We need your advice

2007/05/22: Yesterday we got an anonymous post asking about the music made in this project. We are looking for tools we can actually work with, as opposes to HydroGen. There must be some open-source linux music production tools that actually work properly and don't suffer from strange compatibility issues. If you use such tools, please let us know. HydroGen was a real disappointment for us. We want to hear from you.

Hydrobeats - Open Beat Composition Project

This project aims to co-develop open rhythmic music, based solely on open-source tools. The 1st stage will be sharing Hydrogen h2song files and co-developing them into full-scale compositions. In the future additional file types will be thrown into the mix to form fully documented open compositions.

Essentials

• Download, burn and run dyne:bolic GNU/Linux LiveCD with Hydrogen pre-installed
  • What's Hydrogen?
  • What's a LiveCD?
  • Download dynebolic 2.3 via BitTorrent
  • Recommended HTTP Mirror for download - Phobos.tk (USA)
  • Available mirror list on dynebolic.org
• Get to know Hydrogen
• Join Assembla and join our team
• Download and upload .h2song files in the Files section
• See how it evolves

Why dyne:bolic?

We've chosen dynebolic because it's specifically targetted towards musicians and enables usage on top of any PC with a CD-ROM. AND THERE'S NO INSTALLATION INVOLVED!!! Another exciting thing about it is that you can easily move your user data from one computer to the other by using a DiskOnKey "Nest". That means all you need for your system to move with your from one place to the other is the LiveCD distribution and your DiskOnKey, thus making dynebolic a lightweight system for people on the move. If you already have another GNU/Linux distribution you are comfortable with, you may use it instead, as long as it works for you and you're happy ;)

Motivation

Imagine composers 400 years into the future, trying to figure out the music of year 2006. They will need something equivalent to the notes we read in order to understand Bach, Mozart and other composers of the past 400 years. This understanding has led to the development of various open composition tools, starting from Max Methews' "Music" system and evolving into the open-source compostion tools we are running today on top of the GNU/Linux OS.

The open-source model provides full transparency into the sound-engine code, which is considered by many to be an essential part of the musical piece. We hope future generations will be able to better understand our time through exploration of the available sound synthesis tools and the public projects developed on top of them.

LaserBeak and myself would like to see more musicians join us in this project and turn it into an inspiring and educational work of art.

Cheers, VirtualFlavius