Rave feature requests

Hello, I'm opening a feature wish list thread for trixie's Rave sound editor.

Here is my current feature request list:

* possibility of loading and saving 4-bit samples
* possibility of loading and saving below 8000 Hz samples
* waveform generator plugin that can generate sine, square, triangle, sawtooth, and noise waveforms
* ADSR envelope generator plugin
* vector synthesis plugin (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vector_synthesis)

@jap

My own list is longer

@trixie

Not so much a Rave feature request, but would love to see Rave's improved file requester rolled-out across the system and support previewing other file types.

Perhaps now you're an official OS4 dev that might happen?

@trixie

Excellent. I hope my modest requests are on your list

Can you reveal what new features are coming to Rave next?

@jap

The loading and saving is handled by sndfile.library, so its limitations apply to Rave as well. The library does not support 4-bit linear PCM data, so you can't just take a sample and save it as a 4-bit WAV. 4-bit data is mainly supported through the IMA ADPCM format, which effectively encodes audio using 4 bits per sample. Rave already supports IMA ADPCM for both loading and saving. However, when reading such files, the library API returns the data as 16-bit integer or float, so there's no way to get the raw 4-bit data unless you parse the file yourself, bypassing the library. The effort/benefit ratio would be so low here that I don't see myself going down that route.

On the other hand, sample rates below 8000 Hz are perfectly possible, it's just a matter of lowering the current limit. (Although I wonder what the actual use case could be.)

A waveform generator is doable as well, and Rave's custom shape.gadget can easily be extended to display basic waveforms.

My current priority is fixing the lockup that affects X1000 machines. When this is done, I'll likely release a quick bugfix update that will also feature the <8 kHz sample rate support.

How much time I can devote to Rave development this year depends on the OS4 work, which currently looks endless Rave has grown quite complex, and development requires a continuous free-time period, rather than the 1-2 hour bedtime stints I can give it at the moment. I'll probably be better off time-wise during the summer, when I'd like to finally rewrite the plugin system to allow realtime operation.

Thank you!

I'm experimenting with a Commodore 16/Plus4 Covox sound card. The unusual sample rate and 4-bit samples requests come from there.

It's good to hear that Rave is developing, even slowly.