I'm happy to report that after these long months of R&D, it's far more effective than its predecessors, achieving considerably lower latency, greater accuracy and nearly eliminating the ghosting phenomenon. It isn't perfected yet, but it's a very substantial step in that direction.
I haven't formally announced the release yet, for reasons mentioned below.
Now that my work is done and I have room to breathe, I'd like to answer some of the tough questions that have been raised here. I think that there's a lot to learn by having a discussion here.
Q: Why would you prioritize a standalone over a VST?
A: Because existing music software is designed around external controllers.
I had a really interesting conversation with a musician the other day, who at first insisted that imitone needed to be a VST to be useful to him. After a short discussion, though, he changed his tune completely, and then cautioned me against using the word "standalone" when explaining my software to pro audio people.
imitone is designed as a MIDI interface, performing the function of a keyboard in a musical workflow. Imagine a black box with XLR input and USB MIDI output... Then subtract the box. The most substantial differences are the lack of a physical component and the fact that it needs to use a system audio input.
Regarding the plugin format, I am aware of no DAW on the market which can treat an audio-to-MIDI plugin as a MIDI interface for purposes of workflow. Using such a plugin invariably requires the user to access and reconfigure routings for otherwise trivial operations like switching instruments. That greatly raises the level of proficiency needed to set up and use my software, and makes it quite a lot less convenient to boot.
I will still be developing the plugin, of course, and depending on the discussion here I might well bump it up my priority list. I fully understand that for certain uses it will be the better tool. I've also been researching, and it turns out many of the constraints I've been worrying over will not be a problem.
Q: Why would anyone want a voice MIDI interface?
A: If you need to ask, imitone probably isn't useful to you.Just one question..WHY???
Why would you want to play midi notes with your voice live? You can just as easily play them with a keyboard.
My primary reason for creating imitone is to give beginners a way to have the experience of musical proficiency and expression without the long practice and dexterity which are typically required to play a keyboard or instrument. I'm trying to make something that would have allowed me to start making music earlier in my life if I had encountered it.
As the project has gone on, however, it has become clear that the software offers many other possibilities relevant to experienced musicians:
- A professional vocalist or non-keyboard instrumentalist may apply their best skills as MIDI control.
- A keyboard player may use imitone as a third hand in a multitimbral performance.
- A disabled musician may use imitone to supplement or replace a keyboard in their workflow.
- Live power and vibrato articulations allow a high degree of expressive control over instruments which provide these features, making hand automation unnecessary. (The planned brightness and harmonicity articulations will extend this control even further.)
- Legato & portamento transitions between pitches are generally more intuitive than on a piano interface.
- Vocal improvisation is a different creative process than playing a keyboard and tends to result in different sounds and ideas.
Q: Why is it taking so long?
A: Because I built a better mousetrap and then realized it wasn't nearly good enough.
Real-time pitch tracking is a very difficult problem. Old-school audio tech folks have given me an earful about this -- people have been trying to make it work since the 80s [1]. Companies and universities have put much bigger budgets than mine and much more knowledgeable people than myself to work on the problem and come up empty-handed after months or years. Apparently, this is how some of the more powerful voice-controlled synthesizers on the market came to be: They started as attempts to make what I'm making.
At the time of the imitone Kickstarter, I had made a lot of progress with my algorithm and genuinely believed the software was almost finished -- it wasn't far from being state-of-the-art. In January, after months of work, I had improved it to the point where it was working better than any predecessor -- and realized it was still almost useless for its designed purpose.
I get the idea that some people here would be content with a version 1.0 incorporating technology not much better than what I had running in 0.7. I also get the idea that any other company in my position would put out a crippled technology like that at substantially higher cost -- in fact, several already have: [1] [2] [3]
As of January, I'm not trying to be better than my predecessors; I'm trying to create something completely different. imitone will be version 1.0 when -- and only when -- it can change the landscape of digital music. (Yes, I'm an ideologue.)
Lastly, yes, I have other projects going on alongside imitone. I estimate that in these nine months, they have accounted for about a third of my working time. On that note...
Q: How can you justify working on another project after raising $90,000 with imitone?
A: I have my own ideas about integrity, and dollar value does not trump those.
First, I asked for $20,000 to cover licensing and freelancers, and made it clear I had other active projects at the time. At the time, I had been involved with SoundSelf for about a year, and it had also been the subject of another successful Kickstarter campaign.
Second, if I was the type of person who abandoned a commitment to a project like that, would I be worth trusting with my commitment to this one?
Q: What about Infinite Blank?
A: It's one of the biggest regrets of my career.
For the uninitiated, Infinite Blank is a Kickstarter campaign I ran in 2010 which raised $2,500 from about 100 backers and never delivered. It was to be a completely non-commercial creative MMO, with me acting as sole developer, community manager, chief moderator and server administrator. It was an idealistic project and wildly, insanely ambitious; I wouldn't have finished it with $100,000. (I still love the idea.)
I wrote about it on imitone's Kickstarter page under "Risks & Challenges". I also gave the Infinite Blank backers copies of imitone as a sort of compensation. Surprisingly none of my Infinite Blank backers requested refunds, but I'd be happy to oblige them if they did: I fell short of my promises.
The failure of that project gave me reason to delay the imitone Kickstarter until -- I thought -- it was nearly finished. The lingering sense of guilt is additional motivation not to disappoint again.
Q: My Anti-Virus software does not like you.
A: Working on it.
I had a badly-configured HTTPS certificate on one of my sites, which I've now addressed; thanks for speaking up.Careful visiting his website. It kicks up a malicious payload warning here.
[Many antivirus systems will flag any software that hasn't been installed by a large number of users without issue as potentially harmful. It's a pain in the butt for small developers like myself, because it means that until we have a few hundred or thousand installs our users get warnings. I submit to the Symantec whitelisting program and apply secure cryptographic signatures to my builds but that doesn't cover everything.BitDefender is blocking the beta 0.70 download for me as well. It says that the site is not safe.
Incidentally, this is part of the reason I'm delaying the announcement of the update: Whitelisting can take a few days, and can only be initiated once the final software is ready.
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My ears are open to responses to the above and further questions. Again, I think I have a lot to learn from the discussion here.
