root/lca2005/DaveRobillard.html

<h3 id="DaveRobillard">Dave Robillard: Om, OSC, and the "LAD Philosophy"</h3>

<p>
<a href="http://www.nongnu.org/om-synth/">Om</a> is a modular synthesizer,
built to address some limitations of currently available modular synths:
subpatching, polyphony, multiple patches, realtime correctness, etc.  A
major design goal of Om was to avoid duplication of effort as much as
possible, using standard LADSPA and DSSI plugins for all DSP and
controlling the engine exclusively through the OSC (Open Sound
Control) protocol.
</p>

<p>The OSC controlled engine design means it can be used
in many different configurations, with or without a UI:
</p>

<ul>
<li>Using OSC bindings in languages such as Python to allow algorithmic patch
creation and tweaking.</li>

<li>Using multiple GUI clients simultaneously running on seperate computers
over the network, allowing one user to see the changes made by the other in
realtime, and vice-versa.</li>

<li>Building simple effects processing patches and running the engine without
a UI to perform mundane background signal processing tasks (ie global reverb and
compression)</li>

<li>Syncing effects parameters to jack transport, allowing tempo-synced processing
with applications such as SooperLooper and Seq24</li>
</ul>

<p>Demos of Om used as a normal graphical modular synth, as well as some of these more
interesting use cases will be performed.</p>

<p>The talk will focus on the advantages of this type of design strategy and 
interoperability between GNU/Linux audio applications,
extending the modular ideas of Jack and the Alsa Sequencer into the realm of
OSC.</p>