Topic: Laser Agent

[Agent C]

Is a dumb name for my software but it will work for now, just so I have something to call it.

MAJOR BREAKTHROUGH TONIGHT!
:beer:

I'm psyched.  I just got multichannel out going in java on my mac through the USB sound card!  I'm using the excellent java sound library JSYN.  It's geared to creating software oscillators and envelopes and plugging them together.  I'm just using it as a way to stuff buffers into the DACs for now, but I will probably start using the oscillator functions for abstracts and such.  The old sound library was 2 channel only and I was started to lose hope.

Why another bit of laser software you may ask?  Coding is part of the fun and keeps my brain sharp for when I have to write software for more mundane tasks.  I can't really draw but I love making shapes with loops and perlin noise - never got over LOGO I guess.  I like twiddling knobs.  A frame in my program will consist of point sets + midi hooks + code loops.  There will be no timeline, just a way to map frames to keys - or maybe laserboy waves to keys.  I would post pics but my laser isn't setup yet and the o-scope doesn't do blanking.

[dar303]

Sounds interesting, do you have any pictures to share?

[Agent C]

I have some o-scope shots up on the PL forum.  I'll repost them here so you can get an idea of the types of generated geometric objects I like to make.  I haven't really made any new shapes since I've been beating my head against the wall trying to get multichannel out.  I'll post some screenshots from the software showing color since previously I was just focused on X-Y.  I'll also post some JSYN code snippets for anybody else doing dev work in java.

I was reading up on JSYN some more and it's really neat.  The sound core is highly optimized and written in C - it is therefore platform dependent but versions exist for Win, Mac, and Linux.  The java libraries just make calls to the core and return data to the java app.

Laser shots are still a few weeks away.

[James]

Why another bit of laser software you may ask?

Congratulations man!

What do you mean "Why another bit of laser software"? 

WHY NOT! 

I'm also very excited about the fact that you got that USB thing working on a Mac. That's just plain fantastic!

I bet you could get it going in Linux too!

Excellent work. Please keep us posted.

James. 

[Agent C]

WHY NOT is always the question when dealing with lasers and software and laser software!  And yes - Linux is looking like a real possibility.  I'm thinking Linux on an an Intel Atom powered sub-notebook running a stripped down low-latency kernel - mmmmm.

Big chunks of my laser project fell into place this past weekend.  The Laser Agent signal core has been rewritten to use the JSYN library as previously described instead of the Minim library.  Minim was great and helped me get my proof of concept going without drowning in details of sound generation, but lack of multichannel support was killing me.  Once I knew what I wanted, it was easy to figure out how to do it in a lower level library.  I also decided to make it use multiple windows and a second thread dedicated just to sound generation since dual cores are becoming so common place.  Here's a screenshot:



and here is a shot taken a few weeks ago from version 0.1, with no color/intensity/blanking logic at all in the software.



Since all my hardware is in - scanners, diode driver, correction amp, and the usb card - I should have some sort of system put together with wood, glue, and duct tape pretty soon.

[James]

I looked at that JSYN lib thing. It looks like it is a very good fit for what you are doing. My only concern about using it is that if you want to develop a professional app (not free) it is very expensive to licence.

James. 

[Agent C]

I know I should consider things like licensing before I commit too much time to coding with a particular library, but my desire to make things that work usually wins out instead.  Do you think I'd have to pay more than $45/$90 in licensing for a small scale commercial app (the less than $20,000 revenue part) or am I missing something?

Still going to be a bit before a working picture.  My scanners aren't working right and blew up my red diode already because of shoddy soldering on my part.  Analog modulation of the 405nm diode is working great tho!