Steve_A_Hales@cup.portal.com (06/28/87)
Aloha! Ok, I've got a question for all you developers/users/anything out there. Should my program (will remain unamed) support SMUS-IFF file format? Basicily, I have been hearing a lot of flak about this format and that fact that it is not really what a program that wants to play music should use. DMCS apparently does not support it well. How can it when a file that is 20K is DMCS format play properly when it is cut down to 2K? Any options/opinions would be appreciated. For those wondering about my program, safe to say that supporting (even half-assed) might better than not supporting it at all. But I'm afraid that it will change completely, and I don't want to deal with that problem. As always, "Thanks for your support". PATH: Steve_A_Hales@cup.portal.com
hatcher@INGRES.BERKELEY.EDU (Doug Merritt) (06/28/87)
[Dear LineEater, please note my new address: ucbvax!unisoft!certes!doug] In article <479@cup.portal.com> Steve_A_Hales@cup.portal.com writes: >Should my program (will remain unamed) support SMUS-IFF file format? As opposed to what??? >Basicily, I have been hearing a lot of flak about this format and that >fact that it is not really what a program that wants to play music should >use. DMCS apparently does not support it well. How can it when a file >that is 20K is DMCS format play properly when it is cut down to 2K? Any I have not heard anyone say anything negative about SMUS itself. Recent comments complained A) that music posted to BBS's were *not* in SMUS form, B) that DMCS has problems with its supposed support of SMUS, and that C) IFF-DMCS is *bigger* (not better) than IFF-SMUS. If a more specific critique of IFF-SMUS was made, I missed it. To infer that this means that SMUS is defective does DMCS far too much credit. It's a buggy program in general (although the new 1.01 release is supposed to fix a some of them). Now, the DMCS private IFF standard may well be superior to IFF SMUS for all I know, or then again it might be the other way around. So far no one has commented on that. The fact that DMCS files are said to be much bigger than SMUS files is certainly suggestive, but doesn't really prove anything. I'd be interested in hearing about this if someone has more information...a critique could be transformed into an extension to SMUS. > But I'm afraid that it will change completely, and >I don't want to deal with that problem. An unfounded fear. There's no reason to think that SMUS will be superceded, any more than that ILBM or any other IFF type will be. Often new *chunks* are added to IFF definitions, like the CRNG color cycling chunks that Dpaint added to ILBM, but I fail to see the problem...you don't have to understand new chunks if you don't want to, but can still understand the rest of the IFF file. That is an explicit feature of IFF. And it certainly wouldn't affect the SMUS files that you are *writing*. Did you have in mind using the IFF-DMCS file format instead? If you are going to reverse engineer it, I hope that you publish the layout... that would save others the same trouble without compromising your own program. If you're not going to that trouble, then the only good alternative is to use IFF-SMUS (I don't consider defining your own private file type to be a good alternative to perfectly good existing standards). Note that you can always add your own new information chunks to SMUS, so long as you notify CBM of your additions to the standard. That will ensure that there are no name conflicts if someone else is also extending SMUS. Does anyone know whether the IFF-GSCR "General Music Score" is actually used for anything, or is it obsolete, or just a carryover from EA's MacIntosh stuff, or what? (It's mentioned in the IFF doc in the RKM, but is not defined.) Doug Merritt Please don't just "Reply"; send to new address: ucbvax!unisoft!certes!doug
carolyn@cbmvax.UUCP (Carolyn Scheppner CATS) (07/13/87)
In article <479@cup.portal.com> Steve_A_Hales@cup.portal.com writes: >Aloha! > Ok, I've got a question for all you developers/users/anything out there. >Should my program (will remain unamed) support SMUS-IFF file format? > Yes. SMUS is the lowest-common-denominator of most existing Amiga music packages. Even though many packages have found SMUS too simple for their needs, they do provide the option of loading SMUS and saving as SMUS. This allows inter-application transportability of at least the instrumentation and score. So yes. Even if you find you must use your own format, or add chunks to SMUS, please allow the option to load/save SMUS. -- =-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-= Carolyn Scheppner -- CBM >>Amiga Technical Support<< UUCP ...{allegra,caip,ihnp4,seismo}!cbmvax!carolyn PHONE 215-431-9180 =-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=