On Wed, 25 Jun 2014, Ross Gammon wrote:
Okay - no takers so far. So here goes for an attempt at defining categories
for Sound/Audio applications (the easiest one to start on):
Debtags
Freedesktop
Description
Notes
Facet
Tag
Main Category
Additional Category
sound
recorder
Audio
Recorder
Application to record audio (single or multi-track).
Do we need to differentiate between single & multi-track?
Daw is multitrack. One of the things I am seeing is that a lot of
applications fit more than one place, but really have one main thing that
distinguishes. Audacity, records (multi track too), edits and processes
audio. However it's main use is as an editor not a recorder (others may
disagree :) ). So an audio recorder is something that does a great job of
recording but not much else. At least so far as desktop files. Tags are
different and should reflect all the uses of an application.
sound
mixer
Audio
Mixer
Setting levels and using signal processing on individual tracks.
Should we have a separate tag for signal processing?
Yes. A mixer may include processing, but many processors do not "mix"
anything. There are really two kinds of mixers that should be separate.
There are audio interface controlers like alsamixer, mudita24, Echomixer,
etc. and I would add pavucontrol as well BTW. Then there are performance
mixers like non-mixer, jackmixer, idjc, etc. (most DAWS include such a
mixer too).
sound
midi
Audio
Midi
This is a big category that includes anything that has midi functionality
(or an app relating to midi).
It is ok that it is a big catagory because there are other catagories that
narrow things down. (or should be)
sound
instrument
Audio
Instrument
A virtual or software instrument (synthesiser).
An application or plugin that outputs audio when receiving data control
messages (midi).
Neither Debtags nor Freedesktop have this category.
Should we have a separate tag for plugins?
Plugins don't count as they are not started on their own. For example
Hexter the plugin does not need a tag or category because it needs a
container to run. Hexter as an application is an instrument (actually,
hexter the instrument is a container with the plugin as an arguement, but
becasue it has a desktop file to open it as an instrument, it needs a
category and tags)
sound
compression
Utility?; Archiving?
Compression
This debtag is not explained. I suppose it could be intended for file
compression (e.g. wav > mp3). The Freedesktop category is for compressing
data (but not normally in the Audio category). Do we need this category?
compression is audio processing. The dynamic range is changed. There is
also an expander which normally shows up as a noise gate. wav to mp3 would
be encoding. Archiving normally involves multiple files. So three totally
different things. Compression as a tag is ok, but not really needed as a
category in my opinion.
sound
player
Audio
Player
Application to play audio files.
Yup.
sound
sequencer
Audio
Sequencer
Application that can record, edit, or play back audio using note and
performance information (typically midi but also audio in the case of a
DAW).
Do we need to differentiate between DAWs & midi sequencers?
A sequencer only (like a looper or drum tracker) might use this. A daw
might include this with it's tags though.
sound
speech
Speech Synthesis
Freedesktop do not have this category. Do we need it?
This would normally be a utility that runs at session start as an
accessability feature. For audio use it would be an instrument of sorts.
So tag yes, category no.
Audio
AudioVideoEditing
Application to edit audio/video files.
No debtag exists for this. Does "sequencer" cover it?
No, a sequencer, in most peoples mind is not an editor. For debtags I
would add two AudioEditor and videoEditor even though most video editors
have some audio editing abilities. Again, some one looking for a video
editor has no interest in audio editors and vise vesa.
hardware
storage:cd-writer
AudioVideo
DiscBurning
Application to burn a disc.
Debtag not in "sound" facet (video also?). Request a new facet, or use the
"hardware" one?
I think HW is just fine... though most application authors for cdburning
sw seem to disagree with me :) but that is fine, they just add the extra
tags/categories as they like and it still works. Some cd burners with
a main function of writing an audio/video collection already end up in the
multi-media menus already.
Other missing categories?:
- effects/signal processing
- mastering?
Mastering is another type of signal processing. I would call it audio
processing to differentiate from video processing even though there are
almost no video processing programs (1 or 2 I know of) there are likely to
be more showing up now that computer hardware is getting fast enough to
actually do this stuff in real time.
- plugins
plugins don't run on their own. The host and plugin API are responsible
for catagorizing this stuff unless plugins can have a host started around
them by selecting them to open... but they would not need a plugin tag,
just the tag/category for what they did (processor/instrument/etc.).
- plugin hosts?
not sure on this one.
- radio (e.g. recording/streaming podcasts, running radio station)
This is a huge area of seeming unrelated sw :) A studio setup would be
the same as for DJing. A performance mixer. Streaming is really a server
side thing that never comes with a GUI anyway. Anyone setting up a radio
station will want all the needed sw to start at session startup (maybe
some of it before then). This is really very specialized and probably
would come grouped by the name of the sw, much like wine has it's own
submenu. Developing a song list is more of a word processing/accounting
function (done by a clerk). Inserting ads again is an office job rather
performance, as is keeping track of advertizing accounts. A radio setup
will only use one application set... a menu of different radio sw would
get someone in trouble fast. radio is a custom setup.
- notation/scores (in publishing category?)
Ya, I think a mix of already in use categories would work. A tag would be
nice though.
- Coding/Programming (e.g. Pure Data/Supercollider/CSound)
Development, plus sequencer/midi/audio, etc.
- Looping (is this under sequencing?)
Yes
- Sampling (under recording?)
Instrument. Most samplers are sample players first... a carry over from
the hardware side naming. Often the samples are recorded using a daw/audio
recorder and imported to the "sampler"... even more often the samples are
downloaded or ripped from CD/DVD.
- DJ
I am not sure. Does it include VJing as well? It is almost like we need
multimedia to be split between playback/consumer and
performance/creation/development. (also see comments at radio)
- Soundfont (or is this under instrument?)
Instrument.
- Patching (or is this too specific)
Two kinds of patching:
- routing
- synth patch creation/storage
These are audio utilities, but one would be covered in audio control
(what we call mixers :P ) and the other by midi/instrument.
Which of the "other missing categories" are important? Anything else
missing? Suggestions on terminology? Please note that Debtags are to help
I would add DAW to cover song creation sw. Many multitrack recorders have
become recorder/editor/sequencer/mixer/plugin-host and just as many
"squencers" now record and edit audio. Because of the variation in the way
they do these things and the variation in UI, it may be normal to have a
number of applications that seem to do the same thing... in fact more than
one might be used at the same time in sync. Just like qt has an IDE for sw
creation, the daw is like a song IDE.
The really hard thing to do is separate consuming from creating.
Ubuntustudio is for the content developer/creator where most Ubuntu
flavours are for the content consumer... at least from a multimedia POV.
search for packages that match a search-term and therefore the more
descriptive tags we have the better. On the other hand, the freedesktop
categories define where the application appears in the menu. Therefore the
categories are restricted/reserved (although we can add new ones prefixed
with an "X-" indicating an extension).
Makes sense.
--
Len Ovens
www.ovenwerks.net
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