Re: [cc65] abc music specification

On Thursday 09 December 2004 14:57, Ullrich von Bassewitz wrote:

> Beware: There is no sense in choosing a spec before it is clear that the spec
> can be implemented on all important platforms without major problems. I would
> prefer studing the different platforms, determine their abilities, and then
> come up with a spec that can be implemented by a large subset. Choosing a spec
> by its features without looking at the platforms where this spec will have to
> be implemented won't give satisfying results.
> 
> So before agreeing to the specs as base for music within cc65, I would like to
> get some comments from people programming for other platforms. My personal
> feeling is that the format is rather complex, and even platforms like the C64
> (which has a quite capable sound chip) won't be able to support all of it.
> Plus, the spec is not free, you need permission to use it. The advantage of
> the format is that it's a somewhat official spec, so music would be portable
> even on non cc65 platforms. And, that it seems to be quite capable.

first of all, i havent looked at the ABC format...but however, a while ago i
have attempted to write a music-player that works on both the c64 and the vic20
to include it in my tetris thingy...

to make it short, i'm not quite sure if such a generic player is worth the effort.
it will be very bulky, huge, slow and sound mid-quality at best. plus it will be
next to impossible to find someone to compuse tunes for you, unless you write
a decent editor too :=P

however, developing a generic format and player(s) might be interisting anyway, but
imho this needs to be discussed a lot, needs comments from the atari and apple ppl
etc pp. the hard part will be to define something that can be replayed with minimum
effort even on the not-so-capable targets (like the vic20 for example, or even the pet) 
and which is still "rich" enough to not sound like total crap on the targets with lots of 
ram and decent soundchip.

tjam, a thing that would be entire possible, and much easier to define and implement would
be a driver to play samples though...maybe we should start with that. (i might be able to
contribute a modded version of SAM *cough* :=P)

gpz


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