Subject: Re: [linux-audio-dev] Question to developers of sound editors.
From: David G Matthews (dgm4+@pitt.edu)
Date: Tue Jun 05 2001 - 19:04:42 EEST
I think the whole editors vs. sequencer-type recording programs problem
boils down to an old-school Unix vs. Win/Mac problem. In other words,
it's a difference in paradigm just like the Emacs vs. Word debate.
Some background: a lot of people tend to assume that audio and music on
Unix-like platforms is in its infancy. It's not. Experimental computer
musicians, mostly in academic or research institutions have been doing
music on Unix for years. A lot of the tools developed on platforms like
NeXT and SGI have been ported to Linux and still make up the backbone of
the Linux audio toolkit. I'm talking about programs like CSound, jMax/Pd,
Snd, DAP, CMix, Common Music, etc. These programs are the audio
equivalents of old-school Unix tools like text editors, scripting
languages, etc. I personally switched to Linux from MacOS because I like
these tools.
However, I like "new-school" graphical sequencer-type apps as well. One
of the great things about Linux is that (at least since KDE and Gnome),
you can have the old-school commandline interface and the pretty GUI too.
If we had a nice graphical edl as well, then we would be set, because
those older programs really do offer something different from what
sequencer apps (like Logic Audio, or Cubase, or even ProTools) don't.
As far as why so few people seem to be contributing to projects like
Ardour and Broadcast 2000, well, how many people out there have both the
coding skill and musical expertise to contribute to such a project?
-dgm
On Tue, 5 Jun 2001, Patrick Shirkey wrote:
> Richard Guenther wrote:
> >
>
> > I remember searching for projects to join and improve before starting
> > on GLAME, but on that point (late 1999) there wasnt a promising wave
> > editor around (well, lots of nifty GUIs without any thought on a backend).
> > I think this happened to most projects (just look how many were started
> > in this timeframe!). Of course once you started, you wont as easily
> > join forces with another project.
> >
>
> > Well - we'd be glad if some projects start merging with GLAME :) But of
> > course other projects would be glad if GLAME starts joining them - thats
> > life.
> >
>
> Ok. What I'm trying to get at is that quite a few people have got their
> heads around how to get the editors going but there isn't much consensus
> on what direction the code should be evolving.
>
> Tom mentioned that edl is replacing the conventional approach in the
> professional world. So it will be good for linux editors to do the same.
> Ardour and Broadcast 2000 are the only projects that seem to be on this
> tangent. But there are only a couple of people working on these
> projects wholeheartedly.
>
> Their seems to be a lack of unity in this community when it comes to
> editors. Is it because there are so many artists among us? Someone else
> mentioned the problem with QT and GTK. Excellent point but isn't it
> trivial in the end? I guess not.
>
> Paul has provided the guts to get that problem out of the way with AES.
> It seems the more I get into the reasons for collaborating the more
> likely it is that I will start investing my energy in Ardour.
>
> Now I'm wondering why the other developers on this list with a lot more
> experience than I have are not falling over themselves to help out too.
> I've been following the lists for ardour-dev and they are deinitely not
> as busy as LAD. Yet it would seem that Ardour is a very well thought out
> solution to the needs of Linux Musos. Far in advance of the majority of
> the apps for Linux audio.
>
> Here's another question.
>
> Would you prefer to have your code used by a few hundred people around
> the world or would you rather that tens of thousands possibly millions
> used your code? Think how many people could learn from reading through
> what is essentially the internals of your mind.
>
> I guess fame is not for everyone but if that is a problem you could just
> do it anon.
>
> --
> Patrick Shirkey - Manager Boost Hardware.
> Importing Korean Computer Hardware to New Zealand.
>
> http://www.boosthardware.com for latest stock and prices.
>
This archive was generated by hypermail 2b28 : Tue Jun 05 2001 - 20:30:23 EEST