So, I'm just going to put this out here. The future of LMMS is very uncertain right now. Sure we have lots of activity on the mailing list, people working enthusiastically on what they can, and that's all great! But there are some looming issues that are getting worse as we go on.
The problem is, we're getting to the point where the limitations of the current LMMS core engine are starting to severely handicap what we can do with the software. Sure, we can improve functionality - sample tracks, automation, etc. - but many things are hard or impossible to do because of the limitations: Jack support, RT-safety, being able to integrate with external software, reliable live usage... Paul Giblock had the idea of migrating LMMS to use his Unison core. This would be a good idea, if we had the resources to make that happen, but currently... let's look at the situation: I currently write about 50% of the code for LMMS, and the rest are small improvements - mostly UI, build system, localization or small optimizations... and I'm not skilled enough to do RT- or systems coding, or to design a new engine for LMMS. The ones who do have the skills (Toby, Paul) are too busy with RL and don't have enough time to do this kind of work, and AFAIK none of our other developers have the required skillsets to migrate LMMS to a new core (please correct me if I'm wrong!). So let's brainstorm some ideas how we can get over this hurdle. If we could get a modern, RT-safe engine for LMMS, there's such a huge potential that could be done with it - we could really make LMMS into a professional-grade DAW that is still easy enough to get into for beginners. I'll throw some ideas out here: 1. Kickstarter campaign for a hired developer? Do a kickstarter to raise some funds, then use the money to hire a developer to help with the migration to a new core. Do we have enough of a userbase that this could be feasible? 2. Try to find a developer who'd be willing to work on this project. This has (and is) been tried, with no luck so far. 3. Try to improve the current engine gradually. I've been attempting this, but again, see re: lack of skill in RT-coding. Paul has also earlier opined that the current engine is unsalvageable, not sure about that but it definitely is challenging. 4. Google Summer of Code? This might be an option for next year, we might want to start looking into this if it's something we want to do. Ok that's all I got for now. Anyone else have any ideas? Please feel free to pipe in, there are no bad ideas at this point. If we can figure out a game plan, we could then skip the 1.3 release in order to concentrate on the codebase rehaul, and present a brand new and improved LMMS 2.0 next year. That'd be awesome if we could somehow make that happen... ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Infragistics Professional Build stunning WinForms apps today! Reboot your WinForms applications with our WinForms controls. Build a bridge from your legacy apps to the future. http://pubads.g.doubleclick.net/gampad/clk?id=153845071&iu=/4140/ostg.clktrk _______________________________________________ LMMS-devel mailing list [email protected] https://lists.sourceforge.net/lists/listinfo/lmms-devel
