[linux-audio-dev] PTAF link and comments

David Olofson david at olofson.net
Fri Feb 7 08:21:01 UTC 2003


On Friday 07 February 2003 10.19, Tim Hockin wrote:
> > If we allow hard ranges (not really neccesary, as LADSPA shows)
> > then the host should enforce them.
>
> Remind me why we want soft ranges?

This is to avoid having later "extended" versions of plugins that just 
let you use a wider range for some parameters. Many algoritms 
generate interesting results with parameters outside the ranges that 
may seem logical at first.

Hard ranges tell hosts and users that the plugin is expected to blow 
up or crash if you give it values outside the range. A soft range 
basically means "The author didn't think values outside this range 
were very interesting, but they won't make Bad Things happen."


> I'm more of the mind that all
> ranges are hard ranges, except for {pos/neg} infinity.
>
> If a control is going to the effort of specifying a range, don't we
> want to respect it ALWAYS.

A soft range is a *hint* as to the range in which you'll probably find 
the most interesting/useful settings. With only hard ranges and 
infinite ranges, you'll have to assume that useful values are in the 
[0, 1] range, or whatever - which might work as well, of course.


//David Olofson - Programmer, Composer, Open Source Advocate

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