with a...
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Dear colleagues, As announced in the previous message, I have implemented a "capture" command that records incoming MIDI events to text files. Details can be found on this page: https://bolprocessor.org/capture-midi-input/ Making sense of musical events produced by a human performer or another machine is an enormously challenging and promising task. The first step will be to translate captured sequences into polymetric expressions using acceptable approximations. Then we will try to construct grammars...
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Dear colleagues, As announced in the previous message, I have implemented a "capture" command that records incoming MIDI events to text files. Details can be found on this page: https://bolprocessor.org/capture-midi-input/ Making sense of musical events produced by a human performer or another machine is an enormously challenging and promising task. The first step will be to translate captured sequences into polymetric expressions using acceptable approximations. Then we will try to construct grammars...
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A quick note: after several days of unsuccessful attempts, I had a successful run of the "xcrun notarytool submit BolProcessorInstaller.pkg" command, which gave the correct certification to the MacOS installer of the Bol Processor (see https://bolprocessor.org/quick-install-macos/). In effect, users are no longer warned that this application is potentially malicious, and they don't have to bypass the protection in their system settings… This makes a difference! Finding the right parameters and options...
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Dear colleagues, I have completed the implementation of tools for using microtonal scales in realtime MIDI and MIDI files on BP3, now completely independent of Csound. First of all, scale models can be imported and exported from/to SCALA and KBM files. In this way, tuning schemes designed on the Bol Processor can be used by other music software tools. However, this is 'static' use, as a single tuning must be applied to an entire musical work, which is acceptable in classical/baroque music genres....
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Dear colleagues, The new version of Bol Processor (3.0.5) uploaded today brings two important features: 1) Tonal structures are designed independently of Csound and stored as "tonal files" in a folder called "tonal_resources" and shared by all projects. A tonal file (prefix "-to") contains any number of scales (tuning schemes). These can be easily copied between different files and note names can be changed as required: English, Italian/French, Indian and key number conventions. If you load an old...
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Dear colleagues, I have created installers for Windows and MacOS, and a set of scripts for installing BP3 on Linux. Read details: https://bolprocessor.org/quick-install-macos/ https://bolprocessor.org/quick-install-windows/ https://bolprocessor.org/check-bp3/ These make it possible to install the console files, the PHP interface and the set of sample files (ctests) in a single click. The same installers can be used to upgrade the installation to a new version, automatically fetching the latest distribution....
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Swimming on MacOS, cycling on Windows and running on Linux! The complete setup of the Bol Processor BP3 (https://bp3.tech) has been trialed in these 3 environments. That deserved a medal, given the endurance required to program advanced MIDI features. The outcome: several instances of BP3 can operate simultaneously, like “virtual musicians” synchronising their actions in an “orchestra”, communicating with MIDI devices as well as… human musicians! (https://bp3.tech/real-time-midi/) Writing code was...
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Dear all, I managed to acquire a second-hand HP machine that is entirely dedicated to compiling and testing the Bol processor on Windows 10 and, very soon, Linux. This was essential as the update to compile and run on Windows took more than ten days (and nights)! The result is here: https://github.com/bolprocessor/bolprocessor/archive/graphics-for-BP3.zip https://github.com/bolprocessor/php-frontend/archive/master.zip https://github.com/bolprocessor/bp3-ctests/archive/main.zip The updated installation...
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Hello everyone, I have completed the implementation of features that make BP3 a fully interactive multitasking composition/improvisation program in the MIDI environment. The meaning of "multitask" is that any number of instances of BP3 can run simultaneously on the same computer, using the same web browser, or on multiple computers connected by MIDI cables or other networking facilities such as BlueTooth. What is more, these instances can communicate with each other and with other MIDI devices -...
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Hello, After days of intensive work, I have completed the implementation of input MIDI event handling. This paved the way for the restoration of scripts that can be viewed as "input time objects". Many script instructions had been created for BP2 which I plan to revive. For now, the only instruction that works in BP3 is a pause waiting for a specific note, for example _script(IN wait for C3 channel 1) which is self-explanatory. If it is placed at the beginning of a piece, its performance will start...
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Dear colleagues, I am very proud to announce the completion of the real-MIDI output on BP3! As usual, the updated console can be downloaded from https://github.com/bolprocessor/bolprocessor/archive/graphics-for-BP3.zip along with its HTML/PHP/Javascript interface from https://github.com/bolprocessor/php-frontend/archive/master.zip and its sample set: https://github.com/bolprocessor/bp3-ctests/archive/main.zip A (fresh new) history of "changes" is available here: https://github.com/bolprocessor/bolprocessor/blob/graphics-for-BP3/BP3-changes.txt...
