I did't make all of this stuff explicit when I noted
something about SAOL before, and perhaps there are some
people who are unaware.  This is off-topic for this list, and I
apologize in advance.  I won't post anything more about SAOL
for a while.

Thomas Hudson wrote:

>Perhaps it is time for a new environment, inspired by both CLM and CSound,
>with a GPL-style license so it could be distributed like Linux, and of
>course, a more modern syntax.

SAOL (pronounced "SAOL") is a new music language that is part
of the MPEG-4 standard.  It has all of the features that have
been discussed in this thread, including block-structured
syntax, procedural abstraction, an extensive library of
built-in unit generators plus dynamic extensibility, a
formalized scheduling and processing model, and a lot of other
things.

The syntax of SAOL is C-like (C++ mode for emacs can be
used to edit SAOL orchestra code).

SAOL was created by MIT and has formally been released into the
public domain.  This is a more open license than Csound.  MIT
has explicitly expressed that it has no plans to profit
from SAOL in any way.  Every fully conforming MPEG-4 decoder
(for example, any MPEG-4 set-top box) is required to provide
real-time synthesis of SAOL code.  The so-called Structured
Audio tools of MPEG-4 are the only part of MPEG-4 without IP and
patent hangups.

The implementation that MIT wrote is a simple interpreter.
There's a brand-new implementation, completely SAOL-compatible
with ours, that another organization will be making available
soon (likely free of cost, but I don't know under what terms)
that compiles SAOL to C code for real-time execution.  There's
at least one more project in the works to make a free run-time
p-code interpreter.

There are a number of papers about SAOL and the rest of the
Structured Audio tools here:

  http://sound.media.mit.edu/~eds/papers.html.

There's an extensive overview being published in the Summer 1999
Computer Music Journal.

You can download a draft of the Structured Audio standard,
which contains the formal specification of SAOL, as well as
my slow implementation, here:

  http://sound.media.mit.edu/mpeg4.

This site also has mailing lists and very simple example orchestras
to download.

For people who want to get involved, there's lots to do, including
hacking on the free implementations, writing tutorials, making
example orchestras, writing music, adding SAOL support to other
computer-music tools, and so forth.  We're delighted to have you!

Best to all,

 -- Eric

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|  Eric Scheirer  |A-7b5 D7b9|G-7 C7|Cb   C-7b5 F7#9|Bb  |B-7 E7|
|eds@media.mit.edu|      < http://sound.media.mit.edu/~eds >
|  617 253 0112   |A A/G# F#-7 F#-/E|Eb-7b5 D7b5|Db|C7b5 B7b5|Bb|
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