Asio Bindings?

Fri Jun 10 13:52:46 PDT 2016

On 6/9/16, Joerg Joergonson via Digitalmars-d-learn
<digitalmars-d-learn at puremagic.com> wrote:
> Why would bindings have any issues with licensing?

Just to show that I'm not full of shit, here's the e-mail chain:

On 6/3/11, Andrej Mitrovic <andrej.mitrovich at gmail.com> wrote:
> Hello,
>
> I'm currently porting the Steinberg VST and ASIO SDKs for use with the
> D programming language. I would like to know if there are any special
> licensing requirements before I can publish the source code to a
> public repository.
>
> Specifically, do I need to print out the licensing agreement PDF
> document, sign it, and send it via snail-mail to Steinberg? I'm
> currently unemployed, so there shouldn't be any issues from my part
> with regards to signing any licensing agreements, if that's required.
>
> The bindings themselves won't distribute any C/C++ header or
> implementation files from the SDK, as the D language can't use C
> header files directly.
>
>
> Kind regards,
> Andrej Mitrovic
>

On 6/7/11, Yvan Grabit <y.grabit at steinberg.de> wrote:
> Hi Andrej
>
> i will speak with our internal Product planning people about your
> concern...
> I will keep you inform about our decision as soon as we have a decision...
>
> Cheers
>
> Yvan
> ++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
> Yvan Grabit                              mailto:y.grabit at steinberg.de
> Technical Manager - Technology Group     Phone: +49-40-21035125
> Steinberg Media Technologies GmbH        Fax  : +49-40-21035300
> Neuer Hoeltigbaum 22-32, D-22143 Hamburg/Germany
>                                          http://www.steinberg.net
> ++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

On 6/23/11, Andrej Mitrovic <andrej.mitrovich at gmail.com> wrote:
> Hello Yvan,
>
> I apologize if this e-mail is unnecessary and a decision is yet to be
> made. If you are too busy should I try to contact one of Steinberg's
> official representatives?
>
> I am willing to provide the source code for examination to Steinberg
> if this could help  verify that I'm not breaking any licensing
> requirements.
>
> Have a nice day,
> Andrej Mitrovic
>

On 6/23/11, Yvan Grabit <y.grabit at steinberg.de> wrote:
> Hi
>
> we have examine your request, and decide due to our current VST/ASIO
> license that you are not allowed to deploy/distribute a copy of the
> VST/ASIO SDK (partially or full).
> We will investigate a way to change our licensing for research or
> educational use.
>
> In your concrete case, could it be not possible to ask the people you give
> your source using the VST SDK (or ASIO)  to download the VST-SDK (or ASIO)
> (and agree the agreement) and provide a compiler macro (or something
> different) which will convert the VST /ASIO interface to something D
> compatible ?
>
> By the way how can we guaranty that the VST plugin or ASIO component
> developed in D could be load by a host developed in C ?
>
> Cheers
>
> Yvan
>
> ++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
> Yvan Grabit                              mailto:y.grabit at steinberg.de
> Technical Manager - Technology Group     Phone: +49-40-21035125
> Steinberg Media Technologies GmbH        Fax  : +49-40-21035300
> Neuer Hoeltigbaum 22-32, D-22143 Hamburg/Germany
>                                          http://www.steinberg.net
> ++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

On 6/23/11, Andrej Mitrovic <andrej.mitrovich at gmail.com> wrote:
> On 6/23/11, Yvan Grabit <y.grabit at steinberg.de> wrote:
>> In your concrete case, could it be not possible to ask the people you
>> give
>> your source using the VST SDK (or ASIO)  to download the VST-SDK (or
>> ASIO)
>> (and agree the agreement) and provide a compiler macro (or something
>> different) which will convert the VST /ASIO interface to something D
>> compatible ?
>
> Yes, I believe I can do that. For ASIO, I have the following:
>
> - A "Loader", which is a source file made from scratch which searches
> for ASIO entries in the Windows Registry and provides a class which
> can load and initialize any found ASIO drivers. Through this class
> user code calls functions like "canSampleRate", "outputReady", etc.
>
> The Loader only requires the type definitions found in the
> asiosdk\common\asio.h header file. This header file can be
> automatically converted to D via an existing tool, and the Loader
> would then import the newly converted header file and use the type
> definitions.
>
> The Loader requires the OpenAsio DLL that can be found here:
> http://www.martinfay.com/openasio.htm
>
> The reason OpenAsio is required is because the ASIO COM class has the
> "thiscall" calling convention which is not directly supported by the D
> language. It might be possible to use inline assembler to simulate the
> "thiscall" calling convention, but this would require some work on my
> part to get it working.
>
> No other ASIO SDK file is required.
>
> From my current understanding, you would require me that *no* ASIO SDK
> files are to be distributed with the library. Therefore I should
> provide only the Loader source file, and provide the links to the ASIO
> SDK Developer homepage where the users can agree to the license terms
> before they can download the SDK, after which they can extract the
> asio.h header file which is then converted to D. I would also provide
> a link to the OpenAsio DLL download page which is required for the
> 'thiscall' workaround.
>
> The library would not be able to compile without the header file, and
> therefore users would not be able to use the ASIO technology without
> agreeing to the license terms found on the Steinberg website.
>
> The VST binding (v2.4) is still in development and not ready yet. I
> have two C header files converted to D and a D host application
> example that can load VST DLL's and inspect their properties. The two
> needed header files are:
> aeffect.h
> aeffectx.h
>
> The D Host sample application can load a VST plugin and inspect its
> properties, process audio, and instantiate the GUI of the plugin (if
> available).
>
>> By the way how can we guaranty that the VST plugin or ASIO component
>> developed in D could be load by a host developed in C ?
>
> D is a C ABI compatible language, meaning that it can directly call
> into C code and be called from C code without any need for wrappers or
> technologies like P/Invoke. All that is required is that the parameter
> types are typed the same, and that the calling conventions match.
> Calling conventions are specified in the D code by using
> "extern(C)"-style syntax, and this can be used to either export a D
> function to be used by C code, or import C functions to be used by D
> code.
>
> A D ASIO device driver could be written, however I don't think a
> manufacturer would ever consider using D for writing ASIO drivers, as
> it is a fairly young language and lacks the performance benefit of
> using pure C.
>
> A D ASIO host can directly use ASIO driver buffers, with no need for
> conversions between types. This is exactly why I have started the D
> ASIO bindings projects, as other solutions (such as PortAudio) use
> interleaved buffers and generally introduce additional overhead where
> it is not required.
>
> A D VST plugin can be created and loaded by a C host. A D VST Plugin
> can communicate with a C host and provide callback functions, which
> the C host can then directly call.
>
> A C VST plugin can also be loaded by a D host.
>
> I will provide example code for each of the above case, except writing
> an actual ASIO device driver in D, which I would discourage
> manufacturers from doing as there wouldn't be much benefit over using
> C directly.
>
> Kind regards,
> Andrej Mitrovic
>

--------

Unfortunately this is the last I've heard from them at the time..