[linux-audio-dev] Re: processing plugin standard wrapper

[Stefano D'Angelo]

2007/2/19, Paul Davis <paul at linuxaudiosystems.com>:
> On Mon, 2007-02-19 at 14:18 +0100, Stefano D'Angelo wrote:
>
> > > How often are more than one plugin with the same control inputs used in
> > > paralel? I was rather thinking of colapsing (or swapping) plugins in
> > > series. They'd have to be linear and time invariant, of course.
> > > Or maybe plugins could 'know' how to colapse themselves, sort of like
> > > overriding Plugin::operator+(const Plugin&), to use a C++ metaphor.
> >
> > Well, stereo sounds passing through mono plugins is one case.

> nope. thats not a linear arrangement of the two mono plugins, but a
> parallel arrangement. the signal going to each instance of the mono
> plugin is different.

I'm obscure even in Italian, I can just imagine how it can sound like
in English :-)
I was not talking about that specific thing, I was talking about a
case which could take benefit of some kind of parallel processing
merging.

> > However as Jeff describes this optimization, it is applicable when
> > output signals are summed, and I don't know how often it happens.
> > Anyway it is another idea to optimize processing for linear plugins,
> > definitively not something to discard.
> > This makes me think that some common basic "pieces" like mixers and
> > delay filters can have special properties which involve even more
> > aggressive optimization. Maybe it's worth considering how this special
> > blocks could be developed and used.
>
> you can think all you want. unless there a plugin->host callback that
> allows the plugin to determine its operating environment in huge detail,
> this kind of idea is pretty impossible to make use of.

What?
Once again: misunderstood! These optimizations involve that the
"wrapper" (I should stop calling it this way) knows about the network
of processing objects (read: plugins) and that these last ones contain
"generic" information on their functionality (ex. STFT for LTI proc.
objects).
Then the wrapper takes care of optimizing the net.

Stefano