

DSSI
====

An API for soft synth plugins with custom user interfaces.
Version 0.9.


Summary
-------

DSSI (pronounced "dizzy") is a plugin API for software instruments
(soft synths) with user interfaces, permitting them to be hosted
in-process by audio applications.  DSSI can be thought of as
LADSPA-for-instruments, or something comparable to VSTi.

The proposal consists of this RFC, which describes the background and
defines part of the proposed standard, plus a documented header file
(dssi.h) which defines the remainder.  The distribution also contains
a handful of example files including a complete host implementation
and a small number of synth plugins.  The API itself is licensed under
the LGPL.

This proposal was constructed by Steve Harris (steve <at> plugin <dot>
org <dot> uk), Chris Cannam (cannam@all-day-breakfast.com), and Sean
Bolton (musound <at> jps <dot> net).


Background and Requirements
---------------------------

One of the barriers to the acceptance of Linux audio software as a
direct alternative to mainstream sequencer applications for other
platforms is the lack of a comparable way to operate software synth
plugins.  There is an immediate need for an API that permits synth
plugins to be written to a simple standard and then used in a range of
host applications.

This is an awkward situation, because it is hoped that the forthcoming
GMPI initiative will comprehensively address the needs of soft synths
in a flexible cross-platform way.  But the requirement for Linux
applications to be able to support simple hosted synths is here now,
and GMPI is not.  Thus, we need to provide a simple interim solution
in a way that will prove compelling enough and easy enough to support
now, yet not so universal as to supplant GMPI or any other
comprehensive future proposal.  Hence this RFC.

Because of the conservative nature of this proposal, the main
requirements are:

 1. To support the basic facilities that users and developers familiar
 with mainstream software on other platforms will expect to find in a
 Linux alternative: the ability to take a synth plugin with a cute GUI
 and to direct MIDI (from e.g. a sequencer track) to it, automate its
 controls, and route the output appropriately.  Note that there is an
 emphasis on MIDI throughout this discussion.

 2. To address certain specific limitations of other methods of
 running MIDI soft synths on Linux.  These limitations are discussed
 below.

 3. To take advantage of existing work as much as possible.


Existing Techniques
-------------------

There are of course ways to run MIDI soft synths on Linux already, as
well as some other initiatives that address parts of the same problem
as this one.

 * ALSA sequencer input + JACK output (the "standalone soft synth")

   Most existing Linux soft synths operate as standalone applications
   that wait for MIDI events on an ALSA sequencer port and generate
   audio to JACK outputs.  This is an attractively flexible solution,
   because such applications are by definition routeable in the same
   way as any other MIDI devices and JACK clients.  For some synths,
   particularly larger ones with significant amounts of internal
   configuration state, this may actually be a very effective way to
   work.

   Unfortunately routing only the MIDI and audio streams is not
   usually enough, especially for smaller dedicated synths.  The
   applications wanting to route to a synth need more information
   about it than is actually available in this way.  For example, it
   is impossible to identify that an ALSA application is in fact a
   synth, or discover its available programs or controller settings;
   there is no reliable way to associate the synth's inputs with its
   outputs in order to route both ends at once; and it is extremely
   hard to manage multiple instances.  Also the use of the ALSA
   sequencer layer to deliver incoming events means that they can't be
   timed to exact sample frames.  All of these are limitations which
   the present proposal needs to address.

 * LADSPA

   The existing Linux plugin standard can't easily be used for MIDI
   soft synths, because there is no way to pass MIDI or MIDI-like data
   to a plugin.  (A plugin could open its own ALSA sequencer input,
   but that is complex and carries the same timing limitation as
   discussed above.)  There is also no toolkit-agnostic standard way
   to provide a user interface with a LADSPA plugin.

 * MIDI-over-JACK

   An extension has been proposed to the JACK framework to permit MIDI
   events to be sent via JACK.  If used to drive a conventional soft
   synth, this would fully address the timing problem that exists in
   the ALSA sequencer method, but not any of its other limitations.

