Of all my posts over the last year, by far the most viewed has been my post on the open-source-ing of the DiscoDSP Highlife sampler. People love the open source. The project is not without its controversy – for a lot reasons I don’t understand and have no opinion about – but is still something I think is a good move for the alternative audio software world.

Since that post both the commercial version and the source code have been updated. Not in tandem; it appears there is a fork in the project, and the commercial version exists independently of the open-source version, i.e. features and improvements in the new commercial version do not necessarily appear in the source code. But the source code now has an official update with some new features. And I like to believe that somewhere a developer or neophyte is tinkering away and will release something none of us saw coming.

I’ve mentioned it before, Rayzoon Jamstix is a great value for the Windows-based project studio. It has another update that adds a boat-load of new features and fixes. I’m not using it much these days because I’m not doing much composing or creating, but when I start writing again I’m hoping to get some good use out of this.

And here’s a new old one: Beatburner, possibly one of the best names for an audio production tool, is now Free. As in lunch, erm… beer… erm… well, free software.

I haven’t had the time to install and give it a whirl, but that the developer turned what was, he says, a commercial “meh” into a hotly downloaded piece of software that will be powering thousands of users’ digital lofi tracks for the next few years is a Great Thing. And he’s supporting the swarm all on his own time and dime. There’s a new torrent which should ease some of the burden, and I’ve badgered him into putting up a PayPal donate. Give the guy a few bucks if you’ve downloaded it, or are planning to. He said something like 20,000 (!) downloads; if everyone gave one or two (insert currency here) he’d have made a nice little return on his investment.

And, as always, to stay up-to-date on all things computer audio related, soundware and software, rekkerd.org is a great blog. And his “short links” roundups are always interesting.