[linux-audio-user] The Open Music Resource Library (was: The Open Loop Library)

[Darren Landrum]

Remember, there's more to this library than just loops. In fact, the 
subject line of this thread has been outdated for quite some time. I'm 
changing that as of this email.

As for distributing sample sets (as in sampled instruments to be used 
by a sequencer or somesuch), Soundfonts represent a reasonable option 
for 16/48-quality samples.

As for the name, I think I've decided on calling this "The Open Music 
Resource Library" (or OMRL). A very prosaic name, to be sure, but also 
very descriptive. As an added bonus, omrl.org is an available domain 
name. Keep in mind, though, that this is not set in stone as of yet, 
and if anyone has any other name suggestions, feel free to pitch in.

Just to let everyone know, I will be incommunicado from Sunday until 
Thursday while I wait for the cable modem installation at my new house. 
I'm doing the bulk of the moving this weekend. Work on the OMRL will 
continue, since I'll have a lot of time that I can't take up with 
playing around on the web. :) With any luck, I will have a final design 
by then, and also some code worked out.

But until then, here's something that's been occupying my time: what 
language/dev platform should I use? Here are my immediate options:

1) Perl - A language I'm competent at, if not reasonably good. 
Everything I need the Library to do can be accomplished in Perl, but it 
would take me some time to learn some of the features I will need 
(sockets come to mind). Also, Perl seems has zero issues executing and 
grabbing output from external apps.

2) PHP - The single language I am best at. As of version 4.3 (released 
today), they're claiming better socket support, which means the 
possibility of a custom client interfacing with the web app is there, 
even though I would have to figure out how to work it. I also have a 
great deal of experience with relational databases. PHP seems to have 
issues with executing external apps, although this is something I 
haven't tried lately.

3) Zope/Python - I'm relatively new to Python, but not to Zope. Zope is 
my single favorite way to play around with new ideas, although I 
haven't deployed anything with it yet. However, with the server I will 
be buying for this and other projects, I will finally be able to do so. 
The issue here is how well Zope can be used to jockey files around a 
set of mirrors. We don't want to require the mirrors to be running Zope 
as well.

And now that I've written another novel's worth of an email with 
several threads of thought being bandied about, I think I will stop 
here. Everyone, please chip in your thoughts and ideas if you would 
like, and hopefully, I can get to them before my Internet starvation 
begins. :)

Regards,
Darren Landrum


On Friday, December 27, 2002, at 05:13 PM, Mark Knecht wrote:

> Sound fonts really serve a different purpose than loops. Sound fonts 
> are
> not necessarily cut to be looped at all.