[linux-audio-dev] Modular synths of the world, unite and take over :-)

[Simon Jenkins]

Thomas Webb wrote:

>>I was very impressed by the XML representation of
>>LADSPA plugins
>>presented by Steve Harris at the LAD conference last
>>weekend. He writes
>>the code and parameter specifications of his LADSPA
>>plugins in XML and
>>then converts ("compiles") them to the C code
>>according to ladspa.h.
>>    
>>
>
>Here's an idea: find a way to conver these same XML
>files into dsp assembler. All the sudden, the same
>stuff you use to make a softsynth can be reused for a
>hardware synth!
>
Well, compiling the generated C code with a cross assembler
for the DSP will do that for you :)

The tricky bit would be making the generated C code "agnostic"
enough with regard to issues like:

~floating vs fixed point arithmetic
~block processing vs blockless
~control value representation and rate
~code calling conventions
~the nature of connections between modules

Even ignoring (for a moment) the idea of compiling for a dsp,
modular synth developers would want to make different decisions
from each other regarding some of the above points.

Simon Jenkins
(Bristol, UK)