"I thinks this is, more or less, what Moldover and others did - with the
difference that if you do it open source it will then be available and
expandable by others"
Renato, I don't think that Moldover did as much hacking as you think.
He does not use any custom software, he uses Ableton Live, at least in
presentations I saw, and I very much doubt he is there working with the Ableton
Live team to modify software. As for his midi keyboard modifications, allow me
to say that it is a very different kind of hacking and not especially complex, let alone
necessary for controllerism. Yes, his custom controllers are cool, but all of it simply adds
coolness, ease of use, some nuances.
But I think that the real value of what Moldover is doing is in his passion, in his desire
to promote that new form of art. Without Ableton Live all of his modifications would
not mean a thing.
So I would not equate writing a complex piece of software that in proprietary world is
written by a dozen of professional programmers on an everyday job basis to Moldover
replacing several knobs and keys on an Oxygen midi keyboard.
Thus the bottom line of my opinion is that I think that Linux users are not in the position to
"modify" things like Moldover. They are more in a position of a person who has to do everything
from scratch.
--
Louigi Verona
http://www.louigiverona.ru/