[Sc-devel] Embedding Specs in SynthDefs

[Scott Wilson]

Hi all,

James and I have chatted a little more about this offlist, and I'd  
like to offer the following, hopefully clearer outline:

- SynthDesc seems an appropriate place to have information about  
Controls in SynthDefs.
- We must be able to derive SynthDescs from scsyndef files. That this  
is necessary with the current working method suggests that by this  
point scsyndef files are for the client as well as the server. This  
is an attitude change I admit, but perhaps a useful one.
- I'd like therefore to consider adding optional specs to SynthDescs,  
SynthDefs, and scsyndef files.
- As far as impact goes, this would involve only minimal changes to  
files (i.e. the addition of one 16 bit "0" at the end) for defs with  
no specs, and only a small additional amount of data for defs with  
specs. Specs could be discarded when using SynthDef:send to minimise  
bandwidth.
- This would have the advantage of making all this information easily  
portable and self contained in a single file good for both client and  
server.

This would not preclude moving Instr into Common, and of course it  
might make use of this. I'm happy to listen to other solutions if  
people find changing the scsyndef format objectionable, but I do  
think having persistent associated specs in some form would be  
useful. My main reason for suggesting this is that I thought  
SynthDesc might be the appropriate place for this.

Another possibility might be to add specs to SynthDescs, and just  
archive those with the def included if you wish to keep them. The  
scsyndef file would not include this extra data. This is portable,  
but requires either duplicate storage or housekeeping on retrieval.

Thoughts or objections?

S.