[linux-audio-dev] What do we need now ?

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Subject: [linux-audio-dev] What do we need now ?
From: Dave Phillips (dlphilp_AT_bright.net)
Date: ti heinä  27 1999 - 10:55:29 EDT


Greetings:

  Since traffic is slow here these days I thought I'd throw out some
random thoughts and maybe light a fire or two.

  As I write my book I've made a few observations which might be of some
inteest to developers. To wit:

        1. Linux needs a 1st-class MIDI sequencer, preferably one with support
for syncronized audio sequencing. Jazz++ is pretty good, IMO, but its
interface is definitely showing its age. Ditto for Rosegarden, and I
understand that both applications are still in development, including
interface design. If the developers of those progs are reading this,
perhaps we could get an update on your progress ?

        2. The Linux sound & music software world is almost hilariously
lopsided. At the same time I complain about the dearth of full-blown
MIDI sequencers, I can point to an amazing number of software synthesis
languages, some of which (Csound, RTCmix, CLM) have impressive GUIs
(Cecilia, Snd). Then of course there's Quasimodo (how's it going these
days, Paul ?), Silence (new version soon ?), jMax (we've all heard the
good news by now), and HPKComposer. This is all major music software,
impressive even to the Windozers.

        3. Still no (or just too little) support for pro-audio cards. I have it
on good authority that that situation will change later this year, but
the wheels do turn slowly. We still need to make manufacturers aware of
a potential market, and if possible cajole them into open-source
solutions.

        4. How about a MIDI loopback device ? Anyone working on anything like
Hubi's virtual cable ?

        5. The whole situation wrt MIDI is strange. We have a lot of pieces to
the puzzle. We have WaoN, a WAV-to-MIDI converter that needs more work;
we have a bunch of small progs and a lot of utilities and programming
tools; we have kooBase (coming along now, but it still needs input and
testers); and we have the Gseq project. kooBase looks like a contender,
but again, it has a long way to go. If Jazz++ and Rosegarden do improve
their GUIs we'll be a lot more attractive to prospective Window-jumpers.

        6. Soundfile editors are still not up to par, although recent advances
in Snd and MiXViews brings them closer to pro-level software. Simply
put, we need a Cool Edit Pro for Linux. How's it going to happen ? As an
aside: I'd like to DAP fixed to accomodate large files, can anyone take
on that task ? DAP is otherwise quite impressive.

        7. On a related note, we need more or better hard-disk recording
systems. SLab is okay by me, but many are put off by the interface.
KHDRec is still under construction. Multitrack's developer seems to have
simply disappeared (does _anyone_ know how to contact Boris Nagels ?). I
like using NoTAM's Mix, but once again its X/Motif interface is showing
some age.

  So what do you think we need ? More organization ? Does anyone else
feel that there might be too much re-invention of the wheel ? Can we
coordinate efforts in some better ways ? Let's put it to ourselves: what
software do we need and how shall we go about getting it ?

  Btw, thanks to Nicola Bernardini for maintaining the Linux Csound CVS
repository !

== Dave Phillips

       http://www.bright.net/~dlphilp/index.html
   http://sunsite.univie.ac.at/Linux-soundapp/linux_soundapps.html


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