 * LASH (formerly LADCCA)

   The LASH Audio Session Handler, formerly known as Linux Audio
   Developers' Connection and Configuration API, is a service that
   performs session management for projects using audio applications:
   it starts the applications corresponding to a given project,
   connects their MIDI and audio connections, coordinates saving of
   project data, and so on.  (The applications have to be written to
   use the LASH service.)  This could be used to address some of the
   problems in the ALSA sequencer method, specifically those related
   to managing connections for instances that have already been
   positioned in a connection graph.  LASH could be used with
   MIDI-over-JACK, thus also solving the timing problem.
   Unfortunately none of this addresses the problem of discovering
   synths and the available configurations of those synths in the
   first place.

 * M.E.S.S.

   The MusE sequencer has an API for hosting soft synths, known as
   M.E.S.S (MusE Experimental Soft Synth).  It is probably the closest
   alternative to the present proposal, it addresses many of the same
   problems, it is working now, and it is an attractively small API.
   Unfortunately as a host-specific C++ framework whose API is
   undocumented and explicitly unstable, it is unlikely to prove
   popular as a standard for Linux plugins.

 * VSTi

   Mentioned for completeness.  The licensing for the VST SDK is not
   at all compatible with the GPL or any other free-software license,
   which is one reason why LADSPA exists.  Also VSTi is complex to
   implement correctly, hard to automate, and in the context of a
   Linux GUI toolkit it would not readily solve the GUI problem.  The
   attractiveness of the fact that there are many plugins already
   available is diminished by the fact that their source is usually
   not, so they can't be rebuilt for Linux except by their authors.


The DSSI Proposal In Brief
--------------------------

 * A DSSI plugin is a wrapper for a LADSPA plugin.  The LADSPA plugin
   is used for all control and audio data.  DSSI therefore takes
   advantage of the existing widespread awareness of how LADSPA works,
   as well as functioning mechanisms for handling controls,
   instantiation etc.

 * DSSI provides mechanisms for querying and changing programs,
   mapping MIDI controllers to LADSPA control ports, and running a
   synth with a set of frame-timestamped MIDI events using the
   existing ALSA sequencer event type struct.  This ensuring timing
   correctness and enables the host to query the various additional
   bits of non-MIDI non-audio information it needs.

 * DSSI provides for synchronization and resource sharing between
   multiple instantiations of a single plugin.  This permits such things
   as complex voice allocation/stealing algorithms and the sharing of
   large wavetables between what would otherwise be independent
   single-channel plugin instances, without requiring the plugin to
   support 16 fixed MIDI channels.

The above three parts of the proposal are documented thoroughly in the
dssi.h header file.

 * DSSI defines in which contexts a host may call the DSSI and LADSPA
   API functions, so that proper multi-threaded and multi-processor
   implementations may be developed with a minimum of overhead.

   This part of the proposal is documented in the 'DSSI Multi-thread /
   Multi-process Considerations' section below.

 * A DSSI plugin UI is a separate standalone program, that communicates
   with the host (_not_ directly with the plugin) via Open Sound
   Control messages.  (Thus ducking out of the GUI toolkit
   compatibility question altogether, ensuring that the plugin is
   always correctly automatable by the host, and in principle
   permitting plugins to be controlled by other OSC clients as well.)

   This part of the proposal is documented in the 'DSSI Synth UIs'
   section below.


DSSI Multi-thread / Multi-process Considerations
------------------------------------------------

Most DSSI hosts will be multi-threaded applications, and an ideal
DSSI host would be able to take advantage of multiple processors.
Developers of DSSI hosts and plugins must implement appropriate
interprocess synchronization measures, which should be as minimal
and efficient as possible while allowing safe multi-threaded
operation.  Therefore, a clear delineation of responsibility in this
regard between host and plugin is needed.

(The same delineation is also necessary for LADSPA plugins and for
other APIs such as VST, but it is often assumed or deduced from
practical examples rather than documented.)

To this end, each of the DSSI or LADSPA API functions is assigned to
one of three 'classes', and restrictions are placed on when a host
may make simultaneous calls to these functions, based on which
classes of functions are in use.

