Buzztard
Encyclopedia
Buzztard is a free software
project to create a clone of the Buzz music composer. The driving motivation is to preserve the playability of the compositions made with Buzz. Songs are made by adding virtual sound generators and effects, connecting them, recording short musical phrases and arranging them in the sequencer
. For distribution, songs can be exported to common audio formats such as OGG
, MP3
, WAV
and many others.
distributions have picked up the project and provided ready to install packages.
media framework. As it is the only music composer built on GStreamer it serves as a test-bed for related features. The graphical editor uses GTK+
for its GUI. It integrated with the GNOME
desktop, but does not require it. Buzz users and the Linux press like the modernized look, but familiar layout.
The component architecture supports song import modules. Buzztard can open songs both in its native and Buzz's format. A wrapper component allows to use the existing Buzz-machine binaries under x86 Linux and open-source Buzz-machines on all platforms. A GStreamer bridge plugin makes them available to all GStreamer applications. A controller framework allows the use of MIDI devices and any input devices (such as joystick
s or wiimotes) to be used to control sounds in real-time.
Free software
Free software, software libre or libre software is software that can be used, studied, and modified without restriction, and which can be copied and redistributed in modified or unmodified form either without restriction, or with restrictions that only ensure that further recipients can also do...
project to create a clone of the Buzz music composer. The driving motivation is to preserve the playability of the compositions made with Buzz. Songs are made by adding virtual sound generators and effects, connecting them, recording short musical phrases and arranging them in the sequencer
Music sequencer
The music sequencer is a device or computer software to record, edit, play back the music, by handling note and performance information in several forms, typically :...
. For distribution, songs can be exported to common audio formats such as OGG
Ogg
Ogg is a free, open container format maintained by the Xiph.Org Foundation. The creators of the Ogg format state that it is unrestricted by software patents and is designed to provide for efficient streaming and manipulation of high quality digital multimedia.The Ogg container format can multiplex...
, MP3
MP3
MPEG-1 or MPEG-2 Audio Layer III, more commonly referred to as MP3, is a patented digital audio encoding format using a form of lossy data compression...
, WAV
WAV
Waveform Audio File Format , is a Microsoft and IBM audio file format standard for storing an audio bitstream on PCs...
and many others.
History
In the middle of 2002 the main developers lost a song during a Buzz session as the result of a software error. As the sources of Buzz were known to be lost, they decided to start a new project. The project name Buzztard was chosen to link to its origin and also underline that the software is based on a mix of concepts. Development started between 2003-2004. A first version was released in October 2006. A demo was presented at Linux Audio Conference (LAC) 2007. Several releases have followed since. Starting with version 0.5 LinuxLinux
Linux is a Unix-like computer operating system assembled under the model of free and open source software development and distribution. The defining component of any Linux system is the Linux kernel, an operating system kernel first released October 5, 1991 by Linus Torvalds...
distributions have picked up the project and provided ready to install packages.
Features
The software is based on the GStreamerGStreamer
GStreamer is a pipeline-based multimedia framework written in the C programming language with the type system based on GObject.GStreamer allows a programmer to create a variety of media-handling components, including simple audio playback, audio and video playback, recording, streaming and editing...
media framework. As it is the only music composer built on GStreamer it serves as a test-bed for related features. The graphical editor uses GTK+
GTK+
GTK+ is a cross-platform widget toolkit for creating graphical user interfaces. It is licensed under the terms of the GNU LGPL, allowing both free and proprietary software to use it. It is one of the most popular toolkits for the X Window System, along with Qt.The name GTK+ originates from GTK;...
for its GUI. It integrated with the GNOME
GNOME
GNOME is a desktop environment and graphical user interface that runs on top of a computer operating system. It is composed entirely of free and open source software...
desktop, but does not require it. Buzz users and the Linux press like the modernized look, but familiar layout.
The component architecture supports song import modules. Buzztard can open songs both in its native and Buzz's format. A wrapper component allows to use the existing Buzz-machine binaries under x86 Linux and open-source Buzz-machines on all platforms. A GStreamer bridge plugin makes them available to all GStreamer applications. A controller framework allows the use of MIDI devices and any input devices (such as joystick
Joystick
A joystick is an input device consisting of a stick that pivots on a base and reports its angle or direction to the device it is controlling. Joysticks, also known as 'control columns', are the principal control in the cockpit of many civilian and military aircraft, either as a center stick or...
s or wiimotes) to be used to control sounds in real-time.
See also
- Aldrin (software)
- Free audio softwareFree audio softwareThis list of free software for audio lists notable free and open source software for use by sound engineers, audio producers, and those involved in sound recording and reproduction.-Audio analysis:-Converters:-Modular systems:-Platforms:...
- Linux audio software