FreeLists / openbeos-midi / [openbeos-midi] Re: activity/status?

["Michael Phipps" <mphipps1@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>]

>> > 1) Do real musicians want/need one?
>> 
>> Sure. Probably not a GM synth though.
>> 
>I generally agree with the anti GM sentiment, although one might imagine
>that there would be people in the small-time game development category who
>would benefit from a GM kit.

It also seems like it could be good to have a synth for times/places when you 
are not near your "stuff" - say, composing while on a laptop... But I see 
gaming and web sites with MIDI as being the main sources.

>> > 2) Are there any out there that are ok and reasonably well licensed?
>> 
>> I found http://www.iiwu.org/iiwusynth/index.htm . It is GPL. I don't think
>> that should be a problem since linking with libraries that "come with major 
>> parts
>> of a proprietary operating system" (gpl-faq) then you can link with them.
>
>I like this one, particularly because of the support for soundfonts.  If
>we are to provide a built in softsynth, it would be very crucial in my
>opinion for it to be extensible.  Plus there is a massive amount of free
>soundfonts available.

I emailed them and asked if we could use it (not that I promised that we would, 
only IF we could) and if they would consider relicensing.

>> > 3) Are they as hard to write as I think that they would be?
>> 
>> Probably yes.
>
>depending on the system used to create it of course. For example, I've
>been working on
>a standalone software synth for MacOS for a few months that is being
>developed with the MAX/MSP programming environment as a base.  This is
>irrelevant in context with a built in MIDI synth for the kit, as systems
>like the above mentioned open source synth would better serve those goals.

Hopefully, this will be a non-issue. :-) Anyone object to using this particular 
synth?

>But...this brings me to an idea that I've been pondering.  A lot of this
>is out of the scope of the MIDI kit, but it is related rather closely.
>Something I would love to see at some point, would be a set of
>tools/functions/objects that are made to make the writing of 3rd party
>softsynths/DSP simpler and integrated.  Sort of like VST, LADSPA, etc,
>only integrated with the OS in a way that encourages the development of
>these sort of apps.  A Beos synth/dsp api would be wicked cool.  

Sounds like an R2+ type of thing. Outside of my realm of knowledge, to be sure.