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- API doc: Minor cosmetical fixes.

1 /**
2
3 @mainpage libgig
4
5
6 @section Intro
7
8 libgig is a C++ library for accessing audio-sample based instrument files,
9 as they are shipped for various software samplers and hardware sampler devices.
10 This C++ library was originally created to access Gigasampler files, but in the
11 meantime grew to much more than that. At the moment libgig consists of the
12 following major parts:
13
14 - @b 1. @ref gig classes: These provide convenient access to
15 @b Gigasampler / @b GigaStudio files (for all known format version, that is
16 from Gigasampler v1 to GigaStudio v4), allowing to load, modify and save
17 existing .gig files, as well as creating new .gig files from scratch.<br>
18 <br>
19 Since the gig file format was originally designed based on the DLS Level 2
20 format, the gig classes in this library are derived from the DLS classes of
21 this library, where the gig classes provide the necessary extensions for the
22 Gigasampler file format.<br>
23 <br>
24 Besides the fact that libgig supports all aspects of the original
25 Gigasampler / GigaStudio format, it now also provides some own extensions of
26 that original format. Most notably libgig provides an extension to save
27 real-time instrument scripts with .gig files. Those custom extensions are
28 however currently only supported by the graphical instrument editor
29 application @b gigedit and by @b LinuxSampler, they will obviously not work
30 with the original GigaStudio software.
31
32 - @b 2. @ref Korg classes: These provide support for loading sample based
33 instrument files for KORG's synthesizer keyboard models <i>Kronos</i>,
34 <i>M3</i>, <i>Oasys</i>, <i>Triton</i> and <i>Trinity</i>. There is
35 currently no support for modifying KORG files yet.
36
37 - @b 3. @b AKAI classes: These provide support for loading sample based disks
38 (CDROMs, hard disks, ZIP disks) and disk image files of AKAI's hardware
39 sampler series <i>S1000</i>, <i>S01</i>, <i>S2000</i> and <i>S3000</i>.<br>
40 <br>
41 The AKAI classes are a branch of <i>libakai</i>. In the AKAI classes of
42 libgig, libakai's original dependency to the so called <i>Carbon</i> C++
43 library has been removed and has been replaced by using ordinay
44 <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Standard_Template_Library">C++ STL</a>
45 classes instead. Further, this branch of libakai also provides support for
46 Linux and other POSIX based OSes (the original libakai was limited to Mac
47 and Windows).<br>
48 <br>
49 Currently the AKAI classes don't have their own dedicated C++ namespace.
50 Refer to class @ref AkaiDisk as toplevel entry class for accessing AKAI
51 sounds.
52
53 Besides the mentioned major parts above, libgig also provides the following
54 other components:
55
56 - @b 4. @ref DLS classes: Provide convenient methods to access
57 @b DLS (<i>Downloadable Sounds</i>) Level 1 and 2 files. The DLS file format
58 has been designed as open file format to be adopted by various keyboard
59 manufacturers for their sounds. However it never really made it to a broad
60 standard. You can use the DLS classes of libgig to load, modify and create
61 DLS files from scratch, however you will probably not find many DLS files
62 and/or software or hardware that supports this file format. The main reason
63 why these classes exist in libgig, is because of the fact that the
64 Gigasampler / GigaStudio file format was designed as extension on top of the
65 DLS file format (with quite some radical modifications though).
66
67 - @b 5. @ref RIFF classes: Provide convenient methods to parse and access
68 arbitrary RIFF files. The <i>Resource Interchange File Format</i>
69 provides universal data containers ordered in a tree-like structure
70 and can be compared to XML, but with the difference that RIFF is
71 binary encoded.<br>
72 <br>
73 The DLS file format, the gig file format and KORG's file format are all
74 based on RIFF on lowest level of their file format. And consequently all
75 those classes mentioned above are using the RIFF classes for that purpose.
76
77
78 @section License
79
80 Most parts of libgig and its tools are released under the terms of the
81 <a href="http://www.gnu.org/licenses/gpl-2.0.html">GNU General Public License (GPL)</a>.
82 This applies to the @ref gig classes, @ref Korg classes, @ref DLS classes,
83 @ref RIFF classes and all their tools and example programs. We may offer you a
84 commercial license for using libgig in commercial products. If you are
85 interested in a commercial license,
86 <a href="http://www.linuxsampler.org/developers.html">contact us!</a>
87
88 The @b AKAI classes and its tools / demo programs are released under the terms
89 of the <a href="https://www.gnu.org/licenses/lgpl.html">GNU Lesser General Public License (LGPL)</a>.