The three classes of function are:

Instantiation class
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
This class contains functions that instantiate and set up plugins
before they are run, and that clean up and disinstantiate when they
are no longer to be used.  They are:

   -- activate()
   -- cleanup()
   -- deactivate()
   -- instantiate()

Control class
~~~~~~~~~~~~~
This class contains functions that control the behaviour of an
active or running plugin, or return information about a plugin's
state, yet (for real-time plugins) are not expected to run in
real time. They are:

   -- configure()
   -- get_midi_controller_for_port()
   -- get_program()

Audio class
~~~~~~~~~~~
The remaining functions belong to the audio class:
 
   -- connect_port()
   -- run()
   -- run_adding()
   -- run_synth()
   -- run_synth_adding()
   -- run_multiple_synths()
   -- run_multiple_synths_adding()
   -- select_program()
   -- set_run_adding_gain()

It is not the intent of these class divisions to associate the
functions with particular host threads.  That is, while some hosts
may call control class functions from a 'control' thread, and audio
class functions from an 'audio' thread, nothing in these rules
requires that.  As long as the restrictions on simultaneous
execution of the functions are met, host applications may be
structured in any way that makes sense.  These rules follow.

Rules for Hosts
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
The restrictions that a DSSI host must observe within each instance
group are:

 1. While one function of a particular class is being executed,
    the host may not call any other functions of that class.  Thus
    (for example) an instance group of plugins can safely assume
    that get_program() will not be called for any instance while a
    configure() call is still executing, and that select_program()
    will not be called for any instance while one of the run
    functions is executing,

 2. While a function of the instantiation class is being run, the
    host may not call any functions of the other two classes, and
    vice versa. Thus, a plugin is assured that e.g. instantiate() or
    deactivate() will not be called for any instance in the instance
    group until all previous control and audio function invocations
    for the instance group have finished.

These restrictions apply to each 'instance group' within a running
DSSI system.  When a host is using run_multiple_synths() with a
particular plugin, then the instance group includes all active
instances of that same plugin.  When a plugin does not support
run_multiple_synths() (or when it supplies both run_synth() and
run_multiple_synths() but the host chooses to use run_synth()), then
each instance of the plugin is its own instance group.

Because a single DSSI library (typically a dynamically-loaded *.so
file) may contain several different plugins, it is important to
clarify that 'instances of the same plugin' refers to all instances
of one particular plugin within the library (that is, all instances
with the same label and *.so file). It does NOT refer to all
instances drawn from the same *.so file.

Rules for Plugins
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Because it is permissible for a host to simultaneously call one
control class function and one audio class function (per instance
group), it is the responsibility of the plugin to ensure that its
internal data structures are appropriately protected (with
e.g. mutexes or multi-thread-safe queues).

In practice it may be quite common for one host thread to call a
control class function while another thread continues to repeatedly
call a run*() function.  Where possible, a plugin should continue
synthesis in the run*() function while the control class function
executes, but in cases where resource contention cannot be overcome,
it is permissible -- perhaps even expected -- that the run*()
function stop generating sound and return only silence until the
control function completes.

Finally, all of the audio context functions provided by a plugin
must obey restrictions similar to those placed on 'hard real-time'
LADSPA plugins: no malloc() or free(), no libraries other than libc
or libm, and no blocking I/O. (Unless, of course, the plugin is not
intended for real-time operation.)


DSSI Synth UIs
--------------

A synth user interface is an executable program, not a part of the
plugin or a separate shared object.  A host may elect to start or stop
the UI for a plugin at any time, starting and terminating the
executable at will.

