   Multi-user Music Notation Program (ie PolyPaint a la Music)
  Hi,I used to hang around these forums a long time ago, and I can remember some of the best "multiplayer" experiences I've had were in PolyPaint, created by smart idiot. I remembered it when I open up my old PhotoBucket account a few days ago and saw some of the things we did in it. I searched for polypaint and downloaded it, but when I started it it wouldn't connect to the server. I'm not sure what state it's in, but from a search it looks like SM is working on it some; I really hope it comes back!Anyway, my specialty is music and I was thinking, wouldn't it be great if there was a program similar to PolyPaint that worked with music notation instead? The more I think about it, I'm not so sure. It wouldn't be open to nearly as many people pas polypaint was, but then again, for those who don't understand music notation it might serve well as an educational tool. Anyway, I just thought it might be an interesting experiment and wanted to see what people thought of the idea.PS: If this is in the wrong forum, I'm really sorry. I wanted to more than just musicians and composers to see it so I didn't post it in the music forum.   
  It seems to be that the fundamental problem with this idea is the inherent linearity of music.  While you can display a whole picture at once, you can't play a whole song at once.  Furthermore, it's much easier to produce something visually pleasing than something that sounds good without being overly repetitive.  Not to mention different composers trying to coordinate.  Could be interesting to try it tough.   ;Quote:Original post by jfclavetteWhile you can display a whole picture at once, you can't play a whole song at once.Can the playback not just be handled by the client alone? You could have a full score stored on the server and let the clients view different pages and make changes/add more as they desire. But, yes, I agree there are many inherent problems.;  I've discovered that while programming is generally easy, creating the interface to bridge your program with the end user is truely horrible.Nothing to do with your question, just letting you know I'm still here. Barring my untimely demise, and assuming nothing happens to my higher brain functions and fine motor control, PolyPaint will one day be returned to the world.   ;Quote:Original post by smart_idiotPolyPaint will one day be returned to the world.Hopefully sometime soon. ;)   ;  Music has a lot of mathematical properties, so I think a proper study of Music Theory would allow one to analyze a song and infer a certain "goodness" or "badness" level of the song. Users will accumulate Usage Points for "good" contributions. The Usage Points will be a form of currency for the game will allow the users to do certain things like: permanently overwrite another users changes, request the song to play on all clients, select different properties of the song (tempo, meter, etc). With a proper study of music theory, one could even simplify the music making progress. For example, most modern pop songs are of a pattern called AABA, where a certain pattern is played once, then a second time (with or without minor modifications), then a different pattern is played that compliments the first, then it's back to the first pattern. An entire song can be broken down into various levels of AABA pattern, from verses to measures to the notes that make up a measure.Knowing the various patterns of music, the program will generate the pattern as notes are added to one portion of the pattern, with the possible use of random mutations to the basic pattern in later repetitions of the pattern.I would personally develop this app as an IRC client that utilizes a diff-type communication protocol for transmitting information. I don't know if I would make the game-specific network traffic move through the IRC protocol itself, or just use the IRC client as a means of bringing people together to form a traditional client-server network. I've done the latter before, but I think the former might be more reliable.   ;  I am actually considering to work on a project somewhat in this direction. Som sort of interface for people to notate music online through a browser(hence purely midi for speed) and save it in some storage. This could be opened up for people working together. I don't know how far I would go(in the event of even beginning this project) into developing for realtime interaction on the same score.There was in the dawn of age some plugin/3rd part project going on with Cubase (Rocket or something like that) which tried to let people work together in cubase over lan/internet - I don't know if it is still around or working though.   ;Realtime Music Collaboration Software;Quote:Original post by fadilthrejkRealtime Music Collaboration SoftwareThat's interesting. I'm at work now and can't download it, but from what I read on the site it seems to be more of a jam session type software. It looks cool, but I was thinking more along the lines of editing a score in realtime with others, in a sort of Finale for Sibelius setting.