Hi Niall;
That sounds like a really interesting solution. I can't really say
anything about the multicasting, but the problem I have with rewire
is that it's a proprietary technology, as well as the fact that
they actually require you to be a registered company before they'll
give you a license(!).
You need the license for getting the SDK; not for the technology. The
cost of the license is $0.00
(in any currency), but as you say, they want you to be tied to a
company. I'm tied to the
Canadian Government, so that was ok with them. (I'm not going to
debate their licensing
policy)
The nice thing about the technology is that it is supported by many
companies, and it works
very well.
I think jack will eventually offer the same functionality though
(my understanding is that a jack midi implementation is currently
in the works), with the obvious addition of linux support.
Maybe in terms of moving MIDI bits and pieces around, and of low
level manipulation
of audio; but not in terms of actually controlling (from a human
perspective) audio and
MIDI, at least not for years. Reason, and other competing
applications, are incredible,
at least in my opinion as an amateur, performing musician.
Thus, I think that the people who would get the most out of the
FreeWRL ReWire code would
be those who are actually into making or manipulating music, not your
traditional
X3D user base.
That's a double edged sword; you may increase the potential X3D user
base *many*
fold, but you need to make the interfacing very human-interactive.
I'm fortunate to
have a couple of cognitive scientists that I work closely with - so
hopefully we'll
come up with something that will actually be useful for that
demographic. I'm also
fortunate to have the FreeWRL code to play with as I see fit.
All fun stuff; Thanks;
-----------------------------------------------------------
John A. Stewart
alex.stewart@crc.ca
Network Systems and Technologies -
Systemes et technologies des reseaux
Communications Research Centre Canada |
Centre de recherches sur les communications Canada
3701 Carling Ave. | 3701, avenue Carling
PO Box 11490, Station H | CP 11490, succursale H
Ottawa ON K2H 8S2 | Ottawa (Ontario) K2H 8S2
http://www.crc.ca