colugomusic
patreon
A bit of admin
🕑 Added 2023-10-05 05:03:22 +0000 UTCI have received a huge influx of new subscribers since posting that youtube video. It has slowed down a bit now but I am still receiving new subscribers every day so I'm still not sure where it will settle. Obviously people will come and go so it will go up and down a bit but at the time of writing I'm almost making enough money to cover my monthly expenses which is amazing.
As usual there are rumors and whispers in the wind about large companies potentially contacting me to collaborate or help me out in some way but absolutely nothing real is happening yet so I'm just going to carry on as usual unless something concrete occurs.
I have been having a lot of trouble getting a decent night's sleep. My body keeps automatically waking me up after 3-4 hours. I assume this is stress related due to the huge number of messages and notifications I have been receiving though I honestly don't feel particularly "stressed" anymore so I don't really know what's going on now. Mostly I just feel tired because of the lack of sleep. Last night I finally managed to get a decent 8 hours in one go and feel much better (I would have found writing this post to be impossible before.) Anyway I am trying to pace myself now until I am feeling 100% again so sorry if you are getting impatient waiting for bug fixes.
Bugs
Thank you to everyone who has reported bugs in v0.30.4. I'm currently working on fixing all the worst stuff and will release one big bug fixing build. If you're not sure if a bug has already been reported then you can check the known issues board here: https://trello.com/b/MT1A3Zob/blockhead-issues
- The first "Issues (Reported)" column is where I put bugs that have been reported to me but I haven't personally seen happen yet on my own computer.
- The second "Issues (Reproduced)" column is for bugs that I have reproduced but not started fixing yet.
- I've recently added a third "Issues (Working on)" column for bugs that I haven't fixed yet but that I am aiming to fix in the next build.
- The fourth "Resolved (v0.30.5)" column is for bug fixes that will definitely be in the next build.
- I generally put the most recently reported bugs at the bottom.
If you're still not sure after looking at the board whether or not your issue has already been reported, then feel free to just report it anyway.
macOS
If I had unlimited money then I would probably hire a macOS developer so they can work on making the macOS experience better (or closer to what macOS users expect.) I can't devote a huge amount of time to this right now but I will try to get trackpad support working at some point as I think this is the most common complaint. For now I recommend all Blockhead users to, at the very least, have a real mouse and keyboard plugged in (I think I underestimated how rare this is among macOS users.) Using a mouse that has an actual scroll wheel gets you most of the way to Blockhead being useable on macOS.
Blink (the plugin system)
Some people have asked about developing plugins for Blockhead. You are welcome to play around with the plugin system but I don't recommend getting too invested right now as the Blink API is going to undergo some big changes when I get to implementing the upcoming instrument system. I also don't really like the way the C++ helper library is designed anymore so I may end up redoing that entire thing.
The Blink API and all of Blockhead's current plugins are open source:
Blink: https://github.com/colugomusic/blink
Plugins: https://github.com/colugomusic/blockhead_generators
Blockhead Manual (work-in-progress)
Hyfudiar has started working on writing a manual for Blockhead! It is not done yet but there is a lot of useful information there already so it might be worth bookmarking this link:
https://docs.google.com/document/d/1y6je_g2oNnxClL1eXV20dcQpoyZEkek5LTxQPyEFT0w
Links
Known Issues: https://trello.com/b/MT1A3Zob/blockhead-issues
Discord: Blockhead (discord.com)
Comments
Colugo Music
it is already prioritized but so are several other things
Uladzimir Vylinski
Could you please prioritize touchpad support for Mac users? It's kinda bummer when scrolling doesn't work properly in the app.
Simon
I've really enjoyed your videos Colugo, both the dry self-deprecating delivery, and the description of the architecture. I code a few small utilities myself - bacteria compared to blockhead the evolving mammal :) So I found the architecture super interesting and partially answered mysteries in my head about how DAW's etc might work. Happy to support this effort, I think it will be a super unique tool. I do worry about all the added noise for you though now you have outed your effort! A few things mystify me: 1: the comments on youtube telling you how to rewrite your own concept 2: that most commenters here are no longer supporters. It's the long tail that matters people. Just work out what your comfortable annual commitment for support is and stick to it.
Christine Williamson
Thanks for making this crazy thing and putting so much time and labor into it! Having been in roughly your place on a past project, please take all the time and rest you need. I know how easy it can be to burn out on the combination of the work itself and the attention pressure from the volume of communication that comes with a popularity spike like this. I hope I speak for everyone here when I say I'm chipping in support not just out of interest in the end product, but also so you can have the flexibility to disconnect or take breaks or poke at a fun experimental feature instead of bugfixes without having to worry about keeping the lights on. Cheers!
Seth
3-4 hours of sleep at a time a couple times a day is I read somewhere the ideal rest work ratio for dudes cranking away at really heavy stuff. but it only works in isolation, where when you need rest you can crash hard whenever it hits without worrying about juggling other normy life stuff. circadian rhythm be damned when the fires of creation are blazing
