The session was attended by six members, excluding Diaa. I had anticipated that no less than ten would come, so I waited until 5:15, then the session started.

My plan was to concentrate on the file formats used in music production (rather than just play-back), and give a brief idea about related pieces of software, besides an introduction to the technologies (and libraries) needed to make all of that possible.

First, I discussed raw audio, essentially .wav and .aiff files, in contrast to compressed files like Ogg/Vrbis, .mp3 and .rm, etc. Then I gave a quick visit to audio editors: Audacity, Ardour, DAP and ReZound.

Then came the .mid format. I discussed the difference between it and the first one, explaining the fact that it stores only the performance data, rather than the resulting sound. This was followed by a quick visit to Reosegarden (MusE wouldn't launch for some reason). I also mentioned that the main drawback with MIDI files is that the quality depends entirely on the sound generating equipment, so the same file would sound differently on different sound cards, organs or music modules.

Then I discussed .mod files, which contain both the performance data and the sound bites ( = samples) of the instruments used within the file. Again, I gave a quick tour of both SoundTracker and CheeseTracker, the main contenders.

Next was the .sf2 (SoundFont) format, which is the exact opposite of .mid; i.e. it's like a .mod file without the performance data. And the members had a quick look at Swami and FluidSynth.

Then I quickly talked about synthesisers (like amSynth) and rhythm boxes as helper applications.

I then gave a quick introduction to ALSA, Jack, LADSPA and EcaSound (drivers, libraries and servers) upon which most, if not all, of the existing applications depend for their basic audio and MIDI needs.

Finally, I gave a very short briefing on notation software (notably NoteEdit and LilyPond) since most attending members weren't really interested in written music.

For more information visit http://www.linux-sound.org لمزيد من المعلومات قم بزيارة الموقع المذكور.