Stalled… this weekend and the next
Posted by Ole | Filed under Development, News
I’m at a business trip in Denver though this weekend and the next and I will not have much time for coding. Here is what im up to:
- Automatic Score Simplifier
- Voice Recognition
- Karaoke visualization
- I’m slowly starting to ponder at VST hosting
Meanwhile I’m waiting for some game developer(s) and artist(s) will join me and create nicer frontends and 3D models.
Improving chord recognition by dampening strings
Posted by Ole | Filed under Development, News
I have notived that note/chord recognition works much better when played with a plectrum then with my fingers. This is due to the sharper attack a plectrum produces.
I also notice that dampening strings have a very positive effect on chord recognition. This is theoretically sound, as the problem of chord recognition is mainly due to ‘interference’ between the different notes. With dampened strings, any note will have a shorter sustain and thus interfere less with subsequent notes.
It is also possible I can tune a note recognition algorithm to work better with dampened guitar than the current implementation. Then perhaps it could be possible to build some artificial sustain effect into the software to compensate for the dampening.
So how here is a challenge for all of you - how do we make a good dampener device for our guitars? Preferably it should sit near the bridge in order to dampen all notes. This is my first attempt:
Don’t get me wrong - there are other ways to improve the current implementation - but something that works quite like a sock may turn out to be a real winner.
Anyone can play guitar…
Posted by Ole | Filed under Development, News
I’d like LBS to be for everyone - not least for guitar beginniers like myself. However, there has been some concern that a guitar game like LBS will be too hard to play - after all it comprises playing a game AND playing guitar at the same time. My own experiments with LBS support this claim, but I do not believe that the sheer difficulty is a showstopper.
The first approach for lowering the bar was a ‘discrete’ play mode (as opposed to ‘real time’ play). This mode simply stops and waits at every note (waiting for you to play it). It is not yet working 100% but I have found it quite useful and refreshing.
Another approach is to slow down songs. Slowing down notes is easy but slowing down audio is challenging due to the inverse of the (much beloved) ‘chipmunking’ phenomenon. The good news of today is that I made a new plugin for LBS and it works quite well! The implementation use the superb SoundTouch library.
A first 0.2 release is expected by the end of this weekend which will also feature basic support for Midi instruments!
FrontEnd SDK available!
Posted by Ole | Filed under Development, News
This weekend I finished working on a new SDK which empowers anyone to create frontends for LBS. So, if you are interested in creating XNA games that involves music and/or music instruments let me know (post below or in the forum).
First download available
Posted by Ole | Filed under Development, News
Finally! Here She comes…
First release of LittleBigStar, which I believe is also the first of its kind…
It’s available in the download forum (you need to sign in)
I need some sleep and have a long day at work tomorrw. I will keep an eye on feedback but won’t have time to respond until tomorrow evening. Good luck and good night!
