[LAD] Something like Processing for audio

[Darren Landrum]

I've been playing with and watching various tutorials for Processing, 
the Java framework for generative video and video effects.

http://processing.org/

What blew me away recently, though, was this video from Wesen on 
building a "game of life" MIDI sequencer with it (watch the whole thing, 
it's worth it):

http://vimeo.com/1824904?pg=embed&sec=1824904

(Of course, Paul reads the same blog that I do, so he'll know about this 
already.)

Notice that Processing has its own editor, with controls to compile and 
run any program you make in it, single-click. Not much different than an 
IDE, I suppose, though I would be hesitant to say that an IDE is better 
because it's more powerful, as I would have to disagree: what makes 
Processing so powerful and so popular is because it's so specific to its 
niche. Combine it with a very thorough (and expandable) framework and it 
becomes very powerful.

Why couldn't we make something like that for audio? It would most likely 
be C++ rather than Java, but the idea of building up DSP networks using 
a large framework of code, plus some pre-defined functions and settings, 
and being able to launch our new code with a one-touch button into a 
JACK client (or whatever), is extremely appealing to me. Throw in some 
GUI-building elements (Cairo-based, perhaps) that can handle 
mouse-clicks, keyboard input, and the like, then suddenly people who are 
good at math and DSP but not so good at coding might have a shot at 
making some great programs.

Consider this a feeler post for a potential project. I am unfortunately 
not a great coder, but at this point, I can't help but think that 
something badly-coded and working is still better than well-written code 
that never actually gets written.

-- Darren Landrum