Two Updates About Generative.fm

Hello again!

I have two things to share today:

1. I just released a new piece on Generative.fm called "420hz Gamma Waves for Big Brain."

2. I'm in the early early early stages of a complete redesign and rewrite of the site.

Let's talk about that second one.

For a while now I've been feeling a bit dissatisfied with the site, both from a design perspective and an engineering perspective. I built the site a long time ago and it used to look very different (back when I was the only user): https://twitter.com/alex_bainter/status/1107155934059642880

Back then there were no tags, no favorites, no sortings, no data, no casting, no timer, and no recording. It's natural for software to morph over time as new features are grafted on. While you do your best to handle changes gracefully, eventually it starts to feel like a game of Jenga that's gone on a little too long. Buttons get shoved into places that weren't meant to have them, old code starts to get in the way, and it feels like the whole thing could collapse at any moment.

On top of that, you and I both have good ideas for new features that I'd really like to add, but the current design and codebase are making that difficult. It's a bit like trying to stack too many blocks on an already-wobbly Jenga tower. This is why I gave up on user accounts.

Right now is a good time for me to take a step back, look at what Generative.fm has become, look at where it's going, and build a new version that can actually support the ways you like to use it and what we think it should do next. It'll be like restarting Jenga with all the pieces back in a nice, stable tower (okay I'm done with the anology).

This will take many months, but I'm looking forward to having Patreon as a resource to help me make decisions and as a place to share updates. Expect to hear more from me. I'll also still be making new music for the site.

Thanks again! Having people who care about this project makes it so much more fun.