GNU/Linux Loves All: Free Software in Music
327 | Sun 04 Aug 2 p.m.–2:45 p.m.
Presented by
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Timmy James Barnett is a musician and FLO software/hardware developer. He studied violin with Anna Vayman at Ball State University for 6 years, where he received his BM and MM. His original music is inspired by microtonality and Free Software. He plays microtonal music on violin, variously fretted guitars, keyboards and computers. Free Software is important because it makes microtonality and music in general more accessible to all without compromising Human Tech Rights. It allows musical exploration without arbitrary boundaries. Timmy writes and uses Free Software for live performance with !mindparade and GNU/Linux Loves All.
Abstract
The music industry is cluttered with proprietary software and hardware. Musicians get locked into non-free technologies. There is even a professional pressure to use proprietary tools as though it is just part of making music in today's modern society. Apple computers are even seen by many as a default for beginner and professional musicians. When someone says they don't regularly use MacOS, Windows is assumed. But you can make great music without compromising Human Tech Rights by using Free Software and GNU/Linux, a far superior operating system to proprietary alternatives.
Technology is such a great tool for music. The development of technology supports the development of music. This is why musicians should be using Free Software and supporting a Free community. Philosophers, mathematicians, music performers and theorists have been coming up with many different ways of how to tune instruments for thousands of years. With the Internet, musicians can find out so much of what has been done in the past as well as what is possible now. The world of tuning keeps coming up with exciting new and innovative ways to organize possible pitches.
However, even with something as exciting as new modern instruments and software that can inspire so much great music, we see so many new things that are proprietary. This world of proprietary puts unnecessary restrictions on what should be an open and creative process that is inviting for both amateurs and professionals. Why are companies making non-free software tools just for users to be able to even experience the sounds of notes that are decades, centuries or millennia old? Why should we have restrictions on the great notes both historic and modern from Africa, India, and the Middle East, that are not found on standard Western instruments in the local Western music store? We have such a great tool all around us, the computer. Computers should come to our aid in a way that inspires more music and community on a global scale.
This talk shows some great Free technologies, instruments and software. All software is run on a GNU/Linux Laptop.
The music industry is cluttered with proprietary software and hardware. Musicians get locked into non-free technologies. There is even a professional pressure to use proprietary tools as though it is just part of making music in today's modern society. Apple computers are even seen by many as a default for beginner and professional musicians. When someone says they don't regularly use MacOS, Windows is assumed. But you can make great music without compromising Human Tech Rights by using Free Software and GNU/Linux, a far superior operating system to proprietary alternatives. Technology is such a great tool for music. The development of technology supports the development of music. This is why musicians should be using Free Software and supporting a Free community. Philosophers, mathematicians, music performers and theorists have been coming up with many different ways of how to tune instruments for thousands of years. With the Internet, musicians can find out so much of what has been done in the past as well as what is possible now. The world of tuning keeps coming up with exciting new and innovative ways to organize possible pitches. However, even with something as exciting as new modern instruments and software that can inspire so much great music, we see so many new things that are proprietary. This world of proprietary puts unnecessary restrictions on what should be an open and creative process that is inviting for both amateurs and professionals. Why are companies making non-free software tools just for users to be able to even experience the sounds of notes that are decades, centuries or millennia old? Why should we have restrictions on the great notes both historic and modern from Africa, India, and the Middle East, that are not found on standard Western instruments in the local Western music store? We have such a great tool all around us, the computer. Computers should come to our aid in a way that inspires more music and community on a global scale. This talk shows some great Free technologies, instruments and software. All software is run on a GNU/Linux Laptop.