GoldWave Open Source Goal | Hacker News Reader

GoldWave Open Source Goal

goldwave.com

118 pointssp856 comments

Whoa. I was wondering if it was "just" the Windows version but they are aiming to open source the new web version with all the Windows tools brought over. I hope they make it!

The editor itself:

https://goldwave.com/editor

Whoa, that link 100% breaks my back button on Chrome Mobile.

Same thing for Firefox on Android, it seems.

It did the same for Firefox on the desktop (once I enabled javascript), but at least I could right click on the back button and select a previous site to escape.

setting browser.navigation.requireUserInteraction to true seems to have fixed it.

Chrome desktop, too. Fun.

Fixed, looks like.

at least not for me (on Firefox)

Major throwback, this was the (keygen cracked shareware) audio editor of 199x as far as im concerned. I tried to throw them $20 but the page failed.

It was for sure. I think I got it free as some kind of bundle deal. I used it alongside ModEdit and FT][.

Considering it was doing 16-bit 44.1 kHz since the early '90s, I sometimes entertain time-travel thoughts of going back to those days, basing a studio around it and just stabilizing on that platform for 30 years without any huge technical jolts to my music-making platform.

I spent years working around the 150-click limit of the demo, finally buying a license in 2004 or so.

I still use it every so often.

My basic audio editing needs were always met by Audacity, but in the 2000s I used to use Goldwave for a specific need: ambient sounds that need to be played in a loop in Half-Life. I can't remember how it's done anymore, but you had to set 2 markers (or at least one), usually at the start and at the end of the sound if it's smoothly loopable. These markers are baked in the resulting 8bit .wav file. Goldwave was the only program I knew that did that.

I thought Adobe bought them, turns out I was thinking of Cool Edit.

This is great. I'll be contributing to this.

I've been using Goldwave for 20 years. I do most of my work in FL Studio (writing, producing, and mixing/mastering songs), but when I need to do a quick edit, seamless loop, fade in/out, I always reach for Goldwave. I've tried many sound editors over the years — both free and paid — but I always came back to Goldwave. Yes; it still looks pretty much like it did in 2003, but I don't care because I find the UX and reliability to be unparalleled. I've gotten many years of value uot of my $50. I wish there was more software like this in 2022.

I hope they can open source it so it lives for a very long time.

NFTs for software licenses? That might be the first legitimate use case that makes sense to me. It's a shame we're all on the app store model now.

I'm not sure. The company pays gas fees to mint an NFT and loses the ability to make any more money from that NFT.

It is minted on polygon OpenSea. It costs nothing. Rather, OpenSea pays for it when it is lazily minted on first purchase.

That one maybe....

I couldn't find what is the amounts established for each goal. If they are not disclosing that, what's stopping them from just saying "sorry, we didn't make it, but thanks for you non-refundable contribution anyway!"

The first goal is hidden behind a "More info" button:

> We would provide all of the source code for GoldWave Infinity under an open source license (GPL or MIT). To do that, we would need to raise two million dollars.

Excuse me? Jesus christ. Not to be offensive towards this software and the creators, as it seems they enjoy a great following dating back to decades, but still, jesus christ.

The two millions are actually for

Acquire the source code and intellectual property from the Windows version of GoldWave.

Bring the functionality from the Windows version into GoldWave Infinity.

Provide dedicated development of GoldWave Infinity for at least 5 years.

Provide continued hosting and networking infrastructure. Provide developer and customer support.

Further develop HUI, a new cross-platform HTML based C++ graphical user interface library.

I guess it would be better if the source code release alone wouldn't take two million.

Do you mean it's too much? I'd be expecting WAY more money required to open-source an established project. 2m could be suitable for starting up a new project with many unknowns.

Seems like too much, while the value could be justified... I don't think it's it's likely to succeed which is unfortunate. OTOH, would be happy to be proven wrong.

Seems like a bargain to me, actually.