In General
~~~~~~~~~~
The UI and host communicate with one another using OSC, the OpenSound
Control protocol.  See

  <URL:http://www.cnmat.berkeley.edu/OpenSoundControl/>

OSC is a simple message-based protocol intended for communications
among sound devices.  DSSI does not mandate any particular
implementation of OSC, but it does require that it be based on a UDP
transport (OSC itself is transport-independent).  The example code
uses an implementation by Steve Harris called liblo ("Lite OSC") which
can be obtained from

  <URL:http://www.plugin.org.uk/liblo/>

Note that liblo is distributed under a different licence from DSSI and
so might not be a legal option for certain DSSI implementations.

DSSI uses OSC in both directions between the host and UI.  When a user
changes a port value in the UI, it sends an OSC request to the host,
which informs the plugin of the change; when an automated port change
occurs in the host, or a plugin's output control port changes, the
host sends an update to the UI.

(The host does not send updates to the UI for port changes that the UI
itself initiated; likewise the UI must not send port changes back to
the host that the host itself initiated.  A host that supports
multiple UIs per plugin instance should send each change to all UIs
for the instance other than the UI that initiated it.)

Communications between the host and UI are deliberately as limited as
possible.  There is, for example, no way for a UI to query the
available port names, values, ranges etc for a plugin.  It's expected
that the UI will either share some code with the plugin so that it
knows these things already, or will itself also load the plugin DLL
and query it directly.

Discovery and Startup
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
The mechanism by which a host locates and starts the UI for a plugin
is host-dependent, and this section is only a recommendation.

For a typical graphical host, trying to start a GUI for a plugin
labelled PLUGIN found in a dll named MYPLUGINS.so in directory
DIRECTORY, we would recommend as follows.

The host looks for a directory DIRECTORY/PLUGINS/.  If found, it looks
for executable files or symbolic links in that directory beginning
with the string PLUGIN or MYPLUGINS and ending with a suffix separated
by an underscore, e.g. PLUGIN_gui, MYPLUGINS_qt.  If nothing so named
is found, it should conclude that there is no suitable UI for this
plugin (i.e. files with no underscores in their names should not be
used -- this permits the plugin UI author to include supporting or
config files in the same directory).  Otherwise, the host should
select from among the results according to suffix: for a Qt
application prefer things ending in _qt, for GTK prefer _gtk, etc; as
another example, the Rosegarden sequencer will prefer files ending in
_rg to anything else, as it assumes such a file is probably a link to
the packager's preferred matching GUI.  If both PLUGIN_suffix and
MYPLUGINS_suffix are found for the same suffix, the host should use
the more specific PLUGIN_suffix.

Thus, for a plugin UI author: if creating a graphical UI for a plugin
labelled PLUGIN in dll MYPLUGINS.so, we recommend creating a single
executable called PLUGIN_gui (or PLUGIN_gtk, PLUGIN_qt, PLUGIN_fltk
depending on toolkit, if so inclined) and installing it to a
subdirectory called MYPLUGINS of the directory containing
MYPLUGINS.so.

Once the host has found a suitable executable, it then starts it with
a command line consisting of:

  * the executable name in argv[0] as normal

  * the OSC URL for the host, identifying the host and the base path
    for the correct plugin instance (see Paths and Methods below)

  * the name of the .so in which the plugin was found (here PLUGINS.so)

  * the label of the plugin (here PLUGIN).

  * a "user friendly" identifier which the UI may display to allow a
    user to easily associate this particular UI instance with the
    correct plugin instance as it is represented by the host (e.g.
    "track 1" or "channel 4").

If the UI supports the show/hide mechanism (which any graphical UI
should), then it should initially be in hidden state.  The UI then
requests an update, passing its own OSC URL and base path to the host;
the host responds by sending the current configure, program and
control values (in that order).  The host must then call show() on the
UI and startup is complete.

Paths and Methods
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
An OSC method call consists of a path -- identifying the method being
called -- and a sequence of typed arguments. 

The DSSI host and UI are each expected to think of an arbitrary path
to associate with each plugin instance, known as the "base path".
This will presumably have some internal and/or diagnostic meaning:
e.g. a host might use "/dssi/PLUGINS/PLUGIN.1" for the path to the
first instance of plugin labelled PLUGIN in PLUGINS.so.  Individual
method calls are always made to a subpath of the base path, as
detailed below.

Base paths are exchanged on startup: the host gives its path to the
UI on the command line, the UI returns its own as the argument to an
update call.

These are the methods the host may support:

 * <base path>/control  (e.g. "/dssi/PLUGINS/PLUGIN.1/control")

   Set a control port value on the plugin at <base path>.  Takes an int
   argument for port number and a float for value.  (required method)

 * <base path>/program

   Make a program change on the plugin.  Takes two int arguments, for
   bank and program number.  (required method)

 * <base path>/update

   Request an update on the UI.  Takes one string argument, the UI's
   own OSC URL with base path.  The host should respond by sending the
   current state of the plugin to the UI in a series of configure,
   program, and control OSC calls.  (required method, and the UI is
   required to use it)