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Dear colleagues, On 15th November I gave a Tech Talk for Native Instruments (https://www.native-instruments.com) on the Bol Processor project in its historical, musicological and computational aspects. I was invited by Campbell Payne, who suggested a 50-minute talk. Needless to say, I felt anxious about speaking in English (which is not used in my village!), but after a long preparation with slides, I managed to do it without too many mistakes… Then I edited the video, which is now on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jLHzKUQKLPY...
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Dear colleagues, On 15th November I gave a Tech Talk for Native Instruments (https://www.native-instruments.com) on the Bol Processor project in its historical, musicological and computational aspects. I was invited by Campbell Payne, who suggested a 50-minute talk. Needless to say, I felt anxious about speaking in English (which is not used in my village!), but after a long preparation with slides, I managed to do it without too many mistakes… Then I edited the video, which is now on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jLHzKUQKLPY...
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Dear colleagues, Recently (8 March) I had announced the implementation of a process named "tonal analysis" on BP3: https://bolprocessor.org/tonal-analysis/ The basic idea was to evaluate the adequacy of a tonal scale (produced by a tuning scheme/procedure) to the rendering of a musical work, given a model of consonance of melodic and harmonic intervals. This process is meaningful, when dealing with European Baroque music, owing to the detailed documentation of temperaments published by Pierre-Yves...
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Dear colleagues, Recently (8 March) I had announced the implementation of a process named "tonal analysis" on BP3: https://bolprocessor.org/tonal-analysis/ The basic idea was to evaluate the adequacy of a tonal scale (produced by a tuning scheme/procedure) to the rendering of a musical work, given a model of consonance of melodic and harmonic intervals. This process is meaningful, when dealing with European Baroque music, owing to the detailed documentation of temperaments published by Pierre-Yves...
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Dear colleagues, A new process has been implemented on BP3 php interface, fully documented on page: https://bolprocessor.org/tonal-analysis/ In brief, it calculates all melodic and harmonic intervals, using parameters that can be modified. Then it looks for a tonal scale that has been specified in the item, or it selects an equal-tempered scale. Melodic and harmonic intervals are drawn in the image of the tonal scale, highlighting intervals (and note positions) used in the performance. This process...
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Dear colleagues, A new process has been implemented on BP3 php interface, fully documented on page: https://bolprocessor.org/tonal-analysis/ In brief, it calculates all melodic and harmonic intervals, using parameters that can be modified. Then it looks for a tonal scale that has been specified in the item, or it selects a tempered scale. Melodic and harmonic intervals are drawn in the image of the tonal scale, highlighting intervals (and note positions) used in the performance. This process is useful...
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Dear colleagues, I implemented the translation of slurs and breath markers when importing MusicXML scores. Explanations on page https://bolprocessor.org/importing-musicxml/ The set of updated PHPfiles has been submitted to GitHub: https://github.com/bolprocessor/php-frontend Both effects have been applied to the interpretation of François Couperin's “Les Ombres Errantes”: https://bolprocessor.org/misc/sounds/Ombres_errantes_meantone_rameau_en_sib.mp3 Note the impressive consonances of this piece...
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Dear all, I updated the algorithm for importing MusicXML scores to deal with ornamentation: mordents, turns and trills. Explanations and examples on this page: https://bolprocessor.org/importing-musicxml/ Please keep in mind that the aim of importing MusicXML scores is not to play them accurately — even though it is fun to try! We mainly wish to extract fragments of existing scores and reuse them for the production of new musical works. The polymetric format characteristic of Bol Processor "scores"...
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Dear all, I updated the algorithm for importing MusicXML scores to deal with ornamentation: mordents, turns and trills. Explanations and examples on this page: https://bolprocessor.org/importing-musicxml/ Please keep in mind that the aim of importing MusicXML scores is not to play them accurately — even though it is fun to try! We mainly wish to extract fragments of existing scores and reuse them for the production of new musical works. The polymetric format characteristic of Bol Processor "scores"...
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Dear all, Jim Kippen is undoubtedly the co-inventor of Bol Processor — initially, an expert system for the modelling of compositional/improvisational processes by North-Indian drum players. The whole venture started in the summer of 1981, as we met in the foothills of the Himalayas… The whole story is told on page: https://bolprocessor.org/kippen-interview/ A French version is also accessible: https://bolprocessor.org/kippen-interview-fr/ Don't hesitate to share it! I hope we can resume development...
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Dear all, I worked several days on optimizing code in BP3 console. More precisely, understanding (and solving) crashes on large structures… The outcome is a much more stable version which so far hasn't crashed on the largest pieces imported from MusicXML. Back in the 1990s, I was doing the same on BP2, trying to solve crashes on complex structures produced by grammars, notably designs by composer Harm Visser who enjoyed experiments with recursive rules! In those days, physical limitations such as...
