[LAD] JACK Synthesizer Manager Proposal

[Dennis Schulmeister]

Hi Thorsten,
Hi Audun,

> We propose a program that acts as a proxy between sequencing software
> and both software and hardware synthesizers. Among the goals are unified
> patch selection and making projects more portable.

Just a litte question to better understand your idea. How would a
sequencer request a certain patch on a certain channel on a certain
port?

With plain MIDI the sequencer would just send the appropriate control
change / program change values on the given channel and midi port.
Without knowing which device would interpret the values in which way.

How would that be different with an abstraction layer? How could an
abstraction layer assure that a given PC/CC value pair would always
refer to a certain kind of patch? Regardless of the system and
synthesizer setup employed.

Obviously there would be some kind of translation. But who would define
the translation rules? Who would define what kind of patches JSM can
handle and which not. The JSM developers might come up with a "snappy
synth bass". All a user would have to do was to tell JSM how to select a
"snappy synth bass" patch on a given synthesizer.

But they might not come up with a "blurry sound from space which sounds
like a cat screaming when its tail gets clamped by the door". The user
wouldn't be able to reliably select such a patch. Simply because it
wouldn't be offered to him. On the other hand he could extend the
translation rules to offer such a patch. But than again it wouldn't work
on a foreign setup.

Thanks for your insight.



Yours sincerely,
Dennis Schulmeister

-- 
Dennis Schulmeister - Schifferstr. 1 - 76189 Karlsruhe - Germany
Tel: +49 721/5978883 - Mob: +49 152/01994400 - eMail: dennis at windows3.de

Now moved to the corridor: Hermes! (http://ncc-1701a.homelinux.net)
(mostly German)

http://www.windows3.de - http://www.denchris.de
http://www.audiominds.com - http://www.motagator.net/bands/65