[Linuxsampler-devel] RE: Re: Import of the most common sample formats

[Matthew W. <mw...@wi...>]

Gday Josh,
Sorry for the long time to reply, I've been quite busy lately.

Are you aware of CPU(currently known x86 P2, P3, P4, and Athlon) denormal
issues? This article, even though it focuses on a Windows sound app, it
explains denormal issues and how they affect sound apps on all platforms:
http://phonophunk.phreakin.com/p4denormal.html
Another good read on denormal issues can be found here:
http://music.calarts.edu/~glmrboy/musicdsp/musicdspFAQ.dsp.html#ct13

Are you aware of the Linux Audio Developer's Simple Plugin API (LADSPA)?
More details can be found at this website:
http://www.ladspa.org/
You may want to checkout Audacity's(http://audacity.sourceforge.net/)
implementation(source code) of LADSPA as Audacity is released under the
GPL(http://audacity.sourceforge.net/faq.php?lang=en#g1) here:
http://cvs.sourceforge.net/cgi-bin/viewcvs.cgi/audacity/audacity-src/src/eff
ects/ladspa/

As for all fxb/fxp bank/preset files, I know that a VST plugin called
HALion(http://www.steinberg.net/en/ps/products/vst_instruments/halion/index.
php?sid=0) reads them. To use a VST plugin, you need a VST host application.
Very briefly you have a midi track with a small section of notes and then
within HALion you open a fxp file and it changes the sound of that midi
track to another instrument. It works in the same way that the 128 General
Midi voices work on a synthesizer.

At the moment VST host applications exist only for Windows and Mac(Audacity
only has Windows and Mac VST plugin support):
http://ygrabit.steinberg.de/users/ygrabit/public_html/vstgui/listhost.html
The VST Plug-in specification was developed by
Steinberg(http://www.steinberg.net/en/). A VST Host application is an
application that can host VST Plugins that have been developed under the VST
Plugin Specification, either by Steinberg or any Third-Parties. They are
really starting to do some amazing things with VST like the VST System Link:
["What is VST System Link?
VST System Link is a system for networking computers using Steinberg Virtual
Studio Technology (VST) software and Audio Stream Input Output (ASIO)
hardware. VST System Link enables the transfer of synchronization,
transport, and audio data between two or more workstations equipped with
compatible software and hardware over standard digital audio cabling systems
such as ADAT, TDIF, AES/EBU, S/ PDIF etc. And because it uses the audio
stream itself, synchronization is completely sample accurate, even across
multiple workstation configurations!"]
More info about VST System Link can be read here:
http://www.steinberg.net/en/ps/products/music_production/cubase_sl_pc/featur
es/system_link/index.php?sid=0

As mentioned earlier the VST Plug-in specification was developed by
Steinberg. They have a VST SDK which can be used to build VST plugins and
VST host applications as well. This VST SDK can be downloaded here:
http://www.steinberg.net/en/ps/support/3rdparty/index.php?sid=0
There is a licence for it which will appear when you try to download the
SDK, however I also recommend reading "Licensing issues & Trademark Usage"
section of the "VST Plug-Ins Formal issues" found here:
http://ygrabit.steinberg.de/users/ygrabit/public_html/vstsdk/vstsdk2.2/html/
plug/intro.html#licence
However as I understand it, it seems that if people want VST host
application functionality support in The LinuxSampler Project then they may
have to download the VST SDK individually in order to build(compile) The
LinuxSampler Project like how Syntopia require you to download the VST SDK
before you can build(compile) the Syntopia VST plugin(more on Syntopia
later). VST host application functionality support in The LinuxSampler
Project could be an optional component that if people wanted they would pass
an option to the configure script as well as download the VST SDK.

So how could you build VST host application functionality into The
LinuxSampler Project? Well there are a few resources. The VST SDK and online
documentation is a good starting point.
Audacity(http://audacity.sourceforge.net/) which is released under the GPL,
would be the next port of call; Audacity supports VST Plug-in effects on the
Macintosh and Windows platforms. I would suggest downloading either the
Windows(http://audacity.sourceforge.net/windows.php?lang=en) or
Mac(http://audacity.sourceforge.net/mac.php?lang=en) version of Audacity and
a VST plug-in(http://audacity.sourceforge.net/plugins.php?lang=en) or two to
have a play and get your head around VST so to speak. You could checkout
Audacity's source code to see how they implemented VST plugin support for
the Windows and Mac version of Audacity here:
http://cvs.sourceforge.net/cgi-bin/viewcvs.cgi/audacity/audacity-src/src/eff
ects/VST/
The next thing I would suggest would be "VST MediaAddOn"(source code
available) which implements the VST PlugIn Interface Technology for BeOS. As
I understand, BeOS is a Unix or Unix-like OS so porting and modifying this
should not be too hard. The "VST MediaAddOn" extends the "BeOS Media
Services" and you may want to checkout "Cortex" to help you understand the
"BeOS Media Services". Both the "VST MediaAddOn" and "Cortex" can be found
here(ignore the 5 second ads):
http://mitglied.lycos.de/cell/projects.html

