[aure]

In general, thanks for the feedback, I appreciate. But to respond to your points:

1) Perhaps you were watching it at low resolution? It's at a bigger font than Xcode's standard.

2&4) It wasn't necessarily meant to be a self-contained video. AudioKit has an extensive website with documentation at http://audiokit.io/ and specifically for playgrounds at http://audiokit.io/playgrounds/

3) I'm sorry, that is my Ohio mumble. :)

Thanks again!

[sgk284]

Just to balance out the feedback. 1) That font was plenty large. I don't see how it could have reasonably been larger without being comical. 2) It seemed kind of self-evident what a playground was. 3) Your voice was plenty loud. I don't know what he was referring to re: mumbling. 4) Not sure what he's looking for there.

In short, I think the video was incredible. I wouldn't change a thing. Thanks for sharing, and don't dwell too much on one user's feedback :)

[gecko39]

Would also be worth saying this is for iOS / osx somewhere obvious on the homepage. looks like a cool project!

[aure]

Done. Thanks!

[gtani]

just curious, is there something missing from platforms/libs like csound, max for live, supercollider etc you were aiming for?

[aure]

Yes, a lot, too much to write in a comment box though: http://audiokit.io/features/

[gtani]

excellent, i'm willing to learn swift or obj-C for this, are they API-equal?

(actually i don't know much about M4L, supercollider or those others, but i do have a bunch of HW synths: kurzweil, DSmith, emu, kawai etc

[aure]

Either one is fine for AudioKit. Swift is still evolving a bit, might want to stick to Objective-C if you're learning.

[graycat]

> 1) Perhaps you were watching it at low resolution? It's at a bigger font than Xcode's standard.

My screen is a razor sharp 14" monitor with 1024 x 768 pixels. Resolution is not the issue, just size. All the text on the screen used for the demo is just a total blur -- I can't make out even a single character. I'm a long time, full-time computer user, and that text was by far the worst I ever saw that was intended to be read.

2)-4). Your video doesn't have to be "self contained". Instead, just say in broad terms what you are talking about.

I've never heard of AudioKit before, nor should I have. I have no idea at all what the purpose of AudioKit is, nor should I. I have no idea if there is a Web site for AudioKit or if it has tutorial material, nor should I. If all such things are true, then make that clear.

E.g., could I get the orchestral score to the R. Strauss Einheldenleben and use AudioKit to do a good synthetic orchestral performance? The score to the Bach Chaconne? The Bach solo violin version? The Busoni piano version? Say enough to make answers to such questions clear.

3) Ohio. Ohio should be fine. My mother was from Columbus, grew up just south of the OSU campus. I was a prof in the B-school there. My father went to Ohio State, BA and MA. My wife was from not far away, about 50 miles SW of Fort Wayne, IN. It's not about Ohio.

Instead, just do what I said: Don't drop your voice at certain words or at the ends of sentences. When you say a word, go ahead and actually pronounce it. Your Ohio version of English speaking is fine; just use it. As it is, mostly I couldn't understand what you were saying, totally lost maybe 1/3rd of your words and more of your content.

Since I couldn't read your screen text and couldn't understand your speech, I gave up, and I'm someone really interested in music, really interested.

You may have some good work. If so, then good. In that case, speak up, describe your work, show clear screen images.

BTW, I have no idea, none at all, zip, zilch, zero, nichts, nil, nada, what the heck "Xcode" is. None. I doubt that Xcode is in Webster's. So, Xcode is undefined jargon. I know quite a lot about both music and computing, but I don't know what Xcode is, and likely I should not. Lesson: If you want to communicate, don't use undefined jargon.

Computing: I've published peer-reviewed original research in artificial intelligence from the IBM Watson lab. I've taught computing at both Georgetown U. and Ohio State U. At Ohio State, I was a leader in computing in the B-school and more generally on campus.

I've programmed significant software for decades. My Ph.D. dissertation was heavily based on software that I wrote.

I recently finished typing in software for a Web site with 4 back-end servers, 80,000 lines of typing, about 18,000 programming language statements, for Windows with the Microsoft software .NET, ASP.NET, and ADO.NET and for the Microsoft calls for TCP/IP, etc. Still I never heard of Xcode. Fonts? I'm quite good at D. Knuth's TeX, still have never heard of Xcode.

