New subject: [Bulk] Re: Common DAW session save / import

14 Sep 2014

On Sunday 14 September 2014 10:21:16 you wrote:
...
  On Sun, Sep 14, 2014 at 10:14 AM, David Baron
&lt;d_baron(a)012.net.il&gt; wrote:
  On Sunday 14 September 2014 09:59:10 you wrote:
  On Sun, Sep 14, 2014 at 9:56 AM, David Baron
&lt;d_baron(a)012.net.il&gt; wrote:
 > On Sunday 14 September 2014 09:25:01 Paul Davis wrote:
 > > On Fri, Sep 12, 2014 at 4:15 PM, Russell Hanaghan <
 > > 
 > > hanaghan.osaudio(a)gmail.com&gt; wrote:
 > > > Hmm, $60us by the looks? Not too much money by any means if it  
 works

  > > > reliably.
 > > > 
 > > > Just curious if any devs are into writing something simple? I can
 > 
 > provide
 > 
 > > > testing assistance only. Just sounds like a cool and relative  
 thing to

  > > > have
 > > > in the open source world.
 > > 
 > > when it comes to translating from one DAW format to another, there  
 is no

  > > such thing as "simple".
 > > 
 > > the people behind AATranslator are a veritable font of knowledge  
 about

  > this
 > 
 > > stuff, and it cannot be stressed enough how much work they have done  
 and

  > > how much they have had to discover.
 > > 
 > > no other attempt at such a tool has ever succeeded - there was one  
 other

  > > tool which Solid State purchased but
its existence now seems hard to
 > 
 > spot.
 > 
 > Yep. I had tried to start an openDAW discussion/project a few years  
 back,

  > with
 > a common XML-based intermediary referencing pcm files/segments. The
 > existence
 > of a proprietary-binary "AAF" library was called to my attention with

 some

  > intent of releasing a XML/text based
version. A few DAW programs  
 support

   AAF.
 Have not heard much since.
 __________________________  
 AAF is actually a relatively open specification BUT

    * it has every hallmark of design-by-committee
    * it is vastly more centered on broadcast and video than on typical  
 DAW

  scenarios

    * the spec includes an explicit dependence on Microsoft "structured

 storage format",

          which is essentially a filesystem-in-a-file, and this part is

 somewhat opaque

          although there are attempts at an open source implementation

 I wouldn't put a minute of my time into AAF support. It is a dinosaur,
 in
 every sense of that word.  
 So maybe it is time to invent a new one. What I had in mind was something
 like
 what Cakewalk has, but open, XML-based, hand-editable. PCM segments would
 be
 the only thing that HAD to be binary. MIDI could be done binary as well or
 XML
 (there are already schemas for such).  
 http://xkcd.com/927/ 
Very cute.

However, there are no real standards. Each program, opensource or not, has its 
own system and ne'er the 'twain do meet. So one restricts to one  program, no 
other choice.

Microsoft is so big so makes its own standards, its own rules, changes them at 
will (example rtf), but they are not in the DAW business. Just many programs 
run on their platform so may use some of their file-structures.

What if the programs we use here, on this list, were inter-operable? 
Ardour/Harrison, Qtractor, Muse, Rosegarden, etc. We have more choices than 
does Microsoft. What if Tracktion (proprietary, now supporting Linux!) were 
brought on board? I do not think it is so far-fetched if there be a will to do 
so. One opensource library to service this, done once.

(I no longer have my old posts, proposals for this. Discussion was a while 
back.)

Re: [LAU] Common DAW session save / import