Of course once you have VST host application functionality within The
LinuxSampler Project you would want to test it with some VST plugins. A list
of plugins for BeOS which work with the "VST MediaAddOn" can be found
here(I'm assuming the sources for these can be found and then porting would
need to be done):
http://mitglied.lycos.de/cell/vst_addon/plugins.html
Then there is Syntopia, which is a C++ project for the Windows platform and
is a modular software synthesizer for use with a VST host. Syntopia can be
downloaded from here(source code available, licence unknown):
http://syntopia.sourceforge.net/download.html
Finally there is ZR-3 which is a VST instrument plugin and is released under
the GPL. ZR-3 has plugins for Windows, MacOS, MacOS/X and can be downloaded
here:
http://zr-3.sourceforge.net/

Once you have a few VST plugins then you can download some VST instrument
files. One good site is
Wizoosounds(http://www.wizoosounds.com/cgi-bin/WebObjects/wizoosounds) and
all of their instrument files are commerial but they have a large list of
formats available(AIFF - Stereo, Battery, Cubase VST/SX, EXS24, Giga,
HALion, LM-4, LM4MkII, 5.1(6 Mono AIFF Files). You can find out more
information about each format by clicking on the down arrow on the "all
formats" drop down combo box under "instrument finder" in the left hand
column as well as visiting this page here:
http://www.wizoosounds.com/cgi-bin/WebObjects/wizoosounds.woa/69/wa/page?nam
e=formats_e.shtml&wosid=7n7V7NA1rObz2qTcMhoPZQMSM9V
Another site is
PrimeSounds(http://www.primesounds.com/prime2/samples/home.jhtml), again all
their files are commerial and the list of formats they support are ESX24,
Giga, Halion, Kontakt, Recycle 2.0, SoundFont 2, and can be search used this
page:
http://www.primesounds.com/prime2/samples/advsearch.jhtml?searchType=assoc
Finally there is the Cubase Magic website which has free, shareware, and
commercial VST, AU, and DX Effects and Instruments available for Mac, Mac
OSX, and Windows which can be found here:
http://st2n.com/daw/en/

Finally there are some other good resources on the net about sound.
* Julius O. Smith's home page(http://www-ccrma.stanford.edu/~jos/) which
contains a number of well-written academical papers. The website claims that
is has ~275MB of on-line publications, sound examples, and software. Just
checkout the music courses or the very huge list of "On-Line
Publications"(http://www-ccrma.stanford.edu/~jos/pubs.html) which is found
under the "Selected Works".
* Music and
Computers(http://eamusic.dartmouth.edu/~book/MATCpages/tableofcontents.html)
which is a nice introduction to digital synthesis. Lots of sound examples
and applets.
* Advanced Programming Techniques for Modular
Synthesizers(http://www.cim.mcgill.ca/~clark/nordmodularbook/nm_book_toc.htm
l)
* FAQs on FIR, IIR, FFT filters as well as Multirate and
CORDIC(http://www.dspguru.com/) as well as HOWTOs, Techniques, tricks, and
tutorials. Another great site that dspGuru.

Hoo Roo,
Matthew Williams

------------------
> I sent this email a while ago, but it appears to have bounced. Please
> disregard any duplicate postings, thanks.
>
> On Thu, 2003-04-03 at 08:22, Matthew Williams wrote:
> > http://linuxsampler.sourceforge.net/
> > ["- import of the most common sample formats (WAV, SF2, AKAI, EMU,
> GIG,
> > ecc)"]
> >
> > All VST plugins read all fxb/fxp bank/preset files. I've got a file
> that
> > ends in fxb here:
> > http://wilber.pointclark.net/vst/01_rhodes_suitcase.fxp
> >
> > Will the Linux Sampler Project support fxb and fxp files?
> >
>
> Its the first time I have heard of them, so I can't really comment
> myself, until I have a better idea of what the format looks like. I
> think DLS2, GIG, Akai, and GUS will probably keep us busy for a little
> while, though. I'm adding support for these different formats to
> libInstPatch as well as GUI editing support in Swami (DLS2 and probably
> GIG formats, the others will likely be import only for the time being).
> This is not going to be done overnight, especially with just me working
> on it. I'm having fun though, so no worries and anyone is welcome to
> help speed the process :) Cheers.
>         Josh Green