I'm not attacking you. Instead I'm giving you constructive feedback so that you can communicate better about your possibly quite good work so that many more people can like your work.

Main lesson: Just speak up.

[christoph]

Possibly one of the rudest comments i've read on HN for sometime.

The text was completely readable for me, viewing on an iPad (not even fullscreen).

Xcode is the standard IDE used for all Apple software development - 99% of people viewing a video like this would know that, as its so elementary. I'm surprised you didnt also expect the author to define what a terminal window was and what Objective C is. A google search would have yielded the answer in less than 2 seconds.

Overall I found the video very intersting and its the first time i've seen audio being iteratively produced in real time with code, thanks for taking the time to produce it.

[graycat]

> Xcode is the standard IDE used for all Apple software development - 99% of people viewing a video like this would know that, as its so elementary.

Not for people on Windows. So, your claim is that 99% of the people on HN have significant Apple software development experience? Can't believe that.

Besides the demo screen didn't look like it was from just a console session and not an IDE. So, if no IDE was involved, then what could have been the role of an IDE font Xcode?

[graycat]

> The text was completely readable for me, viewing on an iPad (not even fullscreen).

For me, full screen, 1024 x 768 pixels on a razor sharp monitor, without a magnifying glass, essentially just blurs. Just checked: If I capture the screen, pull the capture into PhotoDraw, and magnify by 400%, then it is nicely readable.

All that is needed is another 400%.

[graycat]

For the audio, here is what I hear from the first of the video clip:

     ??? one.

     My name is Art ??? I am the creator
     of Audio???.

     Today I'm excited to show you another
     example of ??? AudioKit live coding
     playground.

     I have been presenting AudioKit at
     ??? universities and I ??? example

He can speak plenty clearly enough, but in places he just drops his voice volume. E.g., for what I heard in "Audio???" it might have been AudioHit, AudioKit, AudioSit, AudioIt, or something else. He just dropped his voice on the last sylable of AudioKit.

For his last name, he again dropped his voice.

"Live coding playground" is clear enough, apparently from "another" there is a prerequisite of earlier examples? And, really, there should be something like:

"The software AudioKit permits finely grained interactive usage with what we call the AudioKit live coding Playground, and we will demonstrate that here."

Okay, that's good.

Then to the computer screen, we're supposed to know that that is on Linux or Apple? We're supposed just to assume that? Observe that? Not good. Instead, just say what the computing platform is.

These are constructive remarks, not "rude".

[aure]

Your first comments were not rude and I've responded to them but I don't appreciate the personal attacks, and you've gone off on unprovoked tangents. Everyone, just walk away.

[alsetmusic]

Xcode is Apple's development suite. HN is a site largely populated by technology enthusiasts. We don't all have the same interests, skills, background, or vocabulary, but I think it's acceptable to assume that a reasonably sized subset of the group will understand the message and that those who don't will either choose to run a web search or simply move on. There are many submissions to HN that presuppose a certain level of familiarity with a given topic and we all seem to manage.

[graycat]

Microsoft is an important computer company. I use Microsoft products. To save my time getting background information, I just stay with Microsoft's products.

Why just Microsoft? Because for what I'm doing, it's enough, and I don't see anything else clearly better. My computer usage and software development are on Windows.

My development is for a Web site where the site runs on Windows. My Web site sends to users just very standard HTTP, HTML, and CSS; so users need only a Web browser up to date as of, say, five, maybe 10, years ago.

Each of my Web pages is just 800 pixels wide, with large fonts and high contrast, and should look good on any device with a screen with 800 pixels of width. The Web pages have both vertical and horizontal scroll bars so that, really, the pages should be usable on any device with 300 pixels of width and even fewer pixels of height.

Net, my users might be using Linux and/or Apple products -- fine with me, but I don't have to be using Linux or Apple products and so far am not.

I have no Apple products. I've never used any Apple products. I've never used Linux or Unix. Why? My project just doesn't need Apple products. Or Linux.

That experience with Unix, Linux, or Apple is a prerequisite for being an expert in computing, which I am, is absurd.

Yes, maybe generally HN is strongly in favor of Apple and Linux and, basically, hates Microsoft.

I had to select a computing platform, and the main two choices were Linux, maybe on Apple products, and Microsoft. I selected Microsoft.

