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Old 11-04-2011, 03:10 PM   #1
stefanha
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Default Let's continue Ninjam development!

Ninjam is a great piece of software because it allows musicians from across the world to play together. The stand-alone clients and server seem to no longer be under development and the code risks "bitrotting" to the point where it no longer works.

I recently fixed up the curses client for Linux x86-64. After seeing all the various "Ninjam doesn't compile under ..." posts on this forum it is clear that we need to actively maintain the code.

People have also created interesting patches to extend the clients or protocol. And much more can be done if it is possible to get those patches merged into new releases.

As a first step I have created a git repository that contains the Windows, Mac OS X, and curses stand-alone clients. It also contains the server:

http://github.com/stefanha/ninjam

Next, we need to find more people who are willing to review and merge patches for the Windows client, Mac OS X client, and server. (I am happy to support the curses client.)

At that point we can register a domain, fork Ninjam under a new name, and run an active open source project that continues to improve Ninjam and make it available to users. If Justin/Cockos allow it, maybe the project can take on the official Ninjam name rather than being a fork.

In summary:
* In order to continue developing Ninjam we need an open source project.
* If you want to help maintain the stand-alone clients or server, please reply.
* If you have patches you'd like included, please reply.
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Old 11-05-2011, 01:25 AM   #2
pljones
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Great idea, best of luck. I wish I had time to help out! Maybe late next year...
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Old 11-05-2011, 10:37 AM   #3
stefanha
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pljones: Glad to hear you like you this.

I took the next steps today. Choosing a name is really hard since so many domain names are already taken. After playing around with different possibilities I chose Wahjam. Wah-wah is an awesome effect and I hope people like the name .

There is now a wiki and an official Wahjam git repository available at http://wahjam.org/.

This is all hosted on Github, so for those who already have accounts it should be familiar and convenient. It's a great chance to try Git if you haven't used it before.

The IRC channel is #wahjam on irc.oftc.net. I am idling on there and will participate when I'm around.

How to get involved

For web designers, consider what the Wahjam website should look like. The wiki is for information that anyone can edit but http://wahjam.org/ should have its own static frontpage that showcases the software and provides download links.

For developers, please try to build the code at http://wahjam.org/. Shout if it fails to build, or even better, submit patches to fix the problem.

If you have patches for the clients or server, please reply so they can be merged.
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Old 11-06-2011, 02:21 PM   #4
DaMNeD
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Good idea and nice job.
You can grab the corrected ninjamcast I made for compiling under Ubuntu X64, didn't test on other platform (just corrected some vars). It's earlier as an attachemnt in the forum.

I think I still have somewhere too the xcode project for the ninjam osx client side which works under Lion, though just compiled it and tested connect, didn't test jam with it.

Anyway, most of 'advanced' (note the quote) users of ninjam are using reaper reaninjam vst plugin to connect there.
I think there has been some improvement in the code there, but it's closed source.

So a good point would be 1st to determine what / where / which direction to go, and what should be tried to be made, on each point.

Just to list some ideas :

- Ninjam Client as a Cross platform VST Plugin to use it in any daw,
- Improvements on server side, adding some new voting commands (.. vote kick.. , improvement of the chat side of the servers, recording management, etc..),
- Update of the clients to support more audio channel/inputs, redesign of ui, more user preference (metronome tone for example), recording management)
- etc...

PS : I'm not a dev, but I can try to help
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"Some are talking a lot, and not doing much, while others are doing much, and not talking a lot".
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Old 11-06-2011, 03:39 PM   #5
stefanha
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DaMNeD: Thanks for the ninjamcast link. There are no GPL license headers on this code so I'll try to get in touch with Brennan first before merging it. In theory it must be GPL compatible since it uses common GPL Ninjam code, but it's worth being careful so there is no doubt about licenses later.

The direction is a good question and is being influenced by the people who get involved.

Release 1.0 is about providing a fixed but mostly unchanged client/server to end users:
  • Website that provides downloads and screenshots
  • Manually tested builds on Windows, Mac OS X, and Linux
  • Bug fixes

Once that baseline is reached the fun really begins .

My personal goals after 1.0 are to focus on the easy-to-use and stand-alone aspects. That means making a great cross-platform client for musicians who are not audio pros or DAW users.

ReaNinjam caters to the audio pros so I don't personally want to work on VST or other audio plugins. Leaving that space untouched is also a way of giving Reaper some love.

There's a lot of cool stuff that could be done for a stand-alone client:
  • Your points (redesigned GUI, metronome tweaks, etc)
  • Built-in server browser
  • Built-in looper
  • Built-in tuner
  • Easy drum loop or mp3 playback channel
  • Crowd-source and bundle free drum loops (Creative Commons licensed?)

I also really want to document the Ninjam network protocol on the wiki for the benefit of everyone hacking on Ninjam-related software.
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Old 11-07-2011, 02:25 AM   #6
pljones
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The server browser is pretty trivial, you could probably include that in your 1.0 with nearly no effort.
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Originally Posted by Tony Williams
...Playing fast around the drums is one thing. But to play with people for others, to listen to, that's something else. That's a whole other world.
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