[ardour-dev] jack/ardour application extension(s)

[John Emmas]

----- Original Message ----- 
From: "Paul Davis" <paul at linuxaudiosystems.com>
To: "Robin Gareus" <robin at gareus.org>

>>
>> and a final ardour-extension question: What is the status of the
>> ardour's EDL import/export?
>
> non-existent. there are nibbles at handling AAF and OMF, but nothing
> substantive or even look-at-able.
>
Paul - I've written some basic functionality for loading & parsing an AAF
file and even though it doesn't achieve much, you're welcome to look at
what I've written so far.  Of course, the GUI is Windows because that's
what I program for.  I don't expect there to be any problems in completing
the AAF functionality (except for finding the time) and I could just as
easily write something similar for OMF.  What's holding me up though,
is my total lack of knowledge of Linux, XML and Ardour.  I simply don't
know what's involved in creating the necessary elements to build & save
an Ardour session.

I probably misunderstood something when we first discussed this last year.
I came away with the impression that there might soon be a Windows version
of Ardour - if not working, at least in a state where I could experiment and
generally increase my Ardour knowledge.  For me, that would definitely have
offered a 'fast track' option.  However, it never materialised and I've had
to take the much longer route of learning Linux - which often meant having
to 'un-learn' things that I've come to take for granted.  I've also found
it very frustrating dealing with the 'black art' mentality that seems to be
endemic on Linux forums (I'm not referring to anyone here BTW.  Everyone
here was very supportive and I was also lucky to track down certain other
Gurus whom I needed along the way).  In the main, though, trying to get help
from the so-called Linux Help Forums is like dealing with a secret society,
at times.

I suppose that Linux is something you either take to or you don't - and
personally, I don't like it.  It seems to be a huge backward step if you're
used to the sophistication of Windows.  I haven't even begun yet with
Scons or G++ or anything like that.  I'm bracing myself for being similarly
disappointed if I end up having to un-learn programming techniques which
I've come to take for granted with Visual C++.

None of this is meant to criticise Ardour - only to help you understand why
AAF and OMF are taking such a long time.

Best regards,


John