For the hardware, I got some parts, motherboard, processor, fans, disk drives, CD/DVD burners, diskette drive (still used a few times), power supply, case, monitor, keyboard, lots of cables, lots of little screws, etc., a B/W laser printer connected via USB, gigabit Ethernet, etc. Wired a cable to drive my old daisy wheel printer (still really good for addressing envelopes) via a 9-pin serial port.

That hardware has been fine.

I've stayed with Microsoft; that's not a bad decision.

Linux and Apple? So far I don't need them and, thus, don't want to allocate time, money, and effort to use them.

Your implication that Linux and Apple are standard prerequisites for HN is rude, insulting, and absurd.

Xcode -- garbage if not defined.

And I shouldn't need Google to read HN.

Lesson: Once again, over again, one more time, time n + 1 for a very large n, clearly, simply, don't do it; never do it; give up on it; having in group jargon, essentially deliberately undefined, is garbage behavior; trying to put off people outside the in group is very bad behavior for everyone; IBM used to do that and it really cost them; in group jargon is a really big, bad, bummer; being inclusive is much better, and now even Microsoft knows this; liking undefined in group jargon is really bad stuff; undefined acronyms are really bad stuff; don't do it; simple lesson; got it now? Don't do it; don't excuse it; don't put up with it.

I'm not against Apple or Linux; it's just that, given that I do work on Windows, I don't need Apple or Linux and, thus, get to save on time, money, and energy that would be needed to use them. And, Objective-C? Don't need it. Python? Don't need it. PHP, Ruby, Rails, Django, Scheme, Lisp, assembler, C, C++, model-view-controller, Java, JavaScript, JQuery, node.js -- don't need them because they add little or nothing to what I already have on Windows.

E.g., Microsoft's ASP.NET writes a little JavaScript for me, but so far I have not written or even read a single line of it. Don't need it.

Pop-ups, pull-downs, roll-overs? Don't like them; don't need them; don't use them. JavaScript for asynchronous JavaScript and XML (AJAX), don't need it or use it.

A point: I'm not a professional programmer. It's been a long time since I wrote code for other people.

Now I'm an entrepreneur doing a startup. For my startup, I write all the code, and I'm writing that code on Windows. I've written some quite significant code.

But it is important for me to save my time, money, and effort and, thus, try hard not to buy, that is, invest time, money, and effort in, tools that I don't really need. So, so far I get to ignore Linux, Apple, PHP, ... Java, etc.

[DanBC]

Do you realise that you come across as rude and arrogant? I don't think that you intend to, but you do.

You might want to read this: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=9238739

It's about people posting meta commentary on HN threads.

[graycat]

Simple: I like music, was interested in the OP, had never heard of AudioKit, and have never used Unix, Linux, or any Apple products.

I understand computing, violin, tuning in music, Fourier series, Nyquist sampling in digital signal processing, saw some music performance software decades ago, am interested in software for composing and performing music, needed an overview of AudioKit, and thought that the OP would have been helped by an overview.

For too much of the audio voice, I couldn't make out the words -- the speaker just needed to speak up, speak clearly, and not drop his voice.

For me to read the screen, I needed another 400% of magnification.

I wanted explanations of terminology such as playground -- sounds good, but in what sense do we have a metaphor of a real playground?

So, I suggested such revisions. My suggestions should have been constructive.

As it was, I gave up on the OP -- I'm really interested in the subject (on violin, I actually made it through a lot of the Bach Chaconne, especially the D major section -- no way to do that without being really interested in music) yet gave up on the OP as something with text I couldn't read and audio I couldn't understand. So, maybe the OP has some problems?

But then I got voted down and criticized. Then I defended myself.

It's all very simple.

So, some people on HN just assume that of course anyone on HN is a LInux/Apple user -- of course. Maybe they are also a Windows user, but necessarily they are a Linux/Apple user. Of course. Impossible to understand otherwise.

Well, that assumption is wrong and absurd. It's also "arrogant", intolerant, and, really, uninformed and ignorant. I just defended myself.

Linux/Apple are not the only good paths into computing now. There is also Windows. It happens that I'm a Windows user. Gee, if I'm wrong, then get PG or Sam to change HN to Linux/Apple/Android HN.

Right: With some of the audience at HN, I don't fit in. For that audience, I'm not sure I or anyone should want to fit in.

[aure]

Your first comments were not rude and I've responded to them but I don't appreciate the personal attacks, and you've gone off on unprovoked tangents. Everyone, just walk away.