Chow-Chow[1] is an FM synth[2] library with an emphasis on flexibility and ease-of-use. It supports an arbitrary number of operators as well as arbitrarily complex FM algorithms. Current focus is on the library, but once the library is mature, standalone and plugin graphical frontends are on the roadmap as well.
- Named in honor of John Chowning, FM synthesis pioneer, as well as a cute breed of dog.
- Technically it's a phase modulation synth, like most FM synths in practice.
Thanks for your interest!
If you want to add a new feature or make any other significant changes to the program's behavior, please make a new issue first and describe what you have in mind there, making it clear that you're willing to write the implementation. This includes any modifications to the public API. That way we can talk it over first before you spend a lot of time writing code.
If you want to submit a bugfix or optimization, you can just go ahead and create a pull request if you like. If you're unsure if what you're seeing is a bug, or your planned fix has some downsides, feel free to make a new issue for it and then we can discuss. Optimization pull requests should be accompanied with test results, a detailed description of the environment(s) the tests were run in (including hardware), and ideally a precise description of why and in what sense your change improves performance.
There is a simple end-to-end speed test available under
build/tests/perf (with the default build settings) that you may
find convenient. It outputs timing results for a synthesis test
routine over sets of operators using each sine algorithm,
measured with the stdlib timing facilities.
Try to stick to the coding style of The C++ Programming Language and A Tour of C++ and the like. I'm not ultra-strict about syntax; I appreciate that C++ is very flexible in that regard, so if you have an unusual construction that reads best written in an unusual way, that might be okay with me. That said, it's nice to keep things looking consistent if all else is equal, so please only deviate if you really have a good reason.
Talking in semantic terms, I definitely think the recommendations in those books are worth taking, and am likely to push back against code that strays from them much. In particular, please use the standard library facilities whenever you don't have a good reason not to, and lean on the type system as much as you reasonably can. C++17 is the current target.
Hopefully this will never come up, but I will block anyone who purposely mistreats people based on intrinsic demographic categories (gender expression, sexuality, ethnicity, race, nation of origin, age, etc.). If you do something like this without meaning to and are willing to change your behavior once you hear about it, that's okay provided you follow through. If someone is treating you this way on this project and it's escaped my notice, ping me right away.
Less drastically, I deeply appreciate politeness and courtesy. Approaching this project with a genuine desire to get along with people and help others will endear me to you (and probably to others as well). If you feel like I'm being too short with you, it's okay with me if you say so.