Creator faq

A few questions about Creator

What is modular setup vs Creator?

Creator started life as modular setup but I renamed it, to be more descriptive, so it replaces it!

What is Creator?

Creator allows users to create setups for EigenD from scratch with no knowledge of belcanto. The idea is that the it would be nice to not overload your setup with features you dont need, just have a setup that has just what you want.
It can also be used to extend existing setups. It is now onto version 2.0, and is implemented in Java and uses XML/RPC to talk to EigenD

Do I need to know Belcanto?

• To create setups using existing configuration files, or will small modifications -NO
• To create setups using existing templates, based on existing config files - probably NO, depending upon how complex your setups are, and if you understand the templates
• to create new template - YES

Do I need workbench?

No, its all belcanto code.
BUT, if you are developing new templates, then workbench is very useful, as it allows you to see what has been created.

What are all the files?

There are 3 basic files, in creator

• creator/bin/* - the 'executables' to run creator
• creator/conf/*.conf - configuration files, which tell creator how to combine templates to form a setup
• creator/templates/*.bc - template files

What is a template?

All the files called something.bc are templates, they really are just belcanto scripts which can be combined together.
They are called templates to express the idea, that each one does ONE thing e.g. creates a rig. or links in a recorder. These templates are then combined (within a config file) to form a 'setup'

Is Creator only useful for creating setups? or can I use it to extend setups?

Both. Creator does not care if you are starting from a blank setup, or an existing setup. The template files are also not dependent on a blank setup either, though some may not be applicable e.g. create device.bc
Of course, your configuration file will be dependent on the starting point

Can I see the belcanto generated?

Yes, use the -d option on the creator.sh command line, or use -F option to save to a file.

Can the setups be run on all devices?

Creator provides the facilities to create cross-devices setups (i.e. that work on pico, tau and alpha), BUT to do so, developers of configurations (and to a lesser extent templates) have to make this work, and this is not a minor undertaking. I personally try to strive towards this goal, as I think its will be very useful to the community.
creator/conf - should be cross platform creator/pico|tau|alpha - are device specific

How can I help?

At this stage writing new templates is the best way, although creating setups using creator (preferably cross device ones) is also very useful.

I want to develop my own template what do I need/ need to know?

Belcanto .. basically all the templates are simple belcanto if you know belcanto you CAN write a templates, see development guide here for more details.
Workbench .. is NOT required, but it lets you see what is going on inside EigenD, so hard to do anything non trivial without it, as your kind of coding blind - but it IS possible!

Templates seemed to be missing the 'script name' header, used in eigenlabs scripts, and cannot be run from commander - why?

Correct!!!
The 'script name' is simply a way to for eigenD to be able to run scripts via the interpreter (using the load belcanto command)
BUT we are not doing this, we are sending the commands directly to the interpreter (ie. we dont ask the interpreter to load the file!). We do this by sending the command directly via XML/RPC to EigenD IMPORTANT POINT : the belcanto IS IDENTICAL, it just doesnt need the script 'preamble'

Generated scripts cannot be executed by Commander

you will need to use the -S option to generate a script if you want to execute it from belcanto

Id like to just generate the script, I dont want to run into a setup in EigenD - can I?

yes, to view use -d, or to save to a file use -F... if you want a commander script use -S e.g

creator.sh -F x.bc pico conf/basicdemo.conf

this will create a file called x.bc in current directory. it will not execute the belcanto AND you do not even need EigenD running. (as its not executing anything!)

Videos mention createsetup.sh

Yes, this has been replaced by creator.sh in 2.0 as creator is more than just about creating setups. also there are now more command line options. but the basics are the same as before

Will it run on Windows

Since 2.0 is java based, yes version 2.0 will run on Windows. (1.0 will not!) just use creator.bat rather than creator.sh