At the bottom of the page: * If we are unable to reach our primary funding goal or if we receive a substantially larger private acquisition offer, refundable contributions will be returned if possible (less transactions fees of about 4%). Non-refundable contributions will be used for continued GoldWave development. The final decision will be made on or before the 30th anniversary (April 28th, 2023).

GOLDWAVE. I remember using it and Cool Edit in the 90s. Well, with Audacity now compromised, we need competition in that open source space (I don't necessarily want a full DAW).

> Well, with Audacity now compromised

That was resolved, even though some people still seem to think it was/is/ever will be malicious.

Once you lose trust, it won't come back by simply undoing a decision

"Audacity now compromised"

I haven't used Audacity in a few years now but was always happy w it; what'd I miss?

https://github.com/audacity/audacity/discussions/1225

thanks

I hope this goes better than the opening of Lightworks. Lightworks got so much free publicity from announcing an open source version it saved their business (my theory at least.)

This strikes me more as a retirement plan for the Goldwave devs.

> This strikes me more as a retirement plan for the Goldwave devs.

If every software company closed shop by going open source, the world would be a better place:)

Blender was one of the first if not first multimedia development tool to ever follow the path of proprietary -> donations to limit -> FOSS. Long before ie. Kickstarter was a thing.

Growing up, my friends and I all used GoldWave. This was in Newfoundland, we had no idea the software was also made there.

Great news. I still use GoldWave today, and IMO it's miles better Audacity.

Any other alternative recommendations are welcomed, though.

I started out with Audacity, went into ardour (whose development I still recurringly fund) and ended up in Reaper, which I can now whole-heartedly recommend given its extensive free available training material.

A long time ago I moved from GoldWave to Cool Edit (now Adobe Audition) then to Sound Forge.

Ardor.

I wonder would this be better as a KickStarter project - contributors get their money back if there is not enough total?

2nd thing I wonder is why do they need money to develop the open source-version. If they just published the source as open source wouldn't that be it? Further open-source-developers then could develop it further.

The site has a note that if the devs think they haven't made enough money by this time next year, "refundable" donations will be refunded, minus the 4% processing fee.

It'd do better without any references to 'NFT'.

Wonderful! Though I do worry that one-time donations might leave future development underfunded. There's a lot of value in recurring monthly donations, as Patreon (and related schemes) have demonstrated.

If it goes fully open-source then the project can become self-sustaining without external funding.

How?

Because progress will be driven by individual volunteers or corporate stewardship.

> Because progress will be driven by individual volunteers or corporate stewardship.

Works well in theory! In reality the incentives of open-source contributions are complicated and don't always pan out. This is especially true for complex applications, as they're generally harder to contribute to than small libraries/plugins...

The plethora of successful Apache projects is evidence that the model works for all sorts of software, from relatively simple (apache Guacamole) to complex (Kafka and ZooKeeper).

Apache is an example of an open source foundation being driven by individual volunteers or corporate stewardship, not proof one should expect such a thing to always pan out simply because it did for Apache. Much like the trillion dollar companies that give millions per year to the Apache Foundation what works for them doesn't necessarily apply for your typical case.

True, but I think it's a little different when an application has been closed-source for over 20 years.

My point is; open-sourcing something doesn't just mean your project will be "driven by individual volunteers"

Goldwave is really great. Together with CoolEdit -> Now Adobe Audition and Audacity and also the venerable tools: Sony Soundforge Pro and Steinberg Wavelab

always made sound editing fun and very productive.

Nowadays you can get your hands on Fairlight for free https://www.blackmagicdesign.com/products/davinciresolve/fai...

Is there a direct link to the download somewhere? If you have to hand over a bunch of personal information and "register" to get a download link it's not exactly "free"

GlodWave! As a teenager I spent whole evenings playing with its expression evaluator. I guess now I'm morally obliged to contribute considering I, like many others, pirated it.

Wasn't this the app that might wipe your drive if you put in the wrong key?

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