Re: [iiwusynth-devel] Ideas

[Josh Green]

On Tue, 2002-11-19 at 07:36, M. Nentwig wrote: 
> Hello!
> 
> Here are some ideas I had during the last couple of weeks.
> Ideas are a dime a dozen. The value of this mail should be roughly 1$
> :)
> 
On our way to being rich $$ :) 

> ==MIDI Sysex and command line==
> What, if we implement a single MIDI sysex command, that transmits an
> arbitrary command in plain ASCII format, similar to the command line?
> This would allow to remote-control any of the features from a sequencer
> (also the odd stuff like selecting an interpolation algorithm, or the
> LADSPA Fx Unit). This would make FluidSynth really powerful in a
> sequencer environment. Also, there wouldn't be any need for dedicated
> MIDI-control documentation.
> 
<cut> 

Really cool ideas about string "command line" API. I was just starting
to think about doing a bit of FluidSynth API coding myself, I think a
command line routine would pretty much take care of most of it.
Available driver querying would be the only other thing :) 

> 
> ==Advertisement and stable release==
> I just noticed, that there are a lot of Timidity enthusiasts out there.
> While Timidity has some additional features, I think FluidSynth / Swami
> have clearly more to offer as a realtime synth with standard sound
> fonts.
> Should we let them know about FluidSynth one day? OK, preferably -after-
> making a stable release :)
> 
Yeah, I've noticed that a lot. It seems like not that many people know
about the greatness of FluidSynth and Swami. I'd like to bring the Swami
FluidSynth plugin up to par with native FluidSynth as far as
functionality and performance. I've been really tied up with the
development version of Swami (just recently got things somewhat
functioning again). Its still kind of a mess. I get frustrated with
trading off time between creating the best API and creating actual
functionality. Swami is still really lacking in usability and I know
that if I sat down and implemented new things, a lot would happen. But I
also don't like to work with the older libInstPatch API which is..
well.. old I guess. I'm starting to wonder if my decision to split the
code base and create a GObject based libInstPatch was really the best
decision in the whole scheme of things. Of course this calls into
question months of work, which is kind of a touchy thing with me :( 
Anyways.. Enough of that. 

> ==Web page: FluidSynth (iiwusynth) applications==
> How about a 'howto' page? I could contribute material about using the
> standalone program on Linux. Draft:
<cut> 

> 
> What's the best format to get this going? Any objections to LaTeX
> (latex2html)?
> 
Or perhaps Docbook or something. Donno, I haven't actually finished any
documentation project (Swami manual or otherwise). A HOWTO would be
really cool though. The quicktoots site might be a good place to have a
link or hosting of it. I would be willing to help out on this (wish I
could help more). 

<cut> 

> ==Single channel output==
> If the now-LADSPA Fx unit is made system-independent, then it can be
> easily used to set up an arbitrary mix for any number of physical
> outputs. This includes routing channel 1 to output 1, channel 2 to
> output 2 and so on.
> The number of output channels to use is set before starting the audio
> driver. By default, the L/R mix is assigned to outputs 1 and 2.
> As soon as the user sets up his own Fx preset, the default connection is
> disconnected.
> 
Audio routing seems like a really cool area of extension. I think it
would be real cool to do live compositions with a sequencer. Where you
could start out with a loop of different instruments and then add to it
or modify it listening with head phones on one sound card output and
then commit it to the live output when to ones liking :) 

<cut> 

> ==Chorus==
> I'm quite happy with the chorus sound as it is (any opinions about
> that?). I might add a parameter 'predelay', change the interpolation
> from 7 point sinc to four-point (more efficient) and get rid of the
> lookup table, which puts a lower limit on modulation speed.
> 
I think maybe the default values should be looked into more closely to
match existing popular SoundFont devices. 

> 
> I better stop writing before this mail gets any longer. But I'd be happy
> to hear from you.
> As I said, it's just a list of ideas. Fixing existing bugs wouldn't be
> such a bad thing, either.
> 
Well here is my voice :) It seems like encouragement is something I need
the most of when doing work on free software projects. Pats on the back,
cheers of praise, ones experiences with my programs, etc all that goes a
long way and helps to combat some of the tediousness of it all. 

So thank you guys! 

Peter Hanappe 
Markus Nentwig 

2 great persons helping to bring open music composition to the world at
large :) Three cheers.. Hip hip hooray! 

> Cheers
> 
> Markus
> 
> 
Lates. 
Josh Green