Re: App database, libsynth

[Stas Sergeev <stsp@aknet.ru>]

Hello.

Ryan Underwood wrote:
>> dosemu, or it is somehow possible to use dmix via an 
>> OSS emulation layer?
> The synth server's output would be completely separate 
> from the application using it, so the synth could use 
> ALSA where dosemu could still use the OSS emulation.
Yes. But I was wondering will they be able
to use dmix both. Is it available via the
OSS emulation layer at all?

> Unfortunately OSS emulation blocks when ALSA is in use
OK, so it seems the be not possible to use
the current OSS plugin then...

> so one would have to use a wrapper like aoss to redirect 
> the dosemu OSS output to ALSA.
I don't know about aoss, but the redirectors
like esddsp, artsdsp and the redirector for
NAS (don't remember the name) are unable to
work in O_NONBLOCK mode, which is exactly what
dosemu uses due to a lack of threading.

> I would be curious to find out if XP really got rid of 
> hardware streams mixing or not.
I think that info came to me from Vlad R, but
I was unable to find that message for you so
never mind.

> Yeah.  Also what about sending pc-speaker output to the 
> dsp?
Yes. I wanted to mention that in my previous
posting but was distracted and forgot.
This will require translating the 6-bit PDM
stream to a 8-bit PCM stream. This is very
easy IIRC, I think I've done something like
that in my ZX Spectrum emulator back in 1995.
Dosbox is doing that so (considering other
messages in that ML today) also we have to:)
Would be nice to see that in your lib. This
will require an additional stream, but what's
the deal provided we have the dmix.

>> So does it interact with ALSA, or you decided to do it 
>> a standalone?
> (1) Theoretically, it can output to either ALSA or OSS, 
> though I use ALSA to test it.
There was a discussion in the past where you
said you'll make it the timidity-sequencer alike
plugin for alsa. I was asking about that. Now
It seems you decided to make it completely
standalone.

> Once that is complete I can implement the emulator core
> as an ALSA sequencer client, which if dosemu had alsa
> support, it could connect to that sequencer slot and use
> the MT-32.  Or else maybe something could be done with
> midid?
midid is fully functional and together with
timidity it can provide you with General Midi
and (limited) MT-32. I've heard timidity is not
powerfull enough for the *real* MT-32, so they
(dosbox) needed their own code, but I am not
a musician and what timidity produces sounds
rather good for me.

> Is midid a good idea to keep around for the long 
> term?
Yes. Among other things it allows to capture
your favourite music from games into a .mid files.