Re: [Linuxsampler-devel] Gig format

[Josh G. <jg...@us...>]

On Sun, 2003-12-21 at 16:20, Levi Burton wrote:
> Hello,
> 
> I have not yet had a chance to try and use linuxsampler, but based on some of the mail trafic ive seen, i have a couple questions and comments.
> 
> 1. Why use gig format?  Isn't the gig format proprietary?  Is reverse engineering a proprietary file format the best possible solution to represent sampler intstruments in a software synth that aims to be the be-all-end-all of linux software samplers?  I don't.
> 
> >From a developer and maintenance point of view, this seems like it would be an absolute nightmare.  How do you debug a commercial gig file?  How do you track changes to the gig format?
> 
> What about developing gig file editors?  As I see it, the same problems arise here too.  
> 
> Which would be more beneficiary: a native linux sampler instrument format or the gig file format.
> 
> Another problem: What if legal issues arise preventing linuxsampler from even using the gig file format? 
> 
> My suggestion is this:  Design a native linuxsampler format, and build tools to convert gig files to it.  Put the tools for converting into a library, which could then be extended to support conversion of other formats.  The advantages would be a single point of maintenance for file format conversion, easing the burdern of developers supporting multiple file formats (they simply recompile their tools when the formats change and the conversion tools are updated).
> 
> 
> Levi
> 

You may be interested in a project I'm working on called libInstPatch
(part of the Swami project, http://swami.sourceforge.net), which aims to
do some of the things you described. It is just starting to become
generally useful, since its been in heavy development for a while now.
Currently SoundFont files are the best supported, and DLS/GigaSampler
loading has been added. The conversion interface is still code in
progress though. Its got a Python binding at the moment which is fairly
functional, although it needs more development as well. The biggest
complaint I have heard, is that its not coded in C++, but it uses
GObject, so like GTK+ it could have a C++ binding added to it.

Personally, I think DLS is probably the best current format to support.
Unfortunately the documentation for DLS2 isn't as open as SoundFont
(still requires you to pay for it), but I believe the standard is
"open". I'm also starting to like the idea of instrument data being
stored in an XML file and each sample in its own individual file
(something that has been mentioned on this list before). Cheers.
	Josh Green