Who thinks it would be cool if in a future version, there was an actual "plugin" interface. What I was thinking is this:

Some formal interface would be declared/made public that allowed people to write plugins for whatever - visualisation, menu stuff, DSP stuff, whatever. Even the "general look" of things.

Perhaps it could be a scripting language, as I dont know whether you can have external libraries linked like you can in windows. I a windows programmer, I'm afraid.

Anyway, so you write your Thingies (tm) to cahnge the way the menu works or to provide some killer new Visualisation, you fire up Emplode and hit "Add Thingy (tm)", and select the Thingy you want to add.

*Boom*, new feature added/customised.

I guess it would kinda be like mutators in Unreal Tournament.

And people could make their Thingies and post them online.


BTW, sorry if anyone doesnt like where I posted this - I just figured it is less of a "developer" thing, and more like a general question.....


...it might even make a good poll.... <hint>

It's amazing that no one has thought of something like this before.

Perhaps it would fit in the Wish List forum (where you might see many similar requests)?


-Aaron

Plugin architecture has already been discussed for the visuals but I'm not sure about your other suggestions.

It's amazing that no one has thought of something like this before.

Yeah, you'd think that it would have been brought up a thousand times and been discussed to death over and over and over and over and over and over again here on the BBS, even involving replies from the empeg team and everything.

Yup, it's really amazing this hasn't happened before.

this is one of those times when there should be some kind of moderation system on the BBS where you can be slaped for excessive sarcasam

And what's with:

tfabris
(FAQ Master)

LOL... nice. I just noticed that. Who set that one up?

Cripes, I hadn't seen that one until you pointed it out. Paul must have done that. ROFL!

It's about time your title changed! You've been Old Hand for much too long (bug?)

OK, since nobody actually replied.....

Of course the idea has been discussed many times.

Visualization plug-in architecture was semi-promissed (like in 'we will really look into it'), and perhaps is not really *that* far away. Toby's (the guy who writes visuals, Prolux on this board) work is already in separate module. (Linux has a standard mechanism equivalent to dll's, but I think Toby uses something homebrewed.) I think it is now more or less the matter of finding enough time to design a nice, logical interface (including access to pre-processed audio like FFT spectra), document it, reorganize everything already written to fit into that scheme.... Ah, yes, another thing: limited processing power and semi-weird architecture more or less guarantee unsatisfactory results unless you write in Arm Assembly.

Menu system was originally supposed to had been written in Python and user-modifiable. However, there were issues with real-time scheduling in multithreaded environment and with performance. Search for Rob's clarifications (I always get this part wrong )

DSP is, I think, a lost cause. Arm does not have enough power to handle software-only signal processing, and closing NDA with Phillips (in order to obtain reference documentation for their chip) involves slaughter of goats at midnight, selling your firstborn and some business with pentagrams and black candles.

Faced with closed player program and empeg guys too bussy to indulge more ephemeral of our whims, we were lucky enough to meet on this board Mark Lord, a Linux kernel hacker who writes three kernel modules before breakfast and another ten by lunch (after which he is off mountain-climbing). Scan Programming forum for a taste of his work.

Frankly, I don't know for what I would use comprehensive plug-in interface. In audio domain I don't think much more can be squized from DSP than the current excellent EQ. Dynamic compression was an issue, but Richard Lovejoy solved that by a nice kernel hack (and Mark made it easy to operate by one of his hacks). What is left is perhaps left-right delay and cross-fade (which is being discussed here and there). Toby's visuals are excellent, and I got my favourite one in the latest beta (TimeShade 128 - a voiceprint). I like user interface, and Mark made it much more tweakable than I can use. We have a handfull of different ways to back the player up, stream tunes from it, remotely control it... What's left?

Finally, one has to understand that we are talking specialized piece of hardware with slowish processor, strange display and 12MB of RAM total. Imagine what you can run in 12MB on Windows - not even Bob

Cheers!

Thanks

I was wondering what to say to that, and then I figured I wouldnt even dignify it.

Glad someone else was bothered by the smarminess of it all.

Tony, if I was *AWARE* of the issue being discussed before, then I wouldnt have raised it. Of course I noticed the odd mention of a plug-in architecture for visuals, but was never aware of anyone mentioning a comprehensive mutator-like architecture to cure *whatever* ails you. Especially bearing in mind that, as discussed frequently on this board, the team are now involved in other things and will one day cease all input on it.

Except Tony, of course, who will always be ever-vigilent about smarmily reminding everyone that no-one is more versed in every last detail of the board than him, and that a FAQ exists. Dont worry Tony, we all admire your knowledgeable status in the revered position as guy who tells everyone to read the FAQ.

Besides, one could actually argue that, even if it *has* been discussed before, no attempt has been made to guage interest in it, which seeing as my post was titled "WHO THINKS IT WOULD BE COOL if...." could be interpreted as being more about that and less about the idea.

And yes, I know there isnt much resource headroom in there, and I am the very first to say that the team has gone above and beyond the call of duty and produced truly the coolest thing, way better than I could ever imagine or produce myself, but if one single thing could be divined from this board, it is that there are a variety of preferences regarding many aspects of the player - many mutually exclusive. That is, some people like it one way, and others simply like it the other.

My post was not thorugh any dissatisfaction myself, nor intended to downplay the abilities or job of the Empeg team (not even Tony's helpful berating of people), but merely to see how many people would be interested in removing the very very small number of minor tradeoffs that had to be made which cause some debate around here, and produce the ultimate in players.

I think that's the first time I've ever been called smarmy. Cool.

Well that put you in your place!

Rob