 * <base path>/configure

   Make a configure() call to the plugin.  Takes two string arguments
   for key and value.  If the key begins with the special prefix
   GLOBAL:, the same configure call will be made on all plugins in the
   same instance group, as well as their UIs.  See also the
   documentation for configure() in dssi.h. (required method)

 * <base path>/midi

   Send an arbitrary MIDI event to the plugin.  Takes a four-byte MIDI
   string.  This is expected to be used for note data generated from a
   test panel on the UI, for example.  It should not be used for
   program or controller changes, sysex data, etc.  A host should feel
   free to drop any values it doesn't wish to pass on.  No guarantees
   are provided about timing accuracy, etc, of the MIDI communication.
   (optional method)

 * <base path>/exiting

   Notifies the host that the UI is in the process of exiting, for
   example if the user closed the GUI window using the window manager.
   The UI should not send this if exiting in response to a quit
   message (see below).  No arguments.  (required method)

And these are the methods the UI may support:

 * <base path>/control

   Update the UI from an automated input control port change, or from
   an observed change to an output control port.  Takes an int
   argument for port number and float for value.  (required method)

 * <base path>/program

   Update the UI from an automated program change.  Takes an int
   argument for bank number and int for value.  (required method if
   the plugin supports program changes)

 * <base path>/configure

   Used to notify a UI of the current configure state of the plugin.
   If the host has set any configure data on the plugin at startup (as
   remembered from a previous invocation), it will call this function
   once for each piece of configuration data following the UI's
   update() request, e.g. on startup.  Takes two string arguments for
   key and value.  (required method)

 * <base path>/show

   Show the UI, if it's a graphical interface in a window or some
   other type that it makes sense to show or hide.  If the UI is
   already visible, bring it to the front if possible.  No arguments.
   (optional method for UIs in general, but it would be bad form to
   implement a graphical UI without it)

 * <base path>/hide

   Hide the UI, if it's a graphical interface in a window or some
   other type that it makes sense to show or hide.  No arguments.
   (optional method for UIs in general, but it would be bad form to
   implement a graphical UI without it)

 * <base path>/quit

   Exit the UI.  The UI should not send any more communication to the
   host about this plugin after receiving a quit message.  It may save
   any of its own state before exiting, but it should not retain state
   that may be necessary for the host to restore the plugin instance
   correctly.  (required method)


LADSPA Compatibility and Miscellaneous Notes
--------------------------------------------

Port Rewriting
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
A LADSPA plugin must never change the values of its own input ports.

A DSSI plugin is allowed to do so when select_program is called.  The
host must re-read the input port values after calling select_program,
if it wishes to keep an accurate record of them.  (The host should
_not_ notify any extant UI of the new values -- the UI is notified of
the program change, and that should be enough.)

Reset on activate()
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
LADSPA says "hosts can reinitialise a plugin instance by calling
deactivate() and then activate(). In this case the plugin instance
must reset all state information dependent on the history of the
plugin instance except for any data locations provided by
connect_port() and any gain set by set_run_adding_gain()."

This is slightly ambiguous when applied to DSSI plugins that have
internal state that does not change as a matter of course through
time, but that is based on settings made via port and program changes
or MIDI controller data.

On activate(), a DSSI plugin should reset any internal state that
changes over time and is not controlled by the host.  Anything that is
set by the host (configure data, program data, port data, or any
internal values derived from these) should be left alone, or, in the
case of data that change over time from host-provided values, reset
to the values that were most recently set by the host.

(The intention is that a host should be able to silence a plugin by
calling deactivate followed by activate, and should know that after
the activate call, the plugin has been reset to a state that is
entirely defined by its host-visible configuration.)

"Unique" IDs
~~~~~~~~~~~~
LADSPA defines a "Unique ID" value within a plugin descriptor, which
is intended to provide a globally unique identifier for the plugin
type.  Plugin authors are expected to liaise with an unnamed central
body to ensure that their plugin IDs are in fact unique.

This is a problematic concept.  Without an official LADSPA
organisation, it's not obvious how an author actually obtains a unique
ID range.  Some authors may wish to write plugins that may vary in
number, either by automatically generating them or by providing
wrappers for other sorts of plugin.  For such plugins, it is
impossible to guarantee that the "unique" ID is in fact unique.

DSSI host authors are strongly recommended to ignore the LADSPA
"Unique ID" when handling DSSI plugins.  Instead, they should identify
a DSSI plugin by the DLL's .so name and the LADSPA "Label" (which
should be unique within a single .so file).  Hosts that do otherwise
will inevitably experience subtle but disastrous failures for some
existing and yet-to-be-written plugins, because of the practical
impossibility of making the "Unique ID" actually unique.

