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MelodyMatrix 2.0.0: Learn Section, Fly-Over 3D Sheet Music, and Audio-to-MIDI

Fri, 23 Oct 2026 00:00:00 +0000

On October 16, MelodyMatrix 2.0.0 was released, the biggest update of the application so far. MelodyMatrix is a JavaFX application for musicians that connects to MIDI devices and helps you “look at music”. This release adds a way to learn, a new way to see your score, and a few tools that make daily use easier.

Sheetmusic4J 0.0.5: LilyPond Import and Export

Wed, 21 Oct 2026 00:00:00 +0000

Sheetmusic4J is a Java(FX) library to render and interact with sheet music. After MusicXML, MIDI, ABC and Guitar Pro, version 0.0.5 adds another format: LilyPond.

Pi4J Drivers V1.2.0: ePaper, DAC/ADC, Motors, and LoRa

Mon, 19 Oct 2026 00:00:00 +0000

Pi4J is the Java library that gives you access to the hardware I/O of the Raspberry Pi: GPIO pins, I2C, SPI, PWM, and serial communication. With it, you can read a button, blink an LED, or talk to a sensor from plain Java code, running on the Pi itself.

Lottie4J 1.2.7: A Performance Release

Thu, 15 Oct 2026 00:00:00 +0000

A new version of Lottie4J, the Java and JavaFX library to render Lottie animations, is available. Release 1.2.7 doesn’t bring new features, but focuses fully on performance.

Foojay Podcast #102: Why Foojay Walked Away From WordPress for Static Sites

Mon, 05 Oct 2026 00:00:00 +0000

Six years of WordPress plugin updates, security patches, and slow page loads were enough for me, as I wrote about in The New Foojay.io: Generated by Hugo, Maintained by Java. For Foojay Podcast #102, I talk with Andy Damevin and Holly Cummins, both from the Quarkus team at Red Hat, about that move away from WordPress and various static website generator tools.

JavaFX Links of September 2026

Fri, 25 Sep 2026 00:00:00 +0000

Here are the JavaFX LinksOfTheMonth of September 2026. This was a big month with the release of JavaFX 27!

The New Foojay.io: Generated by Hugo, Maintained by Java

Tue, 22 Sep 2026 00:00:00 +0000

Publishing an article on Foojay used to mean creating an account, learning a web editor, and hoping your code blocks survived the formatting. Since this week it means opening a pull request. Foojay.io runs as a static site now, Hugo generates it from a public Git repository, and every article keeps the address it always had.

Foojay Podcast #101: Java 27 in Practice: Smaller Heaps, Smarter Defaults, and Valhalla on the Horizon

Mon, 14 Sep 2026 00:00:00 +0000

JDK 27 arrives on 15 September 2026, and it is a feature release rather than a Long-Term Support one. That distinction matters less than it sounds. As Simon Ritter, Deputy CTO at Azul and a Java Champion, points out, every OpenJDK release is delivered the same way, and “long-term support” is a property of the binary distribution you install rather than of the platform itself. I sit down with Simon for Foojay Podcast #101 to walk through all nine JEPs in the release.

A Raspberry Pi Zero Broke the Tally Light of my Blackmagic Camera

Mon, 07 Sep 2026 00:00:00 +0000

Boys don’t grow up to men, their toys just get more expensive… More than 25 years ago I worked in professional television, in a time when a switcher with tally and camera control cost as much as a car, and only broadcasters could afford such a thing. Today an ATEM Mini and a Blackmagic Micro Studio Camera 4K G2 give you the same possibilities on a hobbyist desk for a fraction of that price. Every time I set up a shoot, that still amazes me.

JavaFX Links of August 2026

Fri, 28 Aug 2026 00:00:00 +0000

Here are the JavaFX LinksOfTheMonth of August 2026. We took a summer break, so there was only one “Links Of The Week” this month, and it covers all of August. We hope you had a great summer and are ready for more JavaFX news in the coming weeks!

JavaFX Links of July 2026

Fri, 31 Jul 2026 00:00:00 +0000

Here are the JavaFX LinksOfTheMonth of July 2026. You can find the weekly lists on jfx-central.com. Did we miss anything? Is there anything you want to have included in one of the next overviews? Let us know via links@jfx-central.com.

Sheetmusic4J 0.0.3: ABC Notation, Guitar Pro, Engraving Improvements

Thu, 30 Jul 2026 00:00:00 +0000

Last week I introduced Sheetmusic4J, a Java(FX) library to render and interact with sheet music. That first 0.0.1 release was really a question more than a product: is there any interest in a native Java(FX) sheet music library before I invest more time in it? So I shared it on social media and waited to see what would come back.

MelodyMatrix 1.2.0 and 1.2.1: Learn Section Groundwork, Playback Improvements, and a Startup Fix

Wed, 29 Jul 2026 00:00:00 +0000

Two MelodyMatrix releases went out last week, one right after the other. 1.2.0 brings the first steps toward a Learn section, some playback improvements, and initial MusicXML support. 1.2.1 followed a day later to fix a startup issue that 1.2.0 itself introduced.

Introducing Sheetmusic4J, a Java(FX) Library to Render and Interact with Sheet Music

Fri, 24 Jul 2026 00:00:00 +0000

I’m building MelodyMatrix with my son, an application to look at and play along with music. The app already shows a song in different views: falling blocks, chords, guitar views, and many more. Now we want a Learn section, a view that helps someone practice piano by following the actual sheet music while it plays.

First Test of Java on Banana Pi (ARM and RISC-V), Plus a Blinking LED with Pi4J

Thu, 16 Jul 2026 00:00:00 +0000

As part of my 2026 learning goals around Java on RISC-V (see this post about x86 versus ARM versus RISC-V), I’ve asked various suppliers to send me evaluation boards. I already published these:

A New Website for MelodyMatrix, and What's New in Release 1.1.0

Mon, 13 Jul 2026 00:00:00 +0000

Last week was busy for MelodyMatrix. The website got rebuilt from the ground up, and the app itself got a solid release with a handful of new features.

Foojay Podcast #100: Java Podcasters on Why They Started, What Broke, and What They Learned

Mon, 13 Jul 2026 00:00:00 +0000

Foojay Podcast hits episode 100. No plan, no roadmap, it just happened. To mark the occasion, I turned the microphone around and invited other podcasters from the Java community to answer the same three questions I usually ask my guests: why did you start, what broke, and what did you learn?

My Book 'Java Programming for Raspberry Pi' is Now Available as Softcover and Hardcover on Amazon

Fri, 10 Jul 2026 00:00:00 +0000

“Java Programming for Raspberry Pi: A Hands-On Guide to Electronics and IoT Projects” is now available as a softcover and hardcover paper book through Amazon, on top of the Kindle ebook and the pay-as-you-wish version on Leanpub. If you prefer holding a physical book while you’re wiring up LEDs and sensors on your Raspberry Pi, that’s now possible again.

Closing the Visual Gap Between the Official Lottie Webplayer and Lottie4J

Thu, 02 Jul 2026 00:00:00 +0000

A Lottie library is only as good as its output looks. If an animation renders differently in Lottie4J than it does in the official web player, that’s a bug, even when no exception is thrown and the code looks correct.

JavaFX Links of June 2026

Fri, 26 Jun 2026 00:00:00 +0000

Here are the JavaFX LinksOfTheMonth of June 2026. You can find the weekly lists on jfx-central.com. Did we miss anything? Is there anything you want to have included in one of the next overviews? Let us know via links@jfx-central.com.