Welcome

New version available.

skwrk is a free real-time audio synthesizer for Windows. Csound provides the engine for generating audio and building instruments. Features include:

  • Instrument Cataloging
  • Deferred-Time Rendering
  • Real-Time Rendering including:
  • Multiple Modes of Control
  • Customizable Bindings
  • Automatic Score Generation

Windows users can download it and follow this introductory tutorial. To learn more about skwrk visit the resources page.

News

02-24-2008
A new version is now available on the download page. It just has some minor bug fixes. A bug regarding the score generation of looped sections has been fixed, and additional error handling has been added. I don't have any solid plans for the future of skwrk right now, but it's not an abandoned project either. It does everything I set out to do, and I have not received any feature requests, thus there isn't a lot of reason to work on it. Oh, and good news: I got an A in my Senior Project course for skwrk.

11-05-2007
As promised, skwrk version one is now available for you to download. There is both a short and a detailed tutorial to help you get started. I welcome all feedback. Enjoy!

10-30-2007
Friends, lovers, and rabid fans: skwrk v1.0 will be released Monday night Nov 5th.

10-29-2007
The release has been delayed due to bugs and omissions discovered over the past two weeks. There is no outstanding coding work to be done at present, but I continue to find reason to change skwrk every time I sit down to compose with it. So I am not comfortable releasing it at present. In addition, this unforeseen coding work has kept me from finishing the tutorial. Still, expect a release in the first weeks of November.

10-16-2007
The coding is essentially done. I still need to write the tutorial and come up with a decent list of instruments to package with the download. I expect to have 1.0 available for download by the end of the month. The site is now equipped with an RSS feed.

10-12-2007
We've now got ourselves a completely ambiguous (see: trendy) logo. It will be used as the application icon. I've also modified the site a bit to reflect this new artistic direction. In programming news, I've added the settings dialog and made countless refinements. I am dedicating this entire weekend to getting skwrk 99% complete, so expect more updates in the next few days.

10-03-2007
Progress is steady. The section mode is fully implemented, with looping, and the scrollbars are done. Both had considerable bugs associated with them. Even though my senior project is not officially due until the end of the semester, I think I will move my presentation date to shortly before Thanksgiving recess. That gives me about six weeks to finish the job, scare away the bugs, coat it in gloss, write a ten page report, and prepare my presentation. If I decide to commit to that schedule, skwrk 1.0 will be released a month sooner than expected.

09-16-2007
The section mode is now largely implemented. I still need to enable looping and get sections to work correctly with orc/score generation. Here's my current list of what remains to be done:

  • Finish section mode
  • Add scrollbars to bindings screen
  • Create settings window
  • Rendered mode improvements
  • Text editor improvements
  • Compile performance information
  • Bind capital letters
  • Remove double slashes
  • Visual improvements
  • Bug testing

09-11-2007
Progress has been made on the section mode. I've also been working on code to measure and increase performance. It's been about a month now since skwrk has crashed or locked-up on me. I'm being extra careful not to let any new bugs in.

09-03-2007
Realtime performances are now saved to .orc/.sco files. That means I have only one major objective left to complete: the section mode. I'm also compiling a list of odds and ends to be done before the version 1.0 release. At the current pace, all that should be finished before my 22nd birthday in early October. (Uhg, I just tried to compile this html file... I think it's time I go get some fresh air.)

09-01-2007
I took a short vacation from skwrk while adjusting to the resumption of university studies, but I’m back at it. Right now I’m working on generating Csound files from realtime performances, and all is going smoothly. I really hope to have it finished by the end of this long weekend.

08-22-2007
The skwrk download has been updated and will now work with the latest version of Csound. I am trying to get a 64-bit version working, and while I've resolved all the error messages I have not yet got it to produce sound.

08-16-2007
Version 0.8 has been released! Head on over to the download page and then visit this guide. I will spend the next week or so getting feedback and fixing any bugs that pop up before starting work on the remaining features.

08-14-2007
Error messages from Csound are now properly displayed. I've got some decent instruments to include now as well. I plan to release v0.8 this weekend!

08-08-2007
More bug fixes. Also, finding instruments to include is proving to be more time consuming than I originally thought. I've decided that handling Csound error messages should be included in this release. That means more new code to write.

08-04-2007
Some bugs have been flushed out and documentation is up for the coming v0.8 release. Various other parts of the site have also been filled in.

08-03-2007
I am just finishing up a solid six hour programming session, which means workspaces can now be saved! That’s 8 of 10 objectives down. On the agenda for the coming weeks: bug hunting expeditions, writing documentation, and gathering files for a preliminary release. Unfortunately, Google hasn’t yet picked up on my site (and I don’t want to advertise skwrk before having a complete product), so the 0.8 release won’t get many downloads. It will be a good dress-rehearsal, though.

08-01-2007
Pre-rendered and indefinitely-timed notes are finished. Unfortunately, as the code gets longer my inexperience is showing and bugs are becoming harder to track down. Nevertheless, I would like to release an unfinished version of the program this month. I plan to code up the ability to save workspaces and hopefully squash the most obvious and damaging bugs before then.

07-21-2007
Six out of ten project objectives have been met. Still to be done: playing pre-rendered and indefinitely-timed notes, saving workspace setups, looping score sections, and generating score files from real-time performances. I hope to finish two of those tasks before classes start in a month.

07-15-2007
The site has now been tested on Firefox, IE, and Opera. It should also be a little easier to read. Another hundred lines of skwrk have been written. I am now working on dynamic orchestra generation.

07-14-2007
I've designed a site! I was getting tired of c++, even after several significant accomplishments, so I went ahead and built a website. The site will not be fully together for a few more days yet. skwrk development is moving swiftly. I'm currently working on the instrument catalogue.