[gmpi] Re: Topic 7: Audio packaging
- From: David Olofson <david@xxxxxxxxxxx>
- To: gmpi@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
- Date: Wed, 28 May 2003 02:49:36 +0200
On Tuesday 27 May 2003 23.15, Silver Blade wrote:
> > > Plain mono sound *is* pretty odd these days... ;-)
> >
> > Actually, a LOT of dance music uses mono sounds (kick drums and
> > bass)
>
> panned
>
> > dead center.
>
> That is true... But when David pointed out that vocals can be
> panned (despite being a mono signal when dry), I realised that
> hosts will probably just pass stereo buffers to plugins for
> processing - otherwise panning would be omitted from the host's
> features.
This is where I'd like to go modular and say that panning should
*never* be part of the host's features, unless it has an integrated
virtual mixer. Why stereo? Why not some arbitrary surround format?
It's either or; either we use *only* mono buffers all over the place,
or we support all realistically possible formats. The latter means
buffer management gets more complicated for both hosts and plugins,
and it makes it at least impractical for a host to implement real
time safe connections, as in a modular synth. Buffers will be of
various sizes, and will need per-buffer properties, such as
'channels' and maybe 'format'. I don't like it.
> Of course that's not 100% true - some hosts might allow the use of
> mono channels where panning is not allowed ...
Yes, and chains of mono plugins are rather common, just as chains of
mono processors in a non-virtual studio. Processing mono sound with
stereo effects is just a waste of CPU power (or hardware), and a
potential source of "bugs" of the kind that make you wonder who threw
in a stereo flanger unit.
//David Olofson - Programmer, Composer, Open Source Advocate
.- The Return of Audiality! --------------------------------.
| Free/Open Source Audio Engine for use in Games or Studio. |
| RT and off-line synth. Scripting. Sample accurate timing. |
`-----------------------------------> http://audiality.org -'
--- http://olofson.net --- http://www.reologica.se ---
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