[CM] file output formats

[cristopher pierson ewing]

Hi there,

A question about output formats.  I do a lot of my work by generating
sounds and gestures in CLM (or some other, lesser language), and then
arranging them in time using commercial multi-track editing software like
MOTU's digital performer or the like.  I find that doing so allows me the
power to create sounds with the flexibility of software synthesis, and
also allows me to arrange these sounds with the simplicity and directness
of a graphical editing environment.

Unfortunately, commercial DAW applications like Digital Performer are only
capable of dealing with mono files.  Even if you try to import a stereo
file, it is split into two mono files internally.  Now DP is also capable
of importing quad files as well, but you must split these into mono files
and name them in a special way to have it work right.

I've created instruments in CLM and in super-collider for ripping a
multi-channel file into it's component parts, but I wonder if it might not
be possible to skip that step.  Would it be possible to make a parameter
for with-sound and it's friends that would indicate that an output file
should be written to multiple mono files rather than a single
multi-channel file?  Perhaps one could even give a list of name elements
that would be appended to the file names as they were output.  Something
like this:

(with-sound (:channels 2 :output "george.aiff" :mono-output (".L" ".R"))
	(some-inst 0 1 2 3))

would result in an output of two mono files, rather than one stereo file,
and the output files would be named "george.aiff.L" and "george.aiff.R."

I know there are at least a few of us here at UW that would love to see
such an option.  Are there others out there who feel the same?

I would undertake this myself, but I'm not yet confident enough in my
knowledge of the inner workings of with-sound to feel up to the task.
Maybe there's someone else out there who could direct me towards what I
might need to know to do it right.

Thanks for listening, and I'd love some feedback about this idea, if
anyone else is interested.

Cris

********************************
Cris Ewing
CARTAH Assistant
University of Washington
Home Phone: (206) 365-3413
E-mail: cewing@u.washington.edu
*******************************