[linux-audio-dev] Guidelines for developing a music editor

[Toby]

Hi LADs

As you might remember from my recent questions about MIDI tuning and
microtonality, I'm currently designing a music editor unlike any other
(that I've seen.)  It will be a graphical music editor, similar to
existing "piano roll" editors on the surface, but with several important
differences.  It will be a tool for composing music in Just Intonation.
It will also be free software (that goes without saying :-)

Anyway, I need to make a few key decisions about it and I'd like to have
some feedback and advice from you experienced people!


The most important issue is how to integrate my editor with the greatest
possible number of synths and other existing music sofware/hardware.

Unfortunately my software will need to set the pitch of every single
note independently of the others, so "common" MIDI will not suffice.
Pitch bend will not work either, or rather it will limit the output to
one note per MIDI channel.  Not adequate at all for most uses.

In the other thread you kindly provided me with some advice and links,
including mentioning the MIDI Tuning Standard and OSC.

I'm designing my software with extensibility in mind, so adding new
protocols will not be a problem.  Nonetheless, the more protocols and
APIs I know of in advance, the more extensible I can make it!

I have heard of several standards in the Linux audio world, thinks like
Jack and ALSA.  But I'm quite new to all this, so I don't have a good
idea of what standards is a modern music editor supposed to support.

Could you please mention them to me?  I will gladly study the APIs on my
own, but I don't want to waste time studying stuff that has no practical
value for building a graphical music editor.  Also, please keep in mind
my special needs about note tuning/microtonality.

I hope this is not considered a repeat of my previous email... I've read
quite a bit of docs in the meantime, but I'm still confused.  Is an
editor supposed to do something with Jack?  I'm handling the "editing"
part on my own, but how should I embed playback/recording functionality
into my editor?  Is there a way to interface it with VST plugins (where
binary compatible) and/or any free alternatives?  Should I do all this
on my own, or are there any architectures that I could simply plug into?


Regards,
Toby