I'd appreciate a reviewer taking the time to review my new activity,
ChimePlay. It has been in the queue for several weeks now (originally the
queue contained 13 activities; it still does, FWIW).
In case it matters, I've included here my response to Walter's request in
regard to ChimePlay. (My response wasn't originally addressed to this list
or to Walter personally.) Perhaps someone was waiting for me to address it?
In any case, thanks for your support.
Art Hunkins
----- Original Message -----
From: "Art Hunkins" <abhun...@uncg.edu>
To: <activit...@sugarlabs.org>
Cc: <a...@lists.sugarlabs.org>
Sent: Saturday, March 03, 2012 4:36 PM
Subject: Re: [REQUEST] ChimePlay-1
Hello, Walter,
Thanks so much for your on-going help and encouragement for and with my
Sugar activities. Without it, and similar counsel from other seasoned
Sugar activity developers, I'd still be stuck in the "Sugar starting
gate."
Your observations here can apply just as well to my previous 7 activities.
Indeed, perhaps it is ironic that in ChimePlay there is the *least* amount
of displayed verbiage of any of my activities; I've done my best to keep
it down. (For my last three activities, which urge children to create
their own audio samples, most of my commentary is included in a ReadMe.txt
file. Only "immediately relevent" material is presented on-screen.)
Some context: I am a professional art music composer, whose main
"electronic" language is Csound. All my Sugar activities are spinoffs of
live-performance Csound works composed for adults (please see my website,
www.arthunkins.com, where these relationships are clear enough). At the
urging of Richard Boulanger, I was led into OLPC, Sugar and the XO, to
offer some of my work to at least the older children of the world. As an
exclusively Windows person, Linux has been a strange new world - also
inhabited by Sugar, Python, PyGTK, git, Inkscape - all equally new and
strange.
ChimePlay almost didn't get written; I thought that SamplePlay was my last
activity. However, inspired by a couple of chime sets at the St. Francis
Springs Prayer Center (Stoneville, NC, USA) and my life-long fascination
with chimes and bells, ChimePlay manifested and here we are. In the
future, I intend no more activities; I'll simply maintain and continue to
test the 8 activities I have so that hopefully they remain useful.
Hopefully you can humor me this one last time. I also hope my work points
the way for other Csound artists to become involved with Sugar with an
equally limited investment of time and technology. (Though I admit the
requirements of my doing *anything* in Linux/Sugar was infinitely beyond
any investment I'd anticipated. It's been an incredibly difficult and
arduous learning curve. For example, I just spent three intense and
frustrating days relearning Inkscape in order to create a passable icon
for ChimePlay.)
Early in my activity work, I found some Python/GTK code structures that I
could reasonably understand and continue to use in all my activites. I've
intentionally limited the depth of tech work I've exposed myself to, and
only bugged other developers, like yourself, with issues I considered
crucial. I've dealt with others (such as on-screen text, the limit to
English, the treatment of MIDI device insertion/detection) in
"non-Sugar-like" ways, which were understandable by "low/non-tech" me. I
did this to protect myself and my sanity - as well as to complete
anything.
I'm well aware that most children will not have access to MIDI devices.
For live Csound work in the adult world, however, MIDI devices are
universally required. (In my recent activity ReadMe's, I've indeed
recommended certain inexpensive devices to children and their teachers,
especially the Korg nanoKontrol.) It seems to me that for any performance
activity with Csound (such as for the XO or Sugar), classrooms might well
opt to invest in a few MIDI devices, such as keyboard controllers. My
activities allow for a very wide range of devices.
In previous activities, I've made alternate versions which used only the
ASCII keyboard. However, I've found these versions awkward and
counterintuitive, as well as requiring considerable additional written
explanation. I never use them for my own demonstrations. (They also are a
pain to program.) Instead, in ChimePlay, I've paired one live-performance
MIDI version with an auto-play incarnation, which requires no controller
at all. Just (optionally) adjust the presets, press START and instant
chimes (your choice of two chime sets).
Once again, thanks for your most valuable help and advice - and the spirit
and tone in which it has been given - over several years.
Art Hunkins
----- Original Message -----
From: "Sugar Labs Activities" <activit...@sugarlabs.org>
To: <abhun...@uncg.edu>
Cc: <a...@lists.sugarlabs.org>
Sent: Friday, March 02, 2012 11:03 PM
Subject: [REQUEST] ChimePlay-1
A Sugar Labs Activities Editor requested further information from you
regarding version 1 of your activity ChimePlay.
Walter Bender wrote:
"I wonder if the bulk of the explanatory text could be under an about
button? Also, could you look for the midi device on launch and display an
error message if it is not detected? Alas, I doubt too many Sugar users
have a midi device :("
Please reply to this e-mail or join #sugar on chat.freenode.net.
Sugar Labs Activities
http://activities.sugarlabs.org
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