90
91 If you have any questions regarding license aspects,
92 <a href="http://www.linuxsampler.org/developers.html">contact us!</a>
93
94
95 @section Examples
96
97 Beside the actual C++ library, there are the following example applications
98 which demonstrate how to use the library:
99
100 - <a href="http://svn.linuxsampler.org/cgi-bin/viewvc.cgi/libgig/trunk/src/tools/gigdump.cpp?view=markup">@b gigdump: </a>
101 Prints out the content of a .gig file.
102 - <a href="http://svn.linuxsampler.org/cgi-bin/viewvc.cgi/libgig/trunk/src/tools/gigextract.cpp?view=markup">@b gigextract: </a>
103 Extracts audio samples from a .gig file as .wav files.
104 - <a href="http://svn.linuxsampler.org/cgi-bin/viewvc.cgi/libgig/trunk/src/tools/gigmerge.cpp?view=markup">@b gigmerge: </a>
105 Combines multiple .gig files to one .gig file.
106 - <a href="http://svn.linuxsampler.org/cgi-bin/viewvc.cgi/libgig/trunk/src/tools/gig2mono.cpp?view=markup">@b gig2mono: </a>
107 Converts .gig files from stereo to mono.
108 - <a href="http://svn.linuxsampler.org/cgi-bin/viewvc.cgi/libgig/trunk/src/tools/dlsdump.cpp?view=markup">@b dlsdump: </a>
109 Prints out the content of a DLS file.
110 - <a href="http://svn.linuxsampler.org/cgi-bin/viewvc.cgi/libgig/trunk/src/tools/rifftree.cpp?view=markup">@b rifftree: </a>
111 Prints out the RIFF tree of an arbitrary RIFF container file.
112 - <a href="http://svn.linuxsampler.org/cgi-bin/viewvc.cgi/libgig/trunk/src/tools/sf2dump.cpp?view=markup">@b sf2dump: </a>
113 Prints out the content of a .sf2 file.
114 - <a href="http://svn.linuxsampler.org/cgi-bin/viewvc.cgi/libgig/trunk/src/tools/korgdump.cpp?view=markup">@b korgdump: </a>
115 Prints out the content of KORG sound files (.KSF, .KMP).
116 - <a href="http://svn.linuxsampler.org/cgi-bin/viewvc.cgi/libgig/trunk/src/tools/korg2gig.cpp?view=markup">@b korg2gig: </a>
117 Converts KORG (.KSF, .KMP) sound files to GigaStudio (.gig) files.
118 - <a href="http://svn.linuxsampler.org/cgi-bin/viewvc.cgi/libgig/trunk/src/tools/akaidump.cpp?view=markup">@b akaidump: </a>
119 Dump an AKAI media i.e. from a CDROM drive as disk image file to your HD.
120 - <a href="http://svn.linuxsampler.org/cgi-bin/viewvc.cgi/libgig/trunk/src/tools/akaiextract.cpp?view=markup">@b akaiextract: </a>
121 Extracts audio samples from an AKAI media or from an AKAI disk image file (as .wav files).
122
123 Currently libgig ist most prominently used by LinuxSampler and gigedit.
124
125
126 @section Portability
127
128 This library is developed and optimized for POSIX compliant operating
129 systems like Linux and Mac OS X, as well as for Windows. It is written as cross
130 platform C++ library, so libgig should also compile for other operation systems
131 as well. Due to this it works on all architectures (i.e. 32 bit x86, 64 bit x86,
132 PPC and many more). It works on
133 <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Endianness">little endian and big endian</a>
134 systems.
135
136
137 @section Bugs
138
139 Please report bugs on http://bugs.linuxsampler.org/ and/or subscribe to the
140 <a href="http://lists.sourceforge.net/lists/listinfo/linuxsampler-devel">LinuxSampler developers mailing list</a>.
141
142 @section Outro
143
144 For compilation instructions, requirements and further details please refer
145 to the README file et al.
146
147 That's all folks. Happy hacking!
148
149 -- Christian Schoenebeck <cuse@users.sourceforge.net>
150
151 @see http://www.linuxsampler.org
152
153 */

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