modmark

Table of Contents

1. Modmark
   1. Current Status and Goals
   2. Purpose
   3. Syntax
      1. A Module File
      2. A Patch

Modmark

This repo encapsulates an attempt to develop a markup language for describing modular synth patches.

In future, this scope may be expanded to make available a language for describing arbitrary audio and data routing across a wide array of devices.

Current Status and Goals

This software is currently a prototype. Right now the "compiler" is a Perl script that translates a .modmark file into a flowchart via Graphviz.

A rough road map looks something like:

• [X] Prototype compiler in Perl
• Test and stabilize syntax/grammar/prototype compiler
  • Bug with connections where similar connection names are not resolved properly, resulting in duplicate or merged connections
  • Clean up module naming, should support - chars, possibly other chars

• [ ] Implement modmark as a source-to-source compiler in Racket ( "Real" implementation )

  • Implement import as semantics for brevity
  • Implement import Module::MakeNoise::* semantics for brevity
  • Implement importing specific module revisions, ie: import Module::MakeNoise::Wogglebug::Rev1

  • [ ] Standardize input/knob labeling semantics:

    - Input: Foo
    -- Position: [1,12]
    
    - Knob: Foo
    -- Position: [1,12]
    
    # Currently both of above "compile", and work as expected, in the case where a
    # module parameter has both a knob and an input. It may be better to only have one way?
    

• [ ] Develop libraries for as many modules as possible

Purpose

In the past I've found it difficult to discuss discrete details of modular patches on the internet. This arises, I believe, from the large amount of effort and time it takes to describe the intricacies of a modular patch in long form plain English. This prototype language is an attempt to address that problem.

By specifying a concise syntax that favors brevity over absolute human-readability, the hope is to get more modular synth users to document their patches and enable more knowledge sharing across the community.

I know of one other attempt to solve this problem: https://github.com/SpektroAudio/Patchbook

My problem with Patchbook is that it still requires a lot of "boilerplate", in that you have to specify modules yourself. Modmark aims to offload this task by having the community describe modules in a Library format (.module files) that can then be imported. In this way, we can specify a module once and then not have to do that work again the next time we'd like to use it in a patch.

Syntax

A Module File

Make Noise Maths

A Patch

Example Patch