[Consortium] Re: [Swami-devel] Re: [Linuxsampler-devel] Re: linuxsampler and oneshotsampler

[Josh Green]

On Sat, 2005-03-19 at 01:46 +0100, Bluefuture wrote:
> Il giorno ven, 18-03-2005 alle 15:37 -0800, Josh Green ha scritto:
> 
> > Yes, I agree it would be good to design an open standard.  SF2 is a
> > rather open standard, but rather limited.  DLS is pretty open standard
> > and much more flexible, but it is hard to get free documentation on the
> > DLS2 format (they want you to buy it).  
> > 
> There are free download pdf[1] of :
> 
> DLS-1: Downloadable Sounds Level 1.x
>       * Overview of DLS (c1997)
>       * DLS Level 1 Specification Free Download (pdf)
>         (New! Sept 2004 edition contains a correction for  response to
>         "Reset All Controllers".)
> DLS-2: Downloadable Sounds 2.x
>       * DLS Level 2.1 Specification (c2000)
>       * Amendment 1 to DLS Level 2 ("DLS Level 2.1") (c2001) Free
>         Download (pdf)
>         (Note: Document corrections were made in September and November
>         2004.)
> 
> There is something other than this specs?
> 
> Cheers,
> Stefano 
> 
> [1] http://www.midi.org/about-midi/dls/abtdls.shtml
> 

Those are the only specs I know of, but you'll note that while DLS-1 has
a download-able PDF, DLS2 is by mail order only.  Even then they don't
give you a PDF, so you have a nice 3 ring binder to lug around.  I've
spoken with individuals at midi.org about this, but they seem to feel
that selling the documentation is a good fund raiser, and don't see that
it limits the openness and adoption of their standard (which is what I
feel about it).  Tis a shame.  DLS2 has some fairly significant
extensions to DLS1, but the DLS1 doc can be used as a good starting
point.  I've considered writing a little addendum that would describe
the differences between DLS1 and 2, to create a convenient electronic
source of this info.  Cheers.
	Josh Green