Calling for Google Summer of Code 2016

• Jan 13, 2016 - 10:37


Google Summer of Code (GSoC) is a global program that offers student developers stipends to write code for various open source software projects. MuseScore was selected for GSoC 2013 and 2014 and students implemented several features including MIDI import, swing playback, better Jack integration.

In 2016, MuseScore will apply again to become a mentoring organisation and if selected, students will be able to spend the summer break writing code and learning about open source development while earning money! If you are a student who wants to contribute to MuseScore, it's the perfect opportunity!

Students are able to make their own project proposal or select one from a list established by the community. I started an idea list based on the ideas we generated in the previous years. Student or not, feel free to edit it or discuss potential ideas here on the forum. If you feel able to mentor a student working on MuseScore during Google Summer of Code, please add yourself to the page as a possible mentor.

For more information, read further on the Google Summer of Code website. You can get in touch with the MuseScore developers on the mailing list or the #musescore irc channel on freenode.

Comments

• Jan 20, 2016 - 08:55

Just some thoughts of a normal user:

concerning chord symbols playback:

- it would be nice, if it would be able to choose the inversions from each chord in playback. And for a hard Level ;-): I like the feature in EZ-Keys to select/deselect tensions of a chord.

concerning text features:

- concerning usability: improvements of an easier workaround to create Coverpages or handle with verses under a song. When I want to have a seperate Coverpage with title, author and so on and want that the music sheet starts on a second or third page, it isn't obviously to set first a vertical frame for the normal user to do that. There would be an own tool-button, menu entry or a checkbox to set this information of a seperate page helpful. Also the handling from verses under a song could be user-friendlier.

VST-support:

- direct support of VST-instruments - a sometimes asked feature, not every user (like me ;) is very familar with the configuration of jack.

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• Jan 20, 2016 - 09:39

Direct support for VST is problematic as it is proprietary and copyrighted and owned by Steinberg.

This would make it very difficult to implement in an open source application as the GPL licence requires the publication of source code.

Which, as I understand it would not be allowed by Steinberg.

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• Jan 20, 2016 - 10:22

We would work around the legal limitation, after all VST are supported by Ardour or Audacity via VeSTige VST-compatibility header.
However, I still believe it's good to push audio improvements out of MuseScore so we can focus on notation and ease of use. Also, I doubt that anyone who can't figure out Jack would figure out VSTi in MuseScore better.

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• Jan 20, 2016 - 17:11

Yes this would be more a gimmick for a better sound in playback (there are for example some nice vsti like "supremepiano").
Even now I've for a better sound the possibility to export the music sheet as mp3 in musescore (and the most realistic sound I would have are to play the sheets with real instruments).
And sure the aim of musescore first of all should be to set professional music sheets. And therefore a higher priority should have the usability of the program (like the others notes in my origin post).

But the difference between a direct support and a roundabout way with Jack would be, I don't have take care about audio input and output ressources an connection between them because a direct implementation would use the existing sound configuration (in my case pulse-audio). Mulab (a closed source program) has such a possibility and is therefore a good example - this could be also a point for an easy usability (in Linux I wish sometimes more easier workarounds with multimedia).

But as I said such a feature shouldn't be a central aim of musescore (and there is still the problematic license of vst).

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• Jan 20, 2016 - 20:24

No license issue, that's a misunderstanding. You can use winapi in a gpl app without publishing windows source code, that's clear. Vst support can be included in a closed source dll. Gpl apps can use closed source libraries.
The other thing is that vsti via jack is a joke right now with all the unstable esoteric crap needed for that at least on Windows. From an average music teacher perspective good soundfont playback is more or less enough. Although I have some cool vsts which I would use, like Hauptwerk for organ.

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• Jan 20, 2016 - 21:48

AFAIK you apply, not your university. The fact that there were several polish students from those 2 universitess is most probably the 'fault' of those students, not of their universities.
And that list is just the top 13, so what makes you think your University is not on place 20 or some such?

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• Jan 21, 2016 - 17:36

E-mail was sent to my dean's office and now my dean knows about Google Summer of Code.
"I don't think a font project would be accepted except if it involves coding." - the program is not only the source code in text files - but also: icons, graphic elements, etc. Sorry, but it isn't an argument, lasconic.

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• Jan 21, 2016 - 02:09

I am a student and I would love to sign up for GSOC myself but I will be in the middle of my dissertation at the time so it probably won't be possible. However, I have a couple of feature requests I'd be very happy to see implemented even if it was by someone else:

Master View + Linked Measures
I think the best way to solve the issue of separate part extraction from each voice is to create a new "Master View" in which each part (i.e. each instrument) gets its own staff. In the normal view you would say "I want Part 1 and Part 2 to share a staff" (i.e. Voice 1 = Part 1, Voice 2 = Part 2). This way all of the information about which notes belong to which part is preserved, allowing separate part extraction and the often-requested feature of independent mixer control for each voice (when different voices belong to different parts). Done properly, this could even allow mid-system instrument changes, again with properly independent mixer control.

See these posts for details:
https://musescore.org/en/node/71096#comment-327816
https://musescore.org/en/node/71096#comment-327831

Real time MIDI + "semi-real time" MIDI
Another idea for a feature is to hack the existing MIDI import algorithm to support real time note entry via a MIDI keyboard, or "semi-real time" entry where the sustain pedal is used to advance the "record" position.
See the attached animation mock-up, and this post:
https://musescore.org/en/node/58996#comment-286356

Attachment Size
RealTimeMIDI.gif 213.97 KB

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• Feb 18, 2016 - 00:23

So I didn't think I could do GSoC because I will have a dissertation to do, but it turns that a GSoC project could potentially *be* my dissertation.

From the GSoC FAQ page:
> Can I earn course credit for participating in GSoC?
> Absolutely. Google can provide documentation to your school so you can obtain
> course credit once we receive a positive final evaluation from your mentor.

Of course, there's no guarantee that my university will allow it (I'd need to find a member of staff willing to supervise it for a start), and there are plenty of other interesting dissertation projects available (including one on drones!), but it's an option!

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