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Dear all, I am delighted to announce that the "play-item" action has been implemented in the console. This implementation solved several pending issues because the input required as an "item" is a "bpda" data file created by the interface in a "temp" folder. This avoids sending data, variables, startup string etc. via the command line. In practice: 1) On a Grammar window buttons are automatically created for each variable in the grammar. (This means a large number for a grammar like "-gr.Mozart".)...
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Dear all, I have completed the documentation and sharing of work on "Raga intonation" and related issues, demonstrating features of Bol Processor's (BP3) microtonal scale editor in the context of musicological research: https://bolprocessor.org/raga-intonation/ https://bolprocessor.org/two-vina-experiment/ https://bolprocessor.org/just-intonation-framework/ The "grama-murcchana" theoretical model is a revival of work done in the early 1980s by my colleague Jim Arnold. Links to publications are given...
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Dear all, We are working hard developing BP3, the multiplatform version of Bol Processor. The entire project is now followed up on GitHub: • https://github.com/bolprocessor/bolprocessor (the core program in C + earlier versions of BP2) • https://github.com/bolprocessor/php-frontend (the PHP interface) You can install and check the current version on a local server. Download links and a detailed documentation (along with sound examples) is available on this page: https://bolprocessor.org/check-bp3/...
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Hello to everyone interested in (past and) future of Bol Processor! A new website has been installed to replace outdated presentation pages on Bol Processor, publish tutorials and keep readers informed about current development: https://bolprocessor.org/ Don't hesistate to share pages on your favourite social networks! Currently we are developing a multiplatform version of Bol Processor. The current version (BP 2.9.8) was running on Mac computers until system version MacOS 10.14 (Mojave). MacOS 10.15...
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Hello to everyone interested in (past and) future of Bol Processor! A new website has been installed to replace outdated presentation pages on Bol Processor, publish tutorials and keep readers informed about current development: https://bolprocessor.org/ Don't hesistate to share pages on your favourite social networks! Currently we are developing a multiplatform version of Bol Processor. The current version (BP 2.9.8) was running on Mac computers until system version MacOS 10.14 (Mojave). MacOS 10.15...
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Robert Moore wrote on 15/07/2020 06:49: Midi file output? Yes, one of the critical things. It would be good to be able to close MIDI output files without quitting from BP@. I was able to reproduce your problem. As Bill Gates would say: "It's not a bug, it's a feature!" ;-) On the "File save preferences" dialog you have three options: 1) Prompt for changing file name 2) Save each item to a new file 3) Store all items to same file The problem occured with option (3). Once you have stored an item in...
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Dear Robert, A quick answer because we haven't yet found time to post an announcement on http://bolprocessor.sourceforge.net/ (Damn, this page is still rejecting https!) We are very busy developing the new version of Bol Processor, the core of which will be a command-line application running on different platforms: Mac, Windows, Linux… We already checked that the source code does compile successfuly in all these environments. Anthony is working on the application itself while I am implementing a...
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Dear colleagues, I share Anthony's concern about the availability of time for implementing a new version of bolprocessor that will be based on a radically different structure. Fortunately we have the "spare parts", i.e. the algorithms and their implementation in scripts that do not require a rewriting — I mean, C language remains an acceptable programming language. Yet, part of the problem is to rebuild structures adapted to work environments which (some) composers feel safe to manipulate nowadays....
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Yes, you can use IAC. Open the Audio MIDI setup in the Devices menu, then Window -> MIDI studio and it will show up (see attached picture). There are more details on this page: https://www.soundonsound.com/techniques/audio-midi-setup and on this video (with terrible image!): https://youtu.be/hgFA_fdup7g
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I had prepared a reply in full agreement with Anthony. I checked again most features using BP2 under Mac OS X El Capitan and Pianoteq 4 Stage to produce piano sounds. It works well! When checking grammars in the “BP2 examples” folder I felt worried that a few of them would display items and yet produce no sound. The reason is that these grammars were linked to CoreMIDI settings files containing obsolete identifiers. In case this happens, just delete the statement for loading CoreMIDI settings appearing...
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I had prepared a reply in full agreement with Anthony. I checked again most features using BP2 under Mac OS X El Capitan and Pianoteq 4 Stage to produce piano sounds. It works well! When checking grammars in the “BP2 examples” folder I felt worried that a few of them would display items and yet produce no sound. The reason is that these grammars were linked to CoreMIDI settings files containing obsolete identifiers. In case this happens, just delete the statement for loading CoreMIDI